1900 Mr. Bubbles?

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  • 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

    Ahh, the challenge of period scripts...

    Anyone know if foam/bubble baths were around in the US ca. 1900?

    Sounds like a silly detail, but I want to show my protag living (fraudulently) for the first time in the lap of luxury. I wrote the scene so that she's buried in a bubble bath, sipping champagne in a fancy hotel. My problem's with the bubbles. I can't find any evidence that foam or bubble baths were around before the 1930's. Seems like at least the French would've had them before then. Any period films of this era where bubble baths were used?

    I suppose I could go without the bubbles, show more skin, but the bubbles (champagne and bath) seem so, um... fun.

    Thanks.

  • #2
    Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

    This is set in 1881, but I don't think historical accuracy was their main concern.
    "Only nothing is impossible."
    - Grant Morrison

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    • #3
      Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

      Originally posted by bioprofessor View Post
      Sounds like a silly detail, but I want to show my protag living (fraudulently) for the first time in the lap of luxury.
      i think just having someone fetch you hot water, over and over to fill a bathtub is luxury enough.

      bubbles in movies are just to cover the boobies and such things.

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      • #4
        Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

        Originally posted by instant_karma View Post
        This is set in 1881, but I don't think historical accuracy was their main concern.
        That's great karma. I forgot about that scene. Thanks! The bubbles stay until someone of import tells me to lose them.

        Nikee - In the case of SN, I'm glad they opted for bubbles.

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        • #5
          Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

          Pears' Soap. All you needed 110 years ago. There was also a brand called White Rose Glycerin Soap that could be used for bubble baths. Wonder what the ingredients were.
          2011 Screenwriting Goal: 15 pages a day.

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          • #6
            Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

            A quick Google search says "early 20th century" was the time of the first bubble baths.

            I guess it depends on how historically accurate you want to be.

            "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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            • #7
              Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

              Originally posted by ComicBent View Post
              A quick Google search says "early 20th century" was the time of the first bubble baths.

              I guess it depends on how historically accurate you want to be.
              I did that same search and got the same results. I'm cursed with a scientific mind that thrives on precision AND accuracy - attributes that don't do well in the gray areas, i.e. "early 20th century," which could mean anything before 1950. Alas, we know there was soap, and where there's soap there's bubbles.

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              • #8
                Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

                Throw in a line that this is the "newest thing" developed by the hotel. No one will ever question it.
                If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.
                Dave Barry

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                • #9
                  Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

                  Originally posted by Centurio View Post
                  Throw in a line that this is the "newest thing" developed by the hotel. No one will ever question it.
                  Funny Centurio, I was just thinking about that same thing. I was going to have the sidekick ask where those wonderful things came from, then have my protag boast that they're the latest luxury from Europe that only the richest of the rich have access to.

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                  • #10
                    1900?

                    Originally posted by bioprofessor View Post
                    Anyone know if foam/bubble baths were around in the US ca. 1900?

                    Sounds like a silly detail, but I want to show my protag living (fraudulently) for the first time in the lap of luxury. I wrote the scene so that she's buried in a bubble bath, sipping champagne in a fancy hotel. My problem's with the bubbles. I can't find any evidence that foam or bubble baths were around before the 1930's. Seems like at least the French would've had them before then. Any period films of this era where bubble baths were used?
                    Too early.

                    Bubble baths, or foam baths, would have started with the development of soap flakes and modern toilet soaps, (about the end of the First World War). Soap flakes would have been imported, about 1906, ("Lux" from Lever Brothers); and, the use of that soap, (previously in hard cakes), was advertised for washing fine fabrics. Not until the 1930s were soaps marketed aggressively via magazine advertising and via radio, with the introduction of the "soap opera". Liquid dishwashing soap, (or, rather, detergents), were introduced after the Second World War, ("Dreft" in 1947). Probably, these liquid dishwashing detergents helped popularize the children's "bubble bath" during the Baby Boom, (with "Mr. Bubbles" being a toy container for this type of soap).

