A hero in white pants...Butler

General Butler

First Sergeant
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Looms like the summer heat of NO drove Ben to wear white pants and it appears as though he dropped some weight in the Crescent City.
Butler is never boring even in his wardrobe selection.
Someone needs to research the Jacob's photo studio and their ties to the Union.

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Someone needs to research the Jacob's photo studio and their ties to the Union.

I'm not being argumentative but why? Guessing once NOLA was occupied, businesses still had to turn a profit and couldn't be picky over whose money kept them ticking over? As a business owner you'd also be awfully concerned about staying on the right side of whose-in-charge. That wouldn't necessarily make someone a coward, they'd just be surviving.

Butler's trousers - must have been before Labor Day. :angel: My mother ( now 88 ) adhered to the ' no white after Labor Day etiquette ' thing to the point I still think twice. Which is silly- who gets to sit around making this stuff up?
 
I'm not being argumentative but why? Guessing once NOLA was occupied, businesses still had to turn a profit and couldn't be picky over whose money kept them ticking over? As a business owner you'd also be awfully concerned about staying on the right side of whose-in-charge. That wouldn't necessarily make someone a coward, they'd just be surviving.

Butler's trousers - must have been before Labor Day. :angel: My mother ( now 88 ) adhered to the ' no white after Labor Day etiquette ' thing to the point I still think twice. Which is silly- who gets to sit around making this stuff up?
I would have thought that serving the enemy would have been really frowned upon
Heck, when the banks there were told to honor Reb currency as real legal tender until enough US dough got into circulation they stamped they stamped the money "forced issue"
Plus this firm seemed to have been the unofficial official Butler photographer.
Just a thought...
As an FYI I wear my snappy white bucks until Labor Day as my NE upbringing would never allow even a white belt let alone white pants.
Lol
 
I would have thought that serving the enemy would have been really frowned upon
Heck, when the banks there were told to honor Reb currency as real legal tender until enough US dough got into circulation they stamped they stamped the money "forced issue"
Plus this firm seemed to have been the unofficial official Butler photographer.
Just a thought...
As an FYI I wear my snappy white bucks until Labor Day as my NE upbringing would never allow even a white belt let alone white pants.
Lol


OK, so now I'll be distracted until getting that answered. Wonder what was the case? It's a fair point that doing business with the enemy would be frowned upon- still, it's business. Hmmm. It may also have been a little intimidating to have THE general in charge walk into your studio and say ' NO '. It's all very well to make the patriotic, defiant speeches we read of but really, would a business owner always put that above the possibility of losing everything, making a family vulnerable and maybe going to jail?

Having said that, I know pre-war connection existed across the board that must have been tough to break. JPK's family had a ton of connections in Richmond, for instance. When his brother ended up a civilian prisoner there, there was a lot of head scratching ' what to do ', those connections now a part of the Confederate government. Has to have been difficult when friends and business associates were suddenly expected to behave to each other as if they were enemies?

Ah yes- same. NE does, or did become awfully beige post Labor Day. I still want to know who makes this stuff up in the first place.
 
That's an extraordinary picture of Butler, actually making him look tall and slender. I think the choice of wardrobe had a lot to do with that illusion. Ben was not a big man. He was short, and had an unfortunate body shape, with barrel-like trunk, and rather short limbs, that usually made him look "dumpy" no matter how well dressed he was. I remember years ago seeing a pair of his shoes that were absolutely tiny (looked like a size 6!)

He really should keep his hat on!

A business in NOLA that that cooperated with the occupation might have been unpopular with some, but it was likely to be profitable. And, business was booming in the Crescent City, 'unopularity' bed*mned! Profit often has a way of winning out over principle.
 
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OK, so now I'll be distracted until getting that answered. Wonder what was the case? It's a fair point that doing business with the enemy would be frowned upon- still, it's business. Hmmm. It may also have been a little intimidating to have THE general in charge walk into your studio and say ' NO '. It's all very well to make the patriotic, defiant speeches we read of but really, would a business owner always put that above the possibility of losing everything, making a family vulnerable and maybe going to jail?

Having said that, I know pre-war connection existed across the board that must have been tough to break. JPK's family had a ton of connections in Richmond, for instance. When his brother ended up a civilian prisoner there, there was a lot of head scratching ' what to do ', those connections now a part of the Confederate government. Has to have been difficult when friends and business associates were suddenly expected to behave to each other as if they were enemies?

Ah yes- same. NE does, or did become awfully beige post Labor Day. I still want to know who makes this stuff up in the first place.
Guess we'll never know.
The deep economic mystery of NO photos and the secret plan to prevent white clothes post Labor Day.
Better call Columbo
 
I still want to know who makes this stuff up in the first place.

Arbitrary social / fashion rules like this are for folks to show off your class, so if you wear white in the summer you have extra set(s) of clothes, that soil easily and can't be worn practically for "real" work (exception sailors, right). As for not wearing them after Labor Day, it's an early 20th century thing; Labor Day was invented in the 1880, but by not wearing white any more shows that you've returned from your "Summer Place" to make money.

Who makes them up? Rich folks who want to put themselves on a social plateau -- like three forks and two spoons and which to use first. You have to afford all those no-value extra forks and spoons and have the leisure time to learn exactly which to use for what. Or like, buying jeans that are pre-tattered to look like I'm poor when you know I actually had to pay a ridiculous price for what should really be a totally useless clothing piece.
 
Arbitrary social / fashion rules like this are for folks to show off your class, so if you wear white in the summer you have extra set(s) of clothes, that soil easily and can't be worn practically for "real" work (exception sailors, right). As for not wearing them after Labor Day, it's an early 20th century thing; Labor Day was invented in the 1880, but by not wearing white any more shows that you've returned from your "Summer Place" to make money.

Who makes them up? Rich folks who want to put themselves on a social plateau -- like three forks and two spoons and which to use first. You have to afford all those no-value extra forks and spoons and have the leisure time to learn exactly which to use for what. Or like, buying jeans that are pre-tattered to look like I'm poor when you know I actually had to pay a ridiculous price for what should really be a totally useless clothing piece.
Correct. But, in actuality they were mostly made up or at least codified by the Middle Class (used to call them the "bourgeoisie," don't hear that much any more), to mimic behavior they thought characterized the wealthy Upper Class they so ardently longed to join.
 
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Correct. But, in actuality they were mostly made up or at least codified by the Middle Class (used to call them the "bourgeoisie," don't hear that much any more), to fit the behavior they thought characterized the wealthy Upper Class they longed to join.

Oh yeah, you just have to draw the class line below you. Keep the brim flat on your baseball cap and the shiny metallic sticker under the brim so it looks new!
 
Doesn't exactly cut a dashing figure. Maybe he looks better out of uniform than in one. I look like can unmade bed no matter what I wear, so I can sympathize.

John
 
I would NOT call him a hero, just ask the folks in NO. On the pants, what the saying "Lipstick on a pig"
 
How.would the photographer in NO during the war gain access to the original unless he actually took the original?
NOTICE the White collar! It matches the trousers.Could not have worn one without the other. Nice cress to the pants! Hours of pressing to git that good.''THE BEAST'' wears custom uniform.OH!OH!Those eyes,those ''lazy eyes''.
 
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