Joe Rosenthal

Joseph John Rosenthal (1911–2006) was an American photographer who received the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic World war II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima. His picture became one of the best-known photographs of the war.

Rosenthal was rejected by the US Army as a photographer because of poor eyesight, but he joined the Associated Press and followed the US Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater of Operations during the war. Rosenthal made his famous photo on February 23, 1945, five days after the Marines landed at Iwo Jima. In later years, when asked about the photo, he would say "I took the picture, the Marines took Iwo Jima."

Rosenthal left the AP later in 1945 and became the chief photographer and manager of Times Wide World Photos. He then later joined the San Francisco Chronicle. He worked there as a photographer for 35 years, sporting a black beret Basque, before retiring in 1981.

More Stilts

In the original clipping, the caption under this image reads:

THE LAST OF THE TCHANKATS [tchanguès]
The Tchankats [tchanguès] are shepherds of Landes, in France, a race who passed their lives on stilts, crossing rivers and forests full of venomous snakes without danger. They have now almost died out, and Sylvain Dornon, whose portrait we give, is one of the last of the tribe. He made himself notorious by walking from his native village to Paris on his stilts, and even ascending the Eiffel Tower on those wooden supports. Thence he set off to walk to Moscow and back on stilts. The Tchankats carry a pole, but which they elevate themselves on their stilts, and which makes a sort of third leg when they wish to rest. Our second picture shows the preparations for a stilt race at Sylvain Dornon's native village of Arcachon. They not only run at full speed on their stilts, but wind up the day by dancing quadrilles upon them.

--publication unknown, 1893

Interview with French hatter Stéphane Jacquet

Following is part of an interview by Dirk Beauregard with French hatter Stéphane Jacquet; the article in full can be read here.

What about the humble béret?

Another bestseller, but here too, the clientele has changed. There has been a role reversal. The old men who you might have expected to see sporting a béret, are all wearing hats. The Béret has become an essential Bobo fashion accessory. Most béret-wearers nowadays seem to be the bourgeois bohème type. I think they are looking for an authentic and tangible symbol of la France Profonde, or, la douce France, the cliché from the Charles Trenet song. The béret is perhaps synonymous of France’s rural past where life was supposedly easier and simpler than today. Of course, the béret is also very popular with the English. I always sell quite a few to British tourists passing through Bourges in the summer.

Can you give us a few béret-buying tips?

Well, the first thing to look out for is the size. Not simply the hat size, but the diameter of the béret itself. Both are indicated on the leather band around the outside. A normal béret may have a diameter of twenty-five centimetres, however some bérets, can go over thirty. The more béret you have on top, the bigger the slant, the more you have to pull to one side, or another. There is a popular myth, which says the side to which you choose to slant you béret, left or right, is a sign of your political affiliations. The last two French béret makers are in the Basque country, where the locals also wear the traditional red béret, nothing to do with politics or paratroopers though. The largest bérets are possibly those of the French Alpine troops, les Chasseurs Alpins. To give you some idea of the size, they refer to their béret as a crêpe

We hear so much about production of traditional French products being delocalised, boules for pétanque made in China or foie gras from Hungary. Are bérets still made in France?

About forty years ago, there were thirty béret manufacturers in France, now there are just two. « Blancq-Olibet » near Nay and « Beatex », at Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Both in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Blancq-Olibet, have been making bérets for about two hundred years.

The Dutch Series # 2 - Paul Citroen

Roelof Paul Citroen (1896 - 1983) was a German-born Dutch artist, art educator and co-founder of the New Art Academy in Amsterdam.

Citroen was born and grew up in a Jewish (Dutch) family in Berlin and began drawing at an early age, much supported by his parents.

In 1919 Citroen began studying at the Bauhaus, taking lessons from Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Johannes Itten (who became one of his biggest influences). It was around this time that he started 'Metropolis', which became his best known piece.

During the years 1929-1935, Citroen made many photographs, clearly influenced by his work with Erwin Blumenfield, with whom he experimented earlier in his life.

He set up the New Art School in Amsterdam, which existed from 1933 through 1937, in which year he became a scholar at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague.

The war years Citroen had to spend in hiding.

After designing the famous "Zomerpostzegels", a collection of stamps in blue, yellow and green, his focus shifted to painting portraits, many famous Dutch people among them like this self portrait wit the writer Hella Haasse.

The Dutch Series # 1

Not only was I born in a country with little of a beret tradition, I emigrated to a country with an even smaller beret presence!

Alas, at least I rekindled what little there was here, with the NZ-Series on this Blog and selling a few nice Elósegui's and Espinosas to Kiwi-folk around the country.

I must have a talent for choosing these illogical and poor-marketable situations; my novels are very much New Zealand novels, but written in Dutch - not the easiest to sell to a Dutch audience...

As I wrote before, berets were definitely a tradition in my family and there will be lots of people of my generation who remember their fathers coming home from work on their bicycles, wearing alpinos (the Dutch word for berets). That sight is pretty much gone now. Somehow, the beret has become a trademark of the comedian, often of the more silly kind (it's not a specifically Dutch trademark though); I quote NZ artist and beret wearer Peter Madden:

"I am often bemused at the way the beret is used as a prop in comedy to ridicule say an over serious artist, this symbolisim

seems to bleed over to every day use [for those of weak minds].

I would have thought the

superfolous scarf more fertile comedy than the beret? I suppose

one could trace such comedy back to cartoons [their is a thesis

here]."

But, back to the Netherlands: I think it may be good to start a "Dutch Series" here and I'll do my utmost best to not only portray comedians.

Let's start with another van Kooten en de Bie, artists who I wouldn't dare call comedians; founders of the Simplistic League, masters with language and the moral conscience of the Dutch for decades. I am sorry I missed this exhibition - 20.000 km's away.

Stilts in 'Les Landes'

In the wastes of Gascony stilt walking was formerly a means of locomotion adapted to the nature of the country. The waste lands were then great level plains covered with stunted bushes and dry heath. Moreover, on account of the permeability of the subsoil, all the declivities were transformed into marshes after the slightest fall of rain.

There were no roads of any kind, and the population, relying upon sheep raising for a living, was much scattered. It was evidently in order to be able to move around under these very peculiar conditions that the shepherds devised and adopted stilts....

The shepherds of Landes, accustomed from their childhood to this sort of exercise, acquire an extraordinary freedom and skill therein. The tchanguè knows very well how to preserve his equilibrium; he walks with great strides, stands upright, runs with agility, or executes a few feats of true acrobatism, such as picking up a pebble from the ground, plucking a flower, simulating a fall and quickly rising, running on one foot, etc.

Happily, there are still people in France keeping this antique custom alive. Their website's photo page is not to be missed.

Girl Scouts

The Girl Guides organization began in Great Britain in 1910. Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in the United States in Savannah, Georgia, in 1912 (also called "Girl Guides" for the first year). Today, there are multiple levels of Girl Scouting around the world, including Daisy, Brownie and Junior.

These days, the beret is out of fashion with many of the Girl Guide Groups (I believe there is no hat whatsoever these days in the New Zealand groups). A good history of various berets though, with the Guides, the Scouts, the Brownies and all those other youth groups that (used to) dress in uniforms.

Personally, I never understood why people want to see children in a uniform to start with...

This Junior Girl Scout beret dates from the 1960s. It features a dark green trefoil-shaped patch with brown letters—GS—in its center. The beret has a red grosgrain facing band, a stiffening mesh inside band, red faille lining and eight tucks.

Nice ad (3)

Antiques for Sale

Some thirty years ago, when wearing my first ex-Marine Corps beret from an army surplus store, I couldn't have dreamed of one time owning well over a hundred berets. It is a bit crazy, I know and the worst thing is: the collection is still growing. I simply can't resist adding interesting berets to the collection.

It may be a good time to sell a few of these berets, create a little space on the walls of our shared bedroom (and keep the relationship with my partner a happy one).

These berets are a combination of acquisitions from other collectors, closed-down hat shops and the remains of the stock from a factory that went into receivership.

Time is not always kind to berets; leather headbands sometimes show cracks (some have cracked right through), some berets have been visited by moths or have got slightly damaged in other ways. I try to give as accurate description of the berets as possible - please have a good look at the accompanying picture and ask questions when you are not sure.

All prices include international air postage and handling!

Sergei Parajanov

Sergei Parajanov, or in his native Armenian language Sargis Hovsepi Parajanyan (Սարգիս Հովսեփի Փարաջանյան) was one of the best known directors of Soviet films. Born in Tbilisi, (then the S.S.R. of) Georgia, to an Armenian family, his work reflected the ethnic diversity of the Caucusus where he was raised.

His first major work was Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964), which earned him an international reputation for its rich use of costume and color, and its whimsical portrayal of rural life. Possibly his greatest work, The Color of Pomegranates (1969), described the life of the Armenian poet Sayat Nova. The film angered the Soviet authorities, who claimed that it evoked nationalist sentiment.

Claiming that Paradjanov promoted homosexuality, the government arrested him in 1973 and sentenced him to five years in a labor camp. A large number of prominent artists, writers and filmmakers protested his sentence, but Paradjanov was only released four years later, in large part due to the efforts of the French surrealist Louis Aragon. He was banned for making films for many years afterwards, when he was living in Tbilisi, but he was allowed to make The Legend of Suram Fortress (1984), which captured much of the color of his earlier work.

He managed to direct three more films before he died of cancer in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1990. A house was built for him in Yerevan which was completed shortly after his death, but which now houses all his belongings and has been turned into the Parajanov Museum.

I can't think of an artist more diverse than Parajanov, being a great admirer of his paintings, collages and films.

Here is the master pictured together with Mikhail Vartanov.

Winston Churchil

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician, known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World war II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, historian, writer, and artist. He is the only British Prime Minister who has ever received the Nobel Prize in Literature and the second person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

No doubt about it that Winston Churchill was a great statesman, although the people of Dresden, the displaced people of various East European countries and victims of Stalin's terror might disagree with me here. Then again, where would we be now had Churchill not been there..?

One thing we can agree upon: he wore a beret and it did not suit him.

American Apparel

American Apparel is an Industrial Revolution.

American Apparel is the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States, located in down town LA with over 4000 employees. It is a vertically-integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer that also performs its own design, advertising, and marketing and is best-known for making basic cotton knitwear such as T-shirts and underwear, but in recent years it has expanded - to include all sorts of clothing and accesories for men, women, children, babies and dogs.

With their recently opened stores in China, A.A. are now selling "Made in USA" clothing in the largest consumer market in the world.

The company is known for its provocative and controversial advertising campaigns, which is largely the inspiration of the company CEO Dov Charney. According to Adage, American Apparel's advertising 'telegraphs the brand' from person to person. Their print campaigns are widely considered to be some of the best in the industry. The sexually charged advertising has been criticized, but has also been lauded for honesty and lack of airbrushing. American Apparel images often display subjects with their blemishes, imperfections and asymmetrical features highlighted and attached with brief, personal descriptions. Many of the models in American Apparel's sexual advertising are recruited by Charney and his colleagues on the street, or in the company stores.

Controversial in many ways, with ecological sound practices, social justice, philantropy and advocacy for immigration issues on the company's agenda.

And yes, they manufacture berets as well, in wool and cotton.

Fred "Rerun" Berry

Fred "Rerun" Berry (1951 – 2003) was an American actor best known for the role of Fred "Rerun" Stubbs on the popular 1970s television show What's Happening!!.


Berry was born in St. louis, Missouri. Before starring on What's Happening!!, he was a member of the Los Angeles based dance troupe "The Lockers". During that time Berry's nickname was “The Penguin”.

What's Happening!! lasted from 1976 to 1979. He was a millionaire by age 29. After the show ended, Berry had trouble finding work because he was permanently identified with the Rerun character.
Eventually however, he came to embrace his being typecast, and made his peace with it as the best means to maintain his celebrity. In public, he was often seen wearing the red beret and red suspenders that are part of the Rerun character, and even went so far as to have his middle name legally changed to "Rerun".

During the 1980s, Berry battled drug addiction and alcoholism. He revived the character of Rerun in the series What's Happening Now!!, but he was only on that show for a year.
During the 1990s, Berry became a Baptist minister and lost 100 pounds (45 kg) after being diagnosed with diabetes. He made a living during this time mostly through making public appearances as Rerun.
Berry was married six times to four different women.

Berry died on October 21, 2003, at his Los Angeles home where he was recovering from a stroke.

Reduced Understanding...

