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WITH THE London "season" about to start, an editorial in The Irish Timesreflected on this day in 1954, with a little tongue in cheek, on the mothers and debutante daughters facing "the mannequin parade":
Golden Girls
It is the nature of mothers to defend their young; and in London at the moment fashionable mothers seem to be especially conscious of their duty in this respect. Next month their debutante daughters will take part in a mannequin parade. As this occasion will coincide approximately with the beginning of “the Season”, the mothers have seized the opportunity to lay down certain rules in regard to the desirability and eligibility of escorts for the favoured young women.
It seemed that last year’s “Season” was sullied by the presence of too many gate-crashers at parties. Steps will be taken to deflect such social buccaneers, and, in particular, the sort of fellow who crashes a golden gate with nothing to recommend him except “a few practised manners and one suit of good clothes . . .” Furthermore, the mothers have drawn up a list of unworthy escorts, whose individual disqualifications will be signified by letters after their names. Mr X, for example, may be designated as “N.S.T.” – “Not Safe in Taxis” – while Mr Y’s failing may be “F.I.” – “Financially Insecure”.
Some unspeakable young scamps, doubtless, will have both sets of initials, so that any girl who goes out with them may expect not only to feel unsafe in the taxi, but to have to pay the fare at the end of the journey. It is obvious that only young men of exceptional character will be able to play fast and loose in London this year. One mother already has claimed, with, perhaps, a shadow of dangerous pride, that her dancing daughter will be the “most heavily chaperoned debutante of the year”. In earlier days the only publicised competition was for the most beautiful debutante of the year; but times change, and the girl who can assemble the thickest stockade of protective aunts now has a chance to seize her share of the glory, even if she has a complexion like a skinned rabbit and teeth to match. The mother who advertised her obsession with chaperonage went on to justify it in her forthright way. “I may be old-fashioned,” she was reported to have said, “but unless I know that some nice young man of whom I personally approve is bringing Penelope home . . . I go and fetch her.” She admitted that Penelope herself might not approve of this modified form of purdah. If Penelope has any spirit, she probably will react by choosing her Odysseus from the numerous ranks of last year’s gate-crashers. This year’s interventionists ought to be a select crowd, with possibly no less than two suits of good clothes.
Today’s newspaper in 1954 also carried a lengthy report of a libel case in London in which writer and journalist Honor Tracy sued the Sunday Times over an apology it printed to the parish priest of Doneraile, Co Cork, Canon Maurice O’Connell, for an article by her which had questioned the size and cost of his house. (She subsequently won the case and was awarded £3,000 damages.)
For free access to the day’s paper, click “On This Day”.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1954/0407/Pg005.html#Ar00504