The heroines of Disney, Don Bluth, DreamWorks and more are re-imagined as 1920s flappers, each with a story summary focused on a different aspect of 1920s history.
The wealthy Arendelle family left Scandinavia in 1912 to expand the family business to the States, where their new mansion in Minnesota was already complete. But the ship never made it to the New York harbor.
Being first-class, the mother and daughters made it to a lifeboat, but that lifeboat capsized. Elsa instinctively created a small ice raft under herself and her sister, who she shielded from the frigid temperatures with her own body; the cold never bothered Elsa. But she wasn't big enough to do the same for their mother, nor strong enough to hold on to her. The sisters were rescued, and brought to Arendelle Manor, located between Minneapolis and St. Paul. There they were raised by their Uncle Kai and Aunt Greta, who ran the house with the formal Edwardian etiquette they were used to, but were warm and loving to their nieces. They never directly addressed Elsa's "condition," but quietly accommodated her needs. Elsa grew up concealing and suppressing her gift as best she could, fearing that it was her emotional outburst that had caused the iceberg to appear in front of the Titanic.
Years later, Annie Arendelle is ecstatic by the booming Roaring Twenties. For the first time in forever, Annie is allowed to have as much wild fun as when she was a child. The new social freedoms for young women offer an open door for Annie to find love. Elsie however remains stubbornly trapped in an Edwardian "conceal, don't feel" lifestyle. At a Forth of July carnival, Annie meets Hans Sønder, and declares herself in love. Later, at the family's Forth of July ball, Elsie has a lapse in self-control, and turns everyone's (illegal) champagne into booze icicles, exposing her condition to everyone. In a panic, Elsie literally heads for the hills. She doesn't realize that she has left Minneapolis, St. Paul, and every suburb in-between covered in a thick July snowfall. For the many people whose business involves the illegal sale of alcohol, assets have literally frozen.
Dr. Weaselten Weselton, a prominent psychiatrist and guest at the family ball, comes up with a scientific explanation for how a woman's uncontrolled hysteria might have adverse affects on the weather, and suggests having Elsie committed for the protection of society. Annie won't have that, and begins tracking down her sister. She teams up with iceman Kristoff Bjorgman, and a talking snowman newsie named Olaf.
Kristoff's business may be declining due to the invention of the refrigerator, but most people still use ice boxes in the '20s, so his job security looks alright. New houses are still being built with ice doors opening right into the kitchen. And that St. Paul Winter Carnival has been doing its ice palaces since the 1800s. The group eventually finds that Elsie has made an art-deco ice palace of her own, that blows all of those others out of the water.
Unfortunately that ritzy ice palace is destroyed in a rein of Tommy gun bullets, from Hans' henchmen. Turns out Annie's new fiance isn't quite as respectable as he claims to be. Hans uses his social connections to get Elsie committed to an asylum, and tries to wack Annie, by leaving her to die from the icy illness her sister accidentally gave her. Elsie breaks out of the asylum, only to find that Annie is now a ritzy art-deco ice statue. Elsie drops her last Edwardian barrier, and lets lose the waterworks, which turn out to be the remedy for Annie's condition. The sisters expose Hans' mafia ties, and "Dr." Weselton's quackery. Annie hooks up with Kris, but takes things a bit slower this time around. Elsie un-f*cks the weather, except for a new art-deco ice a palace, where she finally lets it go on the dance floor.
AN: I deeply regret taking so long to get this one polished. This entire series was supposed to be released over the year 2020, with "Frozen" and "Anastasia" being posted in December. But then...2020 happened.
When George Darling first declared it time for Wendy to “grow up,” British society had little concept of adolescence. In Edwardian England, you went from being a child to being a young adult. But it turns out that Wendy wasn’t the only young person who wasn’t ready to grow up so fast.
With the Roaring Twenties comes the West’s first form of youth culture. The trauma of the Great War and the Spanish Flu pandemic has left the surviving teenagers determined to enjoy their lives while they still can. Also contributing to the change is the fact that secondary education is no longer just for the elite; middle class teenagers are now attending high school, and sometimes college, creating a new section of life between childhood and adulthood, where all the teens and college-age people are gathered in one social setting.
Wendy Darling enters the Twenties—and her twenties—in a melancholy state. She's seen her brothers changed by the Great War, and and lost school friends to both that war and the Spanish Flu. The introduction of jazz and flapper culture is a welcome escape from her personal demons and college studies. Mr. Darling has hangups about “negro music,” but the Darling children have long ago learned that so-called "less civilized" cultures can make some damn good music and dancing. For the first time since Never Land, Wendy can dance vigorously in a feathered headband, to high-energy tunes.
Victorian courtship is also being replaced by independent dating. And girls don't even have to wait for boys to ask them out first! It's now acceptable for her to make the first move. Wendy is now free to be as flirtatious and flighty as a mermaid. And the other girls at her sorority won't try to drown her for trying to join in the fun. (Well, some of them maybe.)
Wendy can also guzzle rum like a pirate, because alcohol is still perfectly legal in the United Kingdom. But when she visits America as an exchange student, she can finally attend a proper speakeasy. Donning furs and sneaking to secret hideaways brings back memories of her time with the Lost Boys. When the energy at the Hangman's Tree speakeasy winds down, Wendy, emboldened by liquor and the energy of the night, takes the stage. She brings many a drunk lounge-lizard to tears with her slow-jazz rendition of “Your Mother and Mine.” Even Tinker Bell is misty-eyed, from the green absinthe bottle she’s taken up residence in.
AN: This took longer than planned. Tinker Bell and Tiger Lily came out good enough the first time around that I didn't feel the need to redraw them. But I really wanted to change Wendy's pose. Her getup is very inspired by "Downton Abbey." Drawing that dead fox made me sad, but it was true to both the time period and the Lost Boys. (It's easy to forget that they're all human boys wearing pajamas made from full-bodied animals skins!)
In the 1910s, good girls didn't wear "paint." But as of the Roaring Twenties, it is now socially acceptable for women to wear heavy makeup on a daily basis. Before going out to the speakeasies, "Mimi" employs a number of techniques to alter her appearance. 1920s makeup is heavily stylized. Eye shadow is smokey, and lipstick is bold. Eye makeup inspired by Ancient Egypt paired with the Cupid's bow lipstick creates an exotic, dollish face. Blush applied to both the cheeks and kneecaps enhances the look of blooming youth.
With her silvery voice and bobbed purple hair, no one suspects that Mimi's beauty is only skin-deep, until she has their wallet and valuables in her gloved hand, or is taking their car out for a marvelous joy ride. Victims of the infamous Pink Pickpocket tell of her wiping her makeup away with a cackle, to reveal a hideous hag with a pig's snout underneath, just before they passed out from the Mickey she'd slipped into their drink. Stories of pink elephants and purple dragons are also not unheard of.
But it's not just about the money and the joy rides. Mimi loves games, especially ones she can cheat at, and many speakeasies double as casinos. She also enjoys hearing other peoples' stories about catastrophes like mafia wars, the Spanish Flu, and radium poisoning. She moved to Salem, MA largely for its grim reputation, and steady flow of naive visitors. She operates only at night; she hates sunshine.
AN: I don't know by what travesty I forgot to upload this to this blog when I drew it months ago! If only I'd discovered this error much earlier today; at least it's still April Fool's Day in some parts of the world.
Ash Rosas desperately wants that job at the Magnifico Radium Dial factory. Since the Great War, young women have been hired by radium companies to paint watch dials and hands with glowing, green radium, for use in the army. The work is artistic and relaxing, and the pay is great.
Chemists who handle radium wear heavy protection; but the girls at the factory are told that the amount they use isn’t a danger. In fact, radium is advertised as a “miracle” element, put in everything from cosmetics to food to toothpaste. The girls are instructed to “point” their paint brushes with their lips, since using water and rags wastes precious time. In addition to the nice pay, the girls also get to take home free samples! Radium girls paint their nails, clothes and sometimes teeth with the green glowing paint. Even those who don’t deliberately play with extra radium are often glowing like starry green galaxies when they walk home at night.
Ash is over the moon when she gets the job, with help from her friend Dolly Baker. Dolly is lucky to have landed the radium job when she did, because just a few months after she began working at Magnifico’s factory, she developed a mysterious illness that wrecked one of her legs, requiring her to walk with a cane. Good thing she has a low-stress job where she can sit down. All the girls are great friends, and get to know each other while they paint their glowing dials. Ash is surprised to learn that shy Bazeema used to be a chatterbox. Bazeema reveals that she began speaking less as her jaw began to ache over time; she wonders if it’s the stress of this new job, even though this is one of the least stressful jobs a girl can find in the 1920s. Upbeat Hal then reveals that she too has been suffering jaw aches since she began working here; her constant smiling is actually a pain response. Bazeema tends to disappear a lot, because she’s often out sick—increasingly so, over the last few months.
Ash is excited to get a promotion to the boss’s personal secretary. Her excitement wanes when she sees Mr. Magnifico don a thick apron, and protective gloves, to handle radium with prongs. Weren’t they told that these amounts of radium weren’t dangerous? Her confusion becomes horror when she begins filing the information that her boss wants kept from the public: reports from scientists on the dangers of radium, in any dose; autopsies of factory workers, that the company has sabotaged, to hide the true cause of death; photos and medical reports of young women with swollen or decomposing jaws. When Ash argues against the boss’s methods, she is promptly fired.
Knowing what she knows now, Ash cannot remain silent. She begins searching for a legal expert who can help expose Magnifico and the radium industry. The only lawyer she’s able to secure is Billy Valentino, a tiny goat of a man who doesn’t look very intimidating, but has a surprisingly commanding voice that comes in handy in the courtroom. Valentino gets Ash in contact with Dr. Aurelio Starling, a mute but brilliant young chemist well versed in the dangers of radium.
Ash, Valentino and Starling begin warning others and fighting to get the truth out. Magnifico starts a smear campaign, claiming that Ash and the other girls just have syphilis (the most well-known STD of the era). Ash is shocked when her friend Simon, a medical intern, actually partakes in the coverup, by falsifying medical reports in exchange for some nepotism. Defeating this dynasty of greed will take more than just three people. Ash and her friends work tirelessly to spread the truth, until enough masses are able to rise against Magnifico and put an end to his glowing green poison.
AN: Although "Wish" was underwhelming, I was excited to do Ash's entry for this series, because of how well her story worked into the Radium Girls. The fact that Magnifico's magic glows the same shade of green was just the chef's kiss. And although it's now been a hundred years, the story of the Radium Girls is still infuriating, and painfully relevant. Some of the girls' bones are reportedly still glowing in their graves, a century later.
The proverbial Cinderella Story is the very definition of the Roaring Twenties, as young Cindy Tremaine is about to find out.
By the late 1910s, poor Cindy is struggling to maintain the hope that she promised her parents she'd never give up, as she is worked to exhaustion by her abusive stepfamily. With the limitations placed on both the poor and women, she knows that her only realistic way out of this hellhole is through marriage. With her natural beauty and charm, she’s confident she could score a wealthy man, if she just had some way of worming herself into one of those upper-class social gatherings...and into something nice to wear. It seems impossible...
But then Cindy starts to notice some surprising upgrades in her stepfamily's lives. She's carrying and cleaning luxury items that would be pricey even for her filthy-rich relatives. Without revealing how much she's learning, Cindy gradually worms information from her stepmother and stepsisters about how they're affording all these things, and becomes familiar with the growing system of Credit—"Buy now, pay later." Credit Unions have been opened since the early 1900s, and as of 1914, Western Union and some department stores have begun issuing the first ever credit cards. The doorway Cindy needs to set her plan in motion has just opened before her, like magic.
While out running errands, Cindy looks around and realizes that social mobility is exploding all around her. Immigrants are fleeing persecution and starting new lives here in America. The African American community is undergoing a cultural revolution of art and music. The number of high school students in the country has doubled, and more and more of them are going on to college. To top it all off, women are finally about to win the right to vote.
Relying heavily on the advice of magazine columnist “the Fairy Godmother,” Cindy learns that the most important thing in winning over others is “it,” and all “it” is, is confidence. Clara Bow demonstrates on the silent screen, and Cindy practices dancing to the radio whenever her step-family isn’t looking (much to the chagrin of her rodent friends, who scramble to get out of her way). “It” finally all pays off when the most eligible bachelor in Manhattan throws a Gatsby-worthy New Year's ball at his mansion, on the eve of Prohibition. This December 31 of 1919, Charles "Charming" Prince's courtyard is lined with pumpkins full of alcohol that will only be legal for a few more hours.
The party is a wild display of extravagance and decadence that Jay Gatsby would envy. But the most enthusiastic dancer is a girl who no one knows. She must come from an incredibly wealthy background, with all her extravagant jewels and sequins. She belts it out on top of the pumpkin kegs to the roaring cheers of guests and servants alike, kicking her heels in a pair of art-deco glass shoes. The smitten heir jumps up onto the pumpkins to dance with her, and suddenly Cindy forgets all about money.
In the crowd below, Cindy’s stepmother narrows her eyes suspiciously, while her two daughters bury their heads in some pumpkin kegs.
Before Charming can get the girl’s name, the clock strikes midnight…and an ambush of FBI agents burst from their hiding places around the mansion’s grounds, hollering, “This is a raid!” Prohibition is now officially in effect. Feathers and sequins fly through the air as guests tear across the courtyard. Coppers are hacking the pumpkin kegs to pieces with axes, spilling their contents onto the brick paths below. Cindy’s stepmother tries to bribe the police lieutenant, while the stepsisters catch booze from the wrecked pumpkins in their bucket hats. Charming searches frantically for his dance partner, but Cindy has already taken off in her rented limo.
The next morning, no one from the party seems to know the mysterious woman. Did 200 drunken dancers all hallucinate the same girl?
Then, finally, among the overturned furniture and smashed pumpkins, Charming’s butler finds an art-deco glass slipper—the largest purchase on Cindy’s new credit card.
A/N: I really did Cindy dirty in this series for a long time. She's my least-favorite Disney princess, and her ballgown doesn't give one much to work with. Her overall motif felt too similar to Elsa, who I like much better. Still, I could have tried harder. I was inspired to give this another shot after seeing Amit Naftali's take on a flapper Cinderella. In addition to that picture, I also based my redo on this dress. Her new hairdo is based on this picture of actress Greta Garbo. And as before, Cindy's headpiece is inspired by Daisy Buchanan's from "The Great Gatsby" (2013).
To most of Philadelphia, she seems like a sizzling moll to Hector “Hercules” Greco, upcoming heavyweight champ with known mafia ties. Specifically, his long-lost, recently found, father, Big Zeus, head of the Greek Mafia from Philly all the way to Atlantic City.
