James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady, (12 August 1856-13 April 1917) was an American businessman, financier, and philanthropist of the Gilded Age.
Born in New York City to a modest household, Brady worked his way up from bellboy and messenger. After gaining employment in the New York Central Railroad system, he became the chief assistant to the general manager by the age of 21. At 23, Brady parlayed his knowledge of the railroad industry and its officials to become a highly successful salesman for Manning, Maxwell and Moore, a railroad supply company.
Known for his penchant for jewels, especially diamonds, he collected precious stones and jewelry in excess of US$ 2 million (adjusted for 2005 dollars, approx. $50 million).
Brady's enormous appetite and resultant girth were as legendary as his wealth. It was not unusual for Brady to eat enough food for ten people at a sitting. George Rector, owner of a favorite restaurant, described Brady as "the best 25 customers I ever had." A typical Brady breakfast would be: eggs, pancakes, pork chops, cornbread, fried potatoes, hominy, muffins, and a beefsteak. For refreshment, a gallon of orange juice-or "golden nectar", as he called his favorite drink. Lunch might be two lobsters, deviled crabs, clams, oysters and beef, with a few pies for dessert. The usual evening meal began with an appetizer of two or three dozen oysters, six crabs, and a few servings of green turtle soup, followed by a main course of two whole ducks, six or seven lobsters, a sirloin steak, two servings of terrapin and a host of vegetables. For dessert, the gourmand enjoyed pastries and a two pound box of candy.
"Diamond Jim" is also known for his romantic association with singer Lillian Russell, a famously voluptuous beauty of the era. It is said that her eating habits were a perfect match for his own.
A gregarious man, Brady was a mainstay of Broadway nightlife. He often dined with popular society. After further investments in the stock market, Brady accumulated wealth estimated at $12 million. He was also known for being the first person in New York City to own an automobile (in 1895).
Brady donated a significant sum in 1912 to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where he had once been treated. The hospital created the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute in his honor.
Brady never married, and after his death his estate was distributed to many institutions, most notably New York Hospital. When his body was examined, doctors discovered that his stomach was eight times larger than that of an average person.
He was the inspiration for a 1935 film written by Preston Sturges entitled Diamond Jim.
A semiconductor is a solid whose electrical conductivity can be controlled over a wide range, either permanently or dynamically. Semiconductors are tremendously important technologically and economically. Silicon is the most commercially important semiconductor, though dozens of others are important as well.
Semiconductor devices, electronic components made of semiconductor materials, are essential in modern electrical devices, from computers to cellular phones to digital audio players.
Semiconductors are very similar to insulators. The two categories of solids differ primarily in that insulators have larger band gaps - energies that electrons must acquire to be free to flow. In semiconductors at room temperature, just as in insulators, very few electrons gain enough thermal energy to leap the band gap, which is necessary for conduction. For this reason, pure semiconductors and insulators, in the absence of applied fields, have roughly similar electrical properties. The smaller bandgaps of semiconductors, however, allow for many other means besides temperature to control their electrical properties.
Semiconductors' intrinsic electrical properties are very often permanently modified by introducing impurities, in a process known as doping. Usually it is reasonable to approximate that each impurity atom adds one electron or one "hole" (a concept to be discussed later) that may flow freely. Upon the addition of a sufficiently large proportion of dopants, semiconductors conduct electricity nearly as well as metals. Depending on kind of the impurity, a region of semiconductor can have more electrons or holes, and then it is called N-type or P-type semiconductor, respectively. Junctions between regions of N- and P-type semiconductors have built-in electric fields, which cause electrons and holes to escape from them, and are critical to semiconductor device operation. Also, a density difference of impurities produces in the region small electric field which is used to accelerate non-equilibrium electrons or holes in it.
In addition to permanent modification through doping, the electrical properties of semiconductors are often dynamically modified by applying electric fields. The ability to control conductivity in small and well-defined regions of semiconductor material, both statically through doping and dynamically through the application of electric fields, has led to the development of a broad range of semiconductor devices, like transistors. Semiconductor devices with dynamically controlled conductivity are the building blocks of integrated circuits, like the microprocessor. These "active" semiconductor devices are combined with simpler passive components, such as semiconductor capacitors and resistors, to produce a variety of electronic devices.
In certain semiconductors, when electrons fall from the conduction band to the valence band (the energy levels above and below the band gap), they often emit light. This photoemission process underlies the light-emitting diode (LED) and the semiconductor laser, both of which are very important commercially. Conversely, semiconductor absorption of light in photodetectors excites electrons from the valence band to the conduction band, facilitating reception of fiber optic communications, and providing the basis for energy from solar cells.
Semiconductors may be elemental materials such as silicon and germanium, or compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide and indium phosphide, or alloys such as silicon germanium or aluminium gallium arsenide.
Lucy means "light", with the same Latin root, lux, as "lucid," which means "clear, radiant, understandable." "In 'Lucy' is said, the way of light" Jacobus de Voragine stated at the beginning of his vita of the Blessed Virgin Lucy, in Legenda Aurea, the most widely-read version of the Lucy legend in the Middle Ages. Ironically, St Lucy's history is shrouded in darkness: all that is really known for certain is that she was a martyr in Syracuse in Diocletian's persecutions of A.D. 304. Her veneration spread to Rome, so that by the 6th century the whole Church recognized her courage in defense of the faith.
Because people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery, legends grew up, reported in the Acta that are associated with her name. All the details are conventional ones also associated with other female martyrs of the early 4th century. Her Roman father died when she was young, leaving her and her mother without a protecting guardian. Her mother, Eutychia, had suffered four years with a "bloody flux" but Lucy having heard the renown of Saint Agatha the patroness of Catania, "and when they were at a Mass, one read a gospel which made mention of a woman which was healed of the bloody flux by touching of the hem of the coat of Jesus Christ," which, according to Legenda Aurea, convinced her mother to pray together at Saint Agatha's tomb. They stayed up all night praying, until they fell asleep, exhausted. Saint Agatha appeared in a vision to Lucy and said, "Soon you shall be the glory of Syracuse, as I am of Catania." At that instant Eutychia was cured.
Now Eutychia had arranged a marriage for Lucy with a pagan bridegroom, but Lucy urged that the dowry be spent on alms that she might retain her virginity. Euthychia suggested that the sums would make a good bequest, but Lucy countered, "That which thou givest when thou shalt die, thou givest it because thou mayest not bear it with thee. Give then for God's sake whiles thou livest." News that the patrimony and jewels were being distributed came to the ears of Lucy's betrothed, who heard from a chattering nurse that Lucy had found a nobler Bridegroom.
Her rejected pagan bridegroom denounced Lucy as a Christian to the magistrate Paschasius, who ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the Emperor's image. Lucy replied that she had given all that she had: "I offer to him myself, let him do with his offering as it pleaseth him." Sentenced to be defiled in a brothel, Lucy asserted:
"The body may take no corruption but if the heart and will give thereto assenting: for if thou madest me to do sacrifice by my hands, by force, to the idols, against my will, God shall take it only but as a derision, for he judgeth only of the will and consenting. And therefore, if thou make my body to be defouled without mine assent, and against my will, my chastity shall increase double to the merit of the crown of glory. What thing that thou dost to the body, which is in thy power, that beareth no prejudice to the handmaid of Jesus Christ."
The Christian tradition states that when the guards came to take her away they found her so filled with the Holy Spirit that she was stiff and heavy as a mountain; they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. Even with a dagger through her throat she prophesied against her persecutor. As final torture, her eyes were gouged out. She was miraculously still able to see without her eyes. To this day we see pictures of St-Lucy holding her eyes on a golden plate.
Jacobus de Voragine did not include the episode of Lucy's passion that has been most vivid to her devotés ever since the Middle Ages: having her eyes torn out. Lucy was represented in Gothic art holding a dish with two eyes on it (illustration above). The legend concludes with God restoring Lucy's eyes.
Dante also mentions Lucia in Inferno Canto II as the messenger "of all cruelty the foe" sent to Beatrice from "The blessed Dame" (Divine Mercy), to rouse Beatrice to send Virgil to Dante's aid. She has instructed Virgil to guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory. Lucia is only referenced indirectly in Virgil's discourse within the narrative and doesn't appear; the reasons for her appearing in this intermediary role are still somewhat unclear to scholars, although doubtless Dante had some allegorical end in mind, perhaps the enlightening Grace that proceeds from Divine Mercy. Nonetheless Dante obviously regarded Lucia with great reverence, placing her opposite Adam within the Mystic Rose in Canto XXXII of the Paradiso.
In Mark Musa's translation of Dante's Purgatorio, a note is made stating that Lucy was admired by an undesirable suitor for her beautiful eyes. To stay chaste she plucked out her own eyes, a great sacrifice for which God gave her a pair of even more beautiful eyes.
Lucy's name also played a large part in naming Lucy as a patron saint of the blind and those with eye-trouble. She was the patroness of Syracuse.
As her brief day brings the longest night of the year by the old reckoning, John Donne's poem, "A Nocturnal upon St. Lucie's Day, being the shortest day," begins
"'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's"
and expresses, in a mourning piece, the withdrawal of the world-spirit into sterility and darkness, where "The world's whole sap is sunk.".
This timing, and her name meaning light, is a factor in the particular devotion in Scandinavian countries to St. Lucia, where young girls dress as the saint in honor of the feast.
Almost every craft or activity has its share of possible hazards and The Craft of Stained Glass is no different. However with a little common sense and organization these hazards can be minimized. Everyone knows that broken glass edges are extremely sharp and dangerous. Stained glass crafting, by its very nature, produces many exposed glass edges and minor cuts do occur (This is not to scare you, only to demonstrate that caution is in order). It only stands to reason that if there are small children in your home you should make your glass work area inaccessible to them, including while you are working at your project. There will be slivers and shards of glass, a hot soldering iron, corrosive flux, and other chemicals, solder (which contains lead), assorted tools, knives, and a power grinder. You must take responsibility, not only for your own safety, but for all those who may enter your work studio. The most important advice I can give to prevent injury is in fact an old adage: "A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place!" In other words, get your space organized with shelves, racks, and containers. Use them as a matter of habit. Don't leave things, especially glass, lying around. Put the lid on chemicals immediately after use, always place the hot soldering iron in its holder and please, always. THINK ABOUT SAFETY! I will remind you to "Think about safety" throughout this section - only because being aware of the hazards and "thinking" of ways to avoid them is the best way to safely enjoy The Craft of Stained Glass.
The luscious colors and dazzling textures of the glass itself is the reason many of us were drawn to stained glass in the first place. We are fortunate to have literally hundreds of glass types, styles, and surface textures to choose from. Manufacturers have developed unique varieties of glass textures and colors with their own special descriptive names, far too many to list here. However, to simplify the explanations, we can fit them all into three main categories. Cathedral Glass: This glass is transparent or semi-transparent, and available in single or multi color mixtures. A combination of two or more colors is called a streaky cathedral. Often this glass is given a surface texture, which can range from rain drops to fern patterns or it can have small bubbles or large swirls within the glass.
Opalescent Glass: This glass is easily identified by a milky or opal-like appearance. It is available in a wide range of styles, from a solid single color to as many as 5 or 6 colors swirled and streaked throughout the sheet. When an opal color is mixed with a transparent cathedral color on the rolling table, the resulting glass is called wispy or streaky opal.
Full or Sheet Antique: Produced in the time honored mouth blown method, this glass features brilliant, transparent colors with a distinctive fire-polished finish. Typically irregular sheet thickness result in dark and light areas within a single sheet creating opportunities for shading and other subtle design possibilities.
There are a few special purpose tools that are necessary for The Craft of Stained Glass. Here is a basic list of tools and and other items that you will need to get started.
|
Tools
|
Materials
|
DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS:
The following is a brief description for some of the tools and materials
in the preceding lists.
Glass Cutter: Selecting your first glass cutter is an important decision. Experienced teachers know that the cutter you choose can often make the difference between quick success and total frustration. You must consider hand comfort as well as budget and anticipated frequency of use.
Self Lubricating with Tungsten-carbide Wheel: These cutters are by far the most popular among stained glass enthusiasts. They have a long lasting tungsten-carbide wheel with the added benefit of self lubrication (cutter lubricant is purchased separately). The higher initial cost of this cutter will be quickly offset by lower accidental glass breakage.
Traditional Cutter with Steel Wheel: These kinds of cutters are the least expensive and sometimes are referred to as "beginner" cutters due to the low cost. They are available in a variety of handle shapes made of metal, wood or plastic and must be lubricated prior to each score (cutter lubricant is purchased separately). While these cutters can produce a satisfactory score, they take considerably more practice to master than the self lubricating tungsten-carbide wheel models.
Glass Pliers Combination Breaker-grozer Pliers: As suggested by their name, these pliers were designed for a double duty and will quickly become the most versatile "must-have" tool you own. They have one curved jaw and one flat jaw which meet only at the tip. Their primary function is to grasp the glass securely on one side of a score when breaking it apart. Both jaws have serrated teeth to assist in their other duty, called grozing, which involves removing small bits of glass from an irregular edge.
Soldering Iron: Soldering is the act of melting an alloy (solder) to join metals, such as copper foil. To sustain the proper melting temperature required for stained glass soldering, you will need an iron between 80 and 150 watts. A wand or rod-style iron with a steel-clad chisel-point tip between 1/4" (6 mm) and 3/8" (10 mm) wide is the best choice for stained glass crafting..
Glass Grinder: Experienced glass crafters know that no matter how accomplished they become at glass scoring and breaking, some adjustment will be necessary for a precision fit of the glass pieces. A glass grinder makes this task seem almost effortless. These special machines are offered with models for occasional-duty to professional-duty. They feature a diamond embedded grinding head, which rotates in a reservoir of coolant. The coolant reduces chipping and helps eliminate harmful glass dust. The use of a grinder will instantly increase the quality of your work while reducing the frustration. Please "think about safety" & use safety glasses or goggles while grinding.
Workboard: You will need a work surface for glass cutting and project assembly. A piece of 1/2" (12mm) plywood 24" x 48" (.5m x 1m) or similar size will be sufficient for most projects.
Lathekin or Fid: This tool is used to burnish (flatten) the foil to the glass edges, among other uses.
Glass Pattern Shears: The special triple blade design of these scissors automatically removes a narrow strip of paper while cutting the pattern template pieces. By removing this narrow strip, an allowance is made for the foil and also provides a margin for error in glass cutting & fitting.
Glass Marking Pens: A medium point black ink marker is necessary to trace the pattern onto most glass, but darker glass will need a special white-paint marker.
Push Pins, Strips & Nails: You will need push pins, tape, small nails and wood strips to hold the glass while soldering. A prepackaged kit called the Morton Layout Block System contains the items you will need for most projects.
Drawing Equipment: Pencil, eraser, ruler 18" to 36" (.5m to 1m), drawing paper, pattern card, carbon paper, drawing square, and masking tape.
Copper Foil Tape: This is very thin sheet-copper with a sticky-tape back. It is wrapped around the outside edges of the glass pieces as a soldering base. Available on a 36 yard roll (33m), in widths from 1/8" (3mm) to 1/2" (13mm). The width of the foil used must be matched to the thickness of the glass being wrapped, to allow a minimum 1/32" (1mm) overhang that is folded down onto both the top and bottom glass surfaces. The three most common foil widths are 3/16" (5mm), 7/32" (5.5mm), and 1/4" (6.2mm). New crafters usually find a wider foil easier to work with.
Solder: Solder is an alloy (mixture) of metals. It melts at relatively low heat and readily fastens one metal to another. The common Tin/Lead alloys used in glass crafting are 60/40 (60% tin / 40% lead) and 50/50 (50% tin / 50% lead).