                    In 1900, the luxury hotel, (notably the Savoy), would have such amenities as "private bathrooms," (not the shared "bath" down the hallway), "hot" running water, (to rapidly fill the "bath"), and electric lights and "lifts", (elevators). The Savoy had speaking tubes to contact the hotel services; but, I'd suspect that telephones would become available, about 1900, thru the hotel's switchboard.

                    The champagne "bubble bath" wouldn't be right for 1900, but you could get a genuine laugh if the champagne was sitting in an ice-filled bidet, instead of a metal bucket.
                    JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

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                    • #11
                      Re: 1900?

                      Originally posted by Fortean View Post
                      Too early.

                      Bubble baths, or foam baths, would have started with the development of soap flakes and modern toilet soaps, (about the end of the First World War). Soap flakes would have been imported, about 1906, ("Lux" from Lever Brothers); and, the use of that soap, (previously in hard cakes), was advertised for washing fine fabrics. Not until the 1930s were soaps marketed aggressively via magazine advertising and via radio, with the introduction of the "soap opera". Liquid dishwashing soap, (or, rather, detergents), were introduced after the Second World War, ("Dreft" in 1947). Probably, these liquid dishwashing detergents helped popularize the children's "bubble bath" during the Baby Boom, (with "Mr. Bubbles" being a toy container for this type of soap).

                      In 1900, the luxury hotel, (notably the Savoy), would have such amenities as "private bathrooms," (not the shared "bath" down the hallway), "hot" running water, (to rapidly fill the "bath"), and electric lights and "lifts", (elevators). The Savoy had speaking tubes to contact the hotel services; but, I'd suspect that telephones would become available, about 1900, thru the hotel's switchboard.

                      The champagne "bubble bath" wouldn't be right for 1900, but you could get a genuine laugh if the champagne was sitting in an ice-filled bidet, instead of a metal bucket.
                      Thanks Fortean. The Savoy info is great, lots of stuff there to exploit. I love the bidet ice bucket gag. It'll fit perfectly in this comedic beat in the story. As for the bubbles, I'm sticking with them, going to allow a little creative history telling. Remember, this story's all about cons, swindling and deception.

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                      • #12
                        Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

                        If you need to cover the boobies, as Nikee says, you could make it a milk bath. Those have been around since Cleopatra.

                        Fortean, you're so cool.

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                        • #13
                          Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

                          If you did decide to stick to accuracy for the time period:

                          You could use rose petals floating in the bath, especially if you do want to hide "the girls". Red, pink, yellow, or white could look cool.

                          If hiding isn't the issue, some expensive scented bath oil form Paris. Maybe it even turns the bath water a deep blue or green.

                          Or maybe she could fill the entire bathtub with Champagne (un-chilled) and bathe in it while she's drinking it.
                          "The Hollywood film business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

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                          • #14
                            Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

                            Originally posted by cshel View Post
                            If you did decide to stick to accuracy for the time period:

                            You could use rose petals floating in the bath, especially if you do want to hide "the girls". Red, pink, yellow, or white could look cool.

                            If hiding isn't the issue, some expensive scented bath oil form Paris. Maybe it even turns the bath water a deep blue or green.

                            Or maybe she could fill the entire bathtub with Champagne (un-chilled) and bathe in it while she's drinking it.
                            carcar - I know it's been around, but a milk bath just sounds gross to me.

                            cshel - The petals are way cool, very visual. I might just have to add a few on top of the bubbles, guild the lily so to speak.

                            Lots of good options everyone. Thanks. Let's not forget to pamper our real SO's with some of these.

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                            • #15
                              Re: 1900 Mr. Bubbles?

                              Actually milk baths are really good for the skin. And it's not all milk, you just add milk to the water. Obscures the bits, anyway. That and a few rose petals...

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