Copyright by Kevin Jordan Bourque 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Kevin Jordan Bourque certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Blind Items: Anonymity, Notoriety, and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Celebrity Committee: Janine Barchas, Co-Supervisor Lisa L. Moore, Co-Supervisor Lance Bertelsen David Brewer Elizabeth A. Hedrick Blind Items: Anonymity, Notoriety, and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Celebrity by Kevin Jordan Bourque, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2012 “Talent is not what Uncle Buck and I deal in, Miss Van Allen,” I said, lightly resting my hand on Buck’s clenched fist. “We deal in myths. At any given moment the world requires one full-bodied blonde Aphrodite (Jean Harlow), one dark siren of flawless beauty (Hedy Lamarr), one powerful inarticulate brute of a man (John Wayne), one smooth debonair charmer (Melvyn Douglas), one world-weary corrupt lover past his prime (Humphrey Bogart), one eternal good-sex woman-wife (Myrna Loy), one wide-eyed chicken boy (Lon McCallister), one gentle girl singer (Susanna Foster), one winning stud (Clark Gable), one losing stud outside the law (James Cagney), and so on. Olympus supports many gods and goddesses and they are truly eternal, since whenever one fades or falls another promptly takes his place, for the race requires that the pantheon be always filled... And so, like priestesses, despite all personal hardship, we must constantly test and analyze the young men and women of America in order to find the glittering few who are immortal, who are the old, the permanent gods of our race reborn.” – Gore Vidal, Myra Breckinridge (1968) Acknowledgments My time working on and thinking about this project has been spent within a coterie of exceptionally generous, brilliant and nurturing people. I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have gained from their insight, and to have enjoyed time in their company. I am most indebted to the co-chairs of this project, Janine Barchas and Lisa Moore. Janine has been the closest reader of my work and its most engaged critic throughout my doctoral education, spurring my growth as a scholar and a writer. She has given unstintingly of her time, her energy and her brilliance. I owe much to her, and this project is far, far better for her engagement. Lisa has been a stalwart advocate and a penetrating reader, for many years and through many drafts. This project has benefited enormously from her direction and clarity, and many of its most lucid formulations were hers, given freely and cheerfully. I am consistently inspired by her bravery and dedication. It is a rare pleasure to have the engagement of two brilliant people. It is even rarer when both are so selfless with their time and ideas. Janine, Lisa, I can’t thank you enough. Each of you: il miglior fabbro. Beth Hedrick and Lance Bertelsen exerted profound effects on my course of study, through stimulating seminars, critical feedback, and frank advice. I first read Chrysal, the germ of this project, in the company of Beth, during weekly meetings in her office; I began thinking through the possibilities of eighteenth-century popular culture thanks to Lance’s teaching. I have benefited from their wisdom, their guidance and their consistent good humor. David Brewer, whose name is cited more often than any other in this dissertation, v has been very kind, and I am glad to have had him as a member of the committee. His scholarship has taught me much, as has his close, textured and intelligent feedback. Many archivists, librarians and outside scholars have assisted me in the research for this project. I owe an especial debt of gratitude to the staff of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, the University of Washington Libraries, the University of Illinois, and Interlibrary Services at the University of Texas, who responded to my copious requests for materials with alacrity and forbearance. Mark Blackwell, Hallie Rubenhold, David Mannings and Andrea di Robilant responded to requests with thoughtfulness and encouragement. I am grateful for their collegiality. Finally, I am thankful for the support of the Department of English, most especially Wayne Lesser and Elizabeth Cullingford, and appreciate the assistance and friendship of Rachel Schneider, Hala Herbly, Stephanie Odom, Julia Delacroix, Mary Katherine Matalon, Nandini Dhar, Naminata Diabate, Allen Lambert, Molly Hardy, Amy Jones, Richard Holt, Erin Hurt, Nada Herbly, Connie Steel, and Lauren Gantz. Each of you has been a blessing. vi Blind Items: Anonymity, Notoriety, and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Celebrity Kevin Bourque, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Supervisors: Janine Barchas and Lisa L. Moore Blind Items examines the multimedia production of celebrity through the eighteenth century, especially the way in which the same texts, images, anecdotes and poses were recycled and updated to evoke a series of public notables. In the multimedia explosion accompanying the Enlightenment, cultural productions typically read as static and self- contained – from mezzotint prints, shilling pamphlets and novels to popular songs, fashions, jokes and gestures – were instead constantly repurposed to suit successions of public figures, each passing luminary determined by the present cultural moment. Surveying three arenas in which eighteenth-century celebrity was manufactured – fashion, sex, and sport – my archive demonstrates that even canonical authors and artists of the period built their careers on the passing celebrity of others, and indeed maintained the relevance of their productions by perpetually remaking and updating their celebrity referents. Blind Items contests critical assumptions regarding the singularity of celebrity, instead focusing on interchangeability, commutability and disposability. In so doing, the project troubles ongoing assumptions regarding the rise of the individual, as it explains why modern-day celebrity still retains aspects of the Enlightenment mold that first gave it shape. vii Table of Contents List of Figures .......................................................................................................... ix Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Fashion ..................................................................................................36 Chapter 2 Sex .......................................................................................................112 Chapter 3 Sport ....................................................................................................197 Conclusion ............................................................................................................247 Bibliography ..........................................................................................................253 viii List of Figures Figure 0.1: Mezzotint of Maria Gunning as The Fair Hibernian ..........................13 Figure 0.2: Mezzotints of Clement Lemprière and Hannah Snell .........................15 Figure 0.3: Reader's inscription, Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea .................25 Figure 0.4: The Lecture on Heads, as depicted in the Universal Magazine ..............29 Figure 0.5: Frontispiece to The Lecture on Heads ..................................................30 Figure 0.6: Thomas Rowlandson, character types for The Lecture on Heads .........31 Figure 0.7: The miser, as depicted in Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy ...................32 Figure 0.8: The "character formed for command," in Essays on Physiognomy .........33 Figure 1.1: Promotional photo, Paulette Goddard in Paramount's Kitty ..............37 Figure 1.2: Paulette Goddard on the cover of Life ................................................39 Figure 1.3: Lux soap advertisement, McCall's .......................................................40 Figure 1.4: Portraits of Kitty Fisher by Joshua Reynolds ......................................43 Figure 1.5: The Merry Accident, or a Print in the Morning .....................................52 Figure 1.6: Mezzotint engravings and watch-paper of Kitty Fisher .......................53 Figure 1.7: Public Advertiser notice placed by Kitty Fisher ....................................55 Figure 1.8: Paul Sandby, from Twelve London Cries Done from the Life ................56 Figure 1.9: "Kitty Fell," in A Favourite Collection of English Songs .........................58 Figure 1.10: "Kitty Fisher," in Thompson's Collection of Country Dances .................60 Figure 1.11: Print of Fisher, repurposed as Nancy Dawson and Lady Grosvenor ...61 Figure 1.12: Marginalia identifying Kitty Fisher in Johnstone's Chrysal .................62 Figure 1.13: Nancy Dawson as mezzotint, tile and porcelain figurine .....................67 ix Figure 1.14: Print of Fanny Murray, repurposed as Kitty Fisher .............................70 Figure 1.15: Print of Nelly O'Brien; Kitty Fisher as Danae by Joshua Reynolds ......72 Figure 1.16: Richard Cosway, Miss Wools; Reynolds, Kitty Fisher with Doves ..........75 Figure 1.17: Portraits by Joshua Reynolds of Lady Adair and others ......................77 Figure 1.18: Portraits by Allan Ramsay of Lady Fox-Strangways and others ...........79 Figure 1.19: Portraits