It's not a great shock that Meg is up to her earrings in seedy crime. As of the 1920s, women bootleggers are commonplace, since they can hide more under their skirts, and attract less suspicion from coppers. Herc and the boys jokingly refer to Meg as their own personal Mata Hari. But what Herc and his grouchy Italian trainer Phil don’t know is that Meg is actually an F.B.I. informant.
Meg doesn’t want this job. But after her last good-for-nothing boyfriend left her to take the fall for his toppled schemes, she was forced into a plea deal, and now acts as a government mole, reporting to Agent Haiden “Hades” Burns. Meg has orders to nab evidence that Wonder Boy is entangled in fixed fights, as part of his pop’s crooked gambling ring. Once she completes this assignment, Meg's record will be wiped clean, and she'll finally be free. But she’s starting to fall for the big lug.
AN: Megara is one of my favorite Disney ladies, so it's a shame it took me so long to get her flapper picture redone. I did like the old version enough to keep it, but unfortunately it's saved in very poor quality. So I largely just traced over it. Meg's hair and scarf were inspired by Myrtle from "The Great Gatsby" (2013).
Esmeralda Danzer is a traveling Vaudeville dancer. As a Romani person in the 1920s, the entertainment industry is one of the few in which she can thrive with relative ease. Just as Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, and Charlie Chaplin. It certainly helps that not only is Vaudeville at the peak of its popularity, but Esmeralda's greatest talent, rigorous and "risque" (for the time) dancing, is the new national pastime. Her troupe combines jazz with traditional Romani music, in a proto-version of what will eventually be called "Gypsy Jazz." The band is long overdue for a stop in Charleston, South Carolina—entertainment hotspot, and home of the new and “scandalous” Charleston dance.
While performing at the Topsy Turvy Club, Esmeralda meets Quasimodo Bell, a shy young worker from a local circus. Quasi spends most of his days backstage as a strongman, but occasionally endures taunting in the sideshow, where he's billed as "the Hunchback." Before meeting Esmeralda, Quasi's only friends were Vic, Hugh, and Laverne, three disfigured dwarfs who also perform in his troupe. Sneaking into this speakeasy is his first time breaking the law.
Esmeralda is shocked to learn that Quasi’s foster-father is none other than Claude Frollo. Frollo is a judge considered racist even for his time, venomously obsessed with enforcing Prohibition, and using it to harass minorities at any opportunity. Frollo pushed Quasi into the circus career, convincing him that it was all he'd ever be good for, in spite of Quasi's artistic talents. Esmeralda can't believe someone as cruel and bigoted as Frollo could have raised someone as kind as Quasimodo. The surprises continue when Chief of Police Phoebus Gold turns out to also be incredibly progressive and noble, and a romance begins.
Judge Frollo develops a twisted fixation on Esmeralda, after witnessing her “sinful” performances around town, and being publicly challenged by her when he refuses to stop a mob from harassing Quasi at the sideshow. Quasi and the Chief track Esmeralda to an underground speakeasy called the Court of Miracles, to warn her that Frollo is planning a raid. Unfortunately, Frollo used Quasimodo and Phoebus to lead them right to the hideout.
Now completely unhinged, Frollo cuffs Esmeralda to the bars of her prison cell and douses her in alcohol, planning to “burn the witch in her own sin.” But just before the deranged judge can drop the match onto her, Quasi breaks through the bars of his cell, and sends Frollo across the jailhouse in a swipe of his arm. A mass jailbreak ensues, followed by an epic brawl, with some cops like Phoebus joining the wrongfully imprisoned citizens against Frollo’s corruption. Frollo ends up falling off the highest part of the Grace Memorial Bridge, to his long-overdue demise. Quasimodo is hailed as a national hero, and the city celebrates. Quasi eventually finally finds love with a gun moll named Maddy, who betrays her scam-artist boyfriend Sarouch and turns a new leaf.
AN: I hate how long I took for this one, since Esmeralda is my favorite Disney heroine. I didn't want to redraw her flapper picture from scratch, but the old version was of such low-quality that it couldn't be salvaged. It looks alright from the thumbnail, but up close you'll see what I mean. Her dress was inspired by Seraphine's red dress in the comic "Lackadaisy."
When the Ottoman Empire dissolved in 1922, Yasmine Agrabah and her father Hamed were among the wave of Arab immigrants starting a new life in Jacksonville, Florida. But a few years later, in 1926, the family moves to the other side of the state, to the newly developing Aladdin City. (Yes, seriously.)
Hamed Agrabah is a respected, if eccentric, businessman, who runs a successful shop selling animal figurines. He has no problem with his daughter being outspoken and dressing in Western fashion, because in the 1920s, neither of those is too unusual for women in many Middle Eastern countries. Women in Afghanistan actually gained the right to vote a year before women in the U.S. did! The Arab world is even developing its own version of jazz music. Yasmine Anglicizes her first name to Jasmine, and goes by Jazz for short. But Hamed draws the line at Jazz venturing outside their upper-class neighborhood, fearful for her safety.
