Studebaker - Brand Magazine by Alice Fada

THE PHENOMENON babe ruth howard schultz bette davis greg lemond harry houdini oprah winfrey bob mathias morgan freeman walt disney

N. 1 // V. 01 // 2014

“Growing up I always felt like I was living on the other side of the tracks. I knew the people on the other side had more resources, more money, happier families. And for some reason, I don’t know why or how, I wanted to climb over that fence and achieve something beyond what people were saying was possible. I may have a suit and tie on now but I know where I’m from and I know what it’s like.” Howard Schulz

The “Phenomenon” is the expression used to indicate those who, without external aid, managed to realize their own dreams; those who, in the belief of their own talent, never succumbed to difficulties which were separating them from reaching their goals. Our magazine tells the stories of these phenomenals, of people whose values reflect in the professional as in the private life, thus letting them become the icons still inspiring American people and serving them as a model. Our protagonists were able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this country so as to reach a record in their fields, becoming symbolic of important aspects of the American culture, covering topics from sport to art, from entertainment to entrepreneurship. We’ll tell how they managed to make it.

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the babe Babe Ruth, who became a baseball talent in an early age.

The people connector Howard Scultz, who turned a cup of coffee into a pastime.

THE FIRST LADY OF THE SCREEN Bette Davis, who created a new kind of screen heroine.

LEMONSTER Greg LeMond, who became an icon in the world of sports.

ehrich weisz Harry Houdini, who became the symbol of escapology.

THE OPRAH EFFECT Oprah Winfrey, the most influential woman in the world.

THE CHAMPION Bob Mathias, who became the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest athlete.

the late bloomer of america Morgan Freeman, who discovered his acting talent by accident in school.

THE RULER OF THE MAGIC KINGDOM Walt Disney, the animator who created Mickey Mouse.

BABE RUTH IN THE 20S

THE BABE Babe came from a hardworking and poor family, was sent to a catholic school and discovered as a baseball talent from an early age.

George Herman Ruth Jr. was born on February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland to parents George Sr. and Kate. George Jr. was one of eight children, although only he and his sister Mamie survived. George Jr.’s parents worked long hours, leaving little time to watch over him and his sister. The lack of parental guidance allowed George Jr. to become a bit unruly, often skipping school and causing trouble in the neighborhood. When George Jr. turned 7 years old, his parents realized he needed a stricter environment and therefore sent him to the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a school run by Catholic

monks from an order of the Xaverian Brothers. St. Mary’s provided a strict and regimented environment that helped shape George Jr.’s future. Not only did George Jr. learn vocational skills, but he developed a passion and love for the game of baseball. Brother Matthias, one of the monks at St. Mary’s, took an instant liking to George Jr. and became a positive role model and father-like figure to George Jr. while at St. Mary’s. Brother Matthias also happened to help George Jr. refine his baseball skills, working tirelessly with him on hitting, fielding and pitching skills. George Jr. became so good at baseball 7

BABE RUTH //1914

that the Brothers invited Jack Dunn, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, to come watch George Jr. play. Dunn was obviously impressed, as he offered a contract to George Jr. in February 1914 after watching him for less than an hour. Since George Jr. was only 19 at the time, Dunn had to become George’s legal guardian in order to complete the contract. Upon seeing George Jr. for the first time, the Orioles players referred to him as Jack’s newest babe, and thus the most famous nickname in American sports history was born. Thereafter, George Herman Ruth Jr. was known as The Babe. The Babe performed well for Dunn and the Orioles, leading 8

to the sale of Babe to the Boston Red Sox by Dunn. While Babe is most known for his prodigious power as a slugger, he started his career as a pitcher, and a very good one at that. In 1914, Babe appeared in five games for the Red Sox, pitching in four of

“Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.” them. He won his major league debut on July 11, 1914. However, due to a loaded roster, Babe was optioned to the Red Sox minor league team, the Providence Grays, where he helped lead them to the International League pennant. Babe became a perma-

pearances, so it was decided his bat was too good to be left out of the lineup on a daily basis. As a result, in 1918, the transition began to turn Babe into an everyday player. That year, he tied for the major-league lead in homeruns with 11, and followed that up by setting a single season home run record of 29 dingers in 1919. Little did he know that the 1919 season would be his last with

BABE RUTH // 1916

nent fixture in the Red Sox rotation in 1915, accumulating an 188 record with an ERA of 2.44. He followed up his successful first season with a 23-12 campaign in 1916, leading the league with a 1.75 ERA. In 1917, he went 2413 with a 2.01 ERA and a staggering 35 complete games in 38 starts. However, by that time, Babe had displayed enormous power in his limited plate ap-

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” game, amassing numbers that had never been seen before. He changed baseball from a grind it out style to one of power and high scoring games. He re-wrote the record books from a hitting standpoint, combining a high batting average with unbelievable power. The result was an assault on baseball’s most hallowed records. In 1920, he bested the homerun record he set in 1919 by belting a staggering 54 homeruns, a season in which no other player hit more than 19 and only one team hit more than Babe did individually. But Babe wasn’t done, as his 1921 season may have been the greatest in MLB history. That season, he blasted a new record of 59 homeruns, drove in 171 RBI, scored 177 runs, batted .376 and had an unheard of .846 slugging percentage. Babe was officially a superstar and enjoyed a 10

popularity never seen before in professional baseball. With Babe leading the way, the Yankees became the most recognizable and dominant team in baseball, setting attendance records along the way. When the Yankees moved to a new stadium in 1923, it was appropriately dubbed The House that Ruth Built. Babe’s mythical stature grew even more in 1927 when, as a member of Murderer’s Row, he set a new homerun record of 60, a record that would stand for 34 years. During his time with the Yankees, Babe ignited the greatest dynasty in all of American

BABE RUTH IN THE 30S

Boston. On December 26, 1919, Babe was sold to the New York Yankees and the two teams would never be the same again. After becoming a New York Yankee, Babe’s transition to a full-time outfielder became complete. Babe dominated the

