About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Saturday, September 1, 2018

T is for The Thin Grey Line

Having looked at our own ceremonials this morning, let's look at someone else's this afternoon, with some undated, unaccredited stuff from the archive, I believe it will date around 1950-54, from the other stuff that came with it, although the article would appear to say 1952 precisely! And it may be a syndicated piece from a Floridian paper of the time.

Coming from a lifetime in Florida's Keyes has resulted in humidity/damp damage to the pages- as a pink staining

1802; American Infantry Uniforms; American Revolution; American Toy Figures; American War of Independence; Cadet Uniforms; Composition Statuary; Composition Toy Soldiers; Daniel Jacino; Frank Livia; Heraldic Branch; Jack Ocenasek; Jackson Buchanan; Joseph Gardener Swift; Military Academy; Military Academy West Point; Military Cadