I'm wondering if you have any more information on Gertrude "Gorgeous Gussie" Moran, or information regarding where I would be able to find it. I am also wondering if she is still alive.
Thanks for your help if you can.
Catherine

Gussie would be about 74 or 75 years old now, and probably would be still alive. I don't know much more than I wrote in my essay in the July issue, and I am not quite old enough to really remember directly the impression she made, but it was absolutely sensational, and went around the world. Perhaps other readers can help, or there are two sites that might put you on the right track:

1) The Dead People Server - even if Gussie is still alive, this will tell you how to approach your research;

2) Tennis Questions Answered - for tennis enthusiasts.

Here is a picture from the 1950s showing her flamboyant taste for georgeously ruffled tennis undies:

Dear Susan:

Both Grace and Donald ask if you had any advice about Donald wearing his panty girdle on his first date. Grace thinks he should wear it after school for several days, so he will become used to the gentle control it provides. Donald told us if he has to wear a panty girdle then so should his sister Ann, since she is going to the same party with her date. He even offered to let her borrow a pair of his new satin bloomers to wear too. All of a sudden Ann is taking Donald's side. I agree with Donald - one rule for all the children. So I guess it up to you Susan, who should be required to wear a panty girdle on dates - Donald, Ann, both, or neither?

Frankly, getting involved in the determining dress codes for the children is new for me. Mary Beth always took care of such things. She is enjoying my new role. So please help me out.
May you have a most joyous holiday season.
John

Yes, to ensure modest and respectful behaviour on his first date, I certainly think that Donald should wear a good panty girdle. And the same for Ann; it would ensure that neither child got up to any mischief. Please tell me how things work out, and thank you for the Season's Greetings. 

Dear Nanny,

As a young boy I was disciplined frequently by a lady who lived near me, she would always invite me in and make up an excuse to punish me, normally with a thick strap.  Before the punishment began I would have to change into a grey gymslip, white blouse, long white socks and black slip-on plimsolls.  She would also change into black lace-up plimsolls.  I remember after the punishment I would have to sit at her feet, and can still to this day remember the smell of rubber from her plimsolls.  Is this common for petticoated males, and have you heard of it before ?
Kind regards,
Steven

Footwear is an often neglected part of petticoating. With socks and shoes you really can take a penitent boy out of doors for public embarrassment. I remember a boy in Aberdeen who once had to wear his sister's white ankle socks and patent leather single-strap shoes ('Mary Janes' in the United States) for a week, because he had been too rough and unfair while playing games. He didn't have to wear a dress or undies, but it was still very effective. The lacy trim girls' socks which have been a fashion over the last twenty years or so would be mortifying for a boy to have to wear outside.

I have not heard of a case like Steven's before, however. 

Could I "Ask Nanny" how to starch a pinafore, i.e. how much starch should be used, and should all parts of the pinafore be equally stiff? Do you advise one pinafore be extra stiffly starched for punishment purposes? And how do I starch and iron the shoulder ruffles so that they stand up proud?

Lastly, will starch damage the plastic lining of a work pinafore? I hope that you can help. I trust that you are well, and looking forward to Christmas. I was at Cheltenham on Saturday and it was a fabulous day at the races.
Miranda

The art of starching is, sadly, a thing of the past. I don't even have any in the house - my own style of dress is for comfort, I am afraid. From the letters I have read in classic petticoating journals of the past, such as 'London Life', extra starching was a feature of punishment pinnies that naughty boys had to wear, and they had to keep them nice and neat, and without folds or wrinkles. Thatby itself ensured demure behaviour. I don't think I would risk it with a plastic-lined pinafore.

Can any of my lady readers help? Some of you must employ starch in your own administration of domestic discipline.

Cheltenham is wonderful. The Gold Cup is really the most elegant day of the jumps racing season, the 'Ascot' of steeplechasing.

Dear Nanny Susan,

As I have just discovered your site, I have enthralled in reviewing a couple of years’ worth of issues.  It is so inspiring to hear from females who have been so happy with the results of insisting that the men and boys in their lives be compelled to dress as girls.  As I have now been divorced three times, I am hoping to learn what has gone wrong in hopes I can finally learn my lesson and I am hoping you can help...

My first wife unfortunately, seemed to prefer men who would control her, so it didn’t work out.

With my second wife, it started well when she let my try on her satiny robe, and then some discarded nylons.  She quickly took to adding black lacy undies and picked out a dress so nice it made her a bit jealous that she hadn’t picked one for herself. She would accompany me on shopping trips, and encouraged me to bring home pretty clothes no matter what the cost.  But it seemed that when I took the lead, buying pretty things for myself, something went wrong.  After reading your lessons, I suspect the problem related to my failure to accept her control, even though I had thought she would be pleased.

My third wife was open minded when I told of my experiences.  When I first wore a silky nightgown to bed, she knew she was ready for more.  She encouraged me to unpack my old wardrobe and helped me get more lingerie.  She even made a beautiful white dress for me.  She didn’t really like wigs, so she encouraged me to grow my hair out and help me learn about curling it, etc.  Early in our marriage, I worked at home, and I tried to dress up every day, make her lunch, and send her off to work with a kiss at the door.  I had heard many women complain that they wish they had a wife to care for them in that way, and I tried my best to as wifely as possible. But she stopped enjoying it after she lost her job.