BABE RUTH IN THE 30S

sport. Prior to his arrival, the Yankees had never won a title of any kind. After joining the Yankees prior to the 1920 season, Babe helped the Yankees capture seven pennants and four World Series titles. The 1927 team is still considered by many to be the greatest in baseball history. Upon retiring from the Boston Braves in 1935, Babe held an astonishing 56 major league records at the time, including the most revered record in baseball... 714 homeruns. In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame was inaugurated and Babe was elected as one of its first

five inductees. During the fall of 1946, it was discovered that Babe had a malignant tumor on his neck, and his health began to deteriorate quickly. On June 13, 1948, his jersey number “3” was retired by the Yankees during his last appearance at Yankee Stadium. Babe lost his battle with cancer on August 16, 1948. His body lay in repose in Yankee Stadium, with his funeral two days later at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. In all, over 100,000 people lined up and paid their respects to the Babe. Despite passing over 60 years ago, Babe still remains the greatest figure in major league baseball, and one of the true icons in American history. The Babe helped save baseball from the ugly Black Sox scandal, and gave hope to millions during The Great Depression. He impacted the game in a way never seen before, or since.

“You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.” He continues to be the benchmark by which all other players are measured. Despite last playing nearly 75 years ago, Babe is still widely considered the greatest player in Major League Baseball history. 11

the people connector

HOWARD SCHULTZ // 2011

Schultz displayed his own work ethic and leadership capabilities when he took something as simple as a cup of coffee and turned it into a national pastime.

Howard Schultz was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1953. With little money, both parents worked long hours to support the family. To escape being “poor” young Howard turned to sports and played football, baseball, and

“Tell your story, refusing to let others define you. Use authentic experiences to inspire.” basketball. He did so well in high school that he was awarded an athletic scholarship to Northern Michigan University. When he left New York to go to college, Shultz’s father was a broken man. He had never gotten ahead in any of his low-paying jobs and was rarely shown any respect by his employers. “I watched my dad’s self-esteem fractur.” Because of his family’s financial troubles, Schultz made the most of his college days, both athletically and academically. He received a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing in 1975, proud to be the first member of his family to attend college. “I was born on the other side of the tracks, in public housing in Brooklyn, New York. My dad never made more than $20,000 a year, and I grew up in a family that lost health in16

surance. So I was scarred at a young age with understanding what it was like to watch my parents lose access to the American dream.” Schultz returned to New York after graduation and worked for the Xerox Corporation before joining a Swedish housewares company called Hammerplast. On a business trip to Seattle, Washington, in 1981 Schultz walked into a Starbucks and fell in love with the flavorful coffee. He met with one of the owners, Gerry Baldwin, to sell Hammerplast coffeemakers and expressed an interest in working there. By the following year, Schultz was hired as marketing director for the Seattle business. When he started at Starbucks, the company had about a dozen locations and sold coffee beans and related products, not coffee by the cup. Yet after a trip to Milan, Italy, in 1983, Schultz became convinced that espresso or coffee bars—which served the steaming beverages by the cup and offered customers chairs to sit and chat awhile—were the wave of the future. He realized that what was missing in the American coffee experience was connection. He saw that this espresso bar was more than just about caffeine; it acted as a

HOWARD SCHULTZ // 2014

social hub. “When I first discovered in the early 1980s the Italian espresso bars in my trip to Italy, the vision was to re-create that for America - a third place that had not existed before. Starbucks re-created that in America in our own image; a place to go other than home or work. We also created an industry that did not exist: specialty coffee.” The owners of Starbucks disagreed, however, so Schultz decided to venture out on his own. Rounding up money from investors (including the Starbucks

partners who were willing to invest), he opened the first II Giornale coffee bar in 1984.

“Innovation is having the courage to make bets on new categories and experiences.” The small, friendly cafe was a hit with Seattle’s sophisticated coffee drinkers who, thanks to Schultz, could get Starbucks coffee by the cup and a bag of beans from the real Starbucks down the street. As Schultz planned additional 17

WINFREY AND SCHULTZ // SEATTE // 2014

Il Giornale coffee bars, he heard that one of the Starbucks partners intended to leave the business. Schultz offered to buy out all the partners and did so in 1987. He then merged II Giornale and Starbucks to form the Starbucks Corporation. From the start, Schultz wanted to make Starbucks a nationally recognized brand, to take the premium coffee from the West Coast to the East Coast and everywhere in between. He succeeded, and Starbucks coffee bars blossomed almost overnight, creating devoted customers with every new opening. Expansion was important, but quality and consistency, as well as the company’s workers, were the keys to his success. One lesson Schultz learned

from his childhood was to never forgot how his father was treated by his employers. Schultz went in the opposite direction, treating all Starbucks employees as important members of a team. “I believe very strongly that the success of our company has been achieved because of the relationship with our people.” Not only are Starbucks workers (called “partners”) given a thorough training program, but both full-and part-timers receive generous health benefits and after five years can buy shares in the company. The shares are called Bean Stock. “If people relate to the company they work for, if they will form an emotional tie to it and buy into its dreams, they will pour their

“Embrace a dream and keep dreaming.Don’t be a bystander. Take it personally.” 1992, there were 165 Starbucks locations and just two years later, by 1994, there were 425. Sales mushroomed from $100 million in 1993 to $465 million in 1995, while new products such as bottled Frappuccino and Starbucks ice cream began appearing on grocery store shelves. “Whether you are a high-tech company or a coffee company, your responsibility has to be to constantly create the kind of excitement that provides differentiation and separation in the marketplace. Not innovation for innovation’s sake but innovation that is relevant, usable, and, in our case, core to the culture. In terms of execution, we’ve unplugged a lot of things that were taking up mind space and time, and we’ve understood that less would be more. Innovation is a way of life for us.” As Starbucks introduced new

HOWARD SCHULTZ // 2014

hearts into making it better.” By the 1990s, Starbucks was an international phenomenon, with locations and sales jumping upwards from year to year. By

items for coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers (such as tea blends, steamed milk, and hot chocolate), Schultz, too, went in a new direction. He wrote a book with business writer Dori Jones called Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time. Published in 1997 by Hyperion, the book told the story of Starbucks and the various business principles and life philosophies Schultz believes shaped the company’s climb from small coffee retailer to corporate giant. “We are a people-based company. You couldn’t find another consumer brand as dependent on human behavior.” 19

BETTE DAVIS // THE PETRIFIED FOREST // 1936

The first lady of the screen Often referred to as “The First Lady of the American Screen,” Bette Davis created a new kind of screen heroine.

