The Beret Project

The German Series #22 - Hans Blickensdörfer's 'Die Baskenmuetze'

2012-06-03T07:15:00.001+12:00

The Basque beret is a novel by Hans Blickensdörfer, published in 1973. The book became a bestseller and was translated into 18 languages.

The author tells of his experiences immediately after the end of World War II. In order to avoid capture by the Russians, he flies and ends up in France, where he has friends from before the war and occupation.

However, he is betrayed and detained and, because of his excellent knowledge of French taken for a spy. He is taken to the notorious prison Bonne Nouvelle at Rouen. In addition to the hatred from the Germans , violence, hunger and disease, he also experienced solidarity and assistance from the French prisoners. Thus, the author provides insight into the post-war trauma in

France

, of occupation and collaboration.

In the end, he manages to escape. He wears a Basque beret to hide his shaved head. After several re-imprisonments and escape attempts, he finally gets home, back in

Germany

In 1990, the novel was turned into a Franco-German TV co-production with Patrick Bach in the title role, directed by Alain Bonnot.

Gaucho Argentina

2012-06-02T07:15:00.001+12:00

New, again, at South Pacific Berets

2012-06-01T11:28:00.000+12:00

Yes, just when you thought there couldn't possibly be more to add to the stock at South Pacific Berets, the Hoodlums have arrived!

Quality, hand-made berets from the USA. Berets with the Om or Peace symbol (no meditator, Buddhist, Zen practitioner or Peace activist should go without one!), and also custom made peaked berets in grey, brown and navy.
Very comfortable and, I can't help but thinking of the 1917 Revolution and Leon Trotsky, when looking at these berets...

Have a look here for the whole range.

Thank you to the Faithful

2012-06-01T07:15:00.002+12:00

Thanks to all those readers who replied by email or in the comments section with constructive feedback regarding "the old, wrinkly and sick looking men" advertising my wares at South Pacific Berets.

I really do appreciate your sense for aesthetics and humor - good to have confirmed that there is a place on S.P.B. for these faithful beret wearers.

The same friend, Jeroen, who was critical at first, now changed his criticism - it just had too be a bit more lively, cheerful and he put his Photoshop skills to good use! Great material for the motorbike series, really. Thanks, Jeroen.

And for the numerous people who'd suggested a handsome, young & attractive gaucho, instead of an old wrinkly face, I adjusted the logo for the berets from Argentina and Uruguay!

Mail Art & PLG

2012-05-31T07:15:00.001+12:00

Mail art is a worldwide cultural movement that began in the early 1960s and involves sending visual art (but also music, sound art, poetry, etc.) through the international postal system. Mail Art is also known as Postal Art or Correspondence Art. The term networking is often used to describe Mail Art activities, based on the principles of barter and equal one-to-one collaboration.

After a peak in popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Mail Art phenomenon has gradually migrated to the Internet, whose “social networks” were largely anticipated and predicted by the interactive processes of postal collaborations. Nevertheless, Mail Art is still practiced in the new Millennium by a loose global community involving thousands of mailartists from the most varied backgrounds.

"Out of the reasonable assumption that the commercial gallery system is limited and perhaps corrupt, many artists emerging in the 1970s and 1980s around the world decided it would be more feasible to exhibit their work not through galleries and ancillary museums but through the postal system, especially if they lived in areas where galleries and other artists were scarce. For the production of imagery, they drew often upon xerography (photocopying) and the earlier technology of rubber stamps. They would also announce exhibitions in venues previously devoid of art, such as city halls in remote parts of the world, ideally accepting everything submitted and issuing a catalog with names, usually accompanied by addresses and selected reproductions.

While such work had little impact upon commercial galleries (and the "art magazines" dependent upon galleries' ads), one result was a thriving alternative culture, calling itself "The Eternal Network", as intensely interested in itself as serious artists have always been."

Personally, I much admire the work of my German friend Peter L.G., who is also a great contributor of material to this blog!

The Spy Who Loved Me

2012-05-30T07:15:00.000+12:00

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) is a spy film, the tenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum. The film takes its title from Ian Fleming's novel The Spy Who Loved Me, the tenth book in the James Bond series, though it does not contain any elements of the novel's plot.

The storyline involves a reclusive megalomaniac named Stromberg who plans to destroy the world and create a new civilisation under the sea. Bond teams up with a Russian agentAnya Amasova to stop Stromberg. The film also stars Curd Jürgens and Barbara Bach.

The film was shot on location in

Egypt

and

Italy

, with underwater scenes filmed at the Bahamas, and a whole new soundstage being built at Pinewood Studiosfor a massive set which depicted the interior of a supertanker. The Spy Who Loved Me was highly acclaimed by critics, being widely considered Roger Moore's best Bond film. The soundtrack, composed by Marvin Hamlisch, also met with success. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards a midst many other nominations and subsequently novelised in 1977 by Christopher Wood as James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me.

Stromberg's henchmen wore black berets.

Feedback, Please

2012-05-29T17:55:00.001+12:00

Dear regular readers,

Since both my beloved wife and a good friend found they needed to point out that the picture on the 'new web site' is superb anti-advertising ("visitors will think it's you!", "the guy's is green - he's sick!", "who'd ever buy a beret if these guys are your role-models?" and similar comments), I guess I'd better take a reality check by asking my audience for their opinion.

Please let me know what you think! Is my sense of humor too much to grasp for the average Beret Project visitor? Or don't I get it and have to seriously rethink my advertising?

Drop me an email or leave a comment below. Much, much appreciated!

FEZCO (Tonak) Post Cards

2012-05-29T07:15:00.000+12:00

The "FEZCO Beret" poster is famous, still, in (on-line) poster shops. But the postcards pictured here are all new to me.

I found these on a stamp and post card collector's web site.

The all new web site of South Pacific Berets!

2012-05-28T21:59:00.000+12:00

Yes, a complete revamp of the SPB web site!

Thanks to all those visitors and customers who gave constructive criticism - I have tried to take it all into account and hope a visit to South Pacific Berets is even more enjoyable now!

Murray Bookchin

2012-05-28T07:15:00.000+12:00

Murray Bookchin (1921 – 2006) was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought.

He was the author of two dozen books on politics, philosophy, history, and urban affairs as well as ecology. In the late 1990s he became disenchanted with the strategy of political Anarchism and founded his own libertarian socialist ideology called Communalism.

Bookchin was an anti-capitalist and vocal advocate of the decentralisation of society along ecological and democratic lines. His writings on libertarian municipalism, a theory of face-to-face, assembly democracy, had an influence on the Green movement and anti-capitalist direct action groups such as Reclaim the Streets.

INAPPROPRIATE!

2012-05-27T07:15:00.002+12:00

Definition of INAPPROPRIATE

: not appropriate : unsuitable

— in·ap·pro·pri·ate·ly adverb

— in·ap·pro·pri·ate·ness noun

Examples of INAPPROPRIATE

We won't tolerate such inappropriate behavior.
Her informal manner seemed wholly inappropriate to the occasion.

Synonyms

out of line
unfit
unsuitable

Portrait of Michael West (Corinne West), by Jon Boris

2012-05-26T07:15:00.000+12:00

Donkeys

2012-05-25T07:15:00.001+12:00

Thanks to the gaucho's, horses have done pretty well on The Beret Project. I've got nothing against horses, but since I was bitten by a horse as a child, I have as much respect for these animals as fear.

Personally, I like donkeys much better; a pleasant size and a character that I can sympathize with.

Besides, who can resist the charm and melancholy that a donkey vibrates?

Aristide Maillol

2012-05-24T07:15:00.000+12:00

Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (1861 – 1944) was a French Catalan sculptor, painter, and printmaker.

At an early age Maillol decided to become a painter, and moved to Paris in 1881 to study art. His early paintings show the influence of his contemporaries Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Paul Gauguin.

Gauguin encouraged his growing interest in decorative art, an interest that led Maillol to take up tapestry design. In 1893 Maillol opened a tapestry workshop in Banyuls, producing works whose high technical and aesthetic quality gained him recognition for renewing this art form in France. He began making small terracotta sculptures in 1895, and within a few years his concentration on sculpture led to the abandonment of his work in tapestry.

Maillol spoke Catalan, wore traditional espadrilles, a sash and a beret or barretina (the traditional Catalan cap), he danced sardanes and he openly proclaimed his Catalan identity: “I consider Catalonia my true homeland”.

Maillol and Dina Vierny - A Model for Maillol

Chabrot

2012-05-23T07:15:00.000+12:00

Chabrot is an old custom that hardly survived into the modern world. There are the olde folks in the south west of France who still practice it, but you'll be lucky to spot one in the wild.

Chabrot is the practice of pouring a 1/2 glass of (red) wine in the remains of your soup, then bring the plate to your lips and drink it from the plate.

Practicing it yourself, in a French restaurant, may not go down well with the staff and other customers, these days.

Richard and Alan Shapiro

2012-05-22T07:15:00.003+12:00

These photographs and text are by Alan Shapiro, a New York photographer whom I greatly admire. What could I possibly add to his writing..? Copied with permission below:

Another day, another vet recounting too many battles and nowhere near enough victories.

I met Richard this morning on my morning walk to my office. He had set up a small oasis and was napping. I was across the street and saw some youths approach him with questionable intent. He woke as I was telling them to leave. He looked at them, sprang to his feet and started a hobbling, slow motion run at them. They laughed and walked away. I stayed.

Richard is 87 years old (last Tuesday was his birthday, which he spent in a New Jersey VA hospital). He served in WWII under Patton (way under Patton...but the pride never left his voice as he talked about their victories). We spoke about his life in the military. His new life in the shelter. And the girls at the Hooters in Times Square who bring him chili and soup late at night after their shifts are over. We talked and talked and I took picture after picture while too many people walked by wondering about the interaction. Not sure whether it was the moments of boisterous laughter or the painful moments of silence as he shared the more tragic parts of his life in short story form while I fought the waves of despair. At one point he asked whether I needed to get to work and I told him this was far more important. I was not lying.

I am now in my office but quite distracted. By our conversation. By the sad reality that touches me so deeply. And by the positive thought that Richard agreed to have dinner with me this evening. I expect there will be lots more stories. And with his permission, I intend to not let them go unheard.

I have a special place for Veterans. I never served but I do have a profound appreciation for those that have and those that serve to this very day. For me, it's a very special and moving privilege to meet them and listen. I remember hearing a fact at last year's Veteran's Day Celebration that a full one quarter of all US Veterans are homeless at one point in their lives. Perhaps that number has changed in the year but I am not an eternal optimist.

Don't spare change. Make change.

Thanks, Alan

The NZ Series #22 - Austen Deans

2012-05-21T07:15:00.001+12:00

Not a beret, in the correct sense of the word, but Austen Deans balmoral comes close.
Deans graduated from the (NZ) Canterbury School of Art in 1939 and then spent six years overseas with army.

First as a war artist in Egypt for two years, the remaining four years as a prisoner of war. After his return to NZ, he worked on farms while continuing to paint.
A war bursary enabled him to study at London University's Art School for 2 years, after which he settled in the Peel Forest, Canterbury (NZ), where he still lives and works (at 96!).

Favourite subjects are mountains and the bush.

Rövid történeti áttekintés a magyar svájcisapka

2012-05-20T07:15:00.004+12:00

"Rövid történeti áttekintés a magyar svájcisapka", or: A short history of the Hungarian beret.

Indeed, it is a very short history, but I am still working on it (and any help would be much appreciated!).
It was in 1889 that "Kokron" was founded by Joseph Kokron in Hódmezővásárhely (in the South East of Hungary).

During the 1930's Joseph began the production of his special berets, with specific Hungarian developed and patented technology. Nor-Coc was chosen as a brand name and these berets were extremely popular in Hungary and abroad. production discontinued in the 1960's.

I have found some interesting advertising material of the time and also photographs of berets with Hungarian labels (see pictures) - whether these are Nor-Cocs, I don't know.

2012-05-19T10:10:00.000+12:00

Russian (Soviet) Berets

2012-05-18T07:28:00.000+12:00

I am always intrigued by the berets that were made in the former Soviet Union and possibly in Russia today (if there are any Russian readers who can help out - please do!).

The Basque beret was quite popular during the Soviet times, evidence of which is available in many photo books, like the A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union.
Russian customers of S.P.B. tell me the quality of these berets was pretty poor, but no one seems to know where these berets were made, what materials, etc.
One typical thing of these Soviet berets was their txortena, not the typical "wick" we know from European and South American made berets, but a little loop. Again, no idea on the background of this.

Shown here two photographs from the above mentioned book; a public scales operator in the Moscow area and a sturgeon fisherman at the Caspian Coast - the looped txortena clearly visible.

Czech Berets: Karel Klíč

2012-05-17T00:00:00.002+12:00

Karel Klíč

The Czech painter and inventor Karel Václav Klíč (1841-1926) lived most of his life outside his home country. He invented the revolutionary method of photogravure reproduction. The inventions of this Czech inventor led directly to the rise of the picture magazine.

