October is Women’s History Month and the Toronto Archives has been posting on and off some wonderful photos of Canadian Women who achieved great things in life. One of the recent photos was the one below. It’s from 1928 and features 7 women from the Canadian Olympic team heading off to forge their place in sports history.

1920s vintage photo of the 1928 Canadian women heading to Summer Olympics waving from the back of a train in 1920s fashions. — Source: Toronto Archives

So who exactly were these women and did they achieve their Olympic dreams? Lets find out in today’s blog post….

Canada’s First Female Olympic Medalists – 1928

The Vintage History & Photos

1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam

The 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam was a milestone for women in Canada as this would be the first time they would be allowed to participate at these games and in Track and Field (Note: In 1924 the Winter Olympics did have 15-year-old Canadian, Cecil Smith but that was all that was sent). Canada would end up sending 6 women for track and field and 1 more who was sponsored privately and was a swimmer (Source).

1928 summer olympics official program graphic design. — Source: Wikipedia

Who are the women that participated in 1928?

Myrtle Cook, Jean Thompson, Ethel Smith, Ethel Catherwood, Fannie Rosenfeld, Florence Bell and Dorothy Prior.

The track and field team were nicknamed the “Matchless Six” and Canadians had high hopes for these ladies of speed and strength (even though there were many that felt that women participating in the Olympics was controversial).

1920s vintage photo of the Canada's women's team at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. — Check out the stylish 1920’s flapper inspired Uniforms. Don’t the ladies look so good? Source: Huffington Post

How did they do at the Olympics?

That year Canada sent 69 Athletes to the games and took home 4 Gold’s, 4 Silver’s and 7 Bronze and ranked 10th in the world. Where did our women place?

Fannie “Bobbie” Rosenfeld

Was considered the best all around athlete on the team, competing in both track and field. She did not disappoint and went on to win the gold medal for the 400 meter relay, a silver for the 100 meter (in a photo finish), and a fifth place in the 800 meter. Rosenfeld scored more points for her country than any other athlete at the Games, male or female (source).

1920s vintage photo of Women's Olympic Track and Field running, Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld — Source: Women of Valor

The 800 Meter Race Controversy – The most controversial race for women at this time. Why? Two full laps around the track, at full speed was considered too stressful for the delicate female body.

Rosenfeld was never supposed to be in this race, as 17-year-old Jean Thompson was set to run it and considered a medal contestant. Jean had hurt herself in training before the games and now found herself extremely nervous before the big race, so Bobbie was asked to race with her to encourage and support her teammate. This turned out to be a good idea because Jean did in fact falter (due to being hit by another runner) and Rosenfeld would then run from the back of the pack to beside Jean and let her finish ahead in fourth place while she took fifth.Their team manager Gibb called it “one of the finest exhibitions of sportsmanship ever witnessed on any track”.

At the finish line, 5 of the women that ran the race collapsed at the end due to “giving it all they had”.

1920s vintage photo of the 1928 800 metre summer olympics womens race — The Start of the Race. Source: Go Feet

The media felt differently about this race though and would end up going on the attack saying things like, “it was hysterical” and “the competitors were floundering all over the place” (from an Australian publication called the Bulletin). The London Times called it a “warning for women’s athletics in general” and Harper’s Magazine deemed the competitors “wretched women (Source).”

1928 summer olympics 800 metres controversary article — Source: Sport in American History

Sadly the press was looking for failure even when failure was not there.

I am very proud of Bobbie & Jean personally!

Myrtle Cook

(#675 below)

In this photo 15-year-old Myrtle is show winning the preliminary heat in the women’s 100m race against Norma Wilson of New Zealand and Bets ter Horst of Netherlands on July 30, 1928 (Source).

Myrtle’s Olympic journey was not an easy one at first, as she ended up being disqualified from the 100m finals for 2 false starts. She would bounce back by running the last leg of the 4 x 100-metre relay securing a first place finish for the Canadian relay team made up of Cook, Jane Bell, Ethel Smith, and Bobbie Rosenfeld.

