Author: Grumpy
A construction worker making preparations for the removal of the original Statue of Liberty torch in 1985. The old torch went on a tour of the US before it was moved to the Statue of Liberty Museum.
In 1985, a significant event occurred involving one of America’s most iconic symbols: the Statue of Liberty. The original torch, which had stood atop Lady Liberty since the statue’s dedication in 1886, was removed for restoration. Over the years, the copper and glass torch had become worn and damaged due to exposure to the elements, so it was carefully replaced with a replica to ensure the statue’s preservation for future generations. This monumental task was part of a larger restoration project in preparation for the Statue of Liberty’s centennial celebration in 1986.
After the torch was removed, it embarked on a nationwide tour, allowing Americans from coast to coast to see this historic artifact up close. The tour was not only a symbol of national pride but also a reminder of the enduring importance of the Statue of Liberty as a beacon of freedom and democracy. The original torch was eventually relocated to the newly established Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island in 2019, where it continues to serve as a symbol of the nation’s ideals. Its journey from its removal in 1985 to its permanent display highlights the significance of preserving history while making it accessible to the public.
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Ouch!
Attilio Gatti
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Attilio Gatti
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A c. 1939 illustration of Gatti
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| Born | 10 July 1896 |
| Died | 1 July 1969 (aged 72)
Derby Line, Vermont, United States
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| Occupations |
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| Spouse |
Ellen Gatti
(died 1962) |
Attilio Gatti (10 July 1896 – 1 July 1969)[1] was an Italian-born explorer, author, and documentary filmmaker who travelled extensively in Africa in the first half of the 20th century.[2]
Expeditions
Gatti, a member of the Società Reale Italiana di Geografia ed Antropologia, was among the last great safari expedition men. He led thirteen expeditions to Africa starting in 1922.[3] Broke after the financial disaster of his 7th African expedition, Gatti settled in the US in 1930.
His second spouse, Ellen[4], accompanied him on his 8th expedition. They did the 10th (in Belgian Congo, 1938–1940) and 11th expeditions (“To the Mountains of the Moon” i.e. the Rwenzori Mountains at the border of Uganda, 1947–1948) with a caravan of motor vehicles including a 9-ton “Jungle Yacht”, custom-built by International Harvester in Chicago.[5]
Gatti became one of the first Europeans to see and capture the fabled okapi and bongo, a brown lyre-horned antelope with white stripes.
He was an enthusiastic amateur radio operator using callsign OQ5ZZ. Known as “Bwana Makubwa”, he was very familiar to the Pygmy tribe. He photographed them as well as the Watussi and Masai.[citation needed]
His books, articles, and some 53,000 photos have become invaluable scientific and anthropological resources.[citation needed]
Books
- Gatti, Attilio. Tom-toms in the Night. London : Hutchinson & Co, 1932, 285 p., fig. (includes: The King of the Gorillas. 1932)
- Black Mist. 1933
- Gatti, Ellen; Gatti, Attilio. Hidden Africa. London : Hutchinson & Co. Ltd, 1933. 286 p., ill.
- Gatti, Attilio. Musungu : romanzo. Milano : Editrice Genio, 1933, 247 p., ill.
- Gatti, Attilio. Great Mother Forest. London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1936. 344 p.
- Gatti, Attilio. Saranga the Pigmy. Ill. by Kurt Wiese. New York : Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, 226 p. (trad. in Italian: Saranga il cacciatore. 1941)
- Kamanda: An African Boy. 1941 (with ill. by Ellen Gatti)
- The Wrath of Moto. 1941
- Gatti, Attilio. Adventure in black and white. Ill. by Kurt Wiese. New York, C. Scribner’s Sons, 1943. 172 p., ill.
- Gatti, Ellen; Gatti, Attilio. Here is Africa. Ill. with photographs by Attilio Gatti and others; maps by Raymond Lufkin. New York : Scribner’s Sons, 1943, 166 p., carte, fig.
- Gatti, Attilio. Killers all !. New York : R.M. McBride & c°, 1943, 245 p., ill.
- Mediterranean Spotlights. 1944
- South of the Sahara: Perilous Encounters with Big Game and Strange Peoples in the African Wilds. 1945
- Here Is the Veld. 1948
- Kamanda on Safari. (1953?)
- Jungle Killers. 1958
- Gatti, Attilio. Africa is adventure. New York : Messner, 1959, 249 p.
- Gatti, Ellen; Gatti, Attilio.The New Africa. Ill. with phot. by the authors and others; maps by Rafael Palacios. New York : Charles Scribner’s Sons, World background books, 1960, X, 213 p., ill.
- Sangoma. 1962
- Bapuka. 1963
Ellen Gatti: Exploring We Would Go. 1944 (autobiography)
Films
- Siliva Zulu: Storia Negra in 5 Parti (Italy 1927/1928; silent film; with anthropologist professor Lidio Cipriani)[6]
- Tramonto dei blasoni (Italy 1928; silent film)
- Perils of the Jungle (USA 1941)
- Bitter Spears (USA 1956; remake of “Siliva the Zulu”) [7]
References
- Library of Congress entry for Gatti, Attilio, 1896-1969
- “Attilio Gatti Books”. Shakari Connection. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- “Fig. 2. Raymond Dart with the gorilla shot by Attilio Gatti (Congo, 1930)”. ResearchGate. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- Ellen Morgan Waddill Gatti (b. 1893 (or 1894) in Missouri, USA – d. 24.09.1962 in Ticino, Switzerland, 69 years old)
- “International Trucks Chosen For Commander Gatti’s “Jungle Yachts” | Print Ads”. hobbyDB. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- “Attilio Gatti”. IFFR. 4 September 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- “Africa Was Never Like This”. The New York Times. 10 November 1956.
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Beretta 80X Cheetah
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a classic Renaissance Man. He seemed to do most everything well.
Public domain.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was an alcoholic with a history of psychiatric illness. Young Arthur’s family was subsequently all but destitute.
Despite his squalid upbringing, Arthur was a quick study. Supported by wealthy uncles, the boy was sent to boarding school, where he availed himself of a classical education. He eventually attended a Jesuit school in Austria before returning to Scotland to study at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Along the way, he made time to master botany and begin writing short stories.
The young doctor was a gifted athlete. He was an amateur boxer, a compulsive cricketer, and a goalkeeper for the Portsmouth Association Football Club.
An avid marksman, he founded the Undershaw Rifle Club at his home, replete with a 100-yard known distance firing range. Doyle was also recognized for his skill at skiing, golf, and billiards. In 1901, Arthur Doyle served as one of three official judges for the world’s first male bodybuilding competition.
Doyle was a prolific scribe, ultimately producing more than 30 book-length pieces and at least 150 short stories. Sprinkled across all of that were hundreds of essays and magazine articles. What Arthur Conan Doyle is truly remembered for, however, is creating Sherlock Holmes.
Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series captivated readers around the world. Public domain.
Doyle’s Super Sleuth
Sherlock Holmes’ capacity for observation and deduction was like a superpower. His first work was A Study in Scarlet. Doyle penned this piece over the span of three weeks when he was 27 years old and then, predictably, struggled to find a publisher. Ward Lock and Co eventually printed the piece in 1886. Doyle earned £25 for his efforts. That would be about $4,700 today.
Doyle patterned his gifted detective upon one of his university professors named Joseph Bell. In a 1892 letter to Bell, he wrote, “It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes … round the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up a man.”
Once the reading public got a taste of Sherlock Holmes, they could not be satiated. Doyle grew weary of such pigeonholed writing in short order and considered killing the acerbic super sleuth off. In an effort to rid himself of the Holmes burden, the author began demanding exorbitant sums from his publishers. However, they willingly paid whatever he asked to get more Holmes material.
Modern depictions of Doyle’s classic characters are reliably compelling even today.
Promotional still from the TV series Sherlock.
Life Imitates Art
As an aspiring professional writer myself, I can tell you that we all write from life. My early efforts were utterly tripe until I had accumulated enough experience to depict things realistically.
It was only after engineering school, eight years as an Army officer, and a second career as a physician that I finally accumulated a portfolio of experience adequate to inform a decent literary career. In the case of Arthur Doyle, MD, some of Sherlock Holmes’ amazing capacity for deduction bled over into his day job.
Dr. Doyle worked in a hospital in Edinburgh and was once consulted to evaluate a particularly sick child. The youngster was pale and listless. Despite being obviously well-nourished, the boy had little to no strength in his wrists. Doyle pondered the case briefly and directed the patient’s mother to stop painting the child’s crib.
When she inquired what the connection might be between the color of his crib and her child’s sickness, Doyle observed that the woman had flecks of white paint on her hands.
White paint in the 19th century invariably contained large amounts of elemental lead. Little children chew on anything they can fit into their mouths. Dr. Doyle rightly deduced that the kid had been gnawing on his freshly-painted crib and had developed plumbism.
Plumbism is the doctor word for lead poisoning. Back then, lead was found in lots of household stuff. This made lead intoxication a serious concern, particularly for inquisitive children. Chronic lead exposure can lead to belly pain, cognitive defects, and irreversible brain damage. Arthur Conan Doyle’s deductive skills uncovered the source of the kid’s problem so that it might be rectified.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s last words were directed at his wife
when he said, “You are wonderful.”
Ruminations
Doyle personally investigated two real-world closed cases in a relentless pursuit of justice. Both men were eventually exonerated as a result of his efforts. Doyle covered the second man’s legal expenses out of his own pocket.
In 1903, Doyle founded what he called The Crimes Club. This was an exclusive social club limited to 100 members that met four times a year at the Imperial Hotel on Russell Square in London. Their objective was to foment discussion on crime and criminal detection. The club has been perpetuated in its original form to the present day. Their logo is a silhouette of Doyle.
In July of 1930, Doyle suffered a catastrophic heart attack. He left behind five children, none of whom had kids of their own. As a result, Arthur Conan Doyle produced no direct descendants. His last words were directed at his wife when he said, “You are wonderful.” It was a fitting end for a truly exceptional scribe.