Flux & Applicator Brush: Flux is a chemical used to deoxidize and clean the copper foil tape. "think about safety" and exercise great care when using flux, as it is a corrosive chemical. Ask for (and read) the Manufacturer Safety Data Sheet (M.S.D.S.) available from your flux supplier.
Antique Patina: This chemical is applied to the metal seams of a completed project to change the color from silver (the color of solder) to antique brass, antique copper, or classic black, depending on the patina used.
Standard Clear Glass: This low cost standard window glass is unquestionably the easiest and most forgiving to cut, making it the best glass for practice scoring. Available in 3/32" (2mm) or 1/8" (3mm) thick.
Glass Cleaner: Use a commercial glass cleaner (without ammonia).
We'll get started momentarily but before we do, let's look at some glass handling safety tips. Always carry glass in a vertical position. Never pick it up or move it in a horizontal (flat) position. The correct way to pick up and carry a glass sheet is to grasp it with both hands by the top edge or, for a larger (heavier) sheet, pick it up with one hand on the top edge and the other hand supporting the weight on the bottom edge. Never run your hand along a glass edge. Always release your grip to move your hand to a new position. Just prior to moving a glass sheet, check it for cracks. First, check visually, then lift it slightly and tap the sheet with a finger tip and listen for a crisp ring. If you hear a dull clank, it has a crack. Do not attempt to move a cracked sheet! Get expert advice. To place a sheet safely on your work bench, carry it with one hand on the top edge and the other hand on the bottom edge and place the center of the sheet against the bench edge. Then roll or hinge the glass onto the table top, and slide it on fully.
For practice in scoring and breaking, use standard clear glass as mentioned earlier. Try shorter length scores at first, as they are generally easier to break out. Continue practicing until you get the feel for scoring and breaking.
Hold the cutter in your favored (tool) hand and place the cutter wheel on the glass about 1/8" (3mm) in from the edge closest to you. Now, place the thumb of your other (guide) hand behind the cutter head to prevent it from rolling back off the glass edge. Apply a firm, constant pressure straight down onto the cutter with your tool hand and push it away from you, all the way across the surface of the glass, with your guide hand.
After having made your first score, it is time to run the score. The break starts at one end and should run (follow) along the score line to the other side.
Breaking with Hands only: Form both hands into fists and place the glass between your thumbs and index fingers with the score line between your thumbs. Your fingers should be clenched underneath the glass with knuckles touching. Hold the glass firmly at the end of the score. Apply a quick even "snap" pressure by pulling outward, and roll your knuckles by spreading your thumbs apart.
With Breaker-grozer Pliers: Form one hand into a fist, placing the glass between your thumb and index finger and close to the score line. Position the flat jaw of the breaker-grozer pliers on the top side of the glass with the jaw 90° to the score and as close to the end of the score as possible. Hold the glass firmly in your hand and apply a quick, even pressure by first pulling outward, then snap down with the pliers.
Pattern Making: After you are confident with your glass scoring and breaking skills, choose a novice skill level pattern for your first project. You will find thousands of stained glass designs available in books as full-size patterns, complete and ready to use (please refer to the Wardell Publications page elsewhere on this web site). However, you still need to create the actual glass cutting templates and the assembly drawing. This is done quite simply by tracing two copies of the original design. Use carbon paper to trace one on standard paper and one on heavier pattern card. After tracing, number each piece to keep track of your pattern pieces. The final step is to cut the pattern card into the actual templates for glass cutting. Do this using the special glass pattern shears to make an allowance between each pattern piece for the foil and solder.
Trace and Cut the Glass: Trace one of your pattern templates onto the selected glass with a marker, remembering to transfer the code number. Cut that glass piece out by scoring on the inside of the traced line, not down the middle. Periodically check the accuracy of your scoring by placing the pattern template back on top of the cut-out glass piece. Continue scoring and breaking until all pieces in your project are cut out.
Assembly Jig: If your project is square shaped build an assembly jig around the outside line of your working drawing; if your project is free-form use push pins. Arrange all your glass pieces on the drawing inside the jig. Some pieces will require grinding to make them fit properly.
Fitting and Shaping: Starting with a corner glass piece, compare its shape carefully with the lines on the working drawing. Mark all areas that are over the line with your marker, then take that piece to the grinder and selectively remove the extra glass. Place the piece back into the jig, position an adjacent piece, mark the areas which are oversize, grind and replace it. Position the next adjacent piece, mark, grind and so on until all pieces fit as accurately as possible.
Foil Wrapping: Before starting the foil wrapping process, each piece of glass (and your hands) must be clean. Pull a length of foil tape from the roll and peel back 2" (5cm) of the protective paper backing. Press the sticky end of the foil firmly onto the glass edge, leaving exactly the same amount of overhang on either side. Peel slightly more backing, move further along the piece and press the foil to the edge, peel more backing and press firmly as you continue around the glass perimeter. When you get back to the starting point, cut or tear the foil, leaving enough length to overlap the two ends at least 1/4" (6mm). Crimp (fold) the foil down over the glass edges with your thumb and index finger by pinching and pressing toward the center. Wrap and crimp all glass pieces in the project. Finally, burnish the foil tightly against the glass on both front and back sides using the rounded edge of your lathekin (fid) to ensure that the foil does not pull away from the glass. When all pieces have been foiled and burnished smooth, place them back into the assembly jig where they should be snug but not bulging. Do a final quality check and make any last minute adjustments.
Soldering: All foiled joints must be completely soldered (not just at the corners) to create the metal web which will hold the project together. Soldering begins by brushing flux on the foil seams. Now, with the hot soldering iron in one hand and solder in the other, place the iron tip directly on a foil seam and touch the solder to the top surface of the iron tip. The solder will immediately melt and coat the foil under the iron tip. Move the iron slowly along the seam, continuously adding more solder, filling gaps and covering the foil as you go. The idea is to build up solder on the seams until it forms a rounded bead. When you have finished one side, remove the assembly jig, turn the project over and completely solder the back side. All exposed foil must be coated with solder, including the outer edge.
Hanging loops: If you plan to hang your project in a window you should solder wire hanging loops (16-18 gauge un-insulated copper wire) to the top edge. Be sure to attach them at a solder seam only, a foil-only edge will not be strong enough to hold the weight over a long period of time.
Cleaning & Antique Patina: Thoroughly clean your project with glass cleaner & a soft rag. If you plan to "antique" the solder seams, apply the patina solution with a cotton rag immediately after cleaning. Patina is a corrosive chemical, so please use caution, "think about safety", wear rubber gloves and carefully follow the safety instructions on the patina container and in the M.S.D.S.
For more information, check out following:
http://www.thestorefinder.com/glass/glass_mfg_wardell.html
Quick Success Stained Glass: A Beginner's Instruction Guide - by Randy Wardell
Introduction to Stained Glass: A Step-by-Step Teaching Manual - by Randy Wardell
Marc Ward is quitting his job as a traveling salesman with $30,000 dollars in the bank and one year to figure what he's going to do with the rest of his life. He's 53.
His last week is tying up loose ends and introducing his replacement, a kid named Eddie Kent, to the territory.
Eddie Kent is a con man. He's not even Eddie Kent. He got into Marc Ward's car with no idea who Marc was or where he was going. He was running. He'd done something horrible.
And he's going to do it again.
The story is told twice, from different perspectives. The first time the audience is with Marc, going through the day-to-day routines of leaving a job and training a replacement. And like Marc, they get conned. They are as much Eddie's victim as our main character.
From there, the story begins again but the perspective is unhinged. Shaky, frantic camerawork brings them inside Eddie's mind as he plots, schemes and maneuvers. They see the con devised...executed...
And the terrifying moments where it goes wrong.
James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady, (12 August 1856-13 April 1917) was an American businessman, financier, and philanthropist of the Gilded Age.
Born in New York City to a modest household, Brady worked his way up from bellboy and messenger. After gaining employment in the New York Central Railroad system, he became the chief assistant to the general manager by the age of 21. At 23, Brady parlayed his knowledge of the railroad industry and its officials to become a highly successful salesman for Manning, Maxwell and Moore, a railroad supply company.
