THE WASHINGTON MALL: Part 1

Market for Elephants-None- winters are too cold, no grazing range
due to heavy urbanization- Zoo is already full.

Date of My Visit January 2, 2016



I am going to describe one part of a major city, the National Mall in Washington D.C.   What constitutes the Mall seems to vary according to sources.  I am going from the Washington Monument out to the Lincoln Memorial and around the Tidal Basin.  

Washington Monument

While the White House can be called the center of Washington,

from any distance the Washington Monument dominates the scene.  This is deliberate; by civic regulation no building can be taller than it.

In 1833 a private group The Washington National Monument Society was organized to build a monument to our first president. To insure the monument would be a national project contributions were limited to $1 per year per person.  Rather like current political candidates brag about getting small donations from individuals rather than depending on corporate money.  

That plan didn’t work well and unlimited donations were allowed. It took to 1847 to raise $78,000 and the society began accepting submissions.  They chose the work of Robert Mills, who not only designed the Treasury Building, but an earlier memorial to Washington in Baltimore.  His vision was of a 200 foot diameter rotunda, with a 600 foot tall obelisk rising in the middle. Thirty columns were to surround this, with a circle of heroic statues creating a National Pantheon, a listing of national heroes.   Congress gave them a 37 acre site chosen after soil tests to be sure the ground could bear the weight. 

On July 4, 1848 the corner stone of 24,500 lbs. of white marble from Maryland was laid.  Building commenced with a complex pulley system to move each block from the Washington Navel Yard.  However in 1854 the Monument Society went bankrupt.   The state of Alabama donated a stone

and the society invited any state, municipality, and association to donate blocks.  Later the offer was extended to foreign governments.   In 1854 building was interrupted by the stresses leading to the Civil War with the obelisk only a third completed.

In 1876, the centennial of the United States, Congress took over.  The Army Corp of Engineers performed a new study of the earth showing the foundation for the obelisk needed reinforcement, and it would have to be shortened.  The remainders of Mills’ plans were eliminated for design, engineering, and funding reasons. The Washington Monument as we see it today was dedicated in 1885 one day before Washington’s Birthday, which was on a Sunday that year. It is just 45 ft. short of the original plans and was the tallest manmade structure in the world at that time.

To enter the visitor center at the base and go up the shaft, everyone no matter how young needs a free ticket, which can be obtained on the internet or at the booth.  The visitor’s center is excellent.  I suggest taking the elevator to the top look out the tiny windows over the city (I was disappointed that there were no signs of Art Buchwald’s office there) and then walk down the iron stair well to look at the 193 commemorative stones.  Anyone with leg problems or small children will want to avoid this. 

There are two things that one has to look at the memorial when the sun is at different angles to see.  First because they had to change quarries three times there are three slightly different bands of color.  Second the top is a pyramid of aluminum designed to protect against lighting. 

THE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL

It’s hard to understand why it took so long start organizing a truly national World War II Memorial.  It was not until 1987 a bill was introduced by Representative Marcy Kaptur to have the American Battle Monuments Commission establish a memorial in Washington. D.C.   The bill had to be introduced three more times before passing both Houses.

 Finally in 1994 Bill Clinton, the second president to not remember World War II, signed a bill appointing advisors to help the ABMC.  The co- chairs were Senator Bob Dole a WWII veteran and holder of two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star and Frederick W. Smith, President of FedEx and a Marine Corps officer who earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts in Vietnam.   Millions of dollars were raised by a direct mail fundraising effort much from veterans and veterans’ organizations.  The Federal Government provided $16 million.

Out of 400 submissions Friedrich St. Florian’s was accepted and the site was chosen to incorporate the views of the Washington Monument, the

reflecting pond, and the Lincoln Memorial.   

It was opened to the public in April 29, 2004.   In contrast to the plain Washington Monument, this memorial has numerous symbols and inscriptions.  The main entrance way to the central plaza has bas-reliefs, one side representing the Atlantic, the other the Pacific. 

Around the plaza are 56 pillars representing the 48 American states,plus the dis tricts and territories under the control of the U.S. during the war.  This is to honor service men from places like Hawaii, Alaska and Guam

Two arched entrance ways on opposite sides of the plaza are labeled the Atlantic and Pacific doorways.  On the floor of each door way is a map of this theater. On the wall under the pillars are quotes, once again one side concerning the Pacific theater, the other the Atlantic. 

Behind the fountain is the freedom wall with 4048 gold stars.  Each star represents 100 Americans who died in World War II.  In World War 1 the custom developed of hanging a blue star on homes to mark each resident

who was in the military.  If they died a gold star replaced it.   President Wilson formalized the phrase Gold Star Mother in a speech and the use of a gold star especially on a mourning band has become a part of military symbolism ever since in America.

I was impressed bythe memorial as a work of art. After I stopped at the Information center and used the computer kiosk to look up my father and one uncle’s military record, I went back again to get the full emotional effect.   

The visitors here were an older group and respectful.

56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence: 

From the World War II memorial go up to Constitution Ave and turn left.  After a little while there will be a paved path, leading into the forest called Constitutional Gardens.  On a tiny island is a flat stone memorial to the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  It’s a semi-circle of 13 stones with the names of each of the original colonies and the names and home city of each signer.  

The second Continental Congress consisted of delegations sent by the legislatures of each colony and met in Philadelphia.  Their purpose was to organize the colonies’ relations with the Royal Government in London.   In June of 1776 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia submitted a measure to declare independence from Britain.  The unanimous vote approving it was held in July 1776, when the U.S. celebrates, but the formal signing was August 2^nd.

North Carolina, my home state, sent a delegation of three.

William Hooper an attorney in Wilmington had campaigned for independence before he was elected to Congress.  He was away on business when the vote for independence was taken, but signed in August.  He left congress in 1777 but after the British destroyed his two homes in

Wilmington had to hide with friends in the back county.   He served in the state legislature after the war and became known as a strong advocate for a federal constitution, which he lived long enough to see. 

John Penn a mostly self-educated lawyer voted for independence and signed on August 2^nd.  He had been a strong advocate of independence and after leaving congress in 1780 served on the war board in North Carolina organizing the defense against Lord Cornwallis during the southern campaign

Joseph Hewes, a merchant of Edenton, still felt it was premature to declare independence in July 1776.  However after a final speech by John Adams he is quoted as raising his hands and crying “’It is done! And I will abide by it” making the North Carolina delegation unanimous. He served on the marine commission and has been called the first secretary of the American navy.  He eventually died in Philadelphia partly of over work.  

These were not perfect men, no.  But the more you look at it when they pledged “Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor” they meant it.

Albert Einstein Memorial

Go back to Constitution Ave. and turn left again.  Across the avenue in front of the National Academies of Science you will find a charming quiet spot where the Albert Einstein Memorial offers a rest stop.    

About 1905 just after finishing his doctorate in the University of Zurich he published three papers which started three new fields of physics.  His work was so widely studied he became famous outside the academic world, artists and poets attempted to incorporate his insights in their work.

He became interest in the international anti-war movement but spent most of time on science becoming director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute in Berlin in 1914 and receiving a Nobel Prize in 1921.  However with the rise of the Nazi movement he moved to the United States where in 1933 he received a lifetime appointment as professor of mathematics at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey.

As one of the most famous scientist in the world in 1939 his letter to President Roosevelt on the military uses of atomic research helped spark the Manhattan Project during World War II. 

He continued his research until his death in 1944.   How important was his work?  The last few years of his life after he completed his writing, usually equations, on a large chalk board they were removed and sprayed to preserve his handwriting. 

The memorial is under a carefully planned holly and elm grove at the south west corner of the Academy building.   The bronze Einstein is 21 feet tall and weighs 7000 lbs.   It was cast in 19 pieces and took a crew of 25 men to assemble.  He sits on a bench of white granite.

The effect is that of a grandfatherly looking man looking from a paper with

his most famous equations on it to the plaza in front of him.  The plaza is a star map made from emerald-pearl granite from Norway.  Metal studs represent 2,700 astronomical objects were they would have been on noon on April 22, 1979 when the memorial was dedicated.  

The sculptor Robert Berks is sometime referred to as a bubble gum sculptor because of his odd effects in bronze.   His noted sculptures include the Kennedy sculpture in the Kennedy Center, the bust of Ronald Regan in his presidential library, and a memorial to Fred Rogers of the television show Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood.

As I said it’s a place well engineered for quiet despite the nearby traffic. The statue is popular with children to climb on and sit in the great man’s lap.  I doubt he minds. Also there is usually a food truck parked there so you can get a snack or in summer a bottle of water.

I see him sitting on his window seat in Princeton looking out at the Yale campus.  I wonder what it is like trying to combine time and space in a single understandable vision.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

This particular Memorial actually consists of three pieces the Memorial Wall, the Three Soldiers statute, and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial. 

The Memorial Wall is best approached in whichever way the foot traffic is running usually from the Lincoln Memorial side.

The giant wall of black marble has wings aimed toward the Lincoln and Washington memorials to tie it to American history. Upon it is engraved the names of the men and women who were killed, or are still missing in the Vietnam War.  The names are listed in the order they are believed to have died or were declared missing.  They start in the center and proceed to the right end, and then start again at the left end back to the center. 

Taking a Rubbing of a Name

If that’s too confusing the unique thing about this memorial is while there are rangers giving tours, there are also usually volunteers, veterans themselves, to help find a name.  When I came by this year a volunteer was making rubbings of names.

The monument was financed by donations by over 275,100 individuals, as well as corporations.   The founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial fund Jan Scruggs reported that “Our memorial had to be paid for by private contributions…by people whose principle reward would know they had honored those whom the nation managed to ignore.”   Ultimately they raised over $8.4 million and in 1980 the memorial fund was granted two acres in Constitution gardens. 

A national design contest was held with submissions submitted anonymously and examined by a panel of experts.  When the winner was announced controversy broke.  The winner was Maya Lin a first generation Chinese American and her design for the memorial wall was very unconventional in a city of statues. 

I am ashamed to say that part of this may have been from anti-Asian prejudice, especially among those that assumed she was Vietnamese.   Looking at her submission sketches one person, not on the jury, referred to it as a ‘wound.’  Putting the wall in the earth suggested to him it was being hidden out of shame. 

In her submission Lin said the idea was that one was to descend into a private space blocked from outside noise.   The names on the wall have no separation by rank, sex, etc.  One starts at the middle following the deaths chronologically then, make a circle and return to follow to the end of the war. 

Since the memorial was finished in 1982 it has become one of the most popular pieces of public art in the capital.

The reflection of visitor’s faces on the black polished granite with the engraved names suggests to me the separation of the living and the dead.  Lin’s plan achieved its goal of solemnity making it a shrine for those seeking contract with lost friends and loved ones.  Numerous tributes and gifts are left at the wall.  Each is collected and stored by the Park Ranger service in anticipation of building a museum.

The display of names, in the words of Jan Scruggs, “makes people feel the price of war… has to be paid in human lives.”

It was decided before wall was actually started to have a statue of warriors with a flagpole added.  This was to answer criticisms of the Memorial that it did not properly honor those who served in Vietnam but just gave a place to grieve for the dead.   On Nov 11^th 1984 the Three Soldiers Statues was dedicated.  Ms. Lin refused to attend considering the addition to her design unnecessary; “a coup” by her critics.

 

The sculptor Frederick Hart deliberately made the figures young in keeping with the age of most troops. The center figure is supposed to be white and is carrying equipment consistent with a marine of that period.  The figure on the left is Hispanic, the one on the right Negro, each carrying material that an army soldier would have.  

To quote Hart “I see the wall as a kind of ocean, a sea of sacrifice…in the sweep of names.  I place these figures upon the shore of the sea, gazing upon it, standing vigil before it.”

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated on Nov 11, 1993.  Funding was raised by another non-profit the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Fund that was incorporated in 1984 the year the Three Soldiers Statue was dedicated. 

The funds goal was “to promote the healing of Vietnam women veterans through the placement of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the grounds of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.” Glenna Goodacre, designer of the Sacagawea dollar, was chosen as the sculptor. 

They estimate about 11,000 women served in-country during the Vietnam War.  Many of them were nurses; all were non-combat personnel, who, because of the nature of guerrilla warfare, were in combat situations. They got shot at.  

At the dedication Ms. Goodacre said this memorial was to freeze a moment in time. One woman is cradling or perhaps more accurately elevating a wounded man.  The other woman is staring into the sky, probably looking for a medivac helicopter.   She has a hand on the other’s shoulder comforting her.  The man’s face is partly covered to make him more universal.  For the same reason there are no ranks or unit badges.   

The Lincoln Memorial

The little seen rear of the Memoria.

Discussion of a national monument to Lincoln started not long after the end of the civil war.  In 1867 Congress incorporated a commission to build a monument but it failed due to lack of subscriptions.

Five bills were introduced 1901, 1902, and 1908 to start a new commission but failed due to conflicts within the Republican party and arguments over the best location.

Finally the sixth bill passed and the Memorial Commission met in 1911 with President William Taft as its head.   By 1913 Congress approved the commission’s plans and choice of location and allocated $300,000 to start.   

The final location was on the landfill in West Potomac Park in a line with

the Capital building and the Washington Monument.  It started with a beautiful view of the Potomac surrounded by open land.  Now it is in line with Memorial Bridge, that leads to Arlington Cemetery, and is half circled by a busy multi lane highway.

The Memorial is highly invested with symbolism.  The steps to the main entrance of the Parthenon like building can invest one's approach with a certain solemnity.  For those unable to climb up or down- there is an elevator on the left side.   

The building is made from Yule marble from Colorado.  There are 32 columns representing the number of states at the time of Lincoln’s death. Above each column is engraved the name of one of the 32 state and above that the names of the 48 states that existed when the Memorial was dedicated. The roof is decorated with symbols of unity. The memorial was designed by architect Henry Bacon. 

Inside on the south wall is engraved the Gettysburg Address under a mural painted by Jules Guerin showing the angel of truth freeing slaves.   On the north wall is a Guerin mural showing the Unity of North and South and a quote from his second inaugural address. 

The seated 19 foot statue is lighted by an adjustable artificial lighting

system making it possible to view the statue at night. Designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French the statue shows Lincoln as a tired man seemingly bearing a great burden. On a quiet day the memorial can feel like a sacred space dedicated the president.  An interpretation of what the burden is he carries has changed over time.

The commencement speeches on May, 30, 1922 were mostly about the pain of Americans killing Americans and the burden of reunification.  Attending were 78-year-old Robert Todd Lincoln and a handful of both Confederate and Union veterans.   The only African-American invited was Robert Moton head of the Tuskegee Institute.

However in 1939 Marian Anderson a famous African-American opera singer, refused to perform before a segregated audience at a Daughter’s of the American Revolution meeting.  She held an open air concert on steps of the Memorial.  The filmed footage circulated the world making the memorial a symbol of equality and democracy. 

In August 1963, after several years of planning by different leaders, a poor people’s march on Washington publicizing the need for economic and civil rights took place.   Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the organizers,  gave his now famous “I Have A Dream” speech on the steps.

Arranging with the National Park service to give speeches and display flags is common.  The day of my most recent visit I found a group of young men circulating a petition to outlaw Wahhabism.  This is a religious movement or branch of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia.  An interesting case of

using two of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, the freedom to assemble, and freedom to petition, to interfere in another’s right to practice a third, the freedom of religion.   





Take a few minutes to let a master film maker  Frank Capra explain this secular religion effect in a clip from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqbl-olEMrY

THE SUPERMAN MUSEUM OF METROPOLIS, (ILLINOIS?)

Market Potential for Elephants-  About a third of the year has frost making it impractical for elephants

Date of My Visit August 8, 2015

Superman is a fictional character tales of whom I have loved since college and steel (oops still!) read regularly.  His fictional origin is well known, especially following seven feature films.  Superman was

Art by Shuster

conceived on the planet Krypton and when his father, Krypton’s greatest scientist, realized the planet would shortly be destroyed by internal pressures sent his son to earth.  Raised by a farm family in the center of the United States, he developed powers that were mostly an amplification of his human abilities, super strength, speed, skin that resists almost anything, etc.

He started out fighting abusive husbands and playing practical on cruel mine owners, advanced to fighting gangsters, mad or at least anti-social scientists, and assorted monsters.  He also helped save lives from dams collapsing, volcanos and tidal waves.  Like any good Kansas boy he seems to have a special grudge against tornados.

What it that has made this character so widely loved? 

Well we all love heroes and most of us want to be a hero.   However as 

Every one dreams of flying

cartoonist Jules Feiffer once commented “I couldn’t have been Batman even if I wanted to.  If I were ever to be trapped in a steel vault with the walls closing in on all sides, I was obviously going to have to break out with my fists, because it was clear from my earliest science grades that I was never going to have the know-how to invent an explosive in my underground laboratory.”

Some see Superman’s being an alien as an important part of his appeal.   In America, the land of immigrants, he is the ultimate immigrant, and he proves all heroism is not traceable to an Anglo-Saxon background.

His original creators, writer Jerome Siegel and artist Joseph Shuster were the sons of Jewish  

Jerry Siegel

immigrants.  Many see their largest innovation was giving their character a civilian identity very different from his heroic one.  Clark Kent represents the side that’s assimilated into America; Superman represents who he really is. 

Me- I love Superman because he may be the most powerful being on his earth, but instead of ripping open bank deposit boxes, he spends his time helping people.   He gives me hope for humanity.  He keeps his Clark Kent identity because he spent his whole life among humans.  The only way he can keep such a life is to not be a celebrity, especially when lots of people want you dead.  Being Superman is like being rich, you never know what people really feel about you.

The actual origin of the character is that the two young creators were in the late 1930’s trying to

Joe Shuster

break into the relatively new field of comic books.  Comic books were originally reprint books of newspaper comic strips. The first to publish original stories was New Fun No. 1, published by National Allied Publications.  Shuster and Siegel’s first successes were Henri Duval, a swashbuckler, and supernatural crime-fighter Dr. Occult, both of which appeared in New Fun No. 6 (Oct,1935).  Many experts consider Dr. Occult the first super powered comic book hero.

Superman was presented to several publishers but was finally accepted by National Allied and became the lead in Action Comics No. 1 (June, 1938).   Siegel and Shuster sold all rights to Superman to National Allied in return for $130 and a contract to supply the publisher with material.

Superman was such a hit that in January 1939 a Superman daily comic strip appeared.  For most of its original run the newspaper strip were drawn by Wayne Boring and later Win Mortimer.

In June 1939 he got his own magazine Superman while still appearing in Action.  Schuster continued to draw most stories in both until 1946 when he and Siegel’s contract with their publisher, now known as Detective Comics Inc. ended.  They sued to recover the rights to Superman but the contract was upheld. However Siegel had created a new character, Superboy that was judged to be his.  DC Comics Inc. eventually paid the two of them $94,000 for the rights to Superboy, and an agreement that DC held all rights to Superman. 

Siegel and Schuster left and Wayne Boring took over as principle Superman artist.  Where Schuster

had a very minimalist style in his backgrounds and based Superman on the bodybuilders of the 1930s, Wayne Boring made him larger and more detailed.  The stories became less violent and Superman instead of a prankster, who the authorities sometimes treated as an enemy, became a strict law and order man. He devoting much of his time to protecting the wealthy’s property.

Curt Swan

In 1955 Curt Swan became the main artist on the feature. It is his Superman with him doing the pencils and Murphy Anderson then going over them with Inks that is the basis for most images since then. The 1950’s were the worst period of sales in comic book history but Superman continued to be published because he had achieved an icon place in American pop culture, and advertising.  He also had a live action television show from 1951 to 1957. 

Over the following decades numerous artist have drawn Superman but only those who did so called ‘imaginary’ stories were Superman landed in Africa and fought poachers or was raised in Stalinist Russia made any basic changes to his costume.   Alex Ross's painted images so how much can be done with the classic red, white,

Art by Ross.

and blue scheme.  The newest films Man of Steel and Superman vs Batman have changed to a new chainmail look. 

Superman is currently appearing in several comics, following several different story lines, and wearing several different costumes.   DC comics are now the property of Warner Brothers but comic sales are only the smallest part of the Superman franchise. The feature films have world wide appeal and the DVD collections are selling well.  The alternate story lines allow the sale of many different posters, toys, statues, and action figures.

What about Siegel and Shuster? In 1975 they launched a publicity campaign; timed to the opening of Warner Brothers’ first film, complaining about their treatment. To avoid bad publicity they were granted a lifetime stipend each, with health benefits. Since then each Superman comic has borne the phrase “created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster”.  Shuster died in 1992 and Siegel 1996. 

Metropolis, Illinois was founded in the 19^th century. Its ambitious name came from hopes that it would become an industrial and shipping center on the Ohio River.  It is the county seat but its primary industry remained agriculture until the Uranium Hexafluoride Processing Facility was built.   

In 1950’s as the popular television show made the elements of the Superman myth widely know the name Metropolis started jokes including renaming the weekly newspaper the Daily Planet. 

Then in 1972 the long time hopes of Warner Brothers to start a Superman theme park connected 

A look at the proposed Superman Land by Superman artist Neal Adams

with need of new industry in Metropolis.  A team from DC , including an actor in costume, met with the city council and announced Metropolis, Illinois was the official home of Superman.  Preliminary plans were laid out for the World of Superman, including a 200 foot statue, a Fortress of Solitude, and a recreation of the comic book Smallville’s main street.  There was also supposed to be a supermarket and playground.

There are varying reports of what happened then. The most popular is when Metropolis was ready to approach banks and write bonds for funding the Arab oil embargo scared most major financial institutions away from speculative long term projects.  It was assumed gasoline prices would continue upward and vacations would become less common. 

In 1976 it was discovered that the Uranium processing plant had been killing workers with cancer since 1959.  At a glance the town had more in common with Homer Simpson’s Springfield then Superman’s City of Tomorrow.

However for fun and profit the citizens of Metropolis carried own.  Every year since 1978 they have had an annual Superman Celebration in June with a parade, games and film showing.  In 2016 Michael Landes (Jimmy Olsen on Lois and Clark) and Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen in all four Christopher Reeves films and Supergirl) were the special guests.

In 1993 they unveiled a 15 foot bronze statue of Superman in front of the county court house built with individual contributions. 

   Across the small square is the Super Museum founded the same year by collector Jim Hambrick.

 

 Inside is the free to enter Super store ok on Metropolis artifacts, t-shirt etc., but with hardly any comics. 

The museum is a fascinating combination formal presentation and basement nerd den.  Hambrick says he started his Museum at the age of 10 charging a nickel for tours of his bedroom but now he has three Superman No. 1, possibly the last existing costume worn by George Reeves in television series The Adventures of Superman, and the phone booth that Kirk Alyn used to change into his costume in the 15 chapter serial. Several pre-teens were rushing in to this phone booth to try on their new capes. Naturally I had to whistle the John Williams theme. 

 At first it seems to be a random stack of stuff, but each room has a theme


Kirk Alyn Room

 

Another room in the museum.

Nearby is the 2010 statue of Noel Neil dressed as the character Lois Lane she played in the serial with Alyn and on television with George Reeves.   She also appeared as Lois Lane’s aunt in the feature film Superman with Christopher Reeve, and Gertrude Vanderworth, a strange, elderly woman, who marries arch villain Lex Luthor and leaves him a fortune to execute his criminal plan in Superman Returns. Its interesting that while they chose a generic Superman but are now honoring a specific actress.  The monument was again paid for by private donations.

I would strongly recommend a two hour stop over especially with youngsters in the back seat. Leaving route I-24 at exit 37 then take 45 into town.  It’s only about 20 minutes in and out.  When I visited there was a good ice cream shop across the road, one of the last store fronts open downtown.  If staying overnight I suggest Harrah Metropolis you can do a little gambling in the evening.  

 Geek Resources -


First Episode of the serial SUPERMAN  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7soDPQUxpOk


First Episode of The Adventures of Superman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzvlRVLkCR0


Nine Fleisher Studio Superman Cartoons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTdmbOYp3xw


Filmation Superman cartoon from 1966  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DJpgFLjT2Y


John Williams conducts the Superman Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjIlBoGrVJM


Final Scene of SMALLVILLE  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGm0V8G7h38


Superman radio program https://archive.org/details/superman_otr

 Further resources-


Feiffer, Jules   The  Great Comic Book Heroes  Bonanza Books 1965

Grossman, Gary Superman Serial to Cereal , Popular Library, Sept 1977, ISBN 0445040548


The Supermuseum   www.supermuseum.com


Superman Day      www.supermancelebration.net

Thompson, Don  All In Color for a Dime Ace Books  1970   ISBN 44101625150

The Black Hills, Part 2

Date of Visit August 13, 2015

Market For Elephants:  Nothing for elephants to graze on till south of the mountains, and winters are way too arduous. 

Crazy Horse Memorial

The second major attraction in the Black Hills is the Crazy Horse Memorial.   Crazy Horse was a Lakota hero born about 1840 near the Belle Forche River.  As a young man he gained his reputation as both a fighter and leader raiding the Crows and Shoshoni. 

In 1930 a group of aging warriors met Elinor Hinman of the Nebraska State Historical society and told stories about his fighting and leadership style. He Dog, a longtime friend, corrected the impression whites got from his name that he was a berserker. 

“Crazy Horse always stuck close to his bow or rifle.  He always tried to kill as many as possible of the enemy without losing his own men.”

This was important since by the 1860’s he was an accepted leader, but his only authority was his reputation as a warrior and a belief in his personal magic. Losing men would cost him prestige.

He Dog also said “All the times I was in

He-Dog

fights with Crazy Horse in critical moments of the fight Crazy Horse would always jump off his horse to fire.  He is the only Indian I ever knew who did that often.  He wanted to be sure that he hit what he aimed at.  That is the kind of fighter he was.  He didn’t like to start a battle unless he had it all planned out in his head and knew he was going to win.”

They recounted an 1861 battle.  Crazy Horse was riding with a mixed Cheyenne and Lakota band to raid a Shoshoni camp. They took off with a number of Shoshoni horses but their success made them too slow. Crazy Horse and his brother Little Hawk fell back as a rear guard.  

Short Buffalo

According to another friend Short Buffalo, Crazy Horse leaped down and dunked behind a rock fired a half dozen arrows and then jumped back on his horse. 

“Crazy Horse’s pony gave out and the younger brother, who did not want to leave him, turned his own pony loose. Two of the enemy, mounted, appeared before them for single combat.  Crazy Horse said to his brother, ‘Take care of yourself-I’ll do the fancy stunt.”

Crazy Horse faked right, jumped left, grabbed the Shoshoni’s leg and yanked him off his horse.  Crazy Horse saw his brother had killed the other attacker with an arrow so they mounted the fresher horses and escaped, pausing to take a scalp.

A staged Lakota war party.

A young man but already an experienced leader he was nearby when Brave Bear was killed.

He was one of the first to see the camp destroyed by General Harney.

He saw for the first time a Sioux camp in Sioux territory destroyed the bodies butchered.  

After all this it is not surprising he was among the leaders who refused to take part in any negotiations.

During the first part of the American Civil War he rode with the Cheyenne raiders.  

Ambushing the firewood party

Red Cloud was able to organize the alliance that surrounded Fort Kearney in 1866 but he was about forty-five and depended on the twenty-six year old Crazy Horse as tactical commander.  Crazy Horse was among the decoys that lead the army into the famous trap.

The commander of Fort Kearney was shaken.  He moved the women into the armory and planted charges to blow it up if the fort was taken.

However the attacking warriors had taken many casualties and were sure the whites would have to leave them alone after so many defeats.  When the army broke up Crazy Horse took a group to raid the Crows. 

During the semi-truce with the whites from of 1869 to 1873 he was mostly involved in hunting and raiding. He had followers but was never formally named a chief.

Crazy Horse’s most famous campaign was with Sitting Bull in 1876. To the army summer was a time to destroy the non-treaty tribes. They failed to realize a number of families had left the reservations and joined the hostiles for summer hunting.

Crazy Horse was camped on Rosebud Creek when General Crook attacked. 

According to Short Buffalo, “The Crows, Shoshones and Crook together made up a strong force.  In the Rosebud fight the soldiers first got the Sioux and the Cheyennes on the run.  Crazy Horse… rallied the Sioux, turned the charge and got the soldiers on the run.”

However the camp and all the supplies they had prepared for winter were burned.

“Six days after the Rosebud fight, Custer ran into us (at the Little Big Horn valley.)  In this Custer fight I was helping fight (Major) Reno and never noticed Custer coming.  We had Reno’s men on the run across the creek when Crazy Horse rode up with his men.”

“Too Late! You’ve missed the fight!” we called out to him.

“Sorry to miss this fight!” he laughed. “But there’s a good fight coming over the hill.”

“I looked where he pointed and saw Custer and his blue coats pouring over the hill.  I thought there were a million of them.”

“That’s where the big fight is going to be,” said Crazy Horse. “We’ll not miss that one.”

“He was not a bit excited;” said Short Buffalo. “He wheeled and rode down the river… He was the first man across the river. I saw he had the business well in hand.”

While Short Buffalo held Reno’s unit on a bluff well away from the camp, Crazy Horse and Gall were able to surround the units under Custer.  Some Indian witnesses said the larger Indian forces seemed to herd the blue coats on to a hill were they were all killed.

One eyewitness description of Custer’s death was repeated by Sitting Bull who was not there to a reporter in 1877.

“Up there where the last fight took place, where the last stand was made, the Long Hair stood like a sheaf of corn with all the ears fallen around him… 

He killed a man when he fell. He laughed.”

“You mean he cried out” asked the reporter?

“No,” said Sitting Bull “he laughed. He had fired his last shot.”

The next morning General Terry joined Major Reno and as Short Buffalo said “The Indians quit and went away.”

“There had been three armies after us – Crook, Custer and Bear Coat (Terry). If all three forces had struck together, it might have been a different story.  But each struck separately.”

When Sitting Bull’s camp broke up, many people returned to the reservations for the winter, while Sitting Bull went north into the Big Horn, mountains.

Crazy Horse and maybe six hundred people reached the Black Hills in August where he intended to harass the prospectors.   He had so much trouble getting his exhausted warriors interested He Dog said he would go out by himself, coming back with captured mules loaded with supplies.   

His remaining friends were worried by his new recklessness. 

 In September about 36 families were camped near Slim Buttes on their way back to the reservation when Col. Anson Mills stumbled on them and attacked with 150 men. 

Slim Buttes

The Sioux escaped to hills and sent to Crazy Horse for help.  While Mills and his men stopped to gorge on the Indians dried meat Crazy Horse attacked but was held off by new carbines.

 

Crooks Army on Winter March

By mid-December Crazy Horse had moved north but in the winter there was no food, tuberculosis had broken out and his camp was full of Cheyenne refugees whose band had been badly stuck by Crook’s new army.

Sioux Camp

He attempted to surrender at a fort on the Tongue River to Col Nelson Miles, but his envoys were shot down by Crow scouts.  

Many families wanted to leave him and go to the reservations.  Against Sioux tradition he resorted to force to hold his band of two thousand together.  He simply would not risk anyone being shot out of hand.

Starting on New Year’s Day, 1877, there was a running battle lasting an entire week as the last of his warriors allowed the women and children to escape.

Sitting Bull visited him when Miles retired to his fort for the terrible winter and ask him to come to Canada with him but he refused.

Crazy Horse's Band marches to Surrender

Contacted by his uncle Spotted Tail and Red Cloud he surrender at Fort Robinson, Nebraska in May, 1877 with the promise he could choose the site of his new agency. He expected to be able to settle near the Black Hills.

The chiefs on the reservation only held authority if they were appointed to distribute supplies by the white officials.  Red Cloud, Spotted Tail and several others were competing for this post. 

Crook, Spotted Tail, and Red Cloud tried to convince Crazy Horse to come

General Crook

with them to Washington so he could he put his request to the president.  Actually to present the famous Crazy Horse as a prisoner in Washington would redeem the army and Crook in the press.

Tension rose as they realized many Lakota saw Crazy Horse as the last great hero.  He was in a position to set off a riot or escape.

Then Crazy Horse interfered in a plan to recruit Lakota to serve as army scouts fearing they would be used against other Lakota.  

On September 5^th Crook authorized the chiefs who spoke against Crazy Horse to arrest him so he could be sent to prison in Omaha. Crook planned to be away fighting Nez Piece so he could not be blamed whatever the outcome.

Crazy Horse must have known he was about to be arrested because he left with his new wife suddenly and out distanced the Indian police and several troops of cavalry that followed him.  Once he reached another agency he insisted he had just moved to get his wife better medical treatment and returned quietly.

When He Dog got the news he rushed to Fort Robinson.  All he could do was shake his old friends hand and whisper that “you are going into a dangerous place.”

“Soon after Crazy Horse had gone into the jail, a noise began in there.  Crazy Horse had a revolver with him and tried to draw it, but it was taken away from him."   

"Then he drew his knife.  American Horse and Red Cloud shouted to their men, 'Shoot to kill!'  The white sentry who was on guard outside the jail ran in behind Crazy Horse as he was fighting with the Indian police and lunged-twice- with his bayonet,"

When He Dog was allowed to approach he saw both the bayonet and knife were red.  He lifted his friend and carried him inside.

Crazy Horse died the next morning, with his father by his side.

Winter in South Dakota

Gutzon Borglum was approached in 1931 about creating an Indian memorial.  When the residents of a nearby reservation were starving the cash strapped sculptor sent over some of his own cattle, had six buffalos released from a state park’s herd and got Fort Mead to contribute blankets and medical supplies.

Among messages of thanks was a letter from Chief Henry Standing Bear, school teacher and leader of the Council of American Indians.   He proposed a memorial fund, raising funds among Native Americans only, to pay for carving another mountain.

Borglum and Standing Bear met but it was clear that between the depression and Borglum’s many projects it was impractical at that time.

In 1939 Standing Bear, now living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,

Zilokowski and Standing Bear

contacted Korczak Ziolkowski, an established sculptor, who had worked shortly for Borglum.  He explained “My fellow Chiefs and I would like the White Man to know the Red Man had great heroes, too.” 

Ziolkowski was interested but even after several meetings with Standing Bear he was unsure of working on a mountain. 

Noah Wesbster

He spent two years finishing a sculpture of Noah Webster in the town square of West Hartford, Conn.  This project was his own idea and Ziolkowski offering to contribute his time and skill if they bought the materials. 

Then he served three years in the army.

Finally in 1946 he decided to go for it.                         


Crazy Horse was chosen by a council of chiefs as the subject. He was still considered a hero for never having signed a peace treaty 'taken a pen'  and leading campaigns to protect his people until starvation was certain. Also he never had a photo taken so Ziolkowski had to work from descriptions.  He did know that Crazy Horse had a vision as a young man that told him to never wear war paint or a war bonnet. 

Ziolkowski and Standing Bear chose an unnamed mountain to work on. 

Thunderhead Mountain

They named it Thunderhead Mountain because of the clouds overhead. It was also in keeping with the Lakota belief in the thunder beings that live over the Black Mountains.

The design of the statue was based on a moment, following the little

Bighorn, when Crazy Horse and his band were being followed by cavalry. A white trader asked Crazy Horse were his lands were now.  The warrior pointed toward the horizon and said “My lands are where my dead lie buried. “

Ziolkowski's scale model for the monument

Korczak took possession of the mountain by filing a mining claim which required he perform $100 of assay work a year. 

Careful study made him decide to expand the project from the top one hundred feet of the mountain to a statute in the round to be 563 feet tall and 641 feet long.

Korczak started by climbing to the top of the mountain by rope and drilled

holes for blasts by hand chisel.  In his first full year (1949) he dynamited over 97,000 tons of rock. 

Later he cut a flight of 741 stairs to move a jack hammer to the top with 

pipes running from the ground for compressed air.  

From 1950-1955 still working alone he blasted out the rough outline of the head removing 630 thousand tons of rock.  

Since he needed to clear the loose rock from the arm from 1955-56 he built

a full road so a bull dozer could be driven up to clear the stone off the arm. This also allowed equipment to be carried up and down in a jeep. 

Work has continued each summer season ever since.  Foot by foot thousands of tons 
of rocks were removed from the head, arm and the tunnel between the arm and the body. 

The last detail work on the face was dedicated in 1998.

Korczak died in 1982 his wife and partner 2014. However six of their children and grandchildren continue the project with detailed guide lines from the sculptor. One understands what a planner he was when you see the tomb and coffin he made for himself.

It was decided from the beginning that no government funds would be sought.   The Federal government granted the Crazy Horse Foundation nonprofit status. 

Funding is primarily raised by ticket sales, private donations, and the sale of souvenirs.   The public explanation of this was Korczak’s faith in the private enterprise system and his view of how delays and confusion in public funding hurt the Mount Rushmore project.  

There are some viewers who feel this was designed to have this program free of government oversight providing lifetime employment for family members who desire it. 

It did allow the Foundation thru a special arrangment to purchase state owned lands and trade them for federal lands including Thunderhead Mountain.

The Foundation has also pledged itself to creating the Indian Museum of North America, a cultural center and the Indian University of North America.  The Museum has an excellent start with plans for expansions, when space is available near the statue. 

 The Indian University of North America started in 2010 as a summer school being run by the University of South Dakota.

MY VISIT:  Admission is high but well worth it. In Sept of 2015 it was $11 per-person or $28 a carload. 

 The introduction film was kind of, well blah, not loaded with facts about the project or Crazy Horse. 

The museum really held my attention.  It does not have any technically complex displays such as films, recordings or animatronic figures.  But it has a lot of beautiful, real looking items from (according to the labels) private and family collections.  It is also inclusive spreading from the western plaines tribes out to the east coast and up to the Alaskan natives.

When I was there a bazaar of Indian crafts persons were doing business.  I understand that the crafts center is a regular feature. 

Paderewski

Attached to the Indian museum are Korczak’s log cabin home, studio and workshop. Among pieces on display are a bronze of Chief Henry Standing Bear and his bust of the pianist Paderewski which won him first prize at the 1939 world’s fair.  This award may have decided Chief Standing Bear to contact him as well as his short experience with Borglum.

There is a standard snack shop but also the Laughing Water Restaurant which offers both standard and special dishes such as the buffalo stew with Indian bread.

The actual statue can be seen clearly from everywhere , parking lot, museum, restaurant, but I enjoyed sitting on the veranda in the shade and studying it for a while comparing the fir covered mountains to the now bare Thunderhead.  A medium pair of binoculars will let you study the large cuts.

If the time is right, for another small fee, you can make a van trip to the top of the arm. It’s a little bumpy and hot at the top but the view, never has a 600 foot mountain felt taller.

Again if lucky you may be there for one of the Native 
American performances.  I was able to watch three young ladies work from simple to complex hoop dances. Check 

If possible check the website to see if van rides and the after dark Laser-Light show are being offered.

Geek Factor:  Folks with an interest in weapons will want to check out an edited version of the tv show Deadliest Warrior: Crazy Horse Vs Pancho Villa.  Only for the strong of stomach.

In 1955 the film Crazy Horse tried to tell his story totally from the Native American point of view but unfortunatly with white actors.

Additional Resources

Ambrose, Stephen. Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two     American Warriors Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.

Crazy Horse Memorial- www.crazyhorsememorial.org

DeWall, Robb  Korczak: Storyteller in Stone, Korcza Crazy Horse Memorial Heritage, Inc, S.D. 1986

Indian University of North America- www.usd.edu/summer-school/crazy-horse

Oglala Sources on the Life of Crazy Horse, Interviews Given to Eleanor H. Hinman. www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1976Oglala_Sources.pdf

Ostler, Jeffrey. The Lakotas and the Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground (The Penguin Library of American Indian History) Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Shaff, Howard, Six Wars at a Time, the life and times of Gutzon Borglum, Permelia Publishing, Conn, I985.  ISBN 0931170265