In the 1920s, the women’s suffrage movement was picking up momentum after almost 100 years of struggle. Activists for women’s suffrage campaigned in ways that were considered “unladylike,” such as marching in parades and giving street corner speeches.
When Hazel Taylor was an old woman, she remembered vividly one occasion from her early years when she and her new husband Edward, dressed for a festive evening, were riding to an event and he suddenly stopped the car and leaped out to catch a small snake on the road, which he promptly shoved into a pocket of his white jacket. “Was I sitting on the same side as the snake?” she asked in horror. Which pocket did he put it in?
Snakes fascinated him. Shortly after they married in 1916 the young couple moved to the Philippine Islands, where Edward had charge of research in the fisheries industry. Although he was sent there to do research on edible fish, his main interest was snakes. She found out too late that their interests were far apart. It was a short marriage. They were divorced following the tragic death at age 5 of the oldest of their three children.
Divorce was uncommon in the 1920’s. Although it was easier to get one in the 1920s than it had been in previous years, it carried a heavy stigma. Married women were expected to devote themselves to running the household, raising children and to pleasing their husbands. Early feminists, flappers, and ‘loose morals’ were blamed for the increase in divorce rates. But Hazel Taylor was none of these. Who was she then?
Young Hazel
When Hazel was just 3, she rode the first Ferris Wheel at the 1893 World’s Fair. She was with her parents, but still, it was an experience she never forgot.
By the time she turned 25, she had earned both undergraduate and masters degrees. Most women did not attend college in the early 1900’s. And if they did, it was to all women colleges, and most were for training teachers. The University of Michigan’s president of the time addressing the state Legislature set the tone for state universities admitting women in this statement: “Many of the studies pursued at university level are absolutely incompatible for true delicacy and modesty of women, which are the most pleasing and essential elements of her being”.
And what were Hazel’s degrees in? Theater. Acting had been her greatest interest from her earliest years. “In school I played men’s roles, and when traveling players, who were popular then, needed extras they always borrowed me,” she later told a Record-Eagle staff writer. “My parents were horrified when they found out I intended to try out for a leading role at the Little Theatre in Chicago,” she recalled. A stage career was considered highly improper for a “nice girl from a good family”.
She was reminded of this in no uncertain terms by her father, who sent a telegram which said only, “If you love your mother, come home. Love, Father”
“We Can Do It!” is an American World War II wartime poster produced by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as an inspirational image to boost female worker morale.
A Visit to Omena to living in the Phillippine Islands
About this time (1915) Hazel visited Omena. There she met a young man, Edward Harrison Taylor, who was spending the summer at one of the hotels in our area. They married the following year, and moved to the Philippine Islands, where Edward had been hired to do research for the fisheries industry. When their short marriage ended, she stayed in the Philippine Islands, and turned to writing, turning out stories and magazine articles and later a book based on island folklore, for school children.
Hazel used her writing and theater skills after the outbreak of World War II. She became a writer and information specialist for the U.S. War Department. She wrote speeches for some of the military officers. Sometimes she had to coach the top brass in delivering them effectively, according to Hazel. She was writing for the War Department when they formed the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) in September 1942. The WASPS were the first group of women learned how to fly American military aircraft.
General Henry Hap Arnold of the U.S. Air Force
Conflicting Demands
Rather than publishing stories about the actual duties of these women pilots, newspapers at the time were publishing tongue-in-cheek stories about the women’s masculine flying garb or photographing them refreshing their lipstick prior to takeoff. Hazel had to navigate conflicting demands from her senior officers on what she wrote. She became adept at biting her tongue while thinly veiling her own more progressive opinions. When writing public relations articles, she continually side-stepped issues such as the real dangers the women faced testing and ferrying aircraft. Ignored concerns of whether or not these women would compete with men for jobs after the war.
She loved the challenge of her job. She could be frank and use candor when she found things not to her liking in her job. From the end of the war until her retirement three years later, she served on the staff of General Henry “Hap” Arnold. Arnold was the commander of the Army Air Forces, the only United States Air Force General to hold five-star rank. He commanded the largest and most powerful air force in the world at that time.
In the June 26, 1975, edition of the Leelanau Enterprise there is an article with the headline: “Women Were Subservient to Men in 1915”. Ten years later they featured Hazel Taylor at 95 in an article about her interesting life. This photo is from that article.
Perfect Women of the 40’s?
At the same time that Hazel was serving on the staff of General Henry “Hap” Arnold, John Powers was distributing perfect woman pamphlets. “Woman’s responsibility any time, at any age, and in any year has always been to inspire those with whom she comes in contact, her husband in particular. She must make his interests hers and be behind his greatest achievements.” These are the words in a pamphlet we found in the attic of the Omena Post Office during a recent cleaning. An entire series of mailings about becoming the perfect woman of the 1940’s. They could be purchased in 1943 and mailed to you each month. John Powers pamphlets about self-improvement for the proper woman were copyrighted in 1943 by Linden Hill Corporation. This is definitely not something Hazel would have been interested in.
Retiring to Omena
When Hazel finally retired in 1963, she moved to Ingalls Bay full time. She immediately took to life in northern Michigan. The first winter was one of the worst in years, the snow piled high, and she used snowshoes when necessary. “Neither ice, snow, nor sleet impedes the social life of Omena,” she said. She had only experienced Omena in the summer until then, but found she enjoyed the winter life. Both the weather and the season’s own whirl of activities. She had found a place with likeminded women.
Courtesy Omena Historical Society for their generous access to their archives. Article about Hazel Clark Taylor from the Record-Eagle, October 4, 1985. “Omena, A Place In Time” by Amanda Holmes. John Powers pamphlets, 1943 Copyright Linden Hill Corporation. Wikipedia for information about General “Hap” Arnold.