From today’s Phoenix, December 15, 1899:
“Before the appearance of Booker T. Washington in the Auditorium a Brattleboro girl read that he always carried a lead pencil in his right hand when delivering an address. When he came up to the stage she looked for the pencil, and there it was.
At the close of the address she asked him for the pencil as a souvenir and Mr. Washington extended it toward her, but immediately withdrew it with the remark “But what am I to do for a pencil if I give this to you?” Another pencil was at once given him, and the girl went away happy in the possession of the souvenir.”
…
Nice story, eh?
So, who was the girl? And what happened to the pencil? (I still hang on to a magic marker used by Michael Jackson to sign the wall of the Animation Lab in DC. I marked it with a piece of masking tape. I think I have a soup spoon used by David Murray, too.)
Speaking of David Murray in this thread...
… for years in my wallet I had the unwrapped paper from the filter tip on a cigarette puffed upon by Charles Mingus.
Great museum exhibit idea
That would be a fun museum exhibit – things we’ve collected from the famous that aren’t really that remarkable. I bet others have things, too.
Vincents's whisker
You guys set the bar pretty high with those memorabilia.
My entry was not possessed, only beheld. On the wall of a museum, I now forget which, hung a Van Gogh self portrait. It was one in which he was young and with ruddy beard. As I got closer and closer examining the brushstrokes, I saw that a single hair from his brush had stuck in the paint, emerging from the 2-D plane of the art, like a crimson antenna. On second look, I wondered if in fact it was actually one of his beard hairs, intentionally stuck in the beard of the work.
With due respect, I’d never touch a canvas trustingly displayed for posterity. Yet I admit now, I was unable to have resisted touching that bristle, or whatever it was.
The Masters Wing
It can go in our Old Masters wing. Excellent.
Reminds me that I have a piece of Union Station plumbing from DC. I went to the reopening day (amazing fireworks) and a water fountain knob fell off in my hand. Hard to resist having a piece of history presented in such a way. It’s very heavy and well-made.
Trivia, Detritus, and Priceless Do-dads
I bet there are a lot more stories of this sort out there in iBrattleboroboro. Would love to hear about people’s contact with legendary disposables.
When I told my son about my encounter with Vincent’s follicle, he said how great it’d be if Van Gogh could one day be cloned from that hair, brought back to see that not only did he finally sell a painting… he would discover that in fact, as painters go, HE IS THE MAN.
Bugs
Chuck Jones used to come to visit the animation program I ran at the children’s museum in DC. He used a big flip chart to draw examples. He also freely gave away sketches, and had no need to take the sample sketches along when he was done.
He’d show people how he drew different characters, and talk about why he was drawing things the way he was drawing them as he went. “To draw Bugs, you draw a carrot, then attach a rabbit…” was a favorite line of his. It wasn’t nearly that easy.
After one of his many sessions, I ended up with the big sketches,
As a result, I have a big Roadrunner and Coyote, and have given a Bugs to my Dad and a Pepe to my mom (for safe keeping, and to spread it around. I also knew they’d be quick to protect them with frames…).
Not really “valuable” as they were meant to be tossed, but I love ’em. I watched him draw and explain them.
Making marks
Very Nice! The blueprints of some of the most iconic characters of our times, in the master’s own hand. I’d say these sketches fall closer to the invaluable end of the spectrum than disposables. And that you shared them is even cooler.
I have a practice discus used by Al Oerter. My dad was a high school track coach on Long Island and knew Al from those circles. A fairly common item, but considering he was the only man to ever win four olympic gold medals in a single event over consecutive games– this plate of steel that helped get him there, especially as it came to me through my father, makes it a pretty meaningful worthless hunk of metal.
got some?
Yo people, it’s not about knick knacks.
This thread, as you can tell from the title, is about inspiration…