It’s SNIPPET

Snatches of information too small for a feature and too interesting to ignore…

Fantastical creations:
“I want to capture the irregularity of the universe,” declared Jean Schlumberger, and perhaps he did. A designer of fashion and jewellery, he became renowned for fantastical creations and strong, sculptural designs, creating jewellery that was worn by the likes of Greta Garbo, Jacqueline Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. Born in France into a wealthy textile manufacturing family in 1907, Schlumberger arrived in New York City in the 1950s and in 1956 was hired by Tiffany & Co, where he ordered a special design studio and salon that were decorated to his specifications. Within two years he had been awarded the coveted Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award, deriving the inspiration for his jewels from the wildlife, fauna and flora that he encountered during his extensive world travels and using a palette of diamonds, coloured gemstones, platinum, gold and enamel. In fact Jacqueline Kennedy wore so many of Schlumberger’s bracelets the press dubbed them ‘Jackie bracelets’. Although his heyday was arguably between the mid-1950s and 1980s, today Tiffany & Co is reviving the designs of one of their most successful artists in their high jewellery portfolio. He remains one of only four jewellers that Tiffany & Co allowed to sign their work.

The yodelling boundary rider:
He was the first person named on the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown and with his band The Gaieties, he recorded some of the earliest hillbilly songs outside of the USA. Tex Morton arrived in Australia from New Zealand in the early 1930s and worked as a tent hand with travelling shows in Queensland before winning a talent quest in Sydney in 1936. He was awarded a recording contract and became known as the Yodelling Boundary Rider, touring Australia from 1937 to 1941 with a large combined circus, rodeo and singing show. Although he still included American songs in his show, Morton also wrote about local stories; in fact a song called Sergeant Small, written in 1938, was banned for many years because the police officer who was its subject objected to the way he was portrayed. In 1949 Morton moved to the USA and then Canada, where he toured as a stage hypnotist, memory expert, whip cracker and sharpshooter. He hosted a New Zealand TV show in the late 1960 and appeared in three Australian films in the early 1980s. Tex Morton was nothing if not versatile.

“Did you know… During World War I, attempts were made to rebrand the ‘hamburger’ as a ‘liberty sandwich’…”