Vintage French Photos

Ilse Bing, Paris 1952

Vintage photos from France by famous photographers; times when berets were omnipresent.

Vivian Maier, les Champsaurins

Jean Philippe Charbonnier

Robert Doisneau, Kids 1947

Jean Dieuzaide

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

The story has varied considerably in different versions over the centuries, translations, and as the subject of numerous modern adaptations. 

The Town Musicians of Bremen

The "Town Musicians of Bremen" (Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819.

It tells the story of four ageing domestic animals, who after a lifetime of hard work are neglected and mistreated by their former masters. Eventually, they decide to run away and become town musicians in the city of Bremen. Contrary to the story's title the characters never arrive in Bremen, as they succeed in tricking and scaring off a band of robbers, capturing their spoils, and moving into their house.

The Brothers Grimm first published this tale in the second edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1819, based on the account of the German storyteller Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1815).

The Ant and the Grasshopper

 The Ant and the Grasshopper is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 373 in the Perry Index.

The fable describes how a hungry grasshopper begs for food from an ant when winter comes and is refused. The situation sums up moral lessons about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future.

Even in Classical times, however, the advice was mistrusted by some and an alternative story represented the ant's industry as mean and self-serving. Jean de la Fontaine's delicately ironic retelling in French later widened the debate to cover the themes of compassion and charity. 

Since the 18th century the grasshopper has been seen as the type of the artist and the question of the place of culture in society has also been included. Argument over the fable's ambivalent meaning has generally been conducted through adaptation or reinterpretation of the fable in literature, arts, music and berets.

Gary Smulyan

Gary Smulyan (1956) is a jazz musician who plays baritone saxophone. He studied at Hofstra University before working with Woody Herman. He leads a trio with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Kenny Washington.

Smulyan has played with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and its previous incarnation, the Mel Lewis Big Band. He has played with the Dave Holland Big Band and Octet, the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, and he has performed and recorded with Carla Bley's Big Band.

Smulyan's biggest influence is Pepper Adams. When Adams died, Smulyan recorded an album entitled Homage, which featured eight pieces composed by Adams. He has recorded for Criss Cross Jazz and Reservoir Records, including the critically acclaimed High Noon: The Jazz Soul of Frankie Laine, featuring arrangements by Mark Masters.

Smulyan has consistently been ranked best baritone saxophone player in the annual Down Beat magazine readers' and critics' polls.

Eberhard Lauer

Eberhard Lauer, born in 1956, is musical director at the Cathedral of St. Marien in Hamburg and professor for organ music at the Academy of Music in Lübeck, being engaged as organist, choir master and teacher.

He studied the organ and church music at the universities of Aachen, Düsseldorf and Amsterdam, musicology and philosophy in Hamburg and French organ music in master-classes with Marie-Claire Alain, André Isoir and Xavier Darasse.

He gives concerts in his home country Germany and abroad, and recorded organ recitals for radio, disc and television.

Al Fusco (#3)

 

J.C. Duffy is an American cartoonist. He made the "Go Fish" comic strip from October 8, 2002 to October 8, 2007, and currently creates "The Fusco Brothers." 

He also writes and draws cartoons that appear in The New Yorker and other magazines.

And best of all, a bit of reflection for us boineros. 

Yakiv Tkachenko

South Pacific Berets does continue to support Ukraine! And donations don't need to be paid back...

Yakiv Tkachenko, a theater and film actor from Dnipro, was killed in action while serving on the front line with Ukraine's 128th Territorial Defense Brigade, his friends and colleagues reported on Dec. 14.

Tkachenko was known for his roles in Ukrainian films such as "Chervonyi" ("Red"), "Dovbush," and "Pryputni" ("The Strayed"). He also appeared in "Mr. Jones," a high-profile film about the man-made Holodomor famine, directed by Agnieszka Holland.

Film director Oles Sanin announced Tkachenko's death on his Facebook page: "One of the most talented Ukrainian actors," Sanin said. "A true knight. A true friend."

According to a March 2024 report from PEN International, at least 102 Ukrainian cultural figures, including writers, artists, translators and historians, have been killed since the beginning of the invasion.

Al Fusco (#2)

More cartoons by J.C. Duffy, portraying boinero Al Duffy.

NAZI Female Postal Worker's Beret

From the Gettysburg Museum of History: a NAZI era postal worker's beret (Baskenmuetze), that was brought home by a US soldier after the war. 

During the Third Reich period the DRP, Deutsche Reichspost, was under the governmental control of the Reichspostministerium, (National Postal Ministry), which was originally commanded by Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach as the Post-Master General until he was replaced in February 1937 by NSKK-Obergruppenführer Dr. Karl Wilhelm Ohnesorge, an avid supporter of Hitler and the NSDAP.

 With the outbreak of WWII and further man-power requirements needed for military service, additional females were drawn into service with the DRP. Uniforms for the DRP female employees were introduced in 1940 and consisted of a coordinated dark blue jacket and matching skirt or pants and a beret. Insignia utilized by female DRP employees consisted of the national eagle and orange piping on the headgear and an identifying sleeve badge.

Al Fusco (#1)

Cartoons by J.C. Duffy, portraying boinero Al Duffy.

Johannes Feest

Johannes Feest (1939 in Berlin) is a German penologist and sociologist of law.

He studied law in Vienna (Austria) and Munich (Germany) and sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1974 until his retirement in 2005 he was professor of criminal law at the University of Bremen (Germany). From 1995 to 1997 he directed the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Oñati (Basque Country).

He has done research on the courts, police and prisons. Presently, he is primarily engaged with German prison policy. In 2019, he initiated a manifesto to abolish penitentiaries and other prisons.

European March of Remembrance and Friendship

The first march was organized for 300 soldiers in May 1967 by the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Chasseurs Ardennais, based in Vielsalm (Ardennes).  

First called the March of Remembrance, it changed its name in 1968 when civilians too were invited to participate. The march was originally conceived as a military exercise and it also served to perpetuate the memory of the hard fighting led by the predecessors Chasseurs Ardennais who had resisted the German invasion of May 10, 1940.

The march consists of four stages of 30 to 35 kilometres. The march ends in Marche-en-Famenne, host town of the current Chasseur Ardennais Regiment.

See the South Pacific Berets page for original medals of the march.

Claudia Patatas

More thugs: Claudia Patatas was found guilty of being a member of the extreme rightwing organisation National Action, which was banned in 2016.

A jury at Birmingham crown court was that Patatas and partner Adam Thomas named their child the middle name Adolf, which Thomas said was in admiration for Hitler.

Jurors were shown a photograph of Claudia Patatas, which shows a freshly-tattooed 'black sun' symbol, a symbol used by SS unites in the Nazi era. 

Patatas was jailed for 5 years. The couple had both been involved in what the judge described as the desecration of war memorials, including one in Warwickshire, and were “equally extreme” in their views and actions.

The judge told Thomas: “Your home was a veritable shrine to extreme racism.”

🥳Make My Day!💐

My 16th birthday, since starting this daily blog on berets - I couldn't have imagined coming this far...

And in these economically uncertain times of rising inflation and fearing tariffs from befriended nations, the old adage is more valid than ever: Make My Day, Buy A  beret! 

Thank you👍🏾

Hobart's Salamanca Wool Shop

These crochet berets are made by Sam, a Tasmanian hat maker from Hobart.

These unique and colourful berets are sold by the Hobart based Salamanca Wool Shop. 

The shop sells wool in many forms - fine, boiled, felted, knitted, dyed, or blended with other fibres; in the forms of clothing or yarn.