He studied at the Fine Art Academy in Prague. As a young caricaturist Klíč depicted the (Austo-Hungarian) Habsburg empire's new bureaucratic apparatus as a row of zeros, causing a nationwide stir and amount into vouchers for coffee and making a lasting impression on the national consciousness. He became involved in protests against the oppression of the Czechs, and was forced to leave Prague for a time. He worked in Budapest, Vienna and Lancaster, submitted a patent for making plates for printing uncounterfeitable paper in 1875. Putting a picture onto paper was an exacting technique requiring the hand of a master. Klíč covered a copper plate with asphalt dust, which after heating formed an even, finely granulated layer. Onto it he placed a picture copied into gelatine, and over the gelatine and asphalt layer he etched it into the copper. Unfortunately, one clever observer quickly mastered Klíč's technique, and the inventor resolved to be more careful in future. From then on, Klíč's work would remain hidden behind a veil of secrecy.

In the 1890s Klíč worked out and tested ways to improve and simplify the transfer of half-tones. His goal was to reproduce complex pictures, not a simple pattern. In Great Britain in 1890 he finally achieved the desired effect, using wiper-blade photogravure, a printing method that remains unsurpassed to this day.

RED

2012-05-16T11:02:00.005+12:00

Espinosa 24

Most berets sold by South Pacific Berets go to the US, the UK, Germany, Australia and Canada (in that order).

Czech Radiovka 265

My statistics tell me that practically none of the Red Berets go there, with the exception of Australia (I have to admit, the Aussies are more daring and unconventional, when it comes to berets...).

Tolosa Tupida with Moroccan Leather Headband

Interestingly, it's not a world-wide phenomenon. Red berets are among the most popular in South America, where they are worn mainly by the gaucho's and during equestrian events.

Gauchos, Argentina

And the, of course, there are the many festivals, in France and Spain, where a red beret is compulsory gear.

Tolosa Tupida Plato Grande 35cm

I have to admit that I don't wear my red berets that often, but I am very fond of my little French beret with the logo of motor club Les Petrolettes Dauphinoises.

My small diameter Petrolettes beret - not for sale!

Adolf Hoffmeister and Picasso

2012-05-16T07:20:00.000+12:00

Adolf Hoffmeister (1902-1973) was a poet, novelist, translator and editor. He edited one of the main Czech daily newspapers, Lidové noviny (1928-30) and the main literary paper, Literární noviny (1930-32). He was also a talented artist and caricaturist, often illustrating his own work. See these beautiful pictures of a beret wearing Picasso.

Hoffmeister set up an anti-fascist magazine, Simplicus, in the 1930s after the German satiric magazineSimplicissimus was banned by the Nazis. He also wrote the libretto for a children's opera, Brundibar, with music by the Czech composer Hans Krása in 1938; the opera was performed fifty-five times by children in Terezín concentration camp where Krása was interned.

Hoffmeister emigrated to France in 1939, but moved on to Morocco when France fell. There, he was arrested but escaped from an internment camp and arrived in New York via Lisbon and Havana in 1941. He returned to Czechoslovakia in 1945 and worked for UNESCO. After the Communist coup in February 1948, Hoffmeister was named French ambassador by the new neo-Stalinist regime but was recalled shortly after. He worked then as a lecturer in fine art at the Academy of Applied Arts. After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Hoffmeister emigrated to France once again in 1969, but decided to return in 1970.

He died three years later in the Orlický mountains, judged by the regime to be a non-person.

Bruno Detassis

2012-05-15T07:15:00.004+12:00

Born in Trento in June 1910 in a working-class family (his father Antonio was a carpenter and important member of the Trentino trade unions of the time).

He is the progenitor of a great mountaineering school influenced for half a century by his extraordinary personality. He opened up over 200 routes in the Dolomites, including the north face of Upper Brenta in the Brenta Dolomites in August 1934 with the mountain guides Enrico Giordani and Ulisse Battistata.

Bruno Detassis climbing, with beret, of course

In 1939 he moved from Piedmont to run the ski school in Madonna di Campiglio (where he continued to live until his death in 2008).

Since 1949 he has managed the Brentei refuge in the heart of the Brenta Dolomites. He is also known for many rescue operations. In December 1957 he led the first Trentino expedition in Patagonia.

New: Bakkara Excellence without Headband!

2012-05-14T16:58:00.001+12:00

I'm reaching the point that I wonder how many more new berets I can add to the stock of South Pacific Berets. But, here is another one, or two, actually:

Bakkara Excellence without Headband

These berets are custom made for and only available at South Pacific Berets.

Apart from the standard Bakkara and the Bérets Nu, Blancq-Olibet does not make headband-less berets. This is the top-of-the-range quality of Blancq-Olibet, similar to the Spanish Super Lujo, but in a less dense variety, making it easier to wear-in and shape.

The beret is black satin lined, carries the Bakarra Excellence label and is available in two diameters: 9.5 pouces (267mm) and 10.5 pouces (291mm) @ $52.00.