Jazz sneaks out at night to frequent speakeasies, despite having no interest in alcohol. She just wants to break some rules, and make some real friends. During her nights out, she meets streetwise bootlegger Al, and the connection is immediate. But they’re separated when the speakeasy is busted, and they're both hauled off by the coppers. Jazz is bailed out of jail by her displeased father. To rub salt in the wound, her father’s business partner Jafar casually drops that he heard Al was killed in prison. Jazz is devastated, and blames herself.
Some time later, Jazz’s father hosts a fancy party at their mansion, in the hopes of introducing her to some eligible young men. A purple-and-gold limousine catches everyone’s attention as it pulls up to the driveway. The visitor’s blue-skinned butler introduces “Ali Ababwa,” a brilliant young business mind from a renowned “old money” family that no one has heard of. In his spiffy white suit with gold trim, Ali saunters into the party and charms the pants off everyone except Jazz and Jafar. Later that night, on her bedroom balcony, Jazz sees “Ali” trying to shoo her cat Raja away with his white, gold-brimmed fedora. His bad haircut underneath is instantly familiar. Ali insists that he and Jazz have never met, but she isn’t convinced. Nevertheless, she joins him in his purple limo for a night of adventure. Among other things, they see a production of the groundbreaking animated film “The Adventures of Prince Achmed”—the first feature-length animated movie in cinema. As the film ends, Jaz muses, “It’s too bad Abu couldn’t see this,” referring to Al’s pet monkey, and trips up “Ali” in his lie.
Later, Jafar’s hitmen send Al to sleep with the fishes, and Jafar slips Hamed a very powerful Mickey, hoping to coerce him into signing over his company and daughter. Al shows up just in time to expose Jafar’s snake-oil quackery. But Jafar catches a glimpse of a familiar art-deco bottle in Al’s fedora, and realizes that “Ali” is in fact Al, the young bootlegger who made off with the enchanted booze bottle Jafar had hoped to nab for himself. Jafar has Iago swipe the bottle out of Al’s purple limo, and the genie has a new master.
The magical battle that follows cumulates in the Miami Hurricane of 1926. Al defeats Jafar, frees the genie and gets the girl; but Aladdin City’s real estate value is permanently damaged. Nevertheless, everyone is happy to have survived the hurricane, and be free of a twisted crime lord. Citizens who recall seeing Al battle a giant snake, and Jafar transforming into a giant red genie, attribute these memories to the giggle-water they’ve been guzzling all decade. Those who don’t drink figure maybe they got a head injury during that hurricane. At any rate, Al and Jazz are married, and begin their life together in a whole new world of adventure.
AN: I waited far too long to get Jasmine into this series, and I blame her absence for why my "Prohibition Princesses" project hasn't gained as much attention as I'd hoped. Part of why she's so late coming is that I kept waiting for the chaos in the Middle East to simmer down, to minimize controversy. But Jasmine was also always going to take longer, because my favorite princesses tend to get the most elaborate designs. The patterns on her dress are based largely on her live-action counterpart. UPDATE: I fixed a few details and added Raja.
No one is happier than Belle LeBeau to see the 19th Amendment ratified in August of 1920. Perhaps her being a staunch suffragist is what makes Gaston Hunt, a ruthless hit man and misogynist, so dead set on subduing her.
1927. Rasputin may be defeated, but Anastasia and her Grandmama still have a silver storm of political chaos and dangers to navigate through.
The 1920s are a time of great dispute among the remaining Romanovs and their loyalists, over who is now the true tsar. Many loyalists and relatives now regard the Dowager Empress as Russia's true ruler, but it is an honor she has never never accepted, refusing to believe she was truly the last of the nuclear royal family.
The '20s have also seen the start of Anastasia imposters, as well as people claiming to be other Romanov children. The most famous imposter, Anna Anserson, never even made it to the Dowager Empress’s presence; Grandmama dismissed the fake before ever meeting her. The Dowager Empress was not the only one who wanted the little princess to turn up alive; the legend of Anastasia enchants people around the globe. Siberian resident Nadezhda Vasilyeva claimed to be Anastasia, in an attempt to relocate to China. The Kokoshniks of Russian royalty have also become a popular fashion accessory for flappers throughout the Western world.
The silver lining of all these imposters is that when the real Anastasia is finally found, few who get word of the discovery take it seriously, and the Soviets do not seem particularly concerned with her. Anastasia herself now has incredibly mixed feelings about the possibility of ruling Russia. Having grown up in a peasant orphanage with children of various backgrounds, Anya came to have a nuanced view of things, and before learning her true identity, regarded both the Tsar and the Soviets with a somewhat cynical indifference. Now that her memories are returning, the painful truths of her father's reign are an added trauma that she frankly does not need. Anya and Grandmama ultimately decide that the time of ruling bloodlines is for a past era, and that the burden of creating a just government for Russia can be left to someone else. They just want to live together in Paris, with the remaining family that they have.
A/N: This should have been the first non-Disney girl I drew for this series. I was originally saving her for December of 2020 (because of the song), but of course 2020 didn't go as expected.
Her dress is inspired by Billy Kent's Egyptian dress in "Boardwalk Empire," and Liza Minnelli's dress from the Money Song in "Cabaret" (1972). I tried to work in elements from both of Anya's gold dresses from the movie, as well as her music box.
Nani Pelekai is an orphaned Native woman with a small sister to support, and limited job opportunities. In 1920s Hawaii, her race and sex are two counts against her...
...After their parents died, she got a job at a local bar, but that ended with Prohibition—which extends to all U.S. territories, even the ones that are not yet states. Her best (if not only) option is the tourism industry, which has taken off rapidly since the Great War ended. So she gets a job serving the affluent tourists arriving by boat (air travel isn’t commonplace yet).
This stupid, fakey luau naturally violates Prohibition, and serves tourists Okolehao--a Hawaiian spirit brewed from ti plant, often with sugarcane and pineapple additives. Nani can tell the oke at this place is strong, when patrons begin accusing her sister Lilo’s new dog of being an alien creature responsible for reversing street signs and stealing everyone’s left shoe. That "dog" gets into the oke, and causes mayhem that results in Nani losing another job.
Fortunately, it turns out that Stitch and a couple of the tourists actually are aliens, and Agent Bubbles already knows them. Nani gets a new job selling leis, which are a newly popular commodity in the '20s. Stitch chooses to stay with Lilo. As the other aliens depart in their art-deco saucer, they cast their leis into the ocean, in a '20s tradition signifying their eventual return.
AN: I'd have done this one very differently, but the old version was good enough that it didn't make sense to do it over from scratch. I would someday like to draw Jumba and Pleakley as a '20s gangster and flapper.
Punzie Corona feels like a prisoner under the thumb of her strict Edwardian foster-mother, Ms. Gothel. In fact, it’s how she got her nickname.
Her legal name is Rachel Corona; but around the neighborhood, the homeschooled teen has earned nickname “Rapunzel,” both for the hair her foster-mom won’t let her bob, and for being practically imprisoned in her tower bedroom at Gothel Manor. “Rapunzel” has shortened her nickname to “Punzie,” to sound more fashionable. It’s about the only trendy thing she can do; Ms. Gothel won’t allow her to cut her hair, go out past sundown, or wear anything made after 1919.
All of that changes when a young bootlegger named Flynn Rider climbs through her window to hide from the cops, and makes first contact with Punzie’s frying pan. Once Flynn has earned her trust, Punzie starts sneaking out with him behind her foster-mother’s back. Being multi-talented as she is, Punzie finds no trouble tailoring some of her old Edwardian dresses into something more fashionable; learning the current makeup styles; and working around her long hair. She quickly learns how to do finger-waves and faux-bobs. In time, she can flawlessly replicate the long ringlets of Mary Pickford, and braided buns of Norma Smallwood. Punzie and Flynn's outings to the Snuggly Duckling speakeasy and Island Park are often interrupted by Officer Maximus, a young cop of few words but endless ambition, determined to someday pin something solid on Flynn Rider.
When Ms. Gothel gets wise to what’s going on, she’s furious. She calls Punzie a number of abusive names related to liberated women, and berates her for listening to “(slur redacted) music.” Punzie fires back that she knows that her “mother” only signed up to foster her for the money, and that with the help of Flynn and her new friends at the Snuggly Duckling, she’s tracked down her real parents in Providence. Gothel then reveals that she has reported evidence of Flynn’s bootlegging to the police, and implicated him in the double-homicide of his two former associates, the Stabbington brothers. Flynn now sits in prison, facing the death penalty. Gothel goes to bed thinking she’s destroyed Rapunzel’s spirit.
Worst birthday ever.
That is, until sundown, when Punzie manages to sneak out one more time. She rallies the gangsters at the Snuggly Duckling, who break Flynn out of prison, with the begrudging help of frenemy Officer Maximus. Once reunited with Punzie, Flynn takes her to a barber to commit the ultimate act of rebellion: the bob. With a brunette tint to boot! Maximus meanwhile gets to the bottom of who really killed the Stabbington brothers, via blunt-force trauma to their craniums.
The next morning, Gothel finds Punzie packing her bags with short brown hair, and a report of Flynn Rider’s jailbreak echoing from the radio. Gothel is livid. But as of yesterday, Punzie is now eighteen, so there isn’t a damn thing the old bag can do about it. Punzie and Flynn take the train to Providence to meet her bio-parents, who have gotten married in the years since scandalously having Punzie as unwed teenagers, when their families forced them to give her up. She’s already telephoned them, and they’re ecstatic to meet her.
Gothel drowns her rage in a bottle of gin, and stumbles drunkenly out of Rapunzel’s bedroom window. Officer Maximus arrives at Gothel Manor to arrest the true murderer of the Stabbingtons, only to find her crumbled in the garden below. The only witness swears on his scaled tail that it was purely an accident, she just fell.
Punzie ends up moving in with her bio-parents. She grows up to be a popular hair stylist; marries Flynn; and eventually grows her hair back out in the ‘30s, livening up the Great Depression with some swell new hairdos.
AN: Well, the bobbed version is much easier on the eyes; but if I didn't pimp out Rapunzel's long hair for this series, it would irk me forever. So I did. Her hair in the first picture is largely based on this photo of Jobyna Ralston, who I initially mistook for Mary Pickford. In the second picture, the flower bouquet pinned to the dress waist is worn by Clara Bow in "It" (1927), and Gladys George in "The Roaring Twenties" (1939). UPDATE: I added lace and patterns to her dress, and made her "crown" look more like a sequined 1920s headband (or tried to at least).
In 1924, Tiger Lily accompanies Peter Pan and Tinker Bell to Earth, to see their new movie. They're a bit surprised by the casting...
Tiger Lily is played by Chinese American actress Anna May Wong. Peter meanwhile is played by a girl (Betty Bronson). Accuracy does not seem to be a priority for American entertainment in the Roaring Twenties.
After the movie, they explore New York city. Tiger Lily encounters many images, characters and live performers who seem like they'd fit into her village back in Neverland. But she also encounters some real Native American people, objects and traditions, and begins to notice some differences.
Tiger Lily comes to realize that as a being born from the imagination of an Edwardian English child, she is not the same as real Native Americans like Molly Spotted Elk, Norma Smallwood or Princess White Deer. She is a fantasy aesthetic, created by, and largely for, white people. Real Native Americans like the aforementioned performers will don such aesthetics themselves, at times. But Tiger Lily is as close to their culture as the angel atop a Christmas tree is to Christianity. Tiger Lily enjoys being a cute mascot, but is also starting to wonder what it's like to be real.
AN: Well, you can't talk about minorities in the 1920s without talking about the racism and the cultural appropriation.
Tiger Lily's dress was inspired by the "Egyptian" dress that Billie Kent wears in "Boardwalk Empire." The feathered-crest hat is based on various vintage photos, including one of real Native American performer "Princess White Deer." (Link in the above description.) The diamonds are clipart, with altered coloring.
To some, Nikie Fields seems like a wet blanket to Posie Riverbend's daring flapper. But just because she's cautious and studious doesn't make Nikie any less capable or strong than her more outgoing friend. Nikie is a quintessential Girl Friday: for her best friend Posie; for the local food store, where she works the till; her family, and her tribe. When reading "The Maltese Falcon," Nikie identifies with Effie Perine. She may not look exciting, but it's no ordinary person who can handle being best friends with the wildest flapper in Virginia.
AN: The corn hat is based on a grape hat worn by Clara Bow, in "It" (1927). In that movie, she too has a hard-working, less-outgoing best friend, who is strong in her own way.
In 1924, Virginia “Posie” Riverbend officially becomes a citizen of the United States of America, along with the rest of her tribe. About damn time, given they’re more “American” than anyone. But that same year, the Racial Integrity Act bans Posie from marrying her white boyfriend, “John Smith.” The Powhatan flapper and the white bootlegger carry on their illegal affair in secret, seeking out nightlife adventures.
It was at the speakeasies that Posie earned her nickname, "Pocahontas," shortened to Posie. She got the nickname for tossing herself over a white man at a speakeasy, just when he was about to take a pounding from some other bootleggers he'd been arguing with; they were taken aback, and the fight was called off. Actually, she'd just tripped and fell over him; hadn't even noticed there was a fight about to start. But she got stuck with the nickname, and that's how she met "John Smith." From then on, she tended to flaunt her heritage with cheeky fashion stereotypes, much like performer Molly Spotted Elk. In 1926, Norma Smallwood, the first Native American to win Miss America, also becomes an inspiration for Posie.
Posie’s father knows that his daughter frequents speakeasies, and has long since given up trying to talk her out of her flapper lifestyle. But he doesn’t know about “John Smith.” Only Posie’s best friend Nikie knows about that. Nikie constantly warns Posie about what could happen if a speakeasy gets raided by the police, and what kind of business “John Smith” is most likely involved in. For Posie, the dangers just make it all more enticing. The fact that the government is still treating Native Americans absolutely abhorrently also stifles Posie’s respect for the law.
The affair seemingly ends in tragedy, when John Smith is reported gunned down during a rooftop shootout. After a period of mourning, Posie rebounds with another white lounge lizard named Ralph Johnson. This government-employed dweeb is everything John Smith wasn’t. He meets Posie because he’s on an assignment from Lewis Meriam, conducting surveys among Native Americans for the Meriam Report, which will address far-too-long overlooked social issues in the American Indian community. Posie gets involved in Ralph's research, and with Ralph. When John Smith later turns up alive, things get complicated.
AN: Turning the Colors of the Wind into a feather boa is the brilliant idea of DeviantArt user EstrangeloEdessa. The hummingbird earrings are a reference to “Boardwalk Empire.”
Charlotte La Bouff has got money, status and looks. But more important than all of that combined, she’s got It. What is It? Confidence? Energy? Who can say. But writer Elinor Glyn can tell us that It transcends appearances and social status. “It” comes from within. Silent film actress Clara Bow demonstrates It in “It” (1927). Bow has set the stage for It Girls all over America. Her best friend Tiana may be the top entrepreneur of New Orleans, but no one denies that Lottie La Bouff is the French Quarter's leading It Girl.
AN: Lottie gives Mae West vibes here, which is fitting (even if Mae West was a decade later). The flowers are clipart.
Dot Bloomington dreams of making it big in Jazz Age Broadway, and marrying her new boyfriend, Cornelius Springer.
They met last summer, when Corny was home from college. But now that it’s autumn, he’s forced to return to his dorm at Princeton. Broadway is a long way from the rural Pennsylvanian town Dot and her mother live in, so Dot starts with gigs closer to home.
Theater is a booming business in the Roaring Twenties. Dot starts her stage career performing "Showboat" on a showboat, with the musical Sapo family. She’s a local hit, billed as "Thumbelina" for her petite stature (greatly admired in the '20s). She writes Ma postcards with pictures of windmills and riverboats, saying everything’s going great. She leaves out how homesick she feels, how little the pay is, and Mrs. Sapo’s not-so-subtle hints that Dot needs to hook up with her creepy toad of a son to get a raise.
While performing on the river, Dot meets Jacq, a gay theater agent from France, who’s interested in being her new manager. That night, Dot leaves her written two-minute notice her old manager’s desk, and departs with Jocq. But even with Jocq’s help, getting to Broadway seems…impossible.
She ends up performing at a speakeasy in Philadelphia called the Beetle Ballroom, under an insufferable manager whose words are as abusive as his screeching parrot-like voice. Her supportive new agent and friend, Jocq, helps her bear through it. That is, until Jocq gets arrested for public drunkenness, leaving Dot on her own.
By winter, Dot has quit the Beetle gig, and is fretting over the fact that she hasn't heard from her boyfriend in a couple of months. Then she gets the news; Corny Springer is missing, presumed dead. Rumors tell of him tangling with the mob, and ending up in the Delaware River.
Dot drowns her sorrows in a speakeasy located in an abandoned underground mining tunnel. In that literal underground saloon, she meets Mousey Fields--a veteran of the vaudeville stage life, and matron showgirl here at the Mole's Burrow. Mousey Fields offers Dot a job as a singer; the only catch is that the atmosphere is dismal, and there’s a “casting couch.” Mousey Fields seems hellbent on pressuring Dot into giving into Mr. Mole’s advances. Dot needs time to think it over.
While Miss Fields performs an off-key song number in a risqué outfit, Mr. Mole shows Dot his “eclectic clientele” of barflies, who mostly appear to be asleep, passed out, or dead. Among them is none other than a recently paroled Jocq! Luckily he’s just passed out drunk, but isn’t very lucid even when he comes to. Jocq drunkenly declares that he will find Dot’s boyfriend for her, and takes off again before she can stop him.
Her hope gone, Dot walks into the back room, where Mr. Mole awaits. The obese boss is posed seductively on the couch in his underwear, grinning toothily, offering her a martini. As she reaches for the glass, Dot sees the ring that Corny gave her, and remembers her promise.
Withdrawing her hand, she hisses, “Never!”
Mr. Mole blinks. “Wha…?”
“Never!” she repeats.
A new voice—the rat-faced techie, standing behind a primitive video camera, set up to record Dot and the Mole—asks softly, “I beg your pardon?”
“I cannot shag Mr. Mole! I don’t love him!”
“Dot!” Miss Fields scolds angrily, from her peeping hole in the wall.
At that moment, Mr. Berkley from the Beetle Ballroom comes crashing through the ceiling, cackling madly. It turns out that despite Berkley’s insults, Dot was quite the hit, and his profits have taken a dive since she left. Then the Sapo family shows up, also wanting Dot back. And it also turns out that Mr. Mole, Berkley and the Sapos are all involved in organized crime. The Tommy guns come out. Dot makes a run for it.
Where’s Corny Springer been all this time? After the Sapo brothers dumped him in the icy river, he was rescued by some annoying local children, and spent two months half-dead in intensive care. By the time Corny finds Dot, there is no need for a daring rescue, as all of the gangsters have killed each other.
Dot and Corny have an elaborate outdoor wedding. With her new husband’s salary, Jocq’s management, and emotional support from Mother, Dot Springer is finally being billed on the big stage as the Philadelphia Firefly.
AN: Man I love that beetle dress! Thumbelina's flapper-motif was inspired by Dot King, the "Broadway Butterfly." Though this Dot has a much happier ending.
