Alice, Sweet Alice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                   
                                      No, girls, I am NOT confusing this with the 1967 musical, "Henry, Sweet Henry," which featured Alice Playten (RIP, Alice!!!!!) as Lillian Kafritz!!!!!!!! Nor am I confusing this with "Alice, Sweet Alice," a re-titling of the 1976 film "Communion," which is noted for being the very first film appearance of Brooke Shields--she is only in it for a few minutes, as she is found murdered at her First Communion, hence the title!!!!!!!  Though I think it should be as noted for having been filmed in Paterson, New Jersey, and for Mildred Clinton (who died in 2010),  and her portrayal of the deranged Catholic housekeeper, Mrs. Tredoni!!!!!!!!!   A REAL devout Catholic, that one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         But the Alice being discussed here is Alice Mitchell, who in 1892, committed one of the most important murders on record.  1892, in fact, was a big year for women AND murder, as it was also the same year that Lizzie Borden murdered her own parents with that famous ax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          The Alice Mitchell case outstrips Lizzie almost, though it is not as well known, though it should be. It is Southern Gothic, and is tinged with..........lesbianism!!!!!!!!!
Remember, this was a good thirty six years before Radclyffe Hall wrote and published "The Well Of Loneliness," so what did lesbians have to turn to, then????????????

                                            But let me digress, before we get to Alice.  These times and circumstances were treated with more discretion and poignancy, in Helen Hoover Santmyer's 1982 (can you believe it has been 30 years, darlings???) bestseller, "....And Ladies Of The Club."  Early on, John Gordon, a young physician, married to Ann, one of the principle women in the book, faces a traumatic domestic crisis, involving his sister, Kate.  It seems Kate, all through childhood,  has a history of being a tomboy, and when she grew to adulthood set up house for herself, unmarried on a farm outside of the main town the Gordons lived in.  She had a habit of taking in wayward or itinerant young girls, caring for them, but then, once they got on their, feet, they would leave Kate and resume their lives, instead of becoming the "companion" she wanted for herself; consequently she endured one heartbreak after another.  One time it becomes too many, and when Kate goes uncommunicative for awhile, John goes out to the farm, where he finds his sister, hanging from a rafter in her barn.  A suicide note hints about how hard it has been for her here, and how she believes in Heaven, one becomes the age one is most happy. So she will be twelve, when, she says, "it was still good to be Kate Gordon."  The suicide, and its subsequent implications of lesbianism (which are unmistakable) cast an emotional pall over John, who darkens as the book goes on.

                                              This took place in the Midwest--Ohio.  But in the Memphis and surrounding area of Alice Mitchell, things were not that much different.  Only, instead of turning everything in upon herself, like the tragic Kate, Alice turns things outward.  She and Freda begin as neighbors, who becomes girl friends when young; but as their friendship grows, it becomes much more to Alice.  At one point, Freda moves away, but a romantic correspondence--more romantic on Alice's part, more friendly on Freda's--ensues to keep things going.  The girls (Alice is two years older than Freda) go back and forth visiting each other, whereupon it becomes apparent to some parties, especially Freda's married sister-in-law, that the relationship is "unhealthy."  At one point, Freda is supposed to marry a man, and this is too much for Alice, who takes on the attitude "If I can't have her, no one will."  When Freda comes to the visit the area, in early 1892, the girls are kept from each other, but Alice surreptitiously spies on her; what we would call stalking.  She follows Freda into the woods, implores her, a fight ensues, and Alice takes out a knife and cuts the other girl's throat!!!!!!!!! Freda dies in Alice's arms, while Alice, though remorseful feels, " I loved Freda, but she did not love me!" which is why she killed her!!!!!!

                                                What is it with these murderous lesbians????????  Is it estrogen, or what?????  Poor Freda!!!!!!!!  I am telling you, darlings, that Alice Mitchell was one sly piece!!!!!!!  She was caught and tried.  She was found guilty, and herself expected the death penalty. But, because of the standards of the time and her LESBIAN desires, Alice was found insane, and was placed in an asylum, where she died in 1898, either by starvation or suicide.

                                                    This is NO Wonderland Alice, darlings!!!!!!!!  Lewis Carroll would avoid this sly piece of baggage,  but fast!!!!!!!!!!  It is just too bad this tale has remained so little known; it would make a great Southern Gothic novel, play, or film!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                       If only Truman Capote were still alive!!!!!!!  But there is Donna Tartt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                         Hey, Donna, how about it??????????????????