I remember when she bought me my first matching lipstick and nail polish.  I didn’t really care for lipstick, but when I tried it, she was so pleased that I made it a nightly ritual with my frilly nightgown and silky bra and panties. And I really began to think my lips looked pretty w! hen colored.    But I confess I didn’t care so much for the violet shades she preferred, and I would bring home pinks and reds.  She seemed to lose interest just as I started liking it more.

She really liked how wonderful my bra and panties looked and felt, and she loved the feel of my nubile breasts in the bra.  And she even encouraged electrolysis to keep my chest area pretty and smooth.  But she would tease me about wearing “falsies” to improve my figure, so I asked if she would like my breasts to be bigger.  I thought she would appreciate the gesture, even if she decided against it, but it seemed to bother her.  She let me pierce my ears when I asked, and frequently bought new earrings for me while also sharing hers.  But she seemed ill at ease when I began wearing them all the time.  On our honeymoon, we delighted in polishing each other’s fingernails and toenails almost every night, but near the end she seemed to hardly notice when I did mine, and never asked me to do hers.

I’ve tried to learn lessons from your writing, and I think perhaps the most important lesson is that I need to learn to restrain myself.
I think both my second and third wives tried to control me by encouraging me to discover the joys of dressing like a girl, and keep it our little secret. But perhaps I became too enthusiastic and wanted it too much for myself.  Now, I have a closet and drawer full of pretty things and a shoebox full of lipsticks and nail polish, but it doesn’t seem to mean anything without someone to share it with.
I feel so lucky to have found it with two females, but sad at losing it.

Can you offer advice on how to recognize the right kind of female, who is likely to enjoy controlling a husband and boyfriend in this way?  And can you offer any hints on how to avoid getting so enthusiastic that I turn a relationship sour before I realize I have moved beyond her control?
Thanks again for your inspiring site.
“Suzanne”
su-zanne@juno.com

I have written about this before. I believe the most sympathetic kind of woman would be one who understands and appreciates the importance of clothes in creating moods and feelings, and enjoys making clothes, especially pretty and elaborate apparel. A theatrical designer would be ideal, or any dressmaker.

Currently I am browsing through a book on English country houses, and it has a picture of a woman who lives in one of the houses features, and who loves antiques and decoupage. She is very feminine, and is wearing a wide silk skirt, which must surely have a broderie anglaise petticoat underneath it. Her two young sons are with her, and they are dressed in shorts, white ankle socks, single strap sandals, and striped jerseys. And this book was published in 1987. It is not from the vanished past.

Again, you can see the connection. A woman who loves old things, and pretty Victorian images, is much more likely to understand a need to wear frilly old-fashioned pinnies and underwear.

Marxoid  feminists from the more brain-stunting departments of the academy or the newspaper office are often quoted as complaining that men do not do their share of the housework. Don't fall for this one. If you were to marry such a woman you would not find yourself as her happy and devoted housemaid at all. That would be giving you too much pleasure and satisfaction. Rather, you would find yourself involved in a seven hour, po-faced, domestic seminar on 'gender roles', in which everything that you said was automatically wrong, and you would probably end up preferring to join the SAS. The kind of woman who affectionately appreciates a devoted and effeminate male maid at her beck and call may be a feminist in a certain sense,
but is not an ideological  feminist.

You will often hear women say, 'God, men have it easy. I wish I had a wife'. I know I'm being a bit critical of my own sex, but...remarks like that have to be taken with a very large shaker of salt. More often than not, they are not meant seriously. Just read the next letter on this page.

As for taking things slowly, I have said all that before. Start with just an apron, and after a while explain that it seems to make you feel happier and more relaxed. Do not jump straight into the deep end: it may take months or years. And not every day. One day a week is plenty, and a warm and sympathetic woman can understand that. 

I am writing to ask for your advice. For many years I have happily acknowledged feminine superiority, and been always willing to share fully all the household chores with my wife. I recently became unemployed, and secretly hoped that until I found a new job I would be able to become a full time maid and housekeeper to my wife. I didn't say anything I simply started to do all the cooking, washing, and ironing, as well as all the other chores. My wife seemed to appreciate my efforts at first, and I dared to hope that she might wish to control me fully (I always wanted to be made to wear a chastity belt and even be feminised).  I was very disappointed therefore, when this weekend she told me that whilst it was good to help, I WAS NOT HER MAID.

Can you please tell me what I should do to rekindle in her the desire to use me as her maid?
Curtsey,
Sissy  Faye

Perhaps explain, as tactfully as possible, that it makes you feel very happy and relaxed, and that it means a lot to you. Ask if you could be her maid fully for one day a week. And that it would feel so nice if you could wear a pinafore. But you must be ready to drop it if she really doesn't like the idea. You might not be able to take it any further than that, but it would give you the comforts of domestic petticoating once a week.