Dizzy And Women
Disraeli’s attitude towards women was of a semi-platonic semi-amorous, half courtly and half familiar nature. At the end of his life he told Mathew Arnold:You have heard of me ,accused of being a flatterer. It is true.I am a flatterer.I have found it useful. Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty, you should lay it on with a trowel.”
In flattery also he equally showed his felicity. The queen was fond of him and let him treat her as equal. Once she presented him with her book ‘Leaves From The Journal Of Our Life In The Highlands.’ As Prime Minister one day talking of literature with her he referred thus, ’we, authors ma’m’
2.
The septuagenarian statesman fell in love with Lady Bedford with the same rashness that we associate among the youth, Lady Bedford was fifteen years his junior. Her name was Seline (Gk- moon) and he told her on one occasion, ”It is not the slice of the moon I want-I want all.”
He wrote her over a thousand letters at all sorts of times and places, sometimes twice or thrice a day that he admitted that his life was passed in trying to govern the country and thinking her.
3.
In the 30s Disraeli wrote, ”All my friends who married for love and beauty either beat their wives or live apart from them… I may commit many follies in life but I never intend to marry for love” In 1839 he married a widow Mrs Wyndham Lewis, a heiress and 12 years senior to him. By all counts the marriage proved to be a happy one. Later his wife remarked that ‘Dizzy married me for money, but if he had the chance again he would marry me for love.”
23.
In The House Of The Lords
The House of Lords was generally considered as the grave of eloquence. When someone remarked that Disraeli would find the Lords tame after the Commons, he replied,”I am dead;dead but in the Elysian fields.”
2.
A young peer once asked Disraeli what course of study he had best undertaken to qualify himself of speaking so as to catch the ear of the House of the Lords.
“Have you a graveyard near your house?” asked Dizzy.
“Yes.”
“Then I should recommend you to visit it earl of a morning and practise upon the tombstones”.
Final Days
Disraeli was already ill and as he corrected the proof of his final speech in Parliament,he said wearily, ”I’ll not go down to posterity talking bad grammar”.
As death drew near, Disraeli ravaged by gout and asthma,quipped, ‘ I have suffered much. Had I been a nihilist, I would have confessed all.’
24.
Disraeli and Whistler
So remarkable a man as Disraeli was many artists wanted to paint him. Whistler tried to make him sit for him and used the good office of the American ambassador. Yet Dizzy was not to be moved. Then one day the painter saw him seated at St.James Park lost in thought. Strangely enough Whistler felt shy and timidly introduced himself to the premier and spoke of the people both knew ,referred to his own work and at last said one great object of his life was to paint the most famous statesman of the age; not a sound or a sign from the somewhat sinister figure. At last the lips of the sphinx moved and he said,’Go away, little man, go away.”
Showing posts with label anecdotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anecdotes. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Friday, 26 September 2008
Disraeli-4
15.
It would hardly be conceivable in British Parliamentary history that two personalities so diametrically opposed to one another as Disraeli and Gladstone could also represent two opposing ideologies at the same time. William Ewart Gladstone was the leader of opposition when Disraeli represented the Tories. Gladstone who changed opinions whenever it suited him came to represent the highest political morality while Disraeli who after he had found his party stuck to it all his life, was regarded as a man of few scruples. It was ironic that Dizzy should for his oriental outlook,and because of his race, be treated with distrust. In his opponent everything irrational and impulsive in the English people found home, which he could express with the religious emotionalism and a high moral tone that his supporters found very English. In short he represented qualities that Disraeli despised.
To Disraeli politics was a question of expedience whereas with Gladstone was a matter of morality and he could delude himself his was the voice of justice and truth. He played the politics as a demogogue combined with a missionary zeal that Dizzy thought he was mad; while his opponent thought Dizzy was a devil.
Gladstone carried common qualities on such a vast scale and without imagination and humor, the public saw in him a political prophet of his times. He was a humbug and not above stooping to underhand methods if it helped. As Henry Labouchere, M.P remarked,”I don’t object to (him) always having the ace of trumps up his sleeve but merely to his belief that God Almighty put it there.”
16.
Once Disraeli feeling indisposed got up from his seat in the Treasury office saying to his secretary,”Don’t bother me with the routine work. Please attend to all of it yourself.”He walked towards the door and opened it. “But of course if there is any really important decision to be made..”he paused and seconds before closing it behind he added,”...make it.”
17.
A M.P who had been offered a knighthood did not feel easy and he consulted Dizzy who advised him to accept it but tell everyone that he had refused it.
“Why?”
“Because you get all the credit of having rejected it until you recieve it.”
“And then?”
“You will get all the glory of receiving it after having rejected it.”
18.
While engaged in talk with some cronies he at one point said that he could not remember the pub which came up in discussion. The ‘King’s Arms’ at Berkhamstead it was.
One recalled a barmaid who was a very handsome and a jolly girl. ”You must have been in the ‘King’s Arms’ one insisted.
“Perhaps if I had been in her arms I might have remembered it.”Dizzy answered.
19.
In The House
His complete control of the entire House while in opposition and in power, no one else in his day or before equalled- possibly with the exception of Chatham, was due to his ability to take its pulse and respond to it. Towards this he was always present on the House and was prepared. He knew the subject of debate and had an astonishing memory for facts that he did not have to rely on notes.
He always entered the chamber some five or ten minutes before the proceedings began and he had a solemn air combined with easy confidence. He walked up slowly on the whole length of the floor and when he reached the corner of the table he made a low bow to the Chair. Many M.P’s have found this ceremony painful and feeling self-conscious often have tried to duck it as far as possible. But Disraeli thought it was a necessary duty, a courtly recognition of the supremacy of the Chair.
20. Dizzy’s physical appearance and immobility added much to his authority. He sat with rigid head and body gazing vacantly into space, his arms folded across his breast, his hat slightly tilted over his brows, one knee crossing the other. No one in the House heard him laugh or smile; his usual expression when speaking was one of patient stoicism tinged with melancholy. His impassivity bordering on a catatonic state often infuriated his opponents whose diatribes seemed to go past him. But no one could have administered a snub with more telling effect than he but even that was done in a manner that delighted everyone except the one at the recieving end.
21.
His preeminence in parliament was mainly due to his genius as a speaker, not an orator in the manner of Gladstone or Edmund Burke. He had none of the tricks of their trade. He was fully calm and in control of his emotions and spoke without slurring his words clear and low, more as a man of the world. Standing with his hands on his hips or his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat he spoke in a consistent manner using no emphasis. This supercilious and even tenor in his voice was the result of careful training and it contrasted immeasurably when he wished to make a point. Suddenly he became animated, the tone in his voice changed, an ironic note crept in, the words were enunciated with more care and distinctness; A slight shrug, a quick glance, a fleeting expression of that sallow face drew bated breath from his hearers. They knew what was to follow. It came with an unerring aim and made some gasp and break up the stillness of the House with resounding cheers. He took no notice of the cheers as if he was above such display and continued with his speech as before.
He indulged little in gestures depending entirely on his voice to achieve its effect.
compiler:benny
It would hardly be conceivable in British Parliamentary history that two personalities so diametrically opposed to one another as Disraeli and Gladstone could also represent two opposing ideologies at the same time. William Ewart Gladstone was the leader of opposition when Disraeli represented the Tories. Gladstone who changed opinions whenever it suited him came to represent the highest political morality while Disraeli who after he had found his party stuck to it all his life, was regarded as a man of few scruples. It was ironic that Dizzy should for his oriental outlook,and because of his race, be treated with distrust. In his opponent everything irrational and impulsive in the English people found home, which he could express with the religious emotionalism and a high moral tone that his supporters found very English. In short he represented qualities that Disraeli despised.
To Disraeli politics was a question of expedience whereas with Gladstone was a matter of morality and he could delude himself his was the voice of justice and truth. He played the politics as a demogogue combined with a missionary zeal that Dizzy thought he was mad; while his opponent thought Dizzy was a devil.
Gladstone carried common qualities on such a vast scale and without imagination and humor, the public saw in him a political prophet of his times. He was a humbug and not above stooping to underhand methods if it helped. As Henry Labouchere, M.P remarked,”I don’t object to (him) always having the ace of trumps up his sleeve but merely to his belief that God Almighty put it there.”
16.
Once Disraeli feeling indisposed got up from his seat in the Treasury office saying to his secretary,”Don’t bother me with the routine work. Please attend to all of it yourself.”He walked towards the door and opened it. “But of course if there is any really important decision to be made..”he paused and seconds before closing it behind he added,”...make it.”
17.
A M.P who had been offered a knighthood did not feel easy and he consulted Dizzy who advised him to accept it but tell everyone that he had refused it.
“Why?”
“Because you get all the credit of having rejected it until you recieve it.”
“And then?”
“You will get all the glory of receiving it after having rejected it.”
18.
While engaged in talk with some cronies he at one point said that he could not remember the pub which came up in discussion. The ‘King’s Arms’ at Berkhamstead it was.
One recalled a barmaid who was a very handsome and a jolly girl. ”You must have been in the ‘King’s Arms’ one insisted.
“Perhaps if I had been in her arms I might have remembered it.”Dizzy answered.
19.
In The House
His complete control of the entire House while in opposition and in power, no one else in his day or before equalled- possibly with the exception of Chatham, was due to his ability to take its pulse and respond to it. Towards this he was always present on the House and was prepared. He knew the subject of debate and had an astonishing memory for facts that he did not have to rely on notes.
He always entered the chamber some five or ten minutes before the proceedings began and he had a solemn air combined with easy confidence. He walked up slowly on the whole length of the floor and when he reached the corner of the table he made a low bow to the Chair. Many M.P’s have found this ceremony painful and feeling self-conscious often have tried to duck it as far as possible. But Disraeli thought it was a necessary duty, a courtly recognition of the supremacy of the Chair.
20. Dizzy’s physical appearance and immobility added much to his authority. He sat with rigid head and body gazing vacantly into space, his arms folded across his breast, his hat slightly tilted over his brows, one knee crossing the other. No one in the House heard him laugh or smile; his usual expression when speaking was one of patient stoicism tinged with melancholy. His impassivity bordering on a catatonic state often infuriated his opponents whose diatribes seemed to go past him. But no one could have administered a snub with more telling effect than he but even that was done in a manner that delighted everyone except the one at the recieving end.
21.
His preeminence in parliament was mainly due to his genius as a speaker, not an orator in the manner of Gladstone or Edmund Burke. He had none of the tricks of their trade. He was fully calm and in control of his emotions and spoke without slurring his words clear and low, more as a man of the world. Standing with his hands on his hips or his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat he spoke in a consistent manner using no emphasis. This supercilious and even tenor in his voice was the result of careful training and it contrasted immeasurably when he wished to make a point. Suddenly he became animated, the tone in his voice changed, an ironic note crept in, the words were enunciated with more care and distinctness; A slight shrug, a quick glance, a fleeting expression of that sallow face drew bated breath from his hearers. They knew what was to follow. It came with an unerring aim and made some gasp and break up the stillness of the House with resounding cheers. He took no notice of the cheers as if he was above such display and continued with his speech as before.
He indulged little in gestures depending entirely on his voice to achieve its effect.
compiler:benny
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Disraeli-3
10.
Sometimes political hostility took on more personal forms. One jibed at him that his wife had picked him out of the gutter. His reply was a model of incisive wit delivered in his customary cool and unflappable composure. Dizzy replied,”My dear fellow, if you were in the gutter nobody would pick you out”.
11.
His power of ridicule when given a cause was superb and he could floor anyone whether in the House or outside with a verbal thrust. By nature he was genial and never went out to aggravate the feeling of those whom he disliked. Once in the House he chose to ignore a vicious attack of one whom despised with an excuse,”I have given him the mercy of my silence.”
12.
His sudden surges of eloquence which amazed people who he met before he became a power in politics is scarcely ever heard now. By the time his ascendency over his party was complete he had fixed in place the persona that characterised him henceforth: calm dignified and sphinx-like. Only his flashing eyes gave life to the face;his talk being measured, grave epigrammatic and delivered in a deep equable tone.
He was a master of prose and in his lifetime his novels were much talked about. He was also a master of verbal duel in which he never chopped where he could slice with his nimble wit.
13.
None of his novels area work of genius but they are the works of a genius. He had the poetic temperament without the poetic talents. His novels are so many attempts to reveal his feelings in his evolutions as a statesman. Lack of flesh and blood in his characters were to a certain extent saved by his coruscating wit.He once wrote:’ Nobody should ever look anxious except those who have no anxiety.”
14.
In his twilight years, whenever his illness and his duties permitted,Dizzy continued to dine out and deliver some deathless quips. Once when he was asked whether he read a novel that was making a stir, the author of Vivien Grey, Alroy, Coningsby, Lothair and Sybil replied,” When I want to read a novel I write one.”
compiler:benny
Sometimes political hostility took on more personal forms. One jibed at him that his wife had picked him out of the gutter. His reply was a model of incisive wit delivered in his customary cool and unflappable composure. Dizzy replied,”My dear fellow, if you were in the gutter nobody would pick you out”.
11.
His power of ridicule when given a cause was superb and he could floor anyone whether in the House or outside with a verbal thrust. By nature he was genial and never went out to aggravate the feeling of those whom he disliked. Once in the House he chose to ignore a vicious attack of one whom despised with an excuse,”I have given him the mercy of my silence.”
12.
His sudden surges of eloquence which amazed people who he met before he became a power in politics is scarcely ever heard now. By the time his ascendency over his party was complete he had fixed in place the persona that characterised him henceforth: calm dignified and sphinx-like. Only his flashing eyes gave life to the face;his talk being measured, grave epigrammatic and delivered in a deep equable tone.
He was a master of prose and in his lifetime his novels were much talked about. He was also a master of verbal duel in which he never chopped where he could slice with his nimble wit.
13.
None of his novels area work of genius but they are the works of a genius. He had the poetic temperament without the poetic talents. His novels are so many attempts to reveal his feelings in his evolutions as a statesman. Lack of flesh and blood in his characters were to a certain extent saved by his coruscating wit.He once wrote:’ Nobody should ever look anxious except those who have no anxiety.”
14.
In his twilight years, whenever his illness and his duties permitted,Dizzy continued to dine out and deliver some deathless quips. Once when he was asked whether he read a novel that was making a stir, the author of Vivien Grey, Alroy, Coningsby, Lothair and Sybil replied,” When I want to read a novel I write one.”
compiler:benny
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Anecdotes
Vespasian, Titus Flavius Sabinus (9-79 AD)
As the emperor lay dying, he stood up suddenly and cried out, “An emperor should die on his feet.”A few minutes later he gasped, “Dear me!I think I am turning into a god!” and he dropped dead.
------
Kalakaua, King of Hawai, from 1874 to 1891 was a colorful monarch who enjoyed his poker game. In one poker game the sugar baron Claus Speckel laid down four aces and claimed the pot. Kalakaua held four kings, which with his royal person, he claimed gave him five kings thereby beating his four aces. He took the money.
----
compiler:benny
As the emperor lay dying, he stood up suddenly and cried out, “An emperor should die on his feet.”A few minutes later he gasped, “Dear me!I think I am turning into a god!” and he dropped dead.
------
Kalakaua, King of Hawai, from 1874 to 1891 was a colorful monarch who enjoyed his poker game. In one poker game the sugar baron Claus Speckel laid down four aces and claimed the pot. Kalakaua held four kings, which with his royal person, he claimed gave him five kings thereby beating his four aces. He took the money.
