Mystery Miss ??? Stage & Screen Hit

[HornEd]

Whew! Thank you very much for being so sharp Mrs. fini!!! I wondered who led fini to such inspired prose and witticisms... and now we all know!

Yes, indeed, it is the "divine" one of the opera (and a few movies) Maria Callas...

Sorry all you Callas fans... but this photo has been retired.

This publicity photo of their last Tour in 1973/74 dedicated to Michelangelo Verso with affection and friendship by Maria Callas.

Of course, Maria Callas was born in Long Island, NY, of Greek parents. She and her husband were invited to a party/cruise on the "Christina"... the palatial yacht of Greek shipping tycoon, Aristotle Onassis. Before the party/cruise was over, Maria and Aristotle were an item!

Toward the end of a long "friendship", Maria gave up her U.S. citizenship for Greek citizenship... which effectively ended her marriage and cleared the way for one with Onassis. But it was not to be.

Much like the "spark" that lit the Callas romance, now "sparked" Onassis to a marriage with former first lady and widow of John F. Kennedy... and Maria was cast aside.

I picked the first mystery photo because I thought that the Callas profile was too much of a giveaway.

But, thanks again, Mrs. fini, for you have relieved me of the burden of constantly checking if anyone had made a correct guess. Your correct answer put the finial on my slide down the movie mystery banister of Klipsch.

Why don't you urge that hubby to indulge his hobby and...

whack up a new contest that gives Clipped and Shorn a run for his noggin? -HornED

PS: Now all the Greek & ship references in the clue meringue should be relevant.

This message has been edited by HornEd on 04-13-2002 at 10:44 AM

[John Warren]

HornEd--I had Callas ID'ed way back but dropped it because Callas was born in NYC (Manhattan)!

This message has been edited by John Warren on 04-06-2002 at 03:06 PM

[HornEd]

John, I wondered where you were on this one... My information was that she was born in Long Island prior to her father setting up a pharmacy in Manhattan's Greek Quarter in 1929 when Maria was seven years old. My info comes from the official Maria Callas website. http://www.callas.it/news/08012001-2-e.html

Where her birth in 1923 is recorded as, "December 2 Maria Anna Sophie Cecilia Kalogeropoulos is born in New York. Her parents, George and Evangelia Kalogeropoulos had emigrated from Greece to Long Island, New York in August 1923."

If I have somehow misinterpreted this information, I apologize... but I do try to be accurate... and that's why the clue said Long Island, New York.

As I understand it, Maria's father changed the family name to Callas when he opened the pharmacy in Manhattan... so I guess you could say technically she was first called "Maria Callas" in New York City but she seems to have been born in Long Island.

I'm glad you spoke up John... I was surprised not to see your excellent recall nailing this one early. If you have better information I would like to know the truth. -HornED

[John Warren]

HornEd-

From her obit-

Unhappy Manhattan Childhood

Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos was born Dec. 3, 1923 in Manhattan's Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals, her Greek parents had arrived in the United States a few months earlier. Her father was a pharmacist. Years later, in discounting the rumor that she had been born in Brooklyn, Miss Callas said that she remembered living in Upper Manhattan over a drugstore owned by her father. She attended Public School 164 at Wadsworth Avenue and 164th Street in Washington Heights, and by the age of 9 was singing for her schoolmates.

Full text can be found here-

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1202.html

Now its my turn!

[HornEd]

John, from what I can see we both made our call based on our honest reflection of the information. It looks to me that her parents were living in Long Island and the baby was delivered in Manhattan.

Thanks for your in put, I really do like to know if I have based my opinion on less than the best information. I didn't look at your link yet... because I prefer to take you at your word.

Congratulations on your knowledge... but I always knew you were a winner. I hope you'll put some of that on the line for us underachievers to guess at. All my best! -HornEd

[fini]

I have been trying to get Mrs. fini to post a reply here, but she's feeling a bit intimidated by her lack of audio knowledge. If you ask her a question about quilting (or post a photo of one of you in a kilt) I'm sure she'll respond. HornEd?

fini

[HornEd]

Well, fini, while I have several different medieval and Renaissance costumes, I have yet to compromise my Anglo-Germanic heritage with a kilt... so I'll beg off with this English printer's edition. The wooden press was professionally made from plans dating back to the 1570's and may be of some interest to carpenter types with it's carved wooden screw, etc. Since it is a journeyman's press, all of the press pieces quickly disassemble somewhat like a Chinese puzzle and are stored in the wooden base for transport to the next town. A printer who could make a living by calling on a circuit of villages too small to support a full time printer was called a "journeyman"... and that is where the term we use to describe quality craftsman.

