HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1956-08-23, Page 3t�.
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DREAM ITEM FOR DAVY JONE'S LOCKER -- A $150,000 Chrysler dream car, which took more
than two years to design and build, went down with the ill-fated Italian liner Andrea Doria.
The car had no door or front posts, but cantilever arches on each side. However, thee dream
model, hand -built in Italy by Chia, famed Turinsports car .maker, was insured.
POLES APART
A Complete Story by Mak
My name is Enrico and I have
a little barber's shop on the
front at Alano. Alano is a little
town on the Italian Riviera
where warm blue waters lap
3ontentedly against hot, white
sands, and green palms line the
winding promenade. It is only
a little place but very popular
yvith the English tourists. The.
service is so much cheaper than
In the bigger resorts.
My shop overlooks the new-
noon bay of Alano. It must be
for this view that my robber
of a landlord asks 15,000 lire;
it can't be for his tiny shop, it
Is not worth 5,000. Still the cus-
tom is good during the season;
( am a good barber; and the
feiglesi like the view.
I am opening my shop the
other morning thinking, as I
look at the sun -soaked view, of
the taxes, my exorbitant rent,
the slackness of the season, and
how my wife Rosina keeps nag-
ging me to expand and modern-
i.ze the shop.
Then, at thisearly hour, be-
fore .1 can have my usual cigar-
ette, a customer comes in.
I recognize him from the pre-
vious day, when my cousin Mi-
cale, who is a night waiter at
the Splendido, points him out
to me in the street.
He says this is a very rich
man, who tips well. So I say,
Buon Giorno, and show him to
the best chair. He asks for a
shave and a facial.
We chat, this Englishman and
I. And as I prepare the shaving
water and lather his face, he
compliments me on my English,
and talks about the weather
(how these Inglesi enjoy their
weather 1).
He is a square, elderly man.
with a black bar moustache, not
as tall as you think at -first, and
with tired lines around his eyes,
helping to give his dark fea-
tures a very serious look, very
much the businessman,
He is talkative; like many men
the barber's chair seems to relax
his tongue.
"You know I like your shop,
Enrico," he murmured. "I al-
ways say that you can tell what
rind of a barber a man is from
the way he keeps his shop. I
was once a barber myself, all
ny family were. Craftsmen," he
explains proudly,
"You wouldn't think it to look
at me now, no callouses on my
angers. But I was, and a first-
elass one, too. That was a long
time ago though, and a lot of
water has flowed under the
Bridge since then."
He smiles quietly to himself.
C say, Si, and finish lathering
ais face. I think to myself how
;much younger he looks when'
he smiles, it is like a bright
shaft of sunlight on a dark day.
I stand back a little to observe
his jaw and then start to shave
him. While I work, he tells me
this story.
"Yes, Enrico, we'd always been
hairdressers, even my mother,
and so when I married, natur-
ally I married a girl in the
business.I did not marry young.
I was thirty-seven. My parents
were both dead, they had left
me a little money, and I knew
that they would have liked me
to have opened a shop of my
own, with the family name over
the door.
"But, you know, Enrico, bar-
bers are not wealthy men, and
even with my own small savings
it wasn't possible. However,
when >; married there was just
enough, with the little my wife
had, for a mortgage on a small
shop in Stepney with a two -
roomed flat • above:.
"We had to work hard to at-
tract custom, and at first we
only held our own with the esta-
blished shops. But soon we were
doing better business and had a
regular custom. We paid the
mortgage instalments and man-
aged a tiny profit, but we were
both ambitious, particularly my
wife. We wanted to expand a
little, to promote more business.
Ave, my wife, wanted two new
driers for her ladies' department;
we could just about afford them,
but there was a problem. I had
set my heart on a barber's pole
to hang up outside the shop.
"What I wanted was a hand-
some, flashing neon affair with
coloured stripes, and lettering
that said Ladies' Sr Gents= Hair-
dressing. We couldin't afford
both, and in trying to decide
which to have, we almost had
our first quarrel. In the end we
agreed to have them both, only
on hire purchase agreements.
The agreements were signed, the
delivered, and the driers in-
stalled,
"That pole was superb - eye-
catching ! --- it "made the shop
look very professional, a net
there was nothing like it for
miles around. We were keeping
up with the payments on the
driers, and the pole, settling the
rent and just about squaring
ourselves, when we had our first
bit of bad luck. Ave fell sick. I
couldn't afford to replace her, I
needed the money for her doc-
tor's bills, and so I had to close
the ladies' salon."
I wipe the last few patches of
lather from his face; his shave is
finished. I fetch the hot towels,
and the dark man is silent, muf-
fled in the steaming cloths. I
take them away and he con-
tinues.
"It was that period before the
ei'iGeSs3
X MO
TELEGRAM FOR , . -- if a motorist'* car isn't equipped with a
telephone, the next best thing le this ingenious method being
installed along French highways. Names of autosts who have
telegrams sent to then, are posted an billboards located at
strategic points , along major highways, A person spotting his
name an the panel can then proceed to the nearest station where
his message is waiting for hint.
holiday season when business
would be, at its best; women like
their hair' newly permed for
their holidays and the appoint -
merit book was full. It was '39
and troubles seemed heavier
under the shadow of war.
"I fell behind on some of the
hire purchase payments, parti-
cularly those for the sign. I
didn't care about this at first
because . Ave was so sick and
I had enough to worry about.
"She started to get better and
things were beginning to look
up, when two men arrived from
the credit company to take away
our pole. They started to take
it down..I argued, but it was
no use, he could not help, and
the men took away the pole.
"My wife and I were simple
people; we were good hair-
dressers, but we did not under-
stand the law. I took the com-
pany to court over the return
of this sign; and foolishly con-
ducted my own case. I felt it
was only a question of giving
the court the facts, telling them
the truth, and they would un-
derstand the unfairness of it all.
1 know now the power and com-
plexity of the law; and I shud-
der when I think how stupidly
I behaved.
"I lost the case, and I had to
pay the costs, The company kept
the pole. When I had finished
paying everything I was bank-
rupt, and still owing for the
mortgage and ,the driers,
"The bailiffs sat in our shop
like eager locusts. This was the
most miserable time of all. As
soon as money was put ' in the
till, they took it .out,every pen-
ny. It was heart -breaking. My
wife was in tears most of the
time. If it hadn't been for my
elder brother who helped us out,
and the tips I concealed, we
would have starved."
He pauses, and reflects. I stop
massaging in spirit and examine
his skin. He is nearly finished.
I start kneadingagain, and he
carries on.
"For several months we were
both ill with worry and work-
ing too hard in an effort to clear
up our troubles. I was secretly
sure that Ave would be sick
again. One evening the sirens
wailed and we dived for the
shelter at the bottom of the road.
They were trying for the docks
and our part of Stepney was
badly hit. After it was all over
we went back, and found the
shop destroyed, everything—all
we had left was what we stood
up in.
"With the shock of all this
happening, my wife was ill, and
things looked black again. "I
hadn't a job. But my bachelor
brother once more came to the
rescue; he offered me a job in
the . electrical shop he owned.
What could I do but accept. Can
you imagine, a barber in an
electrical shop!"
He stops. I have finished his
:facial, and dry him off. I say
to him, "Signor, I do not under-
stand? "This is how you make
money?"
He smiles, almost sadly.
"Yes, Enrico, he says, "it was,
You see, while I was staying
with my brother, he had an acci-
dent, a bad fall, he injured his
head and .never recovered con-
sciousness. He was a single man,
1 was his only relative and he
left me the shop. I took it over.
"My brother had taught me
the business well. I made steady
progress and watched for my
chance. Just 'after the war it
came and 1 took it with both
hands. I bought up, all the sur-
plus government equipment and
vehicles I could, took out all the
electrical fittings, radios, and
other saleable parts, and sold the
hulks for scrap iron. In eleven
years 1 made a fortune. And all
because I wanted a barber's
pole!" '
He pays his bill and Leaves,
And after he has left, 1 stand at
the open doorway, his generous
tip in my hand, and look out at
the beautiful day as 1 have done
so many times before. Yet seeing
the view, in the clear light of
the 'Mediterranean sun perhaps, •
for the first time,
I' look at the painted splashes
of hot color, the azure sky,the
d blue ue sea, the saucy gay-
ness of the Riviera fishing boats,
the harsh white beach. I think
of how I made sometimes too
much of my troubles, the rent,
taxes --- after all, there is al-
ways the sun in Alano.
And I decide then, thinking of
thetired, grey Englishmen,
wealthy, but recalling his earlier
simpler days— I decide that I
am not going to listen to Bosina
and, modernize the shop. You
see, I like being just a barber
, in Alano. I do not fancy myself
'as a big ' businessman, with
ulcers in my stomach.
*And to think that, just be-
fore the Englishman came in, 1
was wondering how it would
look outside --- a big, striped,
neon barber's pole.
From "Tit -Bits"
Somersault Won
Racing Stable
Every week millions of hope-
' i;uls dream of collecting thou-
sands of dollars in pools, sweep-
stakes and things of that sort.
Crazy? 'Not at all — for many
succeed. But some crazy things
'have been done by folk out to
win "easy money."
In the United States last year
a , number of people were bet
that they could not rock con-
tinuously in a rocking -chair for
one hour. Some were still awake
after an hour of this monoto-
nous effort, so the offer was in-
creased to one dollar per hour
of rocking,
Did any manage to Last an-
other hour? They certainly did!
After sixty-nine hours two con-
testants were still going back
and forth. One collapsed soon
afterwards, but Mrs. Hazel
Wheeler, aged seventy, teetered
en for a total of seventy-two
hours, thirteen minutes.
Another dollar per hour chal-
lenge was made to a woman in
New Hampshire. She won $106
by listening to gramophone re-
cords for 106 hours before she
was taken home delirious.
An impossible sounding feat
was achieved for a bet by an-
other American. He had never
played golf but he wagered that
he could drive a ball a quarter
of a mile, on the level, at his
• first or second attempt.
Even good players rarely
,drive more than half that dis-
tance, but this man won his bet.
He made his drive on the ice of
a frozen lake t ee .. i 6•�
Ingenious interpretation of the
conditions can help a gambler
to win 'riznpossib1e" wagers.
Many years ago a Captain Ma-
chell bet that he could hop from
the floor on to' a mantelpiece
and stay there. He did so by
somersaulting in the air and
landing in a sitting position.
With the large sum of money
he won he started a racing sta-
ble and one of his junipers won
the Grand National.
Late in the eighteenth century
a little man named Sir John
Lade, coaching instructor to the
Prince of Wales, bet the gigantic
Lord Cholmondeley that he
could carry him twice around
the Steine, a big square in
Brighton. A crowd turned up
to see the fun.
Lade staggered a few paces,
then said: "I engaged, to carry
you but not an ounce of cloth-
ing, So make ready, my lord,
and let us not disappoint the
ladies."
Lord Cholmondeley forfeited
his money,
About the same period, Lord
Eglindon bet £250 he would
have a letter sent fifty miles in
an hour. How was it possible in
those days of horse transport?
Eglindon had the letter stuffed
into the case of a cricket. ball
Twenty players stood in a wide
circle and threw it from hand
to hand until the distance had
been covered.
Q. )Flow can I remove stains
from white enamel furniture?
A. By adding a small piece of
potash to a kettle of clear wa-
ter, letting it stand for a few
, minutes, and then washing the
furniture with this solution and
soap.
FREE -WHEELING GLOBE -BIKER —, Resting on his bicycle, Cali-
fornian Abbot Dugaily takes a breather in Copenhagen, Den-
mark. Dugally, with 87 pounds of luggage, has toured North
and South America and Africa during the past four years, and
is now wheeling through Europe. He began with a cash outlay
of $8.25, but gets along, on donations dropped in the bike's
coin box by folk along the way.
Holland Wrests
New Land From Sea
Overpopulated little Holland
is winning another mighty bat•
tle for more land to live and
work in.
Far off its mainland coast, in
the choppy IJsel Meer, a'fleet of
hundreds of ships is ne4ing the
end of a four-year attack 'upon
nature. From miles off the tug-
boats and barges assault -ship -
like, scurry among the dredges
whose tall superstructures stand
like battleships, thick smoke
trailing across the horizon,
Unceasingly the dredges suck
up the sand from below and
dump it into the barges, the wa-
ter cascading over the sides. Tugs
pull them away a few hundred
yards where the load is dumped.
There the dike is rising in the
water, a long broad bulwark
pushing into the sea at the speed
of 30 feet a minute, rapidly clos-
ing in around what soon will be
the new land.
Sometime in September the
last gaps in the dike will be
closed, the world's most power-
fuI pumping stations already
built on artificial islands, will
start pumping out the basin
stretching some 15 miles in diae
meter.
Qn they erwhile sea bottom,
still bearing the grooves of drag-
ging fish nets, a new land of fer-
tile farms, towns, and modern
roads will spring up within a
few years under the experi-
enced hands of the Dutch.
This is Eastern Flevoland,
third of the polders conquered
from the water in a massive plan
which will add to Holland an
area nearly the size of Luxem-
bourg.
All the polder land once was
part of the North Sea, known as
the Zuider Zee. It was shut off
by a 20 -mile -long dike and
turned into a huge fresh -water
lake fed by mainland rivers.
Wieringer Meer (50,000 acres),
first of the polders finished, was
swallowed up by water when the
retreating German army blew
holes in the dike in 1945. The
Dutch plugged the dike and
pumped the polder dry within
two months. Farmers began
plowing right away, working
even by night under spotlights.
They did not miss a crop that
year. The five hundred farms
were rebuilt. Today Wieringer
Meer once more is a prosperous
land.
Next came the Northeast Pol-
der, an area of 119,000 acres
which was completely finished
few years ago.
Now the sea -conquering fleet
is working on Eastern Flevoland
(133,000 acres). Soon the attack
will start on Markerwaard anal
Southern Flevoland, the last twa
polders of 133,000 and 111,000
acres respectively.
ogether the polders will form
e 1t11 pxgvince orf the Nett+.
rlands with a total population
of 150,000. Its capital will he
Lelystad, as yet little more than
a colony of workers' huts, a
school, a restaurant and a pump-
ing station on the rapidly
lengthening dike. On the inside
wall of the pumping station, said
to be the most powerful in the
world, artists are painting a
mural depicting the polder drug-
NON-TAXABLE
trug
NON-TAXABLE INCOME — Paul Ostrof, nine, wrote a letter
governor William Stratton enclosing his sales tax payment at
four cents on his gross earnings of $1.20. Paul, explained in Me
letter that he has a profitable monopoly on shining shoes aroun
the Ostrof household, and figured he owed the state sot
money. Revenue officials ruled Paul's income non-taxable an
returned the four cents,
•
n\v
NOT WHAT IT'S QUACKED UP TO Be — Pretty good at honking, themselves, a clan of duck
ignores the bleating horn of a motorist. Last year, several pair of wild mallards made their
home in a backwater of Sugar River, just inside the city limits, Residents, amused by the visit
fed and pampered the ducks, This year, no one's amused any more, for the waddlers and off-
spring now number about 100. The quacking birds Threaten to outnumber the native citizenry
and tie up all traffit in their search along the roads for food.
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