BROOKLYN DREAMS OF ELECTRIC SHEEP (1903)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** In 1903, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle printed a fantastical futuristic story that gave insight into what Brooklyn’s imaginative residents may have suspected was the future for their borough. Entitled, “Brooklyn in 1999,” it was subtitled, “When Electricity Has Gone Out of Fashion and the B. R. T. Has Air Line Franchises” – a hopeful nod at the speed of progress, as well as a cynical snipe at how, ironically, “nothing ever really changes.” Like most “dreams” of the future, this one was rather reflective of the then-present, albeit including the compulsory automatic-everything and instantaneous air travel. One thing is a certainly, and that was the 1903 Brooklynite’s token view of “the help,” which was, in this case, the omnipresent Irish kitchen girl, who lives on in the form of an automaton with a fairly common Irish name… ********************************************************************************************* “The iron bridget’s out of order again this morning,” complained Mrs. Bobbidge, as her husband came out to the diningroom in his dressing gown and slippers. “Bother!” was Mr. Bobbidge’s remark. “This’ll make the fourth morning this month that I have been late at the office. He glanced at the clock. It was half past 10. He had only half an hour in which to get his breakfast and reach his desk. “We’ll […]