Known for his penchant for jewels, especially diamonds, he collected precious stones and jewelry in excess of US$ 2 million (adjusted for 2005 dollars, approx. $50 million).
Brady's enormous appetite and resultant girth were as legendary as his wealth. It was not unusual for Brady to eat enough food for ten people at a sitting. George Rector, owner of a favorite restaurant, described Brady as "the best 25 customers I ever had." A typical Brady breakfast would be: eggs, pancakes, pork chops, cornbread, fried potatoes, hominy, muffins, and a beefsteak. For refreshment, a gallon of orange juice-or "golden nectar", as he called his favorite drink. Lunch might be two lobsters, deviled crabs, clams, oysters and beef, with a few pies for dessert. The usual evening meal began with an appetizer of two or three dozen oysters, six crabs, and a few servings of green turtle soup, followed by a main course of two whole ducks, six or seven lobsters, a sirloin steak, two servings of terrapin and a host of vegetables. For dessert, the gourmand enjoyed pastries and a two pound box of candy.
"Diamond Jim" is also known for his romantic association with singer Lillian Russell, a famously voluptuous beauty of the era. It is said that her eating habits were a perfect match for his own.
A gregarious man, Brady was a mainstay of Broadway nightlife. He often dined with popular society. After further investments in the stock market, Brady accumulated wealth estimated at $12 million. He was also known for being the first person in New York City to own an automobile (in 1895).
Brady donated a significant sum in 1912 to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where he had once been treated. The hospital created the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute in his honor.
Brady never married, and after his death his estate was distributed to many institutions, most notably New York Hospital. When his body was examined, doctors discovered that his stomach was eight times larger than that of an average person.
He was the inspiration for a 1935 film written by Preston Sturges entitled Diamond Jim.
Dale Carnegie (originally Carnegey) (November 24, 1888 - November 1, 1955) was an American writer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. Born in poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, a massive bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln, titled Lincoln the Unknown, as well as several other books.
Carnegie was an early proponent of what is now called responsibility assumption, although this only appears minutely in his written work. One of the core ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's reaction to them.
Born in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri, Carnegie was a poor farmer's boy, the second son of James William and Amanda Elizabeth Carnegie. In his teens, though still having to get up at 4 a.m. every day to milk his parents' cows, he managed to get educated at the State Teacher's College in Warrensburg. His first job after college was selling correspondence courses to ranchers; then he moved on to selling bacon, soap and lard for Armour & Company. He was successful to the point of making his sales territory, southern Omaha, the national leader for the firm.
Perhaps one of Dale Carnegie's most successful marketing moves was to change the spelling of his last name from "Carnegey" to Carnegie, at a time when Andrew Carnegie was a widely revered and recognized name.
Carnegie's first marriage ended in divorce in 1931. On November 5, 1944, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he married Dorothy Price Vanderpool, who also had been divorced. Carnegie had two daughters; Rosemary, from his first marriage, and Donna Dale from his second marriage.
He died of Hodgkin's disease on November 1, 1955. He is buried in the Belton, Cass County, Missouri cemetery.
Elmyr de Hory (born Elmyr Dory-Boutin) (1906 - December 11, 1976) was a famous Hungarian-born painter and art forger. He claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries all over the world. His forgeries have become popular in their own right.
Most of the information regarding de Hory's early life comes from what he told American writer Clifford Irving, who wrote the first biography about him. He was born into a prosperous family, his father was an Austro-Hungarian ambassador and his mother came from a family of bankers. His parents left him to the care of various governesses and were divorced when Elmyr was sixteen.
Elmyr moved to Budapest, Hungary to study. At 18, he joined the Akademie Heinmann art school in Munich, Germany to study classical painting. In 1926 he moved to Paris, and enrolled in the Academie la Grande Chaumiere, where he studied under Fernand Leger and became accustomed to fine living.
Shortly after his return to Hungary, he became involved with a British journalist and suspected spy. This friendship landed him in a Transylvanian prison for political dissidents in the Carpathian Mountains. During this time, de Hory befriended the prison camp officer by painting his portrait. Later, during the Second World War de Hory was released.
Within a year, de Hory was back in jail, this time imprisoned in a German concentration camp for being both a Jew and a homosexual. He was severely beaten and was transferred to a Berlin prison hospital, where he escaped and later slipped back into Hungary. It was there he learned that his parents had been killed, and their estate confiscated. With his remaining money de Hory bribed his way back into France, where he tried to earn his living by painting.
Upon arriving in Paris, de Hory attempted to make an honest living as an artist, but soon discovered that he had an uncanny ability to copy the works of other artists. So good were his copies that many of his friends believed them to be originals. In 1946 de Hory sold a reproduction of a Picasso to a British friend who took it for an original. He began to sell his Picasso reproductions to art galleries, claiming that they were what remained of his family's estate. Galleries took the paintings and paid de Hory the equivalent of $100 to $400 per painting.
That same year de Hory formed a partnership with Jacques Chamberlin, who would later become his art dealer. They toured Europe and South America, selling the forgeries until de Hory discovered that, although they were supposed to share the profits equally, Chamberlin had kept most of the money. He ended the relationship and resumed the tour alone. In 1947 de Hory visited the United States on a three-month visa and decided to stay, moving between New York City and Los Angeles.
Occasionally, throughout his career, de Hory attempted to stop making forgeries and create original artwork, but could never find a market for his work, always returning to the lucrative forgery trade. de Hory eventually expanded his forgeries to include works by Matisse, Modigliani and Renoir. Because some of the galleries de Hory had sold his forgeries to were becoming suspicious, he began to use pseudonyms, and to sell his work by mail order. Some of de Hory's many pseudonyms included Louis Cassou, Joseph Dory, Joseph Dory-Boutin, Elmyr Herzog, Elmyr Hoffman and E. Raynal.
During the 1950s, de Hory eventually settled in Miami, continuing to sell his forgeries through the mail and studying the styles and techniques of other master painters in order to imitate their works. In 1955 one of his Matisse forgeries was sold to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, soon after, authorities discovered it was a fake and launched an investigation.
In 1955 de Hory sold several forgeries to Chicago art dealer, Joseph W. Faulkner, who later discovered they were fakes. Faulkner pressed charges against de Hory and initiated a federal lawsuit against him, alleging mail and telephone fraud. de Hory fled to Mexico City, where he was briefly jailed, suspected of the murder of a British man, whom de Hory claimed he had never met. When the Mexican police attempted to extort money from him, de Hory hired a lawyer who also attempted to extort money from him, by charging exorbitant legal fees. de Hory paid the lawyer with one of his forgeries and returned to the USA.
Upon his return, de Hory discovered that his paintings were fetching fantastically high prices at several art galleries, and was incensed that the galleries had only paid him a fraction of what they thought paintings were worth. Further confounding de Hory's problems was that the manner of his forgeries had become recognizable, and he was resigned to sell his fake lithographs door-to-door to make a living. While on a trip to Washington DC, de Hory began to suffer from depression and attempted suicide by overdose of sleeping pills. His stomach was pumped, and after a stay in the hospital, de Hory recovered fully and returned to Miami.
In Miami de Hory met Fernand Legros, who would become his dealer in exchange for a 40% cut of the profits, and Legros assuming all of the risks inherent in the sale of forgeries. With Legros, de Hory again toured the United States. In time, Legros demanded his cut be increased to 50%, when, in reality Legros was already keeping much of the profit. On one of these trips Legros met Real Lessard, a French-Canadian, who would later become his lover. The two had a volatile relationship, and in 1959 de Hory decided to leave the two and return to Europe.
In Paris, de Hory unexpectedly ran into Legros. de Hory revealed to him that some of his forgeries were still back in New York. Legros devised a plan to steal the paintings and sell them, making a name for himself and his art gallery in the process. Later that year, de Hory decided to resume his partnership with Legros. Legros and Lessard would continue to sell de Hory's work, and agreed to pay him a flat fee of $400 a month.