I'm wearing short pants, long stockings and hand made shoes. The dagger on my belt is hand forged of "living steel" using a technique that was banned by the Pope prior to the Crusades. What I have lacked in Scots "kilting bees" I've offset by sampling Scots' single malts. While I am short on quilts... I can engage in Scots cuisine. Did you know that the most common flavoring used by the Scots in medieval times were pickled green walnuts and dried anchovies. Scotland is too far North for their walnut trees to bear ripe nuts... so, they are picked green and pickled to make one's haggis sing!

So, I guess that leaves quilts... I knew I should have left that PBS quilt show on longer! So, Mrs. fini, what are your suggestions for a medieval quilt for the motorhome?

Since I just spent $3,500 for new tires, brakes, comprehensive motor tune-up, and vandal damage... so I should be ready for a Healdsburg run when the time and tides are propitious.

It looks like I may be in Cotati Thursday evening to eat an Italian meal and marvel at Zeno's exhibition. Do you think I may be lucky enough to find any other Klipsch folks in the area?

And, this just in, I received my autographed PWK BOOK and find it very interesting reading. I'll post more about that later.

-HornED

[John Warren]

Living steel? Does this have something to do with the "quenching media"?

[HornEd]

John, I have participated in medieval and Renaissance faires for over thirty years. In that time I have encountered two versions of the term "living steel" which have some credence as to why the term "living" is applied.

Daniel Watson, the finest sword maker I have known personally and one of a handful that builds swords and knives the old fashioned way, uses the term "living steel" to represent the properties the blade takes on in the final quench and for the amazing flexibility of the blade which also retains its armor piercing strength.

Daniel's Angel Sword forge is in the hill country outside of Wimberley, Texas. His best work is expensive but generally acknowledged as being first quality. Daniel and his hard working staff have such a demand for their work that they have a backlog of about five years...

The dagger in the photo was hand made by Daniel many years ago. The handle is carved bone and features a large garnet set in the common method of medieval practice. The blade is double edged and has hand etched decorative patters on both sides and carries the Daniel's mark.

Here is an interpretation of "living steel" by a German researcher who has been a seeker of truth and fiction in blade construction:

"METALLURGY: Whereas most steels have a random crystalline structure, in Living Steel the crystalline structure becomes highly aligned, focusing its natural energy along the edge and towards the point. Under the hammer blows the steel becomes exceedingly dense. The hammer breaks the microscopic crystals as they form and forces them into a tighter and more highly aligned pattern. The grain boundaries become so small that it becomes difficult to distinguish one crystal from another, even with a microscope. Modern metallurgy refers to this as a super micro crystalline grain. In essence, the entire blade acts as though it were a single crystal of steel. This strongly effects the blade in two distinct ways, in its strength and in its magic.

"STRENGTH: When a steel shatters, the breaks occur along the grain boundaries between the crystals. Smaller crystals in a more highly aligned pattern reduce the grain boundaries, making it more difficult for a break to occur.

"MAGIC: Living Steel also gathers, focuses and transmits a low frequency electromagnetic energy similar to that which our bodies run on, similar perhaps to the way in which a ruby focuses a laser. This is a measurable phenomenon that can also be felt by the human body. In ancient times there was no explanation for this other than magic. It is still magic today."

And here is a post that KDK (another swordmaker) made in reply to a question of Daniel Watson's methods that rings true to me:

"Folks, for those wondering what the griping about Angel Sword is about, Daniel Watson is using "ancient" "traditional" methods he knows to make blade steel from mild, what he calls "Living Steel." Background: Angel Sword does much Ren Faire and "fantasy" work, use that to filter thru the site and you'll see he's no charlatan, just a master of "presentation" that P.T. Barnum would approve of.

"Living steel" is his headliner act, he lays out the details pretty clear on the site. It's just a form of carbonization, repeated umpteen times with much pounding between heats, end up with a case hardened blade that's been extremely edge packed with the crystal structure fractured to smithereens, traits often recommended. Due to carbon migration you'd end up all high carbon steel at the thin edge (1.0 to 1.5% claimed) and a core that's still mild steel, thus good cutting edge and tough blade overall with proper heat treat. Process though eats up much time, which of course he has to charge for. For each of the four "living steel" blades listed in the "Angel Swords" catalog, fully finished with much decoration plus sheath, the prices are a number followed by three (3) zeroes. Therefore there is much griping from many hardworking bladesmiths who start with high quality steels, with apparently many of them thinking they'd never get away with charging that much period. Mr. Watson's a true salesman, gotta give him that much.

"If the flowery language surrounding "living steel" puts you off, they also make "traditional" bladestock like laminated and Damascus (pattern welded) steel. Likewise if it's the prices, they have the "Bright Knight" line of stock removal blades, each different enough to be "one of a kind." Choice for sword steel is S-7 hardened and tempered to 55 Rockwell C. Testing, as per the site, is bending 60deg and returning within .005" of starting point. And both classes of blades are backed with the no-break and trade-up-value guarantees.

"Face the facts people; the guy's not running a con, he's just a great salesman who knows his customer base, and puts on a good show for the money. I've seen lots of bladesmiths' web sites, and I got the feeling what really irks them is Mr. Watson plays the game better. Later."

The most fanciful tale of "living steel" comes from the age preceding the Crusades and was told to me by a swordmaker I got to know while living in Europe. As he told it, early Christian swordmakers discovered that beating charcoal into heated blades produced a stronger and more flexible blade... capable of piercing armor.

But the effectiveness of the process declined as the store of charcoal dwindled. (The modern supposition is that the pile of charcoal prepared out-of-doors would leach its carbon content into the soil over time.) The swordsmiths speculated that there was some property in live trees that gave the swords their strength only when "fresh charcoal" was used. Hence, they called their product "Living Steel."

Supposedly, the Pope banned Christian swordsmiths from using the "living steel" process because of the heavy demand fresh charcoal for improved weaponry led to a shortage of wood around medieval settlements creating a hardship on local inhabitants who depended upon wood as a fuel source and miscellaneous needs.

The tale continues to relate that Moorish swordsmiths learned the technique from Spanish swordsmiths and with the ban, migrated across North Africa to Damascus where the technology was used to build the reputation of Damascus steel.

I have not been able to document the tale, but I have heard it re-told many times in various parts of the world. I have never taken the time to research it... and just add it here as an interesting anecdote.

While this dagger is an example of early hand forged craftsmanship, most of my sword and dagger collection are theater-grade to withstand heavy stage use without breaking. -HornEd

This message has been edited by HornEd on 04-10-2002 at 03:01 PM

[fini]

HornEd,

I expect that by now you know that my DH will be joining you to listen to the dulcet tones of Zeno's music this evening. I hope you all have a wonderful time.

As to your quilting query. A Jacobean applique would be the perfect chioce for your mobile living room. It would fit the renaisance style and undoubtedly improve the acoustic accoutrements.

Mrs. Fini

[HornEd]

Wow, genuine autographed PWK books from Hope, a genuine reply from Mrs. Fini, the opportunity to rap with fini himself, AND photograph Clipped & Shorn in his Latin percussive adventure in an Italian restaurant (a fusion of Latin with it's Roman roots?)... all in the same week! Words fail me...

But not for long... Mrs. Fini, I do hope we can meet one day to discuss using Jacobean quilted sound shapers in a medieval motif motorhome. I think you will like the special curtains and upholstery that was done last year. And besides the needle arts, m'lady, have you culinary skills as well. I look forward to the day when I can bring the motorhome up to the wine country and prepare a gourmet repast for the fellowship (fellowship in its non-sexist sense).

Perhaps this evening I can learn some of the groups gustatory preferences and make a fun time of it as the good weather is upon us.

Thanks for the reply... it was most welcome! -HornED

This message has been edited by HornEd on 04-13-2002 at 10:42 AM