Crapper and Titzling Are Bodacious Bilge
Crapper didn’t connect to the toilet, and Titzling never supported the girls
A long, long time ago — I can still remember when some self-proclaimed expert explained in great detail that Otto Titzling invented the bra. (This sentence, by the way, may have been inspired by Don McLean.)
I swear, I wanted desperately to buy into his story. I mean, what could be better? Could the chaos of the Universe create such poetry?
But, alas, it was a lie that grew out of a mildly humorous book called Bust Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling by Wallace Reyburn. Our buddy Wallace, a New Zealand humorist and rugby writer, buried his face in creating a number of urban legends that have real staying power. His inventive half-truths and lies caught on long ago, and to this day, it’s tough to convince some people that most of it is pure poppycock.
It should be noted that Reyburn’s prose is so persuasive that Trivial Pursuit listed Titzling as the correct answer to “Who invented the brassiere?” Hollywood Squares got bleeped when John Davidson answered the same question with the same mendacious response.
Yes, a few moments of internet research supported my thesis that no one named titz — anything could possibly have been involved in creating the brassiere. Although this story is bandied about worldwide and never loses ground, it’s a figment of Reyburn’s imagination.
He wrote that Titzling and his right-hand man, Hans Delving, unleashed the garment on the world in 1912, hoping to provide a solution for an uncomfortable problem experienced by a Swedish athlete named — Lois Lung.
The story unfolds with Titzling filing litigation against Phillipe de Brassiere for patent infringement, but there doesn’t seem to be a pinch of truth in the tale. One source says Mary Phelps Jacobs first officially used the term brassiere in 1914.
Reyburn’s books have sold in respectable numbers. He’s a funny man.
However, Hoag Levins studied all the sexual devices ever patented in the US, and his resulting book, American Sex Machines, declares that Marie Tucek hooked up the first brassiere patent in 1893.
Friends should be like bras — close to your heart and there for support.
Now the same blowhard who insisted to me that he had the absolute, indisputable facts about tits and slingers went on to bloviate about how John Crapper invented the toilet. Call me a skeptic. Something didn’t smell quite right about this taradiddle.
I went to the source, so to speak. Plumbing Supply’s website.
PLUMBING HISTORY - Sir Thomas Crapper
The history of Sir Thomas Crapper
I mean, who would have deeper insight? The site is flush with facts. They published the truth (their version) about Mr. Crapper and his connection to the toilet. Their article is an entertaining and elucidating read. Bottom line, Mr. C. was a plumber.
He did not invent the toilet per se. But despair not — the guy’s impact on the British plumbing industry, indeed, on toilets themselves, overflows with relevance. Crapper secured nine patents for drain improvement, water closet designs, manhole lids, and piping.
Crapper was a good man who left his mark streaked across the fabric of society. — Medium writer
(annnnnnd…mic drop)
Perhaps that thought closes the lid on the debate.
If you’re awash in doubt about the veracity of these urban legends, I suggest you pick up a copy of one of Mr. Reyburn’s books. The fellow died in the 1990s at a ripe old age, having deposited a number of amusing books into the waters of modern fiction. I’ve put you onto three books I bet you have not read. You’re welcome.
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I remember first hearing the Titzling vs. Brassier story in a hilarious song by Bette Midler in the movie Beaches. Thanks for tackling this serious subject!