# Who was Isabella the bra burner?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 12, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187 "2014-02-12T20:52:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/1 "2014-02-12T20:52:51Z")
I’m not sure if TV them songs fall under copywrite rules so I won’t post the words but I know who Lady Godiva (the freedom rider), Joan of Arc (she really cooked!) and Betsy who got it all sewn up. But who was Isabella the bra burner?
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/2 "2014-02-12T20:59:59Z")
Could it be Isadora? Isadora Duncan?
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/3 "2014-02-12T21:03:08Z")
Isadora rhymes just as well with bra burner as does Isabella. So, have I been singing that song wrong for, um, — HOLY CRAP, 42 years!
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/4 "2014-02-12T21:28:10Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Isadora rhymes just as well with bra burner as does Isabella. So, have I been singing that song wrong for, um, — HOLY CRAP, 42 years!
And you could have found out [over 13 years earlier](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=60312)! 😃
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### Author:  [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/5 "2014-02-12T21:43:54Z")
So it wasn’t Pia Zadora?
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### Author:  [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/6 "2014-02-12T22:12:19Z")
There was a discussion about this back in 2001:
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=60312](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=60312)
EDIT: I skipped over Kimstu’s link to the same thread. Sorry!
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/7 "2014-02-12T22:13:38Z")
Psst, **Cartoonacy** , look up two posts above yours.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/8 "2014-02-12T22:22:57Z")
Unfortunately, Isadora should have kept the bra and ditched the scarf.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/9 "2014-02-12T23:20:17Z")
If I’d known the name was Isadora and not Isabella, I probably would have found that thread myself. Or figured it out myself.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/10 "2014-02-12T23:58:06Z")
TV theme songs are certainly under copyright. The only issue is whether it is fair use to quote a portion of them when asking a question.
For all practical purposes the answer is yes. Go ahead and post the words.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/11 "2014-02-13T00:31:15Z")
So who’s Isadora?
Guess I should check the links to the older topic.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/12 "2014-02-13T00:33:52Z")
> [@TBG](#):
>
> So who’s Isadora?
[Isadora Duncan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isadora_Duncan).
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### Author:  [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/13 "2014-02-13T17:34:36Z")
If the song is referring to Isadora Duncan, what’s so progressive/feminist about her that she deserves mention in the song? As far as I’m aware, she’s only known for two things: dancing, and the manner in which she died. A Ctrl+S of her Wikipedia entry finds no mention of suffragism or feminism, except that she spent some time with a “lesbian feminist,” leading to speculation that they were involved.
Then again, it does mention she’d become a Soviet citizen by the time she died, so she was at least progressive/leftist in that way.
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### Author:  [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/14 "2014-02-13T17:45:23Z")
Relevant [link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjWhDLbr3MA) to the Family Guy gag about the Maude theme song
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/15 "2014-02-13T23:29:18Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Isadora rhymes just as well with bra burner as does Isabella. So, have I been singing that song wrong for, um, — HOLY CRAP, 42 years!
Don’t feel bad. For decades I thought the song’s lyrics were:
\*Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
She didn’t care if the whole world looked.
Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her
She was a sister who really cooked.
Isadora was the first bra burner
Angefax she showed up.
And when the country was falling apart
Betsy Ross got it all sewed up. \*
So I knew who Lady Godiva, Joan of Arc, Isadora, and Betsy Ross were. But who was this mysterious “Angefax”? How was her name spelled? And when and where did she show up?
Then, about a year ago, this decades-old mystery recurred to me and I realized I could now use the internet to help me solve it.
What I found is that the line is “And you’re glad she showed up”. Or maybe “Ain’t you glad she showed up?” But either way, there is no Angefax and never had been.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/16 "2014-02-13T23:40:03Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#):
>
> If the song is referring to Isadora Duncan, what’s so progressive/feminist about her that she deserves mention in the song? As far as I’m aware, she’s only known for two things: dancing, and the manner in which she died. A Ctrl+S of her Wikipedia entry finds no mention of suffragism or feminism, except that she spent some time with a “lesbian feminist,” leading to speculation that they were involved.
Well, actually \*reading \*the few hundred words and glancing at any of the more focused biographies elsewhere would have told you that she lived a scandalous life, by even the standards of the 1920s, and associated with other scandalous figures. She was extremely liberated sexually and in behavior (including dress and nudity).
Searching for a few keywords on WP will only confirm some schmo thinks exactly like you do, or doesn’t.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/17 "2014-02-14T01:15:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Don’t feel bad. For decades I thought the song’s lyrics were:
>
> \*Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
> She didn’t care if the whole world looked.
> Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her
> She was a sister who really cooked.
>
> Isadora was the first bra burner
> Angefax she showed up.
> And when the country was falling apart
> Betsy Ross got it all sewed up. \*
>
> So I knew who Lady Godiva, Joan of Arc, Isadora, and Betsy Ross were. But who was this mysterious “Angefax”? How was her name spelled? And when and where did she show up?
>
> Then, about a year ago, this decades-old mystery recurred to me and I realized I could now use the internet to help me solve it.
>
> What I found is that the line is “And you’re glad she showed up”. Or maybe “Ain’t you glad she showed up?” But either way, there is no Angefax and never had been.
I swear if I’d known this story before I joined the Dope, there a good chance I would’ve made Angefax my user name.
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### Author:  [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/18 "2014-02-14T01:51:53Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> And you could have found out [over 13 years earlier](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=60312)! 😃
[Longer than that.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=4537www.hereitgoesnow.net/)
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/19 "2014-02-14T02:49:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Don’t feel bad. For decades I thought the song’s lyrics were:
>
> \*Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
> She didn’t care if the whole world looked.
> Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her
> She was a sister who really cooked.
>
> Isadora was the first bra burner
> Angefax she showed up.
> And when the country was falling apart
> Betsy Ross got it all sewed up. \*
>
> So I knew who Lady Godiva, Joan of Arc, Isadora, and Betsy Ross were. But who was this mysterious “Angefax”? How was her name spelled? And when and where did she show up?
>
> Then, about a year ago, this decades-old mystery recurred to me and I realized I could now use the internet to help me solve it.
>
> What I found is that the line is “And you’re glad she showed up”. Or maybe “Ain’t you glad she showed up?” But either way, there is no Angefax and never had been.
The Maude theme:
> **[Maude Lyrics - Theme Song Lyrics](https://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/maudelyrics.html)**
>
> Maude Theme Song Lyrics at Lyrics On Demand
No Angefax
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-isabella-the-bra-burner/681187/20 "2014-02-14T04:04:52Z")
Oh, _ **theme** _ songs. :smack: