Ballooning in the 1830's

Daddy Rice is said to have peppered his performances with references to local culture wherever he was playing, but Lhamon points out how he takes elements from the larger culture and puts them to use in his plays. Ginger Blue in VIRGINIA MUMMY had a real mummy in the British Museum named after him. And in BONE SQUASH DIAVOLO, the title character makes his escape from the devil at the end in a hot air balloon. Ballooning was a phenomenon in the 1830's, although in those days they didn't do much more than go up and down at country fairs and carnavals. The great age didn't start, it seems, until 1836 and beyond, although for years there had already been expressed concern among warmongering circles that Britain was vulnerable to attack by balloon from mainland Europe. I've seen an illustration of such a speculative attack, inside a book about the naming of clouds (cumulus, cumulonimbus, etc. all quietly monickered by an English amateur named Luke Howard), but I've been unable to find it online.



This is the best I can do, although it's actually a celebration in Paris. Perhaps a Victory celebration? And this:



Oh wait. Here it is. I see now that it doesn't represent speculation in England. It represents speculation in France.

John Wise was a notable early pioneer, who dropped his cat from a church steeple attached to a parachute and watched it land safely, later made his first ascent in 1835, later invented the rip cord, later made the first air mail flight, later died in a fiery crash into Lake Michigan in 1879, where he remains to this day with the shell of his balloon.

Here are some more illustrations, mostly satirical, of the ballooning obsession of the 19th Century. And here's a picture of the landing after the very first goose-laden ascent.

Banjo Banjar apologizes for the disparate nature of these notes. That's the way things get assembled in a jar.

But for those who think banjos and balloon have nothing in common (aside from their appearance in the pre-Minstrel plays of Daddy Rice), I offer this little reminder: