Remembering the Good Old Days

I was "Googling" to see if my hometown newspaper, the Schaller Herald had any online presence yet (it didn't), and stumbled across a web page citing the Herald's editor as one among many who were dumbfounded by an 1898 tour by the pride of Marion, Iowa: the Cherry Sisters. Click the link here to read. Newspapermen in those days had quite a way with the language. Since they were also usually their own typesetters, you'd think they would want to write a bit more tersely.

For those who didn't know, the Cherry Sisters were to vaudeville what Florence Foster Jenkins was to opera, Elva Miller to 60's pop and the Shaggs to rock'n'roll: quite probably the worst to take the stage in that field. The linked article has its own links to other info about the Sisters, including an article that surmises the ladies knew how terrible they were: but they had an agenda.