1883

I received a letter from a friend saying, “I’ve been watching the series ‘1883’ on TV. A friend of mine quit watching it because she said it wasn’t authentic because everyone’s teeth were white and most teeth during that period were rotting or badly discolored. I know people never smiled while have their picture taken back then. Was that the reason?”

I’m hooked on 1883 too. Please tell your friend, yes, these actors and actresses have white teeth, just as they do in every western movie and they don’t have body odor either…and the women don’t have hairy legs. Elsa Dutton’s (Isabel May) beautiful hair isn’t dirty, greasy, stringy and tangled as it would be if this was reality because women had to wash their hair with lye soap because good shampoo wasn’t available until the 20th century. I don’t think viewers would enjoy looking at bad teeth and hair.

Fortunately, we can also watch a western movie without having to smell bad breath and body odor.