Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Found this album cover for the Fall River Legend. Looks more like Bridget to me.

That's great Harry. Looks very 50s & reminds me of the movie musical "Oklahoma"!

Thanks Har!

I think that "Lizzie" looks like Vivien Leigh!

Wonderful album cover, Harry! I love the 40's hairstyle on Lizzie--much more flattering for her jawline, don't you think?

--Lyddie

I've always been struck by the various different descriptions of Lizzie. This one is from DeMille's "Dance of Death", page 26+:

"And how did Miss Lizzie look? She was medium-sized, five feet three inches, inclined to plumpness but not fat. Her hair was brown and worn softly on the crown. Lewis F. Grant, who was called upon to sketch her several times when she had become the center of attention, said, "She was a very solid lady, short, heavily built. . .You wouldn't have thought twice about her except for her jaw. Enormous. The largest jaw I ever saw in a woman." Mrs. Gifford, the present curator of the Fall River Historical Society, describes her expression as "not a pleasant one. Not a face you would voluntarily address." She was always neat and plainly but smartly dressed. She favored blue. During the grand jury hearings she wore a tip-tilted hat with cherry-colored ribbons, and when traveling a blue veil to conceal her face. During the trial, she rubbed her button boots across one another in nervousness. The shoes were shined each morning. She had had a good deal of dental work done and there was a gleam of gold when she smiled. She opened her mouth wide when she laughed, and her laugh was memorable---unexpected, mirthless, and very loud. At school it had unnerved her classmates. Jokes were one of the things she did not choose to share."

I think if you were to read 10 books on her you'd get that many different descriptions. It's amazing since most were written many years after her death and one would think they could come up with a consistent description.

Another question on Lizzie's looks: where did the redhead image originate? I know her hair was listed as brown when she was arrested. Did her hair turn red from grief?

--Lyddie

Lizzie's arrest record lists "light" for hair. I have asked around and checked that description as to hair in those days and so have read and heard it means *light* brown.
Where the red originated is a good question. News item or Porter or Pearson? I'm guessing...

For some reason I have kept this list regarding authors and Lizzie's hair-color:

Porter = no description
Pearson = light-brown
DeMille = brown
Kent = nut-brown
Hixson - light
Radin = nut brown, auburn tinged
Speiring = dark reddish
Sullivan = reddish
Lincoln = red
Brown = red

Yes, Diana, I remember that discussion on hair color. I went back and checked the Arborwood forum archives and found this thread:

http://www.lizzieandrewborden.com/Archi ... estion.htm

The thread starts out with her hair color and wanders off topic into the alleged note Abby received.

I have a cat named "Blackie", who, when you see her you'd swear she is pitch black. I mean no color other than black anywhere except her eyes. But when she lays in the sun at the right angle, a lot of her fur, expecially her chest and stomach, appears brownish with a vey slight red tint. Lighting has a lot to do with what we perceive.

Thanks for all the input, guys! Sometimes black and white photos can be a big problem too--blond can read brown and red can read blond, etc. Auburn will, of course, appear brown in black and white photos, so we have no way of judging for ourselves.

This is one time when I think we have to trust Victoria--hair color is more important to a woman, and she got all her info on the young Lizzie from her mother. (Probably Lizzie was sufficiently grey in Victoria's time to prevent her from knowing first hand.) Maybe she began to use henna later. She couldn't destroy her reputation any further, and it might have made her feel like one of the glamorous redheads of the time.

Kat, didn't we have a jail or police document on the forum a few months ago listing her hair as lt. brown? I remember peering over the handwritten entry.

--Lyddie

The FRPD arrest book entry is prbably what you're remembering, Lyds, at http://www.frpd.org/lizzie/lizzie.htm