Bette Davis was a liberated woman in an industry dominated by men. She was known as an actress that could play a variety of difficult and powerful roles, and because of this she set a new standard for women on the big screen. Independent off-screen as well, her battles with studio bigwigs were legendary. With a career spanning six decades, few in the history of film rival her longevity and appeal. Bette Davis was born Ruth Davis on April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Just before her tenth birthday, Bette’s father, Harlow, left the family. Although she had little money, her mother, Ruthie, sent Bette and her

sister to boarding school. Upon graduating Cushing Academy, Bette enrolled in John Murray Anderson’s Dramatic School. In 1929, she made her Broadway debut in Broken Dishes. She also landed a role in Solid South. In 1930, she moved to Hollywood to screen test for Universal. “To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.” Six small films later, Bette’s contract with Universal was not renewed. She wanted to go back to Broadway, but a phone call from Warner Brothers quickly changed her mind. In 1932, she 23

BETTE DAVIS // THE LITTLE FOXES // 1941

signed a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers. The film The Man Who Played God (1932) landed Bette on the path to stardom. She was a smash when she was lent out to RKO for the role of Mildred in Of Human Bondage (1934), her first critically acclaimed hit. Her role in Dangerous (1935) led to her nomination for a Best Actress Oscar. She became the first

Warner Brothers actress to win the coveted award. Despite her success, Warner Brothers continued to offer Bette

“A sure way to lose happiness is to want it at the expense of everything else.” unsatisfactory roles. In 1936, she challenged the studio by going to England to make pictures. Jack Warner sued her, and she was forced to honor her contract. Upon her return, however, Bette was offered a new contract and better roles. In 1939, Bette won her second Oscar for Jezebel (1938). She also received Oscar nominations the next five years in a row. Although she earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, Bette set a new precedent for women. By 1942, she was the highest paid woman in America. Bette contributed to the war effort by helping to organize the Hollywood Canteen during World War II for soldiers passing through Los Angeles. Inspired by New York’s Stage Door Canteen, Bette transformed a once-abandoned nightclub into an inspiring entertainment facility. “There are few accomplishments in my life that I am sincerely proud

BETTE DAVIS // PAYMENT ON DEMAND // 1951

of. The Hollywood Canteen is one of them.” In 1980, she was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, the Defense Department’s highest civilian award, for running the Hollywood Canteen.

“Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.” Bette made a roaring comeback with her role as Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950), and she received her eighth Academy Award nomination. Her career was resuscitated again in 1962 with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Soon after, Bette began her second career as a horror maven and continued to welcome new opportunities with television ap-

pearances. In 1987, Bette played a blind woman in The Whales of August, co-starring Lillian Gish. With a career total of more than 100 films, Bette changed the way Hollywood looked at actresses. In 1977, she was the first woman to be honored with the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also the first woman to be president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences. Michael Merrill, Bette’s son, and Kathryn Sermak, Bette’s personal assistant and friend, are now the executors of her estate. In her memory, they have created The Bette Davis Foundation, which provides financial assistance to promising young actors and actresses. 25

GREG LEMOND// 1976

Lemonster Greg LeMond, a three time Tour De France champion, is the only cyclist that accomplished the feat of icon in the world of sports.

The rise of Greg LeMond begins in April 1976, when the San Francisco Columbus Day Celebration Committee sponsored a world class bicycle race. The race was called the San Francisco Grand Prix and had one of the most lucrative prize lists in the United States Cycling Federation circuit. On the day of the event, Gregâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father Bob Lemond brought Greg over to the sign in table and asked if he could be allowed to race as a junior. Greg did not look all that anxious to ride but agreed to make his father happy. At the time Greg was only 15, but Bob insisted that he could keep up with the juniors

in his hometown Reno bike club. I remember a couple of complaints coming from some of the junior riders as Greg joined into the starting lineup but under certain circumstances, intermediate age riders could be allowed to race with the junior field. There was a large group sprint to the line and Greg finished in third place. Greg wa awarded a $500 check and a trophy that stood as tall as he did. The spectators could remember after all these years the look on Gregâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face as he stood on the podium. In 1977, due to the success of the first edition of the race, the San Francisco Columbus Day 29

GREG LEMOND // 1989

Celebration Committee wanted to take the race to a higher level of competition and difficulty. The budget had been increased quite a bit which allowed more freedom to expand the scope of the event. The race was held in the North Beach area of San Francisco near the Fishermanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wharf and changed the name of the race to the Giro Di San Francisco. The unique feature of this race was the section of the course that went up Lombard Street. This is the most crooked street in the world and is usually a one way downhill only street. It is a steep cobblestone street and quite challenging to 30

ascend. By this time after almost a year of racing as a junior, Greg had achieved quite a few race victories and was back in San Francisco to prove that he was here to stay. The race started with a bang. On the second lap, Greg left the front of the pack and passed the lead motorcycle on the climb up Lombard Street. There was no stopping him as he easily came in well ahead of the field to win the race. The reception was presided this time by San Francisco Supervisor Dianne Feinstein. Greg was awarded more than twice as much as the previous year and received another tro-

Championship and become the first American to win a senior Road World Championship in 1983. He then joined the The La Vie Claire team and entered his first Tour De France. He raced along side Americans Andrew