----
compiler:benny
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Albert I-anecdotes
Albert I of Belgium (1875-1934)
On the eve of the outbreak of World War I he was entertaining a powerful chieftain from the Belgian Congo at the palace; after dinner at a signal, the royal orchestra filed into the hall and began tuning their instruments.
“Tell me the kind of music you like best and my orchestra will be happy to oblige.” proposed the king. “That is it,”replied the guest,”they are playing it now.” The king nodded graciously and for the rest of the evening the assembled guests listened while the orchestra tuned up.
2.
At the beginning of World War I, Albert resisted the illegal German demand to move troops through neutral Belgium in order to attack France. (The refusal to permit the passage of troops was based on a respect for international law, and a concern for the balance of power in Europe, which, at the time, required that Belgium be a neutral buffer zone between Germany, France, and Great Britain.)
Albert famously responded to the German desire to move soldiers through his country: "I rule a nation, not a road!"(ack:wikipedia)
compiler:benny
On the eve of the outbreak of World War I he was entertaining a powerful chieftain from the Belgian Congo at the palace; after dinner at a signal, the royal orchestra filed into the hall and began tuning their instruments.
“Tell me the kind of music you like best and my orchestra will be happy to oblige.” proposed the king. “That is it,”replied the guest,”they are playing it now.” The king nodded graciously and for the rest of the evening the assembled guests listened while the orchestra tuned up.
2.
At the beginning of World War I, Albert resisted the illegal German demand to move troops through neutral Belgium in order to attack France. (The refusal to permit the passage of troops was based on a respect for international law, and a concern for the balance of power in Europe, which, at the time, required that Belgium be a neutral buffer zone between Germany, France, and Great Britain.)
Albert famously responded to the German desire to move soldiers through his country: "I rule a nation, not a road!"(ack:wikipedia)
compiler:benny
Monday, 28 July 2008
Oscar Wilde-the wit
Wilde had an uneasy friendship with the artist James McNeill Whistler. In the autumn of 1883 Punch parodied one of their conversations about the Divine Sarah. Wilde cabled to Whistler, ”Punch too ridiculous. When you and I are together we never talk about anything but ourselves.”
Whistler cabled back: “No, no Oscar when you and I are together we never talk about anything except me.” Wilde however had the last word:”It’s true, Jimmy we talk about you, but I think of myself.”
Disaster Strikes
His downfall was much of his own making. Even when it was clear his abortive charges of criminal libel would fail, and despite of well meaning advice to flee the country he remained as though resigned to his fate.
To one who asked him to turn to France he remarked, ”One can’t keep going abroad unless one is a missionary or a commercial traveller,- which comes to the same thing.
To one actor he cracked, ”Have no fear, the working classes are with me- to a boy.”
Two actors who were both appearing in Wilde’s West End hits (An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest)came across the playwright in the street and they were embarrassed. Before they could duck Wilde asked them if they knew what it was Queensberry, his archenemy was saying about him. Uneasily they declared they heard nothing. “Then I’ll tell you,” said Wilde, ”He actually had the effrontery to say that ‘The Importance of...’ was better acted than An Ideal Husband. Naturally I had to sue.”
There were certain lighter moments in the court. While recreating scenes at one of the male brothels situated at Westminster, he was asked, ”Was it in a bad neighborhood?”
“I know nothing about that_ it was near the House of Commons.” Was his reply.
compiler: benny
Whistler cabled back: “No, no Oscar when you and I are together we never talk about anything except me.” Wilde however had the last word:”It’s true, Jimmy we talk about you, but I think of myself.”
Disaster Strikes
His downfall was much of his own making. Even when it was clear his abortive charges of criminal libel would fail, and despite of well meaning advice to flee the country he remained as though resigned to his fate.
To one who asked him to turn to France he remarked, ”One can’t keep going abroad unless one is a missionary or a commercial traveller,- which comes to the same thing.
To one actor he cracked, ”Have no fear, the working classes are with me- to a boy.”
Two actors who were both appearing in Wilde’s West End hits (An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest)came across the playwright in the street and they were embarrassed. Before they could duck Wilde asked them if they knew what it was Queensberry, his archenemy was saying about him. Uneasily they declared they heard nothing. “Then I’ll tell you,” said Wilde, ”He actually had the effrontery to say that ‘The Importance of...’ was better acted than An Ideal Husband. Naturally I had to sue.”
There were certain lighter moments in the court. While recreating scenes at one of the male brothels situated at Westminster, he was asked, ”Was it in a bad neighborhood?”
“I know nothing about that_ it was near the House of Commons.” Was his reply.
compiler: benny
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Anecdotes
You Asked For It!
1.
Once at the Algonquin round table, Dorothy Parker reported sadly,”My old cat, that I’ve loved so dearly has grown so feeble and helpless that I’m going to have him put away.”She added she was wondering the most humane way to do it. It elicited this comment from Playwright George S. Kaufman: “Have you thought of curiosity?”
2.
“I understand your grandfather was a Negro, monsieur” a nobleman once asked Alexandre Dumas,”May I enquire what your great grandfather was?”
“An ape, sir,”replied Dumas,”My pedigree commences where your terminates.”
3.
WH Russel of the Times once approached Bismarck and reminded him,”Your Excellency, you’ll have to admit that I am one newspaperman who has respected yor confidence. You have conversed with me on all sorts of subjects and never once I repeated a word you said.”
Bismarck cried angrily: “The more fool you are! Do you suppose I’d ever say a word to a man in your profession that I didn’t want to see in print?”
4.
Noel Coward was once approached by a reporter for the London Star, who asked,” Mr. Coward, would you like to say something to the Star?”
“Certainly,”replied the playwright,”Twinkle.”
5.
The first US Presidential Press Conference was granted by John Quincy Adams, but unwillingly. The President was swimming in the Potomac river when a newspaper woman Anne Royall surprised him. She sat on his clothes and vowed that she wouldn’t budge until he gave her an interview.
The Potomac was chilly and Adams finally granted her request.
6.
As a rookie reporter for the New York World, young Heywood Brown was told to interview Utah senator Reed Smart.
“I have nothing to say,”Smart told him.
“I know,”replied Brown,”Now let’s get down to the interview.”
• Heywood Brown, one of the kindliest newspaperman ever, wasn’t much of an executive. While running a publication called The Connecticut Nutmeg, its managing board gave him discretionary powers to hire hands at $35 a week. He could go up to $50 maximum.
On the appointed day the job- seekers were called in and Brown queried,”Which would you prefer- $35 a week or $50?”
compiler:benny
1.
Once at the Algonquin round table, Dorothy Parker reported sadly,”My old cat, that I’ve loved so dearly has grown so feeble and helpless that I’m going to have him put away.”She added she was wondering the most humane way to do it. It elicited this comment from Playwright George S. Kaufman: “Have you thought of curiosity?”
2.
“I understand your grandfather was a Negro, monsieur” a nobleman once asked Alexandre Dumas,”May I enquire what your great grandfather was?”
“An ape, sir,”replied Dumas,”My pedigree commences where your terminates.”
3.
WH Russel of the Times once approached Bismarck and reminded him,”Your Excellency, you’ll have to admit that I am one newspaperman who has respected yor confidence. You have conversed with me on all sorts of subjects and never once I repeated a word you said.”
Bismarck cried angrily: “The more fool you are! Do you suppose I’d ever say a word to a man in your profession that I didn’t want to see in print?”
4.
Noel Coward was once approached by a reporter for the London Star, who asked,” Mr. Coward, would you like to say something to the Star?”
“Certainly,”replied the playwright,”Twinkle.”
5.
The first US Presidential Press Conference was granted by John Quincy Adams, but unwillingly. The President was swimming in the Potomac river when a newspaper woman Anne Royall surprised him. She sat on his clothes and vowed that she wouldn’t budge until he gave her an interview.
