Did You Know?

Did you know why women in Singapore (and presumably other Asian countries) keep themselves covered from head to foot in extremely hot and humid weather? Our guide told us they don’t want to get a tan because in their culture, it is preferable to have very pale skin. This got me thinking back to the Elizabethan Age in England. Nobility during that time valued fair and pale skin to the point where some went to the extreme of making sure their skin was white ⏤ really white. They used a poisonous lead based white paint and over time, their skin was eaten away. That called for more make-up and so, a vicious cycle began.

Since we’re talking about the Elizabethan era, did you know that refined sugar was only available to the wealthy back then? One of the results was that people had rotten teeth. Ironically, rotten teeth became a status symbol for the wealthy since it identified them as being rich ⏤ another vicious cycle.

Thank goodness Marcel Marceau had modern make-up which did not contain lead. I’m not sure about his teeth.

Let’s Meet Marcel Marceau

Marcel Mangel (1923-2007) was born in Strasbourg, France to a Jewish family. His parents, both butchers, came from Poland and the Ukraine. The family was rounded out with Marcel’s older brother, Alain (1921-?). When Marcel was five, his mother took him to see one of Charlie Chaplin’s silent films and that experience influenced his decision as a teenager to become a mime (decades later, Michael Jackson would credit Marcel Marceau for the inspiration behind many of his dance routines including the iconic “moonwalk”). At a very young age, Marcel was entertaining the neighborhood children and Alain always said that Marcel had an insatiable appetite to perform. As part of his education, Marcel learned to speak fluent English and German (in addition to French, his native tongue). The languages and his talent as a mime would save the lives of many children during the German occupation of France. Read More

The subject of our blog post today was given two monikers by the French: L’Aumonier de l’enfer or, the “Minister in hell” and L’Archange des prisons or, the “Archangel of the prisons.” Many people in the Catholic Church would like to give him a third one: “Saint” but I decided to choose “Archangel” to be the title of this blog. However, of the two French names, considering the tactics and ruthlessness of the Nazis and Gestapo in particular, the first title might have been more appropriate.

French postage stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Abbé Franz Stock. Photo by anonymous (c. 1998). Courtesy of Stamp World.

Did You Know?

Did you know that even government postal services make mistakes? If you didn’t, then you’ve never had your mail delivered to the wrong address or vice versa. Well, the Royal Mail of Britain just made a major blunder.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings (6 June 1944), the Royal Mail designed a stamp using a photo of American troops knee-deep in water as they left their landing craft to storm the beach. The stamp’s caption reads, “D-Day: Allied soldiers and medics wade ashore” ⏤only one problem.

The image used was a landing sometime in May 1944 in Dutch New Guinea (part of Indonesia). It was not Normandy. Almost immediately, social media was atwitter with comments about the errors (it’s easy to determine the landing craft were different than those used on the Normandy beaches and the men getting off are medics carrying stretchers).

I collect stamps (a dying hobby like model trains and bridge playing I suppose). Since stamps were invented, there have been some real whoppers of mistakes. Take for example, the American “Inverted Jenny” stamp with an upside-down aircraft (no, it wasn’t meant to honor air shows). Today, a mint and never-hinged inverted jenny stamp is worth around $1.6 million. Britain is also known for mistakenly issuing stamps without the head of the monarch (if it was King Charles I, it wouldn’t have been a mistake) or without perforations along the edges. This time however, the Royal Mail caught the problem before any stamps were printed and got out into the public.

US Airmail stamp: Inverted Jenny Air Mail issue of 1918, 24 cents. Photo by Bureau of Engraving and Printing (1918). United States Post Office Department. PD-US Government. Wikimedia Commons.

British designed D-Day stamp. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). The New York Times, 29 December 2018.

Too bad for us collectors (and the auction houses). So, the next time it happens, would all of you on social media please be quiet and don’t say anything ⏤ it ruins the fun (and our bank account).

Let’s Meet Abbe Franz Stock

Franz Stock (1904-1948) was born in a small village in Germany along with eight other brothers and sisters. Attending a Catholic-run elementary school, Franz made the decision to become a priest by the time he was twelve. In his early twenties, Franz entered the Catholic seminary in Paderborn, Germany. Several years later, Franz moved to Paris where he spent several years studying at the Institut Catholique (reportedly, he became the first German student of theology in France since the Middle Ages). Ordained in March 1932, Father Franz was assigned to the town of Effeln, northeast of Dusseldorf, Germany. Two years later, Franz returned to Paris where he lived at 23, rue Lhomond (5^e) while serving as rector to the German parish.

Abbé Franz Stock. Photo by anonymous (unknown date). Courtesy of the Franz-Stock-Komitee. PD-Release by Copyright Holder. Wikimedia Commons.

Category: Occupied Paris

“Bip The Clown”

Did You Know?

Let’s Meet Marcel Marceau

The Archangel of the Prisons

Did You Know?

Let’s Meet Abbe Franz Stock

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