“I’m proud that I’m able to be me; I haven’t had to compromise anything and get to stand for everything I believe in.” Hampsten and the Canadian Steve Bauer and five time Tour De France winner Bernard Hinault. In his first Tour, Greg finished like his very first race, in third. In 1985, although he was capable of winning the French tour, his team managers insisted

GREG LEMOND // CHAMBERY // 1989

phy as large as the first one. Greg continued his legacy by winning this race again in 1979 and 1980. These races were also held in the San Francisco North Beach area. In 1979, Greg won the World Championships Junior title. From here, Greg continued to win just about every race he entered in the United States amateur circuit. He crossed over to Europe and joined a Pro European team. He quickly found out that racing in the Pro circuit was quite a bit more demanding than his solo performances as an amateur. Greg began racing professionally in 1981 with the RenaultElf-Gitane team. He went on to place second garnering a silver medal at the 1982 World Cycling

keep him out of the sport for the next two years. 1989 marked the year of his comeback to the sport and again he rose to the occasion. Choosing to use the Scott

“It’s interesting to look back and see why athletes are so good at a young age. It’s not what they do with their bodies, it relates more to their drive and determination.” Aero handlebars that had been offered to all the riders, Greg did something that had never been done in Tour history. He

LEMOND AND HINAULT // TOUR DE FRANCE// 1986

that he work exclusively to help Bernard Hinault win his fifth Tour. In 1986, Bernard publicly promised to support Greg in his attempt at winning his first Tour De France. Bernard ultimately battled Greg all the way to the mountain stages where Greg finally moved ahead in the GC. Greg had at last reached the pinnacle of success in the cycling world, the first American rider to take a Yellow Jersey victory in the Tour De France. In April of 1987, in a freak turkey hunting accident, he was hit by a shotgun blast. This was a life threatening incident that would

GREG LEMOND // 1989

started the final stage 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon. In this short time trial finish, he finished with a time of 8 second lead and a second Yellow Jersey, with the smallest margin in Tour De France history. The 1990 Tour De France started out with Greg falling quickly behind the new star Claudio Chiappuchi by over 10 minutes. Over the next two weeks, he moved up to within five seconds of the lead on the last stage, another individual time trial. Again Greg dug deep into his resolve to bring out just enough strength to beat Chiappuchi by almost two minutes. Greg became the first American to have won the Tour three times. This was a record that would take another American twelve years to beat. In 1992, Greg Lemond returned to the United States to ride in the Tour Du Pont race becoming the first American to win this world class event. Greg is one of only five riders to have won the Tour De France and the World Championship Road Race in the same year. He would end up winning another World Championship Road Race in 1989. After retiring from professional bicycle racing, Greg be-

came an opponent of performance-enhancing drug use. When asked about Armstrong’s fall from grace, this is what he said: He’d be forgiven for taking a degree of pleasure from the outcome, but he admits that he’s felt strangely detached as it became more and more clear that Armstrong was going to be nailed, “I’ve felt sad at times to see what’s happened, because it shows the problems facing the sport, I didn’t feel any great satisfaction.” 33

HARRY HOUDINI IN THE 20S

Ehrich Weisz His name is synonymous with escapes. His ability to get out of seemingly impossible situations made him a legend in his own time.

Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz (later spelled Ehrich Weiss) in Budapest, Hungary onÂ March 24, 1874. His parents were Cecilia Steiner and Mayer Samuel Weiss, a rabbinical lawyer and sometimes soap maker. Ehrich was the fourth boy in a family that would ultimately total seven children (including one child from a previous marriage). When Ehrich was four years old, the Weiss family immigrated to the United States, settling in the progressive small town of Appleton, Wisconsin, where Mayer Samuel had secured work as a rabbi on an earlier trip. Here Ehrich (whose name would evolve to Ehrie, then Harry) de-

veloped an interest in athletics and acrobatics. He performed circus feats in his backyard and called himself Ehrich, Prince of the Air. At age 8 he was impressed by a performance of the English conjurer, Dr. Lynn. When Mayer Samuel lost his job at the Appleton Synagogue, the family moved to Milwaukee, where they lived in poverty. Ehrich, who was never educated past the third grade, worked shining shoes and as a messenger boy. At age 12 he ran away from home, possibly twice. Very little is known about theseÂ runaway days, except that he planned to go to Galveston, Texas and went by the name Harry White. He 37

HARRY HOUDINI IN THE 20S

later re-joined his family in New York City. In New York, the teenage Harry landed a job as a tie-cutter at H. Richter’s Sons. His father also worked a sewing bench for a time. As a member of the Pastime Athletics

mous French magician, The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, and became fascinated with magic. Adding an “i” to the name Houdin, he adopted the stage name Harry Houdini and formed an act with his friend and fellow tie-cutter Jacob Hyman called The Brothers Houdini. The high point of their act was a sub“Many things that seem stitution trunk trick called wonderful to most men are Metamorphosis, which Houdini the every-day commonplaces is said to have purchased for of my business.” $25, and which he would perClub and the Amateur Athletic form throughout his entire caUnion, Harry competed in, and reer. Houdini’s real brother, won, several foot races, boxing Theo, aka Dash, soon replaced matches, bicycle races, and swim Hyman in the act. (Hyman conmeets. At one point he tried tinued to perform as Houdini out for the U.S. Olympic team. well into the 1900s.) The brothIt was at this time that Harry ers performed on the midway read the autobiography of a fa- at the Columbia Exposition of 38

1893 alongside another future great, Howard Thurston. The following year they were performing in Coney Island when Harry met Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, aka Bess, a showgirl in an act called The Floral Sisters. After only three weeks’ courtship, Harry and Bess were married — much to the horror of Bess’s strict German Catholic mother, who refused to speak

to her daughter or new son-inlaw (whom she thought was the devil) for many years. Renaming the act The Houdinis, Harry and Bess played beer halls and dime museums, and traveled withcircuses and medicine shows throughout the U.S. and Canada. Sometimes they performed comedic playlets as The Rahners: American’s Greatest Comedy Act. To make ends meet, Harry

escaping from handcuffs in local police stations. His escapes drew headlines in local papers. Following the successful run, Beck booked Houdini for a tour of Europe; however, when Harry and Bess arrived in London in early 1900, they discovered the bookings had not been secured. Impressing the powerful manager of the Alhambra Theater, reportedly by escaping from hand-

HARRY HOUDINI // 1899

also performed a solo magic act as the King of Cards or Cardo, and masqueraded as Projea The Wild Man of Mexico in a circus sideshow — where his sleight of hand skills made it appear as if he ate cigarettes thrown into his cage. He later co-managed an ill-fated Burlesque show called The American Gaiety Girls. Despite an engagement at Tony Pastor’s popular vaudeville theater in New York, the couple found little success with their magic act. Harry tried to sell his entire show, including his original Handcuff Act and Metamorphosis, in 1898. There were no buyers. At one point the struggling Houdini met another performing couple in a boarding house, the Keatons. When Houdini observed their baby boy fall down a flight of stairs unharmed, he gave him the nickname Buster… Buster Keaton. In 1899 Houdini received his big break, when vaudeville impresario Martin Beck saw his act at the Palmgarden beer hall in St. Paul, Minnesota. Beck advised him to drop all the magic and concentrate on his challenge handcuff escapes as well as the Metamorphosis with Bess. Beck booked Houdini on his circuit out west, where Houdini promoted his engagements by

HARRY HOUDINI // 1899

cuffs at Scotland Yard, Houdini was booked for a trial run. During his first performance, he was unexpectedly challenged by a rival escape artist, Cirnoc. Houdini bested the challenger onstage with a pair of Bean Giant handcuffs. Soon Houdini’s feats — both onstage and off — caught the attention and imagination of the public. Houdini The Handcuff King became a sensation, break-

ing attendance records in every theater he played throughout England, Scotland, and Wales.

“In the many years that I have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded by the strict integrity of my assistants.” In one theatre the doors had to be removed to accommodate the massive crowds. Houdini claimed in some cities patrons rioted for tickets. At the London Hippodrome in 1904, Houdini was challenged by the newspaper London Daily Mirror to escape a specially made handcuff that was said to have taken a Birmingham locksmith several years to construct. He freed himself from the tin a dramatic 90 minute ordeal. Exactly how he escaped is still hotly debated today. Houdini’s success continued abroad, where he drew sold-out crowds in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Russia. His escape from a Siberian Transport Prison Van and his defiance of German police in court became the stuff of legend. He also added a dash of death defiance to his outdoor stunts, by leaping into rivers while handcuffed. Capitalizing on his success, he 41

brought his brother and former partner Dash to Europe, and set him up as a rival handcuff king by the name ofÂ Theo Hardeen. Together the brothers dominated the European vaudeville circuits â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and Dash would make his own contribution when he discovered the power of escaping from a straitjacket in full view of the audience. Houdini quickly adopted the technique and made

it a signature performance. In his later years, Harry took his talent to the film arena, where he both acted and started his own film laboratory called The Film Development Corporation. Years later, Harry would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition, Harry showed interest in the field of aviation and was the first person to ever fly over Australian soil.

OPRAH WINFREY // 2010

The oprah effect Oprah Winfrey is considered the most influential woman in the world. This phenomenon is called “the Oprah effect”.

As a young child, did you have any idea, any vision, of what you wanted to accomplish? As a young child, I had a vision, not of what I wanted to accomplish, but I knew that my current circumstances would change. I was raised on a farm with my grandmother for the first six years of my life — I knew somehow that my life would be different and it would be better. I never had a clear cut vision of what it was I would be doing. I remember absolutely physically feeling it at around four years old. I remember standing on the back porch — it was a screenedin porch — and my grandmother

was boiling clothes because, you know, at that time, we didn’t have washing machines, and so people would, you know, physically boil clothes in a great big iron pot. She was boiling clothes and poking them down. And I was watching her from the back porch, and I was four years old and I remember thinking, “My life won’t be like this. My life won’t be like this, it will be better.” And it wasn’t from a place of arrogance, it was just a place of knowing that things could be different for me somehow. I understand that it’s kind of a fluke that your series is not called “The Orpah Winfrey 45

OPRAH WINFREY // BELOVED // 1998

Show.” Maybe you could just tell us the story of your name. I was born, as I said, in rural Mississippi in 1954. I was born at home. There were not a lot of educated people around and my name had been chosen from the Bible. My Aunt Ida had chosen the name, but nobody really knew how to spell it, so it went down as “Orpah” on my birth certificate, but people didn’t know how to pronounce it, so they put the “P” before the “R” in every place else other than the birth certificate. On the birth certificate it is Orpah, but then it got translated to Oprah, so here

we are. But that’s great because Oprah spells Harpo backwards. I don’t know what Orpah spells. Was there someone early on who gave you a big break in the business of broadcasting? There are several people. It started out when I was one of two students picked from each state in 1971 to go to the White House Conference on Youth. I don’t know who sponsored it, but there was this big White House Conference on Youth, and they picked two people from each state, and from all around the world. So you were part of

a whole convention with people from all over the world. I was being interviewed by a local radio station — I was 17 at the time. There was a contest being sponsored in town called The Miss Fire Prevention Contest. And this guy who had inter-

viewed me at the radio station, John Heidelberg, remembered me. But he just remembered that I had given a nice interview and I was a kid, and they needed a teenager. So he said, “What about that girl that was here last year?” Suddenly I was representing this radio station in the Miss Fire Prevention contest. Well, all you had to do was walk, parade around in an evening gown, answer some questions about your life. You know, it was one of those little teeny, tiny beauty pageants. Well, nobody expected me to win the pageant because we were still Negroes at the time — I’ve been colored, Negro, black, now I’m African-American. And I won. And that was the beginning of my broadcasting career because when I went back to the radio station to pick up my Longines watch and my digital clock, they

OPRAH WINFREY // 1972

“And I was hired, seventeen years old, in radio.”

asked me, would I like to hear my voice on tape? They said, “Would you like to hear your voice on tape?” Just sort of as a little treat for me. “Come here, let’s listen to your voice on tape.” And so I started to read. Now, I’d been reading since I was three. They couldn’t believe how well I read. And, I was hired, seventeen years old, in radio. Your career was kind of a sky-rocketing success. But there was that period of anchoring that made you uncomfortable. In a way, did you have to make that mistake in order to find what 47

OPRAH WINFREY // HTE BUTLER // 2013

you do best? Well, you know, I don’t know if anybody really skyrockets to success. I think that success is a process. And I believe that my first Easter speech, at Kosciusko Baptist Church, at the age of three and a half, was the beginning. And that every other speech, every other book I read, every other time I spoke in public, was a building block. So that by the time I first sat down to audition in front of a television camera, and somebody said, 48

“Read this,” what allowed me to read it so comfortably and be so at ease with myself at that time, was the fact that I had been doing it a while. If I’d never read a book, or never spoken in public before, I would have been traumatized by it. So the fact that we went on the air with The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986, nationally, and people said, “Oh, but you are so comfortable in front of the camera; you can be yourself.” Well, it’s because I’ve been being myself since I was 19, and

Tell us how you happened to first co-host a talk show, and how that felt. I only came to co-host a talk show because I had failed at news and I was going to be fired. They thought they were paying me too much money to only just do news stories. So I had been taken off the six o’clock news, and was put on the early morning, like 5:30, cut-ins. And they tried to convince me at the time

that, “You are so good that you need your own time period, so we are going to give you five minutes at 5:30 in the morning.” I was devastated because up until that point, I had sort of cruised. I just happened into television, happened into radio. I felt like I had somewhat prepared myself,

“I don’t know if anybody really skyrockets to success. I think that success is a process.” but that I had happenstanced into it. I was working in Nashville, and so I moved to Baltimore, and I thought “Well, I’ll do this for a while, and then I don’t know

OPRAH WINFREY //2013

I would not have been able to be as comfortable with myself had I not made mistakes on the air and been allowed to make mistakes on the air and understand that it doesn’t matter.

OPRAH WINFREY //OPRAH WINFREY SHOW

what I’ll do.” So when I was called in and put on the edge of being fired and certainly demoted and knew that firing was only a couple weeks away. I was devastated. I was 22 and embarrassed by the whole thing because I had never failed before. And it was that failure that led to the talk show. Because they had no place else to put me, they put me on a talk show in the morning. And I’m telling you, the hour I interviewed — my very first interview was the Carvel Ice Cream Man, and Benny from All My Children — I’ll never forget it. I came off the air, thinking, “This is what I should have

been doing.” Because it was like breathing to me, like breathing. You just talk. “Be yourself” is really what I had learned to do. What characteristics do you think are most important for having a fulfilling life? I think the most important thing to get ahead falls back to what I truly believe in, and that is the ability to seek truth in your life. That’s on all forms. You have to be honest with yourself. You can be pursuing a profession because your parents say it’s the best thing. You can be pursuing a profession because you think you will make a lot of money.

How has luck affected your career? I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. The reason I feel so strongly about that, and it’s not just a saying for me. I was hired in television in 1973, right after the riots of ‘71, ‘72, and other blacks and female people were hired at the same time. People accused me of being a token at the time. It didn’t really bother me because I realized that I was going to stay there. Once I got there, I realized, nobody is getting me out of here. This is not just a phase for me. I sort of began to create my own luck. I said I knew how to edit when I didn’t. I said I knew how to report on stories. I went to my first city council meeting, I wasn’t quite sure of what to do, but I had told the news director that I did. So, then what you have to do is, be willing to admit that you know nothing. You’ve become the most successful woman in entertainment today. I want to talk a

OPRAH WINFREY // 1990

You can be pursuing a profession because you think you are going to get a lot of attention. None of that will do you any good if you are not being honest with yourself.

little bit about your role as business woman. That’s so interesting to me. I read that, too. I read that! And I think, “Well what does this mean?” Like, one day, I was on the Forbes list, and someone says, “Oh, I saw you on the Forbes List.” And it was like, just another thing that had happened. At first I didn’t care about it. Actually, it was easier trying to find enough money to pay my light bill than discovering what the truth of your life is all about. What other people view as successful is not what my idea of success is. And I don’t mean to 51

“The big question for me now that I have achieved some material success is, what do I do with it? How do I use this to make a difference?” ly matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people’s lives. And the big question for me in my life is now that I have achieved some material success, is, what do I do with it? How do I use this to make a difference? You have people very close to you in this business that you trust, and they have also made a difference in your career. I have people that I trust. I also try to surround myself with people who are smarter than I am. I think that the ability to be as good as you can be comes from understanding who you are, and what you can and cannot do. And what you can’t do is far more important than what you can do, if what you can’t do 52

is going to keep you from flying as high as you can. It sounds like you love your work, and so in some ways it’s not really work. It’s not work. Steve Martin has a joke about how some people go to the drugstore, and they sell Flair pens. And he says, in a silly voice, I feel the same way. I feel like I would do this if I didn’t get a dime for it, and that’s why you know you are doing the right thing — because it doesn’t even feel like work.

OPRAH WINFREY // 2009

belittle it at all. It’s really nice to be able to have nice things. What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that real-

BOB MATHIAS // HELSINKI // 1952

THE CHAMPION One month, Bob Mathias was a high school track star. The next one, he was the world’s greatest athlete.

Bob Mathias was Tulare High School’s football and track star in 1948 when his coach first suggested him to try the decathlon. Mathias had never thrown a javelin before, but two competitions later, the prep standout qualified for that summer’s Olympics. When he left for London, Mathias thought of it as “a nice trip,” says his older brother, Eugene, who accompanied him to the Games. “When he won the trials, he thought that was a freak thing.” But “everything he did, he just did better every time.” Tulare is a small Central Valley farm town, north of Bakersfield and south of Fresno

along State Route 99. While Mathias competed for 12 hours in a rainy London, on a soggy track and a dark field that had officials struggling to make out the distance of javelin throws, the people of Tulare waited for the radio reports. After news reached town that Mathias had pulled off the victory, becoming the youngest man ever to win an Olympic track and field event, Tulare’s then-12,000 residents celebrated, sounding car horns, screaming in the streets, and pulling the town’s fire whistle. After the win a reporter asked Mathias what he would do to celebrate. Mathias replied, “I will start shaving, I guess.” He then 55

BOB MATHIAS // 1949

immediately went to sleep, and had to be awoken the next day so he could participate in the victory parade. He received a congratulatory telegram from President Harry S Truman, was besieged by a crowd of 5,000 people at the airport on his return home, and was the star of a victory party in his hometown of Tulare. Mathias returned to the United States a celebrity. After first arriving by ship in New York, then flying to California, Mathias was greeted at the Visalia Airport by a brass band and more than 2,000 fans. His picture was plastered on store windows; flags and pennants 56

covered the streets; and a parade took him through Tulare. A month later, he posed for pictures with President Truman. “One day, I heard the doorbell ring,” classmate Kirk Evans recalls. “I answered the door and a few little young boys asked if Bob Mathias lived there. I took them upstairs and Bob sat and talked with them for half an hour.” At the 1952 Olympics, the veteran Mathias was favored to win, and he did. He beat his own world-record decathlon score by earning 7,887 points, 912 points ahead of second-place contender Milton Campbell,

“You still have to know your subject matter. You just can’t run on your name and do a lousy job. You have got to work at it.” Jim Thorpe, Mathias beat all of Thorpe’s decathlon event records except for the 1,500-meter run. A year after his second Olympic victory, Mathias retired from amateur competition, remaining undefeated in the decathlon. He married Melba Wiser, a drama major at Stanford. The couple had three daughters. Mathias served two-and-one-half years in the Marine Corps and later became a member of the U.S. Marine Corps reserve. He appeared in four films, one of which, The Bob Mathias Story, was about his own life. He also was a star of a television series. In 1961 Mathias and his wife founded a sports camp for boys, and started a similar camp for girls in 1969. Remaining a popular figure in his state, Mathias served as a

Republican representative to the U.S. Congress from California’s 18th District from 1967 to 1974. After serving in Congress he was appointed director of the U.S. Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs and eventually headed the National Fitness Foundation. He was also president of the American Kids’ Sports Association. In 1974, he was inducted in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame as a charter member. He also became a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

BOB MATHIAS // LONDON // 1948

also from the United States. According to Whalen, Mathias’s comment after winning was, “I’ve never been so tired in my life.” Although often compared to famed U.S. decathlete

the late bloomer of america

MORGAN FREEMAN // 2014

Morgan Freeman discovered his acting talent by accident in school, but was first fully recognized as an actor later in life.

MORGAN FREEMAN // 2012

Actor, director and narrator Morgan Freeman was born on June 1, 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee. The youngest of five children born to barber Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr. and schoolteacher Mayme Edna, Freeman was raised in Chicago and Mississippi in a low-income home. Not long after he was born, Morgan’s parents, like so many other African-Americans struggling under the pressures of the Jim Crow south, relocated to Chicago to find work. While his parents looked for jobs, Freeman remained with his maternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. At the age of 6, Freeman’s grandmother died and he moved north to be with his mother, who

had already separated from her alcoholic husband. They later moved to Tennessee and eventually back to Mississippi, where Mayme Edna settled her family in Greenwood.

“I’ve been living with myself all of my life, so I know all of me. So when I watch me, all I see is me. It’s boring” As a kid, Freeman spent a good portion of his time scraping together enough money to see movies, where he formed an early admiration for actors like Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier. It was by chance that Freeman himself got into acting. He was in junior high school and, as punishment for

MORGAN FREEMAN // THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION// 1994

pulling out a chair from underneath a girl he had a crush on, Freeman was ordered to participate in the school’s drama competition. To his surprise, and probably school administrators, the 12-year-old proved to be an immediate natural on the stage, taking top honors in the program. But while Freeman loved to act, flying — in particular the idea of being a fighter pilot— was in his heart of hearts. And so, upon graduating high school in 1955, Morgan turned down a partial drama scholarship and joined the U.S. Air Force. The military, though, proved to be much different than what he’d expected. Instead of darting around the skies, Freeman was relegated to on-the-ground activity as a mechanic and radar te-

chnician. He also realized that he didn’t want to be shooting down other people. “I had this very clear epiphany,” he told AARP Magazine. “You are not in love with this; you are in love with the idea of this.” In 1959, Freeman left the Air Force and tried his fortunes out West, moving to Hollywood to see if he could make it as an actor. It wasn’t an easy life. He took acting classes and struggled to find work. In the early 1960s, he moved again, this time to New York City, where more petty day jobs and nighttime auditions followed. In 1967, the same year he married Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, Freeman’s big career break came when he landed a part in an all African-American Broadway 63

MORGAN FREEMAN // 2013

production of Hello, Dolly! starring Pearl Bailey. Around that time, Freeman also performed in an off-Broadway production of The Nigger Lovers. Some national exposure followed in 1971, when he started appearing regularly on The Electric Company, a public television-produced children’s TV show that focused on teaching kids how to read. On a show that included such current and future stars as Rita Moreno, Joan Rivers, and Gene Wilder, Freeman had some of the show’s more memorable characters, like Easy Reader, Mel Mounds and Count Dracula. But television proved to be a grueling and demanding life for Freeman. Despite some stage work, including a Tony-nominated performance in The Mighty Gents in 64

the late 1970s, Freeman couldn’t seem to break into movies like he wanted. When The Electric Company was canceled in 1976, Freeman saw himself starring at a career that was far from groun-

“Give me something interesting to play and I’m happy.” ded. His personal life was hurting, too. Long before the show ended, Freeman found that his marriage had started to fall apart. A year after his divorce, Freeman’s career caught a break when he landed a part as a crazed inmate in the Robert Redford film, Brubaker (1980). However, the steady stream of film work he hoped would follow did not materialize, and Freeman was

film Street Smart, which placed the actor on the screen as the volatile pimp Fast Black. The role proved to be huge success for Freeman, earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Freeman was starring in such big budget films as 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, Seven (1995) and Deep Impact (1998). In 2005, Freeman won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby.

