Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), North Woods in Spring, 1951-64; watercolor and charcoal on joined paper, 56 x 40 inches; Flint Institute of Arts, Bequest of Mary Mallery Davis
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, March 29, 1964
Friday, Mar 29, 2019
Instead of going out to eat, as has been our custom we ate at home, and loved the peace and quiet of our home.
-Late P.M. – Hank, Peggy, and Tom over for a visit (Mart in bed with a sever cold) –
Earlier in the P.M. – we called Vi and Art – All is well with them (Vi, does not yet have to have a hysterectomy performed) – They were having a “howling” blizzard, with temperature at 5° -
“An Echo from the Past”! – We watched “To tell the Truth” the first Trio who was presented were three elderly ladies, all claiming (as part of the game) to be “Tiny” Broadwick, lady “aeronaut,” who was the first person ever to parachute from a plane (with Blériot, driving a plane he designed and built) about 1913 (I think) [actually Tiny was the first woman to parachute from a plane and the pilot was Glenn L. Martin another pilot who designed and built his own planes, similiarly to Blériot] –
Before any questioning on part of the panel, I knew at once which was the real “Tiny” (the one in the center) for the following reason:
In 1910, at Salem – October 7& 8 – the annual “Homecoming” was being celebrated – To enhance the festivities, a carnival had been brought to town, and one of the features was “Tiny” (then billed as Mlle. Theresa Broadwick) whose act was to ascend in the air sitting on a trapeze, attached to a limply hanging parachute, which was in turn attached to a hot-air balloon (accelerated by pulling a cord) – She went up to a certain height, pulled the cord and floated gracefully to the ground (if she was lucky, as there was not much leeway for her, with so many buildings, houses, & telegraph wires – in fact, on a second jump, she unfortunately did land on some wires, injuring herself rather severly)
At the same time the Seniors (of which I was one) and Juniors at High School, were engaged in a very active “Flag-Rush” – Someone (I think it was one of my chum, Bill Kirst) conceived the idea of getting Theresa to carry a pennant of ours up into the sky with her. This she readily did, and we were elated at what we considered a great “Victory” – We thanked her profusely after she landed (safely this time) – Later we thought we should do more so we chipped in and bought her a box of candy! An account of the affair was printed in the daily paper.
I could not help but try to place myself back to that day, and wondered if I would believed that 53 years later, I would see her on a “contraption” known as T.V. still looking very “petite” and as the M.C. said still very much of a “doll” (Incidentally, the four panelists all chose her as the real aeronaut)
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, March 29, 1964