In 1962, de Hory moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza, while Legros and Lessard kept up the business of selling his paintings for large amounts of money from Paris. Many times they would forget to send de Hory his small monthly allowance. After several instances of this, Legros built de Hory a home in Ibiza to placate him.
In 1964, now 58 years old, de Hory began to tire of the forgery business, and soon his work began to suffer. Consequently, many art experts noticed the paintings they were receiving looked like forgeries. Some of the galleries and experts that had been examining de Hory's work alerted Interpol, and the police were soon on the trail of Legros and Lessard. Legros sent de Hory to Australia for a year, to keep him out of the eye of the investigation.
By 1966, more of de Hory's paintings were being revealed as forgeries, one man in particular, Texas oil magnate, Algur H. Meadows, to whom Legros had sold 56 forged paintings, was so outraged to learn that most of his collection were forgeries, that he demanded the arrest and prosecution of Legros. Angered, Legros decided to hide from the police at de Hory's house on Ibiza, where he asserted ownership, and threatened to evict de Hory. Coupled with this and with Legros' increasing violent mood swings, de Hory decided to leave Ibiza. Legros and Lessard were apprehended soon afterward and sent to prison on charges of check fraud.
Elmyr continued to elude the police for some time, but tired of life in exile, decided to move back to Ibiza, and await his fate. In August 1968, a Spanish court convicted him of the crimes of homosexuality and of consorting with criminals, and was sentenced to 2 months in prison. He was never directly charged with forgery, because the court could not prove that he had ever created any forgeries on Spanish soil. He was released in October 1968 and expelled from Spain.
One year following his release, de Hory returned to Ibiza, by then a celebrity. He told his story to Clifford Irving who went on to publish the biography: Fake! The Story of Elmyr de Hory the Greatest Art Forger of Our Time. Soon after, Irving created his own forgery: a fake auto-biography of Howard Hughes. Elmyr appeared in several television interviews, and was featured (with Irving) in Orson Welles' pseudo-documentary F for Fake.
During the early 1970s de Hory again decided to try his hand at painting, hoping to exploit some of his new-found fame; this time, with his own, original work. He had gained recognition, but made little profit. Soon however, he learned that the French authorities were attempting to extradite him to stand trial on charges of fraud.
On December 11, 1976, Elmyr de Hory was found near death in his home. He had taken an overdose of sleeping pills, and within minutes of being discovered, he was dead.
Following his death, de Hory's paintings became valuable collectibles. In fact, his paintings have become so popular that forged de Horys have begun to appear on the market.
Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883-November 8, 1970) was an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich, is one of the best-selling books of all time. In America, Hill stated in his writings, people are free to believe what they want to believe, and this is what sets the United States apart from all other countries in the world. Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve" is one of Hill's hallmark expressions. How achievement actually occurs, and a formula for it that puts success in reach for the average person, were the promise of Hill's books.
Hill called his success teachings "The Philosophy of Achievement" and he considered freedom, democracy, capitalism, and harmony to be important contributing elements. For without these, Hill demonstrated throughout his writings, personal beliefs are not possible. He contrasted his philosophy with others, and thought Achievement was superior and responsible for the success Americans enjoyed for the better part of two centuries. Fear and selfishness had no part to play in his philosophy, and Hill considered them to be the source of failure for unsuccessful people.
The secret of Achievement was tantalizingly offered to readers of Think and Grow Rich, and was never named directly as Hill felt discovering it for themselves would provide readers with the most benefit. Hill presented the idea of a "Definite Major Purpose" as a challenge to his readers, to make them ask of themselves "in what do you truly believe?". For according to Hill, 98% of people had no firm beliefs, putting true success firmly out of reach. Hill's numerous books have sold millions of copies, proving that the secret of Achievement is still highly sought-after by modern Americans. Hill dealt with many controversial subjects through his writings including racism, slavery, oppression, failure, revolution, war and poverty. Persevering and then succeeding in spite of these obstacles using the philosophy of Achievement, Hill stated, was the responsiblity of every American.
Clifford Michael Irving (born November 5, 1930) is an American writer, best known for his "authorized autobiography" of Howard Hughes which turned out to be a hoax.
Growing up in New York, Clifford Irving was the son of Dorothy and Jay Irving, a magazine cover artist and the creator of the syndicated comic strip Pottsy about a New York policeman. After graduating in 1947 from Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, Irving attended Cornell University, had a two-year marriage (to Nina Wilcox) and worked on his first novel, On a Darkling Plain (Putnam, 1956) while he was a copy boy at The New York Times. He completed his second novel, The Losers (1958), as he traveled about Europe. While living on the island of Ibiza he met an Englishwoman, Claire Lydon, and they married in 1958, moving to California. The marriage came to a tragic conclusion when she was killed in Big Sur in an automobile accident.
On a Darkling Plain and The Losers were not financially successful but received excellent reviews. On a Darkling Plain was sometimes compared with another novel set at Cornell, Charles Thompson's Halfway Down the Stairs(1957). John O. Lyons, in his survey, "The College Novel in America: 1962-1974" (Critique, 1974) saw a tendency toward pranks and put-ons in Irving's early work:
Richard Farina's Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (1966) continues the iconoclastic Cornell Bildungsroman of the fifties by Clifford Irving, On a Darkling Plain (1956); Charles Thompson, Halfway Down the Stairs (1957); and Robert Gutwillig, After Long Silence (1958). The oscillation between weltschmerz and pranks in these novels was undoubtedly an influence on "The Whole Sick Crew" of Pynchon's V.
Irving himself says this is "all nonsense."
His third novel, The Valley, is a mythic Western, published by McGraw-Hill in 1960. Irving moved in 1962 back to Ibiza with his third wife, English model Fay Brooke. In 1967 he married Swiss/German artist, Edith Sommer, and they had two sons. He was acquainted with art forger Elmyr de Hory and wrote his biography, Fake! (1969). Irving and de Hory are both interviewed in Orson Welles' documentary F for Fake (1974), which was originally a BBC documentary written by Irving and directed by Francois Reichenbach.
After 1958, Howard Hughes had become a recluse who hated any kind of public scrutiny. Whenever he found out that someone was writing an unauthorized biography about him, he bought the writer off. By the 1960s he even refused to appear in court. According to various rumors, he was either terminally ill, mentally unstable, or even dead and replaced by an impersonator.
In 1970, in Spain, Irving met with an author and old friend, Richard Suskind, and created the scheme to write Hughes' "autobiography". Irving and Suskind believed that because Hughes had completely withdrawn from public life, he would never go public to denounce the book. Suskind would do most of the necessary research in news archives. Irving started by writing letters in which he imitated Hughes' handwriting, which he had seen in letters displayed in Newsweek magazine.
Irving contacted his publisher, McGraw-Hill, and claimed that he had corresponded with Hughes because of his book about de Hory and that Hughes had expressed interest in letting him write his autobiography. The McGraw-Hill board invited him to New York where he showed them three forged letters, one of which claimed that Hughes wished to have his biography written but that he wanted the project to remain secret for the time being. The autobiography would be based on interviews Hughes was willing to do with Irving.
McGraw-Hill agreed to the terms and wrote up contracts between Hughes, Irving and the company; Irving forged Hughes' signatures. McGraw-Hill paid an advance of $100,000, with an additional $400,000 that would go to Hughes. Irving later bargained the sum up to $765,000, with $100,000 going to Irving and the rest to Hughes. McGraw-Hill paid by cheque, which Irving had his wife deposit to a Swiss bank account.
Irving and Suskind researched all the available information about Hughes. Irving also created faked interviews supposedly made all over the world, due to Hughes' penchant for meeting in secluded places, which indeed fit with his contemporary image. One of them supposedly happened on a Mexican pyramid. Actually, Irving was meeting his various mistresses in the stated places.
Irving and Suskind also gained access to the private files of Time-Life, as well as a manuscript by James Phelan, who was ghostwriting memoirs of Noah Dietrich, former business manager to Hughes. Mutual acquaintance Stanley Meyer showed Irving a copy of the manuscript-without Phelan's consent-in the hope that he would be willing to rewrite it in a more publishable format. Irving made a copy of it for his own purposes.
In the early winter of 1971 Irving delivered the manuscript to McGraw-Hill. He also included notes in Hughes' forged handwriting that an expert graphologist declared genuine. Hughes experts at Time and Life were also convinced. McGraw-Hill announced its intention to publish the book in March, 1972.
Several representatives of Hughes' companies and other people who had known him expressed their suspicions. Irving claimed that Hughes had not told them about the book. Journalist Frank McCulloch, who had interviewed Hughes for the last time years before, received an angry call from someone claiming to be Howard Hughes. But when McCulloch read the Irving manuscript, he declared that it was indeed accurate. Mike Wallace interviewed Irving for a news broadcast. Wallace later said his camera crew told him Irving was "a phony. They understood. I didn't. He got me."
McGraw-Hill and Life magazine, which had paid to publish excerpts of the book, continued to support Irving. Osborn Associates, a firm of handwriting experts, declared the writing samples were authentic. Irving had to submit to a lie-detector test, the results of which indicated inconsistencies, but no outright lies.[1] For weeks there was no sign of Hughes.
On January 7, 1972, Hughes finally contacted the outside world. He arranged a telephone conference with seven journalists that had known him years before. It took place two days later and was televised. Hughes denounced Irving, said that he had never even met him, and said that he was still living in the Bahamas. Irving claimed that the voice was probably a fake.
Hughes' lawyer, Chester Davis, filed suit against McGraw-Hill, Life, Clifford Irving and Dell Publications. Swiss authorities investigated a bank account in the name of "H. R. Hughes", which had received $750,000. Edith Irving had opened it with the name "Helga R. Hughes". When Swiss police visited the Irvings on Ibiza, they denied everything, although Clifford Irving tried to hint that he might have been dealing with an impostor. Then James Phelan read an excerpt of the book and realized that a few of the facts had been taken from his book. Finally the Swiss bank identified Edith Irving as the depositor of the funds, and the jig was up.
Eventually the Irvings gave up and confessed on January 28, 1972. They and Suskind were indicted for fraud and appeared in court March 13 and were found guilty June 16. Despite the efforts of Irving's lawyer Maurice Nessen, Irving was convicted and spent 14 months in prison, where he stopped smoking and learned to lift weights. He voluntarily returned the $765,000 advance to his publishers. Suskind was sentenced to six months and served five.
Following his release, Clifford Irving continued to write books, including several bestsellers, most notably Trial, Tom Mix and Pancho Villa, Final Argument and Daddy's Girl. The fraudulent autobiography was published in a private edition in 1999, now out of print. Irving's website features downloads of his new novel and several free chapters of The Autobiography of Howard Hughes.
The play centers on Willy, a 60-year-old salesman who is beginning to lose his grip on reality. Willy places great emphasis on his supposed native charm and ability to make friends. According to him, he was once well known and liked throughout New England as a traveling salesman whose skills were unparalleled. His sons Biff and Happy (a nickname for Harold) were the pride and joy of the neighborhood, and his wife Linda was picturesque, smiling throughout the day. Unfortunately, time has passed, and now his life seems to be slipping out of control.
Willy has worked hard his entire life and ought to be retiring by now, living a life of luxury and closing deals with contractors on the phone-especially since increasing episodes of depersonalization and flashback are impairing his ability to drive. Instead, all of Willy's aspirations seem to have failed: he is fired from his job-which barely paid enough anyway-by a man young enough to be his son and whom, in fact, Willy claims to have named by giving suggestions to the young man's father. Willy is now forced to rely on loans from his next-door-neighbor Charley to make ends meet. Charley is the closest thing Willy has to a friend, but Willy still harbors jealousy and contempt toward him for being more successful. Charley even offers Willy a job after he is fired, and yet Willy is too proud to take it. None of Willy's old friends or previous customers remember him. Biff, his 34-year-old son, has been unable to 'find himself' as a result of his inability to settle down (caused by Willy constantly insisting that he needed to 'make it big within two weeks'), and Happy, the younger son, lies shamelessly to make it seem as if he is the perfect Loman son. In contrast, Charley (who, Willy tells his boys conspiratorially, is not 'well-liked'), is now a successful businessman, and his son, Bernard, a formerly bespectacled bookworm, is now a brilliant lawyer. We are told how Willy had at least one affair while out on business trips, one that Biff walked in on and discovered. This terrible ordeal broke Biff's faith in his father and sent him on a downward spiral. Finally, Willy is haunted by memories of his now-dead older brother, Ben, who at an early age left for Alaska, and later moved to Africa; "And when [he] walked out, [he] was rich!" Ben has constantly overshadowed Willy, and he is in many ways the man that Willy wanted to be. Ben's approach is heralded by idyllic music, showing Willy's idolization of him, and in flashbacks we see Willy asking for Ben's advice on parenting.
The play's structure resembles a stream of consciousness account: Willy drifts between his living room, downstage, to the apron and flashbacks of an idyllic past, and also to fantasized conversations with Ben. The use of these different 'states' allows Miller to contrast Willy's dreams and the reality of his life in extraordinary detail; and also allows him to contrast the characters themselves, showing them in both sympathetic and villainous lights, gradually unfolding the story, and refusing to allow the audience a permanent judgment about anyone. When we are in the present the characters abide by the rules of the set, entering only through the stage door to the left; however, when we visit Willy's 'past' these rules are removed, with characters openly moving through walls. Whereas the term 'flashback' as a form of cinematography for these scenes is often heard, Miller himself rather speaks of 'mobile concurrences'. In fact, flashbacks would show an objective image of the past. Miller's mobile concurrences, however, rather show highly subjective memories. Furthermore, as Willy's mental state deteriorates, the boundaries between past and present are destroyed, and the two start to exist in parallel.
The depths of the problem are gradually revealed. Willy's emphasis on being well-liked stems from a belief that it will bring him to perfect success-not a harmful dream in itself, except that he clings to this idea as if it is a life-preserver, refusing to give it up. In high school, his boys were not only well-liked but quite handsome, and as far as Willy is concerned, that's all anyone needs. He pitches this idea to his sons so effectively that they believe opportunity will fall into their laps. (In this way, Biff and Happy can be considered forerunners to the culture of entitlement.) Of course, real life is not so generous, and neither are able to hold much in the way of respectable employment. Willy witnesses his and his sons' failures and clings ever more tightly to his master plan, now placing his hopes vicariously on them: he may not succeed, but they might. His tragic flaw is in failing to question whether the dream is valid. Happy never does either; he has embraced his father's attitude, and at the end of the first act, he convinces Biff to seek financial backing in a get-rich-quick scheme. But when Biff tries to do so, he realizes his father's mistakes, and finally decides not to let Willy fall prey to the unrealistic dream again. They attack each other at the play's climax: Biff confronting Willy's neurosis head-on, while Willy accuses Biff of throwing his life away simply to hurt Willy's feelings. Despite a raggedly emotional battle of words, neither is able to make much headway, but before Biff gives up, he breaks down in tears: "Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?" Willy is touched that Biff still cares for him after all, but fails to understand the deeper meaning of his words, and resolves to do everything possible to leave him with the right opportunities to strike it rich.
As the rest of the family retires, Ben reappears over Willy's shoulder. Willy proclaims that in taking his own life, the attendance at his funeral would make a show to his doubting son of how popular he was in life, and that, if handled to look accidental, the payout from his life insurance policy will allow Biff to start his own business. This final action can be viewed as his attempt to leave a tangible legacy for his family. Willy acknowledges that, "Nothing grows here anymore" and his vain attempts to plant seeds during the darkness express his desperate desire to leave something behind. The neighborhood is drawn out of bed by the roar and smash of Willy's car, despite Ben's warnings that the insurance policy won't be honored in the event of suicide. Thus Willy's grand gesture - and indeed his earlier assertion that one is often "worth more dead than alive" - leaves his family (and especially his wife, Linda) in even worse a position than before.
The Requiem takes place at Willy's funeral, which is attended by Charley, Bernard, Linda, Biff, and Happy. Charley makes a very moving speech as Biff accuses Willy of not knowing what he really wanted in life; Charley explains that, as a salesman, all Willy ever got by on were his dreams, and they cannot blame him for having them. Happy insists, "Willy Loman did not die in vain", and says that he will 'fight' for Willy's, and his own corrupted version of the American Dream. At the graveyard, Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong." Happy tries to defend Willy, as he cannot understand Biff's point of view. Charley is the one who is perhaps best able to defend Willy's dream, saying that, being a salesman, all he really had was a dream. Despite this, the dream was never realized, especially in death: there are no throngs of mourners to pay their respects; indeed, nobody shows up except the five closest to Willy. In the last lines of the play, Linda, close to tears, asks her dead husband why he saw fit to take his own life, and leaves the graveyard, sobbing, with her sons crying harshly.
Victor Lustig (January 4, 1890 - March 11, 1947) is held to have been one of the most talented confidence tricksters who ever lived. He is best known as "the man who sold the Eiffel Tower".
Victor Lustig was born in Bohemia, but soon headed west, demonstrating his talents even in his early twenties. He was a natural conman, glib and charming in multiple languages. He established himself by working scams on the ocean liners steaming between Paris and New York City, but eventually decided to stay in Paris for a while and see what he could find there.
Lustig's first con involved a money-printing machine. He would demonstrate the small box to clients, all the while lamenting that it took the device six hours to copy a $100 bill. The client, sensing huge profits, would buy the machine for a high price, usually over $30,000. Over the next twelve hours, the machine would produce two more $100 bills. After that, it produced only blank paper. Its supply of $100 bills had been exhausted. The client would inform the police, only to find that Lustig had closed up shop and moved on.
In 1925, France had recovered from World War I, and Paris was booming. Expatriates from all over the world went there to enjoy being at the leading edge of the latest trends. It was flashy, fast moving, and an excellent environment for a con artist.
Lustig's master con began one spring day when he was reading a newspaper. An article discussed the problems the city was having maintaining the Eiffel Tower. Even keeping it painted was an expensive chore, and the tower was becoming somewhat run down.
Lustig saw a story behind this article. Maybe the city would decide the Eiffel Tower was not worth saving any longer. Lustig outlined the possibilities and developed them into a remarkable scheme.
Lustig adopted the persona of a government official, and had a forger produce fake government stationery for him. Lustig then sent six scrap metal dealers an invitation to attend a confidential meeting at the Hotel de Crillon on Place de la Concorde to discuss a possible business deal. The Hotel de Crillon, one of the most prestigious of the old Paris hotels, was a meeting place for diplomats and a perfect cover. All six scrap dealers replied and came to the meeting.
There, Lustig introduced himself as the deputy director-general of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. He explained that the dealers had been selected on the basis of their good reputations as honest businessmen, and then dropped his bombshell.
Lustig told the group that the upkeep on the Eiffel Tower was so outrageous that the city could not maintain it any longer, and wanted to sell it for scrap. Due to the certain public outcry, he went on, the matter was to be kept secret until all the details were thought out. Lustig said that he had been given the responsibility to select the dealer to carry out the task.
The idea was not as implausible in 1925 as it would be today. The Eiffel Tower had been built for the 1889 Paris Exposition, and was not intended to be permanent. It was to have been taken down in 1909 and moved somewhere else. It did not fit with the city's other great monuments like the Gothic cathedrals or the Arc de Triomphe, and in any case at the time it really was in poor condition.
Lustig took the men to the tower in a rented limousine to give them an inspection tour. The tower was made of 15,000 prefabricated parts, many of which were highly ornamental, and Lustig showed it off to the men. This encouraged their enthusiasm, and it also gave Lustig an idea who was the most enthusiastic and gullible. He knew how to be attentive and agreeable, and let people talk until they told him everything he wanted to know.
Back on the ground, Lustig asked for bids to be submitted the next day, and reminded them that the matter was a state secret. In reality, Lustig already knew he would accept the bid from one dealer, Andre Poisson. Poisson was insecure, feeling he was not in the inner circles of the Parisian business community, and thought that obtaining the Eiffel Tower deal would put him in the big league. Lustig had quickly sensed Poisson's eagerness.
However, Lustig knew he was walking over dangerous ground. Fraud was bad enough, but the authorities would be very displeased at his having put over the fraud while impersonating a high government official. And Poisson's wife was suspicious. Who was this official, why was everything so secret, and why was everything being done so quickly?
To deal with the suspicious Poisson, Lustig arranged another meeting, and then "confessed". As a government minister, Lustig said, he did not make enough money to pursue the lifestyle he enjoyed, and needed to find ways to supplement his income. This meant that his dealings needed a certain discretion.
Poisson understood immediately. He was dealing with another corrupt government official who wanted a bribe. That put Poisson's mind at rest immediately, since he was familiar with the type and had no problems dealing with such people.
So Lustig not only received the funds for the Eiffel Tower, he also got a bribe on top of that. Lustig and his personal secretary, an American conman named Dan Collins, hastily took a train for Vienna with a suitcase full of cash. He knew the instant that Poisson called the government ministries to ask for further information that the whole fraud would be revealed and the law would intervene.
Nothing happened. Poisson was too humiliated to complain to the police. A month later, Lustig returned to Paris, selected six more scrap dealers, and tried to sell the Tower once more. This time, the mark went to the police before Lustig managed to close the deal, but Lustig and Collins still managed to evade arrest.
Later, Lustig convinced Al Capone to invest $50,000 in a stock deal. Lustig kept Capone's money in a safe deposit box for two months, then returned it to him, claiming that the deal had fallen through. Impressed with Lustig's integrity, Capone gave him $5,000. It was, of course, all that Lustig was after.
Charles Ponzi (March 3, 1882-January 18, 1949) was an Italian immigrant to the United States who became one of the greatest swindlers in American history. His aliases include Charles Ponei, Charles P. Bianchi, Carl and Carlo. Although many people have never heard of Ponzi, the term "Ponzi scheme" is a well known description of fraud that continues to this day through its modern version, the "make money fast" schemes that percolate through the Internet.
Parts of Charles Ponzi's life are somewhat difficult to determine, due to his propensity to fabricate and embellish facts. He was born Carlo Ponzi in Lugo, Italy in 1882-- not Parma as some accounts hold, although he resided there as a teenager. He took a job as a postal worker early on, but soon was accepted into the University of Rome. His friends considered the university a "four-year vacation", and he was inclined to follow them around to bars, cafes, and the opera. At some point, short on funds, Ponzi dropped out of university and boarded the S.S. Vancouver bound for Boston, USA.
By his own account, Ponzi arrived in the US in 1903 with two dollars and fifty cents in his pocket, having lost the rest of his life savings through gambling during the voyage. He was not discouraged. He quickly learned how to speak and read English, and spent the next few years doing odd jobs along the US east coast, eventually taking a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant. He slept on the floor of the restaurant as he had no other place to live, but managed to work his way up to the position of waiter. He was later fired for shortchanging the customers and playing games with the bills.
Ponzi was unfazed. In 1907, he moved to Montreal, Canada, and became an assistant teller in the newly opened Banco Zarossi, a bank started by Luigi "Louis" Zarossi to service the influx of Italian immigrants arriving in the city. Zarossi paid 6 percent interest on bank accounts, double the going rate then, and was growing rapidly as a result. Among Ponzi's talents was a certain gift for numbers, and he found out that the bank was in serious financial troubles because of bad real estate loans. It also appeared that Zarossi was funding the interest payments not through those investments, but by raiding the savings of newly opened accounts. The scheme eventually failed and Zarossi fled to Mexico with a large portion of the bank's money.
Ponzi stayed in Montreal, and, for some time, lived at Zarossi's house helping the man's abandoned family while planning to return to the United States and start over. Penniless, this proved to be very difficult. Eventually he walked into the offices of a former Zarossi customer, and finding no-one there, pulled out their checkbook and wrote himself a check for $423.58, signing it in the handwriting of a director of the company. The police soon picked him up for forgery, and he ended up spending three years in a Quebec prison. Rather than inform his mother of this development, he posted her a letter stating that he had found a job as a "special assistant" to a prison warden.
When he was released in 1911, he decided to return to the United States, but got involved in a scheme to smuggle Italian immigrants across the border. He was caught and spent two years in an Atlanta prison. Here he became a translator for the warden, who was intercepting letters from a famous mobster, Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo. Ponzi ended up befriending Lupo, but it was another prisoner who became a true role model to Ponzi; Charles Morse convinced doctors he was dying by eating soap shavings, and was released early. Ponzi convinced himself at that time that the rich could do what they wanted, and decided to become rich and live the easy life.
When Ponzi was released he eventually made his way back to Boston. There he met an Italian girl, Rose Gnecco, who was swept off her feet by Ponzi's charm. Though Ponzi did not tell Gnecco about his years in jail, his mother sent Gnecco a letter telling her of Ponzi's past. Gnecco's love for Ponzi remained unswayed. By 1918 they were married. For the next few months he worked at a number of businesses, before hitting upon an idea to sell advertising in a large catalog to be sent to various businesses, similar to the yellow pages. The idea never got off the ground, and his company failed soon after.
A few weeks later Ponzi received a letter in the mail from a company in Spain asking about the catalog. Inside the envelope was a postal reply coupon, which he had never seen before. He asked about it, and the Ponzi scheme was born. The basic idea behind the postal reply coupon was to allow the sender to buy stamps in the foreign country for reply mail, instead of requiring the recipient to pay for them. For instance, a lawyer could send a document to England for reading, including a coupon that would pay for English stamps to allow the recipient to send it back.
The rates for the coupons had originally been fixed during an international postal union in 1907, setting the local price of each coupon to buy an equal amount of stamps in any country. For instance, one might pay 4 shillings in England for a coupon, or $1 in the US, the two amounts being equal at the time. When the war ended, many European currencies were massively devalued. However, because the exchange rate on the coupons was not changed, one could buy such a coupon for the original rate and exchange it for stamps at the current exchange rate.
Ponzi noticed the postal coupon purchased in Europe for about one cent in American funds could be cashed in for about six American one-cent stamps. The first step was to convert his American money into a currency where the exchange rate was favorable. Ponzi's foreign agents would then use these funds to purchase postal coupons in countries with weak economies. The stamp coupons were then exchanged back into a favorable foreign currency and finally back into American funds. He claimed that his net profit on these transactions, after expenses and exchange rates, was in excess of 400%. This was a form of arbitrage, or currency trading--such a transaction is not in itself illegal.
Ponzi began to canvass his friends and associates to get backing for his scheme. He offered them a 50% return on their money in 45 days, or a doubling of their money in 90 days. The great returns available from postal reply coupons, he explained to them, made such incredible profits easy. He started his own company, the Securities Exchange Company, to promote the scheme.
Ponzi's sales pitch was smooth and low-key. He managed to get a few investors, and paid them off as he had promised. The word spread, and investors began to come in the door at an increasing rate. He hired agents and paid them generous commissions for every dollar they brought in. By February 1920, Ponzi's total take was $5,000 USD, a tidy sum for the time. That was just the beginning.
By March, he was up to $30,000. A frenzy was building, and Ponzi began to hire agents to take in money from all over New England and New Jersey. If investors were doubtful, he would overwhelm them with his line of talk. By throwing his impressive pay-off rates at people, he could often persuade would-be investors.
By May 1920, he was up to $420,000. He began depositing the money in the Hanover Trust Bank, in hopes that once his account was large enough he could impose his will on the bank or even be made its president. He in fact managed to get a controlling interest in the bank.
By July 1920, he was up to millions. Widows were mortgaging their homes, people were taking their life savings to invest with the clever Ponzi. Most did not collect their interest, but reinvested.
Ponzi was bringing in cash at a fantastic rate, but the simplest financial analysis showed that he wasn't making money, he was losing it rapidly. For every dollar he took in, he went more deeply into debt. As long as money kept flowing in, Ponzi would stay ahead of the eventual collapse.
Ponzi lived luxuriously: he bought a mansion with air conditioning and a heated swimming pool, and brought his mother from Italy in a first-class stateroom on an ocean liner. He was a hero among the Italian community, and was cheered wherever he went.
John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. (July 8, 1839 - May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He revolutionized the oil industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. Rockefeller strongly believed since he was a child that his purpose in life was to make as much money as possible, and then use it wisely to improve the lot of mankind. In 1862, Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil company and ran it until he retired in the late 1890s. He kept his stock and as gasoline grew in importance, his wealth soared and he became the world's richest man and first billionaire.
Standard Oil was convicted in the Federal Court of monopolistic practices and broken up in 1911. Rockefeller spent the last forty years of his life creating the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy, creating foundations that had a major impact on medicine, education, and scientific research. His foundations pioneered the development of medical research, and was instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever. He was a devout Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions throughout his life.
Always avoiding the spotlight, Rockefeller was remembered for handing dimes to those he encountered in public. Predeceased by his wife Laura Celestia ("Cettie") Spelman, the Rockefellers had four daughters and one son (John D. Rockefeller, Jr.). "Junior" was largely entrusted with supervision of the foundations.
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, television personality and author. He is the CEO of Trump Organization, an American-based real estate developer in the real estate market and the founder of Trump Entertainment, which operates gambling casinos. He enjoyed a great deal of publicity following the success of his reality television show, The Apprentice (in which he serves as both executive producer and host for the show).
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 - October 10, 1985) was an American theatre, screenwriter and film producer and director, and a theatre, radio and film actor. Welles first gained wide notoriety for his October 30, 1938 radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. Adapted to sound like a contemporary news broadcast, it panicked a large number of listeners. Welles and his biographers subsequently claimed he was exposing the gullibility of American audiences in the tense preamble to the Second World War. In the mid-Thirties his New York theatre adaptations of a voodoo Macbeth and a contemporary Julius Caesar became legendary. Welles was also a practiced magician, starring in troop variety spectacles in the war years. During this period he became a serious political activist and commentator through journalism, radio and public appearances closely associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1941, he co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Citizen Kane, most often chosen in polls of film critics as the greatest film ever made.
Welles received a 1975 American Film Institute Life Time Achievement award, the third person to do so after John Ford and James Cagney. Despite this accolade, Welles' artistic ambitions as a producer and director were frustrated by Hollywood movie studios. His one Hollywood film that remains as he conceived it is Citizen Kane, and only because its contract guaranteed him final cut. Although Welles remained on the margins of the major studios as a director/producer, his larger-than-life personality made him a bankable actor. In his latter years he struggled in vain against a Hollywood system that refused to finance his independent film projects, making a living largely through acting, commercials and voice-over work.
Critical appreciation for Welles has increased since his death. He is now widely acknowledged as one of the most important dramatic artists of the 20th century. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Welles as number 16 in their list of the 100 Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar (born November 6, 1926) is a highly successful American author, salesperson, and motivational speaker. His latest book (as of 2006) is Better than Good.
Zig Ziglar was born to John Silas and Lila Ziglar in Coffee County, Alabama as the tenth of twelve children. When he was four years old, his father accepted a management position at a Mississippi farm, and his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, where Zig Ziglar spent most of his childhood. In 1932, his father died of a stroke (and his younger sister died two days later), leaving his mother to raise the remaining eleven children alone.
Ziglar served in the Navy and then as a salesman in a succession of companies, during which time his sales skills improved and his interest in motivational speaking grew. In 1968, Ziglar became a vice president and training director for the Automotive Performance company, and moved to Dallas, Texas, where he still lives today. In 1970, he went into the business of motivational speaking full-time.