Captain Nemo's Submarine - The Nautilus

Ahoy Mateys!

Captain Nemo's underwater mechanical marvel, The Nautilus, as featured in Walt Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", is our featured interior this week because it is a wonderous example of Jules Verne inspired "Steampunk" set design.

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was released in 1954 and was a bonanza at the box-office. It won an Academy Award for its stunning special effects ( including all those underwater diving sequences ) and for its Color Art Direction. Which as you can see below, it justly deserved.

John Meehan, the art director for this film had won 3 Academy Awards in his career for such beautiful films as Sunset Boulavard, and The Heiress. During the late 1950s he turned to television set design and worked on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Millionaire, Soldiers of Fortune and Leave It To Beaver.

Working alongside with him on "20,000 Leagues" was Emile Kuri, a very well known set decorator of numerous Walt Disney features. This was the beginning of his long association with the studio, but prior to this film he had worked as set decorator on many, many fine pictures : It's A Wonderful Life, I Remember Mama, A Place in the Sun, Fancy Pants, A Place in the Sun, War of the Worlds, Carrie, Shane, etc, etc.

Emile Kuri will be featured in a blog entirely devoted to him, right now let's begin our grand tour of the Nautilus....

The Structure of the Nautilus

The Nautilus had three different levels : the first containing the workings of the ship ( the ballasts, pump room, and power supply ) as well as the Outfitting Room and Diving Chamber. This is where Captain Nemo and his blue crew would prepare themselves for sojourns beyond the Nautilus, such as underwater hunting expeditions, outer hull repairs, and those not-too-uncommon burials at sea.

The middle level contained the Galley, where delictable delights such a Seaweed Salad were prepared for Nemo and his guests, as well as the Passenger Cabins. For common "seaman" this was nothing more than a bunk and washstand in a room enclosed with pipes, but for more distinguished guests ( such as the Professor ) it was quite decorative with a wood carved bed, mahoghany desk, and even pictures on the wall. Ooohh.

The Main Dining Room

Above was the main level where the arsenel ( complete with underwater spear guns ), chart room, salon, and Captain Nemo's cabin were placed. The Salon was the plush living room/dining room of the Nautilus. It was decorated in the traditional style of the Victorian era - ornamental rugs, rich red velour sofa seats and drapes, miniature statuettes and water fountains, and in place of the common upright piano, a mighty organ graced the room.

In the center of the salon was a display case which might of included specimens from some of Captain Nemo's hunting expeditions. And beyond this was the grand feature of the salon - the circular viewing window. Although Nemo had works of art scattered throughout the Nautilus this viewing window showed the most beautiful picture of all : the wonderous world of the deep.

The Captain's Quarters

But even though the Nautilus was a beautiful submarine throughout ( albeit a bit overly iron ) the BEST decorated room of all was Captain Nemo's very own quarters. After all, it was his ship so why not have the best suite?

This lovely room was cheerful and yet quite masculine in style. Nemo slept on a traditional sea captain's bed which was a single bed atop numerous drawers ( something we all should use ). He had a magnificently ornate writing desk, a globe of the world at hand, and a map of his world - the underwater world - hanging opposite his desk.

Captain Nemo's Room

If one was to step into this room one would never even think they were at sea. On days when Nemo would be feeling remorse and regret for the life he chose he could sit in his cabin and be transported once again to his home in England when he enjoyed peace and contentment, prior to his wife and children's accident.

James Mason and Paul Lukas

And finally, to conclude our tour of the Nautilus is the wheel house ( shown in the topmost photo ). No ship would be complete without a wheelhouse, the only place where a captain feels truly in command and can overlook his domain.

For the making of  "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" several different sized models of the Nautilus were made. A full-scale replica was built for the filming of the interior sequences. Shortly after the film was released, a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction opened at Disneyland. Visitors could see the largest of models on display, read about Nemo's important scientific research he was conducting, walk thru a replica of the sets used in the film, and awe at the giant squid about to attack your sub....all for only 10 cents.

Disneyland's 20,000 Exhibition

The exhibit existed from 1955-1966 and was a pleasant addition to the Submarine Voyage ride at Disneyland, where you could journey through Nemo's deep blue sea too in miniature versions of the Nautilus just like he did. Unfortunately that ride ( and the one that was built in Walt Disney World ) have both been closed down, due to a lack of modern Victorian voyagers.

The Main Salon, from the 20,000 Leagues Exhibit

The original organ used for the film can still be seen though, at the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. Duplicates exist at the Walt Disney Worlds of  Orlando, Paris and Toyko ( where by golly, Nautilus rides are still popular ).

The mighty organ that played those eeeeerie tunes

Six years after "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" premiered another version of The Nautilus was designed for Ray Harryhausen's adventure extravaganza "Mysterious Island" starring Gary Merrill, Joan Greenwood, and Michael Callan and Herbert Lom as our mysterious Captain Nemo. This one designed by art director Bill Andrews. The design of the ship was obviously copied off of 20,000 Leagues because the main lounges are very similiar in style. The "working" part of the ship was different though and included an aquarium where Nemo demonstrated a method of how the stranded passengers could rescue a sunken pirate ship and return to civilization.

Herbert Lom, as Captain Nemo in "Mysterious Island"

Numerous versions of Jules Verne's adventures featuring Captain Nemo have been brought to film, some as early as 1910. And each one of them had a unique stylization of the Nautilus, but I think Walt Disney's was the best because it captured perfectly the vision a Victorian would have of the Future in design. What's known today as "Steampunk" ( another topic we'll cover later mateys ).

The Outfitting Room of the Nautilus as seen in
Mysterious Island (1929 ) with Lionel Barrymore

** Note** : This was just a reprint of a post that I wrote back in January for my "Drafting a Design" blog. I've been too pooped to post lately..but I'll come up with something fresh soon.

Silverbanks Pictures is Launched!

Weeee!! It's finally here! It's finally started! 


"What's finally started?" says you. 
" Silverbanks Pictures!" says I. 


Okay, let me start from the beginning. Way way back in March, my sister and I decided to finally...ahem...work - and wanting to start a business that we would enjoy doing and as well as one that would give us the opportunity ( and I must say, the pleasure ) of staying home, we hit upon the idea of being movie photo dealers. 

One of the many original stills we'll be selling in the near future.

We purchased several hundred stills and 8x10 reproductions, and now after 3 long months  we've finally launched our "official" website....


http://www.silverbankspictures.com


Here's a peek-a-boo at the site : 

It's not really looking the way we want it to just yet, and we haven't posted many stills in our store ( okay, we haven't posted ANY yet ) but we're happy for now. Check out our eBay store HERE to see more of our merchandise. It's really more of a blog than a e-commerce store, and hopefully it will remain that way. Later on, we'll be adding more whistles and bells and downloadable freebies. I just couldn't wait to get the word "out there"..floating about in cyberspace, so I'm doing my barking bit early. 

An Armchair Traveler's Favorite Quote

Imagination is as good as many voyages - and how much cheaper.  


                                                                                       - George Curtis

Kingwood Gardens

We haven't gone on a tour of the Great North ( northern Ohio, that is ) in quite a while so today's blog mateys is going to be about Kingwood Manor. One of my favorite public gardens. This  beautiful French Normandy styled estate is situated among 47 acres of lovely, lush gardens, right smack in the heart of Mansfield, Ohio...about 70 miles north of Columbus. 

Kingwood Manor was built in 1926 for Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kelley King who made his fortune working in Mansfield with the Ohio Brass Company. He started as one of their first electrical engineers in 1926, and later led the company into new ventures ( such as manufacturing electrical fittings for trolleys ) until he eventually became President of the Ohio Brass Company. 


The estate was designed by prominent Cleveland architect Charles Mack, who made quite a name for himself creating beautiful homes in Shaker Heights and Lakewood. Later on, he moved to Palm Beach, Florida and made his stamp on the architecture of that lovely city as well.


A year after his wife passed away in 1952, Mr. Charles King dedicated Kingwood Manor as a public garden.

Dedication Ceremony, 1953

Much of the house remains unchanged from the late 1920s. It is open to the public for tours ( at $1 per person ) and contains, in one of its upstairs rooms, the horticultural library of Mr. King.

Today Kingwood Center continues to thrive as a educational and cultural center with special emphasis on ornamental horticulture and gardening. It is open to the public from April 14 through October 14. The gardens are FREE and there is a $5 ( per car ) parking fee. 


Take a drive out there and enjoy this beautiful landmark!


Located at 900 Park Avenue West, Mansfield, Ohio.

The Film Music of Richard Addinsell

The first composer to be featured in our British Music Series can be considered a prime example of a composer of light music as well as film. Richard Addinsell excelled in both fields equally and hence he is the first and foremost choice of mine to be featured in this exciting new series. Well....at least it's exciting for me, it may be a bit of a yawner for me readers.

The Warsaw Concerto is Addinsell's most famous and oft performed composition. It was written apart of the score ( or I should say, as the score ) to a little known film called Dangerous Moonlight ( 1941 ) starring Anton Walbrook. Prior to this Addinsell had wrote scores for Dark Journey, Fire Over England, The Lion Has Wings and Goodbye, Mr.Chips. 

The Warsaw Concerto's unexpected popularity ( it has been recorded over 100 times and had sales in excess of 3 million dollars ) was both a blessing as well as a curse because it's fame has obscured all of his other works; works that are just as magnificent and beautiful even if they aren't well known.

Richard Addinsell was born in London, England on January 13, 1904. After being homeschooled by his mother, he enrolled in the Hertford College in Oxford to presumably study law, but after only 18 months Addinsell quit and decided to focus his interest on music. He then enrolled at the Royal College of Music but only remained there a few months as well. His non-traditional educational upbringing made him restless at traditional schools and so he decided to pursue his own line of music study through "on-hands" learning. This proved just as good as a formal education. 

Goodbye Mr.Chips

After touring Europe he wrote incidental music for a variety of British plays and radio programs. One of these plays introduced him to Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who along with writer Clemence Dane, led him into the film industry in 1936 with the job of writing the score to The Amateur Gentleman. 

For the next 20 years Addinsell was kept busy writing film scores ( Love on the Dole, Blithe Spirit, Under Capricorn, Passionate Friends ) as well as some twenty documentaries for the Ministry of Information. A chance meeting with comedienne/actress Joyce Grenfell launched a lifelong friendship and collaboration with her on music for her one-woman shows. Between these film and stage projects, Addinsell was also busy doing work for BBC radio plays and television - where the bulk of his "light music" played as openings to shows. 

The Passionate Friends

The majority of Addinsells film scores prior to 1950 were destroyed by the studios ( a common practice, as they felt there was no use for them after a films release ) but many of these beautiful works were re-constructed from the films themselves by composer Philip Lane and have been performed by Kenneth Allwyn and Rumon Gamba and released as collections on cd. 

Below are just a few sample sound clips from some of Richard Addinsells large body of work. A quiet man in real life, he used music as a way to release his inner passion and the heart-felt emotions he experienced can be heard in many of his compositions. He also made frequent use of the piano in his music - being an excellent pianist himself - and this feature seems to make even his most ambitious of light classical pieces appealing to the mass audience. It also anticipated the piano/orchestra style later popularized during the 1960s by Ferrante and Teicher, and Roger Williams. 

Tom Brown's School Days - was written for the 1951 film starring John Howard Davies and Robert Newton.
Click here to play music

The Isle of Apples - is a  beautiful melody written in the English pastoral style. This miniature evokes a medieval reverie and it's title most likely refers to Avalon, the legendary burial place of King Arthur.
Click here to play music

The Smokey Mountains Concerto - First Movement - Addinsell rarely wrote music that was not assigned for a film or a stage work but this is one case that he did. It is a 15 minute piece written in three parts...First Movement, Valley Song and Old Joe Clark and captures the folk history of America.
Click here to play music

A Tale of Two Cities - Richard Addinsell had hoped that A Tale of Two Cities would of "taken off" as a success like Warsaw Concerto but it did not, and today even the film it was written for ( starring Dirk Bogarde ) is not remembered all that well. 
Click here to play music

Appleshaw's Allure - The title of this lovely song is actually Tune in G, but that was such a dull name I redubbed it Appleshaw's Allure. Appleshaw was the name of the country home where Addinsell's parents resided and where this song was first composed.
Click here to play music

British Film and Light Music Appreciation

As if we didn't have enough topics going on at once, today I thought of a marvelous idea.... a series of blogs on British composers. Especially....light music and film composers. If there is any field of music that gets overlooked it's Light Music. Wikipedia defines light music as "a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century. The style is a less "serious" form of Western classical music, featuring through-composed, usually shorter orchestral pieces and suites designed to appeal to a wider audience than more serious compositions. "

Yes, that pretty much sums it up. Where classical music can sometime be "above us" in it's composition, light music is always simple and refreshing while at the same time is very moving. In particular the pieces tend to capture a "mood" or an event, such as "A Day in the Park" and therefore are often referred to as "mood music" as well.

Composer Eric Coates

Light music originates back to the days of the operetta, but did not reach it's prime until the beginning of the early 1930s with the advent of radio. BBC Light Programme ( a radio station created in 1945 ) contributed greatly to the spread of this fine music and for the next 20 years the field reached it's halycon.

Light music is the music of choice to those who enjoy popular tunes but who do not quite have the...ahem..patience...for really heavy classical pieces.( People like me, that is ) The accentuation of the music is placed on melody and therefore even a classic music novice can enjoy these beautiful songs without feeling lost.

Some of the composers we will feature in this series will be Eric Coates ( the creme de la creme of light music composers! ), Ernest Tomlinson, Adrian Leaper, Robert Farnon, Ron Goodwin, Anthony Collins and Sydney Baynes.

 

AND since we're on the topic of England's finest musical masters we might as well cover that delectable slice of listening pleasure known as British Film Music. The list of legends in this field is practically unfanthomable but a sample of our warblings will include Ralph Vaughn Williams, Arthur Bliss, Charles Williams, Allan Gray, William Alwyn, Anthony Collins, Stanley Black, Clifton Parker., Richard Addinsell..and who can pass up Sir Malcolm Arnold? Not I!

These legendary composers created the rousing/compelling scores to such classics as "Sink the Bismarck"; "49th Parellel"; "David Copperfield"; "The Bridge on the River Kwai"; "An Ideal Husband"; "A Canterbury Tale"; "The Dam Busters" and "Scott of the Antarctic" as well as many, many others.

Each of these composers had a unique style which they contributed to every film, and which consequentily set the tone for the movie and made them as recognizable in theme as their composer's compositions.

Who can think of lovable Miss Marple ( Margaret Rutherford ) without hearing strains of Ron Goodwin's familiar harpsichord melody in their head?

Since I have no concept of order and organization I will just randomly write about these composers at whim....and hopefully by the end of the year will have covered enough composers to give me mateys a thorough overview of these wonderful fields of music. And with a goodly dose of digital music clips tossed in...who knows? you might just come to be as fascinated with the subject as I be!

Everyman's Car...The Brush Runabout

The Brush Runabout is our featured classic motor car this month. As with most of the early automobile manufacturers, The Brush Motor Company had its home in Detroit, Michigan. Alson Partridge Brush, its founder, was a very inventive fellow and to make his little runabout stand out from the other manufacturers "runabout" models of the era he added many clever new features to his Brush mobile, such as gas-powered headlamps, convientent tooting horn and solid oak and maple frames.

1912 Brush Runabout

Alson P. Brush had designed the first Oakland motorcar ( a forerunner of Pontiac ) and unique in his design, was that the motor was cranked counter-clockwise rather than clockwise..to decrease injury to the driver if the hand-crank kicked back. The Brush Runabout was powered by a large single cylinder water-cooled engine. Early models were 6 hp but this 1912 model was 10hp and capable of speeds up to 30 mph ( whoa nellie! ).

Several different variation of the runabout were marketed over time...the B, BC, D, E, F, M and Liberty, as well as several trucks used as US Mail delivery vehicles. Although, it was an inexpensive automobile ( $350 sale price ) and was quite reliable for its time, The Brush Runabout did not have a very long existance. The company was founded in 1906, but only six short years later it went through an unsuccessful merger with the United Motor Car Company and floundered.

About 10,000 Brush Runabouts were manufactured in total. You'll have to runabout to find one today though.

1909 Model D Runabout

The Wise Man's Freedom

The timid it concerns to ask their way,
And fear what foe in caves and swamps can stray,
To make no step until the event is known,
And ills to come as evils past bemoan.
Not so the wise; no coward watch he keeps
To spy what danger on his pathway creeps;
Go where he will, the wise man is at home,
His hearth the earth, - his hall the azure dome;
Where his clear spirit leads him, there's his road,
By God's own light illumined and foreshowed.

                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rudyard Kipling's KIM

1885 Lahore, India: Colonel Creighton, head of the British-India Secret Service receives a report that the Russians are planning an attack on India via the Khyber Pass…where and when they plan on attacking is unknown. With the help of “Red Beard” Mahbub Ali, their top agent who disguises himself as a horse trader; the “Fat Man”; and an orphan English boy named Kim they try to uncover the Russian’s plan before it is too late.