The Potomac was chilly and Adams finally granted her request.
6.
As a rookie reporter for the New York World, young Heywood Brown was told to interview Utah senator Reed Smart.
“I have nothing to say,”Smart told him.
“I know,”replied Brown,”Now let’s get down to the interview.”
• Heywood Brown, one of the kindliest newspaperman ever, wasn’t much of an executive. While running a publication called The Connecticut Nutmeg, its managing board gave him discretionary powers to hire hands at $35 a week. He could go up to $50 maximum.
On the appointed day the job- seekers were called in and Brown queried,”Which would you prefer- $35 a week or $50?”
compiler:benny
Monday, 16 June 2008
What Price Honor?
Jay Gould who made millions in stock manipulations once had to flee New York from Law with six million dollars in cash. Undaunted the robber baron chortled to his friends,”Nothing is lost,boys save honor”.
compiler:benny
compiler:benny
Monday, 9 June 2008
Whistlers Mother etc.,
James McNeill Whistler(1834-1903) Painter, wit
His ability to liven up things was apparent even when he was young. His individuality like many of his singular gifts was not what what endeared him to the West Point culture.
During a history quiz the cadet Whistler was asked the date of the Battle of Buena Vista-an engagement in Mexico that redounded to the glory of West Point officers and he did not know.
“What?”,said the instructor,”suppose you were to go out to dinner and the company began to talk of the Mexican War and you a West Point man, were asked the date of the battle, what do you do?”
“Do?”Whistler asked astounded,”why I’d refuse to associate with people who could talk of such things at dinner.”
140.
As a cadet in the West Point one of his class assignments was to draw a bridge and his instructor going around the class, was struck by Whistler’s design: it was a romantic stone bridge, complete with grassy banks and two small children fishing from it. He ordered Whistler to get those children off the bridge. ”This is an engineering exercise.”he said.
Whistler did as he was told but had them fishing from the bank instead. His instructor cried,”I said remove those children! Get them entirely out of the picture!”
The artist in him was not to be curbed. In the third version which he submitted he had two small tombstones in the grass besides the stream.
141.
After his three years stint at the West Point, he was dismissed for having run up 218 demerits much more than the allowable limit.
However he had the reason for his expulsion changed as years went by. While chatting with some friends once he recalled the fateful event as follws.
At a Chemistry examination, he said , he was questioned of the properties of the carbon-like element silicon. Whistler asserted it was a gas. Upon which his examiner dismissed him saying, ”That’ll do Mr.Whistler.” Then with a sigh he added,”Had silicon been a gas, I would have been a major-general.”
142.
Leaving his native America for good in 1855, he plunged happily into the bohemian artistic life of Paris, sustained by a small allowance from home. In Latin Quarter, he was soon to make a name for himself. When he could not afford sketch paper he would stroll along the bookstalls along the Seine and quietly tear off the blank leaves;or when he lacked formal footwear for a party he would prowl his hotel hallway, where hotel guests would have left their shoes to be shined, outside their doors. He would borrow a pair that fitted him and have his night out.
He would have usually run through his allowance some ten days or so befor his next allowance was due and he managed hocking every item he could, including his washstand in his room. When his money arrived he wined and dined his friends blowing the money as best as he could.
143.
His story telling has never been bettered in his time with the exception of a few, certainly Wilde was one, and he told stories in his inimitable style as the Irish wit had his. Whistler had a favoutite one about a hungry Latin Quarter student which of course in his retelling had him take his place. According to his version his landlady has been serving him fish too often. So the artist baited a hook made from a bent pin, lowered it into the landlady’s fishbowl kept on the window cill. Having caught the fishes he fried them and returned to the bowl with the note,’Madame, you have cooked so many fish for me that I have ventured to cook some for you.’
At this point Whistler would add: ‘She was cured. She gave me no more fish.’Then while the company laughed he would add the punchline,’she gave me notice instead.’
144
His masterpiece was his portrait of his mother, which was at first rejected by the Royal Academy. The work was titled:’Arrangement in Grey and Black #1(The Artist’s Mother) The first part of the title puzzled the public. He defended himself thus:’To me it is interesting as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care about the identity of the picture?’
He didn’t think it odd at all to think of his mother in terms of the language of art. When one of his friends jokingly wondered,”who would have thought of you having a mother, Jimmy?” the artist replied,”Yes indeed. I have a mother, and a very pretty bit of color she is, I can tell you.”
benny
His ability to liven up things was apparent even when he was young. His individuality like many of his singular gifts was not what what endeared him to the West Point culture.
During a history quiz the cadet Whistler was asked the date of the Battle of Buena Vista-an engagement in Mexico that redounded to the glory of West Point officers and he did not know.
“What?”,said the instructor,”suppose you were to go out to dinner and the company began to talk of the Mexican War and you a West Point man, were asked the date of the battle, what do you do?”
“Do?”Whistler asked astounded,”why I’d refuse to associate with people who could talk of such things at dinner.”
140.
As a cadet in the West Point one of his class assignments was to draw a bridge and his instructor going around the class, was struck by Whistler’s design: it was a romantic stone bridge, complete with grassy banks and two small children fishing from it. He ordered Whistler to get those children off the bridge. ”This is an engineering exercise.”he said.
Whistler did as he was told but had them fishing from the bank instead. His instructor cried,”I said remove those children! Get them entirely out of the picture!”
The artist in him was not to be curbed. In the third version which he submitted he had two small tombstones in the grass besides the stream.
141.
After his three years stint at the West Point, he was dismissed for having run up 218 demerits much more than the allowable limit.
However he had the reason for his expulsion changed as years went by. While chatting with some friends once he recalled the fateful event as follws.
At a Chemistry examination, he said , he was questioned of the properties of the carbon-like element silicon. Whistler asserted it was a gas. Upon which his examiner dismissed him saying, ”That’ll do Mr.Whistler.” Then with a sigh he added,”Had silicon been a gas, I would have been a major-general.”
142.
Leaving his native America for good in 1855, he plunged happily into the bohemian artistic life of Paris, sustained by a small allowance from home. In Latin Quarter, he was soon to make a name for himself. When he could not afford sketch paper he would stroll along the bookstalls along the Seine and quietly tear off the blank leaves;or when he lacked formal footwear for a party he would prowl his hotel hallway, where hotel guests would have left their shoes to be shined, outside their doors. He would borrow a pair that fitted him and have his night out.
He would have usually run through his allowance some ten days or so befor his next allowance was due and he managed hocking every item he could, including his washstand in his room. When his money arrived he wined and dined his friends blowing the money as best as he could.
143.
His story telling has never been bettered in his time with the exception of a few, certainly Wilde was one, and he told stories in his inimitable style as the Irish wit had his. Whistler had a favoutite one about a hungry Latin Quarter student which of course in his retelling had him take his place. According to his version his landlady has been serving him fish too often. So the artist baited a hook made from a bent pin, lowered it into the landlady’s fishbowl kept on the window cill. Having caught the fishes he fried them and returned to the bowl with the note,’Madame, you have cooked so many fish for me that I have ventured to cook some for you.’
At this point Whistler would add: ‘She was cured. She gave me no more fish.’Then while the company laughed he would add the punchline,’she gave me notice instead.’
144
His masterpiece was his portrait of his mother, which was at first rejected by the Royal Academy. The work was titled:’Arrangement in Grey and Black #1(The Artist’s Mother) The first part of the title puzzled the public. He defended himself thus:’To me it is interesting as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care about the identity of the picture?’
He didn’t think it odd at all to think of his mother in terms of the language of art. When one of his friends jokingly wondered,”who would have thought of you having a mother, Jimmy?” the artist replied,”Yes indeed. I have a mother, and a very pretty bit of color she is, I can tell you.”
benny
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