Okay, it's not much of a post, but since I was going through beret-sporting scientists anyway, I do like George Em Karniadakis' statement:

People who wish to analyze nature without using maths must settle for a reduced understanding

(Professor in Applied Mathematics)

Olivier Messiaen - Composer, Artist

Olivier Eugene Prosper Charles Messiaen (1908 - 1992) was the son of Pierre Messiaen, a scholar of English literature, and of the poet Cecile Sauvage. Soon after his birth the family moved to Ambert (the birthplace of Chabrier) where his brother, Alain was born in 1913. Around the time of the outbreak of World War 1, Cecile Sauvage took Olivier and his younger brother to live with her brother in Grenoble where Olivier Messiaen spent his early childhood, began composing at the age of seven, and taught himself to play the piano.

On his return from the war, Pierre Messiaen took the family to Nantes and in 1919 they all moved to Paris where Olivier entered the Conservatoire.

From very early on it was clear that Messiaen would be a composer who would stand alone in the history of music. Coming not from any particular 'school' or style but forming and creating his own totally individual musical voice. He achieved this by creating his own 'modes of limited transposition', taking rhythmic ideas from India (deci tala), ancient Greece and the orient and most importantly adapting the songs of birds from around the world. He was a man of many interests including painting, literature, and the orient where he took in not only the musical culture but theatre, literature and even the cuisine of foreign countries. The single most important driving force in his musical creations was his devout Catholic faith.

Dr. Chris Busby

Christopher Busby (born 1945) is a British scientist and activist known for his work on the health effects of ionising radiation.

In addition to his academic appointments he is the director of Green Audit, an environmental consultancy agency, and scientific advisor to the Low Level Radiation Campaign which he set up in 1995.Busby is also the National Speaker on Science and Technology for the Green Party of England and Wales, and the Scientific Secretary of the Green Party's European Committee on Radiation Risks, based in Brussels.

And, Dr. Busby is well known for his black Basque Beret, of course.

Linus Pauling

Linus Pauling (1901-1994), the only individual to win two unshared Nobel Prizes, is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century.

Pauling was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize for Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Prize for Peace.





During the 2nd World War, Pauling worked on military research and development. However, when the war ended he became particularly concerned about the further development and possible use of atomic weapons and with the destruction inflicted on the world by war in general. Ava Helen Pauling, Linus's wife, was a pacifist and in time he came to share her views. Pauling soon began to express his concerns with the effects of nuclear fallout and in 1962, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign against above ground nuclear testing. His beliefs were not without controversy at the time and he was criticized by many for his actions, within and outside the US Government.











His many books include The Nature of the Chemical Bond, one of the most cited sources in scientific history, General Chemistry, and Vitamin C and the Common Cold.

A Picket Today, Tomorrow a Guest. Washington: Atomic Scientist Linus Pauling, who will be President Kennedy's guest tomorrow for Nobel prize winners, pickets the Executive Mansion today. He joins a mass demonstration protesting the resumption of U.S. atmospheric nuclear tests. Asked whether he thought it unusual to picket the white house one day and attend dinner there the next, he quipped, "I don't do any of them regularly."

Adolf Wölfli - a troubled Artist with Beret

Adolf Wölfli (1864 - 1930) (occasionally spelled Adolf Woelfli or Adolf Wolfli) was a Swiss artist who was one of the first artists to be associated with the Art Brut or Outsider Art label.

Wölfli was abused both physically and sexually as a child, and was orphaned at the age of 10; He thereafter grew up in a series of state-run foster homes. He worked as a farm labourer and briefly joined the army, but was later convicted of attempted child molestation, for which he served prison time. Sometime after being freed, he was arrested for a similar offence and was admitted in 1895 to the Waldau Clinic in Bern, Switzerland, a psychiatric hospital where he spent the rest of his adult life.

He was very disturbed and sometimes violent on admission, leading to him being kept in isolation for his early time at hospital. He suffered from psychosis, which led to intense hallucinations.

At some point after his admission Wölfli began to draw. His first surviving works (a series of 50 pencil drawings) are dated from between 1904 and 1906.

Walter Morgenthaler, a doctor at the Waldau Clinic, took a particular interest in Wölfli's art and his condition, later publishing Ein Geisteskranker als Künstler (A Psychiatric Patient as Artist) in 1921 which first brought Wölfli to the attention of the art world.

Wölfli eventually died in 1930 and his works were taken to the Museum of the Waldau Clinic in Bern. Today, the collection is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern.
Wölfli's work has inspired many composers. Perhaps most notable the Danish composer Per Nørgård who after viewing a Wölfli exhibition in 1979 embarked on a schizoid style lasting for several years; among the works of this time are an opera on the life of Wölfli called The Divine Circus.