1920s vintage photo of the 1928 Summer Olympics women's 100m race featuring Canadian Myrtle Cook — Source: Wikipedia

Ethel Catherwood

Nicknamed “Saskatoon Lily”, Ethel’s sport in 1928 was High Jump and she had a Gold Medal victory by jumping 1.59 metres defeating dutchwoman Lien Gisolf.

1920s vintage photo of Canadian Olympic Gold Medal Winner in High Jump, Ethel Catherwood in the 1928 Olympics.

This win was the first ever gold medal awarded to a female high jumper and she holds the title as the only Canadian female athlete to have won an individual gold medal in an Olympic track and field event.

Ethel Smith

Ethel would go on to win the Bronze in the 100 meter with Bobbie as well as Gold in the 4 x 100 m rely.

Jane Bell

Helped bring home the Gold in the 4 x 100 m relay at the young age of 18.

Dorothy Prior

The swimmer on the team and competed in the women’s 200 metre breaststroke (at the age of 16). She would come in fourth place. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any other photos, beyond the one at the very beginning of Dorothy.

More Milestones:

Did you know that their wins equaled 25% of Canada’s medal haul and they were the only country to win more than one gold across the five track and field events in Amsterdam? That is an incredible! (source)

1920s vintage photo of Canadian Women's Olympians at the 1928 Olympics. The womens olympic team the matchless 6 — Source: Canadian Sports History

What happened when they got home?

“The Matchless Six” returned to ticker-tape parades in Toronto and Montreal. The press estimated that 200 000 people jammed Toronto’s Union Station and adjacent Front Street and another 100 000 lined the parade route (Source).

BUT the “Controversy” of sending women to the Summer Olympics (especially after the 800 meter race), was not forgotten and the IAAF voted to keep women athletics, but in a much limited form: They removed the long jump, shot put, 200 metres and 800 metres from the realm of women’s competition.

It would be 32 years before women would be permitted to run the 800-metre race at the Olympics again (Source).

1960s vintage photo of olympics 800 metre womens race — 1960’s Women’s 800 metre race

Friends that is the story of Canada’s first female Olympians, I hope you enjoyed learning all about these amazing women and their journey to making history and the struggles that they had to endure and overcome. I know I sure did!

FURTHER READING:

Collection of Blog Posts on ‘Vintage Women’s History‘
Vintage Photo Tuesday: Winter Olympics-1920’s to 1950’s
Vintage Summer Olympic Posters & Advertisements

Liz

Announcement! I have a Swizzle Sticks addiction (vintage in particular). I just love all the creative things that have been done on such a small piece of real estate. They are colourful, they are fun, they are artistic and they are so darn collectible! I want them all and I’m on a mission to do just that.

Swizzle sticks and stir sticks collection from the vintage inn blog — Just SOME of my collection

For today’s post I’m not going to go on about how I’m going to achieve total Swizzle Stick domination but instead we are going to check out their history (my coles notes version) and also view some examples of these lovely works of art.

Let’s begin!

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay, are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Note: If the item you clicked on is no longer available, just do a search for like items. There are loads of vintage items being added to Etsy and eBay daily!

The Early Days of the Swizzle Stick-Brief History

According to my research, it looks like the Swizzle Stick made its appearance around the 1600’s in the West Indies. It’s purpose was to help enhance a Barbados-based cocktail “The Swizzle” that contained rum, sugar and ice.

Frederick Albion Ober’s 1920’s book ‘A Guide to the West Indies, Bermuda and Panama’ gives one of the first recorded insights into the origins of the stick itself (Source):

“The stem of a native plant with radiating twigs, or roots, which, being deprived of its outer bark, is revolved rapidly between the palms of the hands,” writes Ober, “and, through the combined action of the motion and a peculiar saponaceous quality of the cambium layer of the twigs, produces a delicious froth.”

Often the pronged branches of the allspice bush or aromatic quararibea turbinate (seen below) were used, which eventually earned the plant its nickname: the Swizzlestick Tree.

Quararibea turbinate swizzlestick tree branch

If you look at the my “collection” photo at the top of this post, you will see that one of the swizzle sticks looks like the quararibea turbinate branch. When I first received the stick as a gift I thought the prongs were for helping it stand up (silly Liz haha). Now I know that is not the true reason.

But where does the name “Swizzle” come from?

