All together now: EWWWWWWWW!
As a kid growing up on 1950s (sanitized) television shows and cowboy movies, I ~ like so many other kids ~ had a romantic vision of what the 'Old West' must have been like. Sure, it seemed romantic ~ wide open spaces, stage coach travel, saloons filled with good-looking, rootin' tootin' cowboys ~ who could want for anything more?
It was quite a rude awakening to discover the UNsanitized version and totally different story it presented. What I never realized was how downright dirty those times were. Depending on the weather, those packed dirt streets were either in your-face-and-throat dust or swampy, soggy mud that left a thick coating on anything that touched it...including those long dresses worn by women of that time. How attractive!
Spittoons were also a common factor of the day. All those hits and misses leave me gagging at the thought of what the floors must have been like...one big slimy ash tray.
And the prevalence of body odor had to have given rise to a whole new industry: anti-antiperspirants and deodorants. Good old American ingenuity.
So, Cole Porter's "give me land, lots of land under starry skies above, don't fence me in" was just another way of saying "you smell, your habits are abominable, stay far away from me!"
Happy trails to you...and if we do ever meet again, for God's sake, please have that "extra" for clean bath water!