MORGAN FREEMAN // 2013

forced to retreat back to television for two hard years on the cast of the soap opera Another World. For much of the rest of the decade, Freeman took on roles that earned him some acclaim — but not the big, powerful jobs that would garner A-list attention. There was a part in the 1984 Paul Newman film Harry and Son, and he was narrator for the TV mini series, The Atlanta Child Murders among other roles. In 1987, Freeman’s fortunes changed when he was cast in the

the Ruler of the magic kingdom

WALT DISNEY IN THE 50S

Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse and produced the first full-length animated movie.

WALT DISNEY IN THE 30S

Walt Disney was born to a poverty even more dire emotionally than it was economically. His father Elias was one of those feckless figures who wandered the heartland at the turn of the century seeking success in many occupations but always finding sour failure. He spared his children affection, but never the rod. They all fled him at the earliest possible moment. “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me...

You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” Before leaving home at 16 to join the Red Cross Ambulance

“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.” Corps during World War I, Walt, the youngest son, had discovered he could escape dad’s — and life’s — meanness in art classes.

WALT DISNEY IN THE 50S

In the service he kept drawing, and when he was mustered out, he set up shop as a commercial artist in Kansas City. There he discovered animation, a new

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” field, wide open to an ambitious young man determined to escape his father’s sorry fate. Animation was as well a form that placed a premium on technical problem solving, which was absorbing but not emotion-

ally demanding. Best of all, an animated cartoon constituted a little world all its own--something that, unlike life, a man could utterly control. Reduced to living in his studio and eating cold beans out of a can, Disney endured the hard times any worthwhile success story demands. It was not until he moved to Los Angeles and partnered with his shrewd and kindly older brother Roy, who took care of business for him, that he began to prosper modestly. “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Even so, his first commer71

WALT DISNEY IN THE 40S

cially viable creation, Oswald the Rabbit, was stolen from him. That, naturally, reinforced his impulse to control. It also opened the way for the mouse that soared. Cocky, and in his earliest incarnations sometimes cruelly mischievous but always an inventive problem solver, Mickey would become a symbol of the unconquerably chipper American spirit in the depths of the Depression. “Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.” 72

Mickey owed a lot of his initial success, however, to Disney’s technological acuity. For Disney was the first to add a music and effects track to a cartoon, and

“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.” that, coupled with anarchically inventive animation, wowed audiences, especially in the early days of sound, when live-action films were hobbled to immobile microphones. Artistically, the 1930s were Disney’s best years. He embraced Technicolor as readily as he had sound, and, though he

risk at all, so breathlessly was his work embraced. Even the intellectual and artistic communities saw in it a kind of populist authenticity â&#x20AC;&#x201D; naive and sentimental, courageous and life affirming. Artistically he strove for realism; intellectually, for a bland celebration of tradition. There had been an Edenic moment in his childhood when the Disneys

WALT DISNEY IN THE 30S

was a poor animator, he proved to be a first-class gag man and story editor, a sometimes collegial, sometimes bullying, but always hands-on boss, driving his growing team of youthfully enthusiastic artists to ever greater sophistication of technique and expression. When Disney risked everything on his first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it turned out to be no

DISNEYLAND PLANS // 1953

settled on a farm outside little Marceline, and he used his work to celebrate the uncomplicated sweetness of the smalltown life and values he had only briefly tasted. His insistence on the upbeat also possibly served as an anodyne for the bitterness he felt when an ugly 1941 labor dispute ended his dream of managing his studio on a communitarian basis with himself as its benign patriarch. Commercially, this worked out beautifully for him. Most people prefer their entertainments to embrace the comfortably cute rather than the disturbingly acute — especially when they’re bringing the kids. Movie critics started ignoring 74

him, and social critics began hectoring him, because his work ground off the rough, emotionally instructive edges of the folkand fairy-tale tradition on which it largely drew, robbing it of “the pulse of life under the skin of events,” as one critic put it. Predictably, he became the first Hollywood mogul to embrace television. The show with him as host for over a decade became not just a profit center for his company but also a promotional engine for all its works. These included chuckleheaded live-action comedies, nature documentaries that relentlessly anthropomorphized their subjects, and, of course, Disneyland, which attracted his compulsive attention in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Disneyland was another bet-the-farm risk, and Disney threw himself obsessively into the park’s design, which anticipated many of the best features of modern urban planning, and into the imagineering by which

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

DISNEYLAND IN THE 50S

the simulacrums of exotic, even dangerous creatures, places, fantasies could be unthreateningly reproduced. These attractions were better than any movie in his eyes — three dimensional and without narrative problems. They

were, indeed, better than life, for they offered false but momentarily thrilling experiences in a sterile, totally controlled environment from which dirt, rudeness, mischance (and anything approaching authentic emotion) had been totally eliminated. All his other enterprises had to be delivered into the possibly uncomprehending world. When Disneyland opened in 1955, that changed: he now had his own small world, which people had to experience on his terms. “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

CONTRIBUTORS

sTORIEs Alice Fada, Laura Faraci

written by Alice Fada, Laura Faraci, Chiara Colombo, Anne S. Philipp, Umberto Dolcini

lAYOUT Alice Fada, Laura Faraci, Anne S. Philipp, Umberto Dolcini

printed at Politecnico di Milano, Laboratorio di metaprogetto 2014