Tales of the Cocktail stated in a 2016 post that the word swizzle, according to the 1891 “Century Dictionary: An Encylopedic Lexicon of the English Language,” comes from a combination of the words swill and guzzle.

But they also stated that drink that was mentioned above called the “Swizzle” was named this because of the whisk-like motion of making it – “Swizzling”.

So it seems that the name of the stick truly reflects the original drinks origin as opposed the 1891 dictionary description. Do you agree?

Here comes the 1920’s!

The Swizzle sticks have found a new purpose in this decade beyond swizzling drinks, they are now being used by Queen Victoria and refined ladies to stir bubbles OUT of their Champagne. Why? Well ladies of Society don’t want any unwanted “gas like emissions” do they?

1950’s Champagne Swizzle Stick (1920’s looked similar)

Sterling Silver Champagne Swizzle Stick 1950s — Source: Bexfield Antiques

NOT the proper way to drink your Champagne.

Marketing comes into play

When a great idea is found and seems to be rising in popularity, you can ALWAYS be sure that Marketing is not that far behind to capitalize on its success and this is exactly what happened after prohibition was over.

Meet Inventor Jay Sindler, who needed a way to remove the olive from his martini without using his fingers. So he sketched out an idea of a barbed wooden spear featuring a small paddle at the other end, which could be imprinted with the establishment’s name or logo (Source). A problem was solved and bars who needed to advertise after Prohibition was over had a new marketing tool.

Further Reading: A Look Back At Life In 1940s-1960s Drinking Establishments & Home Bars

vintage stir swizzle sticks — Source: Pinterest

1950’s & 1960’s

For the next few decades these cocktail stirrers are now common sight with the 50’s and 60’s being the top of its game and of course the kitsch factor is kicked up to 10.

Further Reading: Mini Guide To Holding The Ultimate 1950’s Themed Party

vintage pink elephant cocktail stirrers — Source: Pinterest

Thanks to a friend, I now have these whistle cocktail stir sticks in my collection.

whistle cocktail swizzle sticks vintage — Source: Pinterest

Vintage mermaid swizzle sticks from The Seven Seas Cocktail Lounge in Edmonton, Alberta. Circa 1960’s.

4 sweet vintage mermaid swizzle sticks from The Seven Seas Cocktail

Source: Etsy

Desert Cactus Happy Hour fun!

Vintage Cocktail Stirrers: Desert Cactus — Source: Pinterest

Pinup Stir Sticks

1950s Pin-Up Cocktail Sticks — Source: theinvisibleagent

Tiki Time!

vintage 60's tiki swizzle sticks — Source: Pinterest

TWA Cocktail Sticks-Cool!

Further Reading: The Stylish Fashions of Air Travel in the Early Days

1950s TWA Airlines Cocktail Swizzle Sticks — Source: Etsy

The End of an Era

The 1970’s saw the downfall of the swizzle sticks as wine took over as the cheap drink of choice and from that decade on, our favorite little drink decoration is left behind in the dust.

Today, Swizzle Sticks are still not back in popularity ($16 craft cocktails don’t see a need for a kitschy plastic stick in their glasses) but you can still see them in Tiki Bars that have risen in popularity over the last couple of years. AND for those who are serious collectors, there is an International Association of Swizzle Stick Collectors for you to join (now that is cool!).

Do you have swizzle sticks you don’t know what to do with? Why not make a Swizzle Crown like I am wearing here? Put out your favorites on display, make a collage and frame them. Take them to a vintage store. Put them out during a party and have friends take the ones they like. The ideas are endless. Let me know what you have done with your extras in the comment section below.

Swizzle Stick Crown-Craft idea with extra swizzle sticks as seen on Liz from the Vintage Inn Blog.

That ends our little Swizzle Stick road trip for today so I hope you had as much fun as I did learning all about these cool pieces of cocktail history.

Question Time! Do you own a collection of Swizzle Sticks? And if you could create your OWN Swizzle Stick what would it look like? Please share in the comments below.

Liz

P.S. Make sure at your next Cocktail Party you add these to the bar! Or you can add them to your 1950’s Party. Check out my blog post on how to plan that party with those Swizzle Sticks.

Category: vintage History

1928-Canada’s First Female Olympic Medalists