Rudyard Kipling’s thrilling adventure novel “Kim” was brought to the screen in 1950 in brilliant eye-popping Technicolor and boasted a splendid cast with Errol Flynn as the magnificent Red Beard, Cecil Kellaway as the Fat Man, Paul Lukas as the Holy Man ( a Tibetan monk with an unusually strong Austrian accent ), and Dean Stockwell as our boy-hero Kim -  a young man who learns how difficult it can be to play the Great Game of spying.

              

Filmed on location in Rajasthan and Utter Pradash, India ( as well as Lone Pines, California ), the movie gives us a tour of India during the Age of Imperialism, when British troops paraded on grounds outside city walls, and wily dangerous characters lurked in dark corners of crowded sadaks.

The rights to Rudyard Kipling's popular adventure novel were purchased by MGM in the mid-1930s with the intention of casting Freddie Bartholomew in the title role. For unknown reasons, this project was abanoned and not taken up again until the late 1940s.

During this time, Errol Flynn was loaned to MGM from Warner Brothers for two pictures. The first one was "That Forsyte Woman" where opposite Greer Garson he was cast as the unloved Soames Forsyte. His second feature though, was a choice between "King Soloman's Mines" or "Kim". Both were to be filmed on location. Errol opted for India over Africa, and the lead role of Allan Quartermain in "King Solomon's Mines" was turned over to English actor Stewart Granger. In a very enjoyable version of the story too, if I say so meself.

“Kim” on the other hand is a wonderful adventure film – enjoyable for all ages – but alas, it fails to be a truly memorable film, mainly due to its heavy reliance on voice-over narration rather than pictures and dialogue. However, when there is dialogue it is spoken right from the pages of Kipling’s novel and pleasantly plays on the ears in lyrical fashion.

“ You should believe only your eyes…and not the voices of others.”

“ This is a child’s game, Mr.Luzor “

“ It is part of a Great Game “.

Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the famous British Army scout and founder of the Boy Scout movement, would of fully approved of the lessons this film teaches…..key lessons on observation and judging character; always being prepared and aware of one’s surroundings.

                           

Dean Stockwell is particularly noteworthy as the English sahib living life as an Indian boy. Devoted to his Holy Man, Kim acts as his chelah ( a servant to a monk ) while travelling across India with him in quest of the sacred River of the Arrow.  Begging on the streets, climbing across rooftops, cursing passerby’s, and donning a dark tan, he is an unlikely suspect to his enemies and hence...becomes a master player of the Great Game.

A Pythagoras Quote

What have I learnt where'er I've been,
From all I've heard, from all I've seen?
What know I more that's worth the knowing?
What have I done that's worth the doing?
What have I sought that I should shun?
What duties have I left undone?

PYTHAGORAS

Henry Wood Elliott - Protector of the Seals

Not that many people were very active in conservation during the turn of the century, but one man....my grand grandfather Henry Wood Elliott, was a fighter for the rights of the lovable ( and hefty sized! ) northern seals of Alaska. Today he is remembered more as an artist, but it was his lifework to make sure the seals were protected.

Known nationally as "Professor" Elliott, he was the leading authority on the Alaska fur seal during the late 1800s when he began a 35 year long crusade in Congress to save the seals from extinction.

Elliott was born November 13, 1846 in Cleveland, Ohio, the oldest child of Franklin Rueben Elliott - owner of a seed and nursery business in Ohio and life-long friend and associate of horticulturist Dr. Jared P. Kirtland.

In 1862, Henry, at the age of 16, became ill and confined to home he spent his time painting fruits and flowers to illustrate a paper his father planned to submit to the Department of Agriculture on an upcoming trip to Washington D.C. As a reward for this illustrative work, Henry's father took him along on his visit to the nation's capitol.

Elliott was fascinated with the Smithsonian Institute and so his father arranged with secretary Dr. Joseph Henry for Elliott to work as his assistant. Although he had "desk space" at the Smithsonian for 14 years he was in fact rarely in Washington at this time. In 1864 he travelled to the Northwest Coast as a member of the Telegraph Expedition surveying team; joined as a member of the scientific corps in the Yukon party led by Major Robert Kennicott later that same year, and then from 1869-1871 was a topographical artist for F.Hayden's U.S. Geological Survey Expedition to document the landscapes of the West.

Thomas Moran was the chief artist on this expedition. Soon after he became a well known American landscape artist. Alas...Henry did not. Although he produced hundreds of works in his lifetime which are stored at the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, he is not too widely recognized today.

The Hayden Expedition Camp, HW Elliott 1870

This field experience though, earned him an appointment as Assistant Treasury Agent for the Pribolof Islands as well as an assignment from the Smithsonian to study the fur seal and other animals of that Alaskan island. The beginning seeds of his lifework.

For thousands of years the Pribolofs have been the breeding grounds of the fur seal. They spend 3-4 months of the year bearing their young, breeding and teaching their pups to swim.

The females and their pups, nor the male bucks, are never harmed. Traditionally, it was the young bachelor seals that were clubbed by the Aleuts and then skinned for their furs.

The Northern Fur Seals

The fur itself was not in very much demand outside of the Pribolofs until a machine was invented in the late 1800s that made mass removal of its prickly "guard hairs" possible. Then it became popular for fur coats...and a prime source of easy income for pirate seal killers.

Henry Wood Elliott had estimated the fur seal population to be 4,000,000 in 1872, but by 1875 these numbers had drastically declined due to pirate schooners carrying on open sea sealing as well as the indiscriminate killing on the part of the North American Commercial Company. By 1897 there were only 400,000 seals left. Millions of dollars were being made on pirated skins.

Seal Drove Crossing, HW Elliott 1872

With Elliott's support, Treasury agent Charles Goff ordered an end to that season's land killings and the U.S government arrested open sea sealers in the Bering Strait. But lo! this aroused a conflict with Great Britain since the seized vessels were mostly Canadian. The fur seal issue was brought before an arbitrational tribunal in Paris and the United States lost the case for interfering with Canadian and British pelagic ( open sea ) sealing.

Killing the fur seals near St.Paul, HW Elliott

For the next decade, Elliott appeared before Congressional commitees pushing them to negotiate with foreign nations to stop the killing of the seals. With pressure from national journals, the American Humane Association,, and the Camp Fire Clubs of America, public indignation was finally aroused in 1911. The United States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan ( yes, by this time it had become an international issue ) agreed to a treaty which prohibited pelagic sealing and a mutual sharing of the proceeds of captured vessels. The Fur Seal Treaty of 1911 became the first international treaty to address conservational concerns.

Henry Wood Elliott's fight was over and the seals were saved. For ten years no killing would be allowed, and in that time the fur seals were once again able to breed and survive. He had devoted a large part of his time and resources in the defense of the seal and it had cost him dearly. His frequent and extended absences from his wife of 30+ years, Aleksandra Aleksandrova Milovidov ( part Russian, part Aleut ) and his ten children eventually led to a seperation.

In his later years, Henry Wood Elliott resided with his son Lionel in Seattle where he died in 1930 at the age of 84.

The Reef Point, HW Elliott 1872

In 2005 the US Department of Commerce produced a short video on Henry's crusade, called "Henry Wood Elliott : Defender of the Fur Seal". It can be viewed by clicking HERE. 

More paintings of Henry's can also be viewed at the following locations...

NOAA Image Gallery

The Smithsonian Archives

National Museum of Natural History

The Northern fur seal population reached a high in the early 1950s but they have once again become endangered. Today, there exists but 1.2 million fur seals worldwide, 60-80% of which use the Pribolof islands as their home-base. A survey done in 2008 found the lowest level of pup population since 1916. Changes in the eco-system, pullution, killer whale preditation and net-entanglement have been contributing to their deaths, and their population is in a yearly decline.

Further Reading.....

Our Arctic Province, Alaska and the Seal Islands, by Henry Wood Elliott. New York, Charles Scribner and Sons. 1886

The Seal Islands of Alaska by Henry Wood Elliott, Kingston, Ontario. Limestone Press, 1976

Yellowstone and the Great West: Journals, Letters, and Images from the 1871 Hayden Expedition, by Marlene Merrill

 

The Great Race Anniversary

Today marks an anniversary of an historical event mateys!  Actually, everyday is an anniversary of some notable historical event.... but this one caught me fancy since last week my family and I saw Blake Edwards' 1965 film  " The Great Race ".  Yes, today be the anniversary of the actual Great Race. Tis 104 years since the extrodinary 21,000 mile tour-de-world auto race took place.

The French Team in a Sizarre-Naudin

In 1907 a Parisian newspaper asked its readers " Will anyone be wiling to drive from Peking to Paris next summer? " ( 10,000 miles)  and incredulous as it sounds, 25 teams signed up to give it a try. The day of the race however only five appeared at the starting line, and of those only four succeeded in reaching Paris...three of them 21 days behind the winner.  However, the media response was enormous....so much so that the day the Peking-to-Paris race was completed Le Matin ( the Parisian newspaper ) announced another race...an even grander race.

The crowd in Times Square cheering the racers

On February 12th, 1908 two hundred thousand people showed up in Times Square, New York City to watch six competitors start off on a 165 day race to Paris, France. A counter-clockwise circle of the world via auto. Of the six competitors, the American Thomas Flyer with its team comprised of George Schuster, Montague Roberts and Harold Briankes and the German Protos were the fan favorites. Kaiser Wilhelm II saw the race as a chance to assert Germany's surpremacy of the motoring industr and so urged the leading German auto manufacturer, Protos, to enter a car. The Protos was driven by Hans Koeppen, a lieutenant in the Prussian Infantry, military engineer Hans Knape and an officer, Ernst Maas. Other competitors included an Italian team driving a Zust, and three French teams driving a Motoblanc, a De Dion, and a little Sizaire-Naudin.

Scarfolglio and companions in Zust car

And away they went! Amidst cheers, and flag waving and back-firing smoke they took off in a flash. But alas, the flashy start slowed down quite a bit once they were on their way. The race was extremely difficult. Rain, mud, snow and ice immediatly tested the reliability of the cars. The Midwest was hit with one of it's worst blizzards in years and the racers went head first into it. Reportedly, it was so cold that the Italians had to break their sandwiches in pieces with a hammer and defrost them on the radiator before eating them.

The Thomas was the first to reach the Pacific coast ( after 41 days of road travel ) while the Protos was weeks behind. The other competitors were not even in the race - so to speak - they fared so much worse and were all having disputes among their crews. Although the Protos was built like a tank and was designed for all types of terrain, it was not prepared for good ol' American mud.

The Thomas Flyer

Knowing that the competitors were behind schedule, the race commitee considered allowing the cars to be shipped directly to Siberia, but then decided to stick to thier original rule : Drive across Alaska. As the Times pointed out " the attempt to cross Alaska at this late date is foredoomed to failure". But George Schuster thought not! And he was ready and willing to trek across the barren land.

The Protos stuck in Idaho

With the Thomas Flyer flying ahead by a 800 mile lead, Hans Koeppen made a decision that cost him dearly...in an effort to gain time he loaded his car onto a train and in this way covered 1000 miles. At first he was disqualified, but was later readmitted with 15 days penalty. Devious tricks like these he played throughout the race; in Vladivostock, Russia he disregarded the race commitees instructions and took off without waiting for the Thomas and later shipped the car by rail across Trans-Siberia.

Eventually, George Schuster and his Thomas Flyer had a breakdown in Manchuria and it was Hans Koeppen and his Protos that arrived first at the finish line in Paris. However, the crowds cheered for the intrepid American and gave him the winning hurrahs. George Schuster became the true winner when the race commitee revealed that due to "penalizations" the Protos was in fact days behind the Thomas Flyer. 

Blake Edwards immortalized this famous race and the sportsman-like behavior of Schuster with the character of the Great Leslie ( played by Tony Curtis ) in his 1965 comedy "The Great Race" and even included a devious opponent...Professor Fate ( Jack Lemmon ) and his tank-like gadgetry filled Hannibal 8 automobile.

Some say the movie had no resemblance at all to the real race but I must differ....the teams did in fact stop in a town in the west to recieve a rousing welcome ( alas, but there was no Dorothy Provine belting out " He Shouldn't-a, Hadn't-a, Oughtn't-a Swang on Me" ); the Thomas Flyer followed the railway tracks to save time at one point - much like Prof. Fate tried to; a reporter from the New York Times joined one of the crews to be there to report the latest news, just like Natalie Wood did;  the village folk of Germany came out in droves to cheer the passerbys ( especially Hans Koeppen ) and last but not least Professor Fate crossed the finish line first...just like Koeppen did. Gosh, how many more similiarites could you ask for? And with those catchy Henry Mancini tunes added in for good measure, the film was just as fun as participating in a GREAT RACE ourselves. ( Although, that doesn't mean I'll cross that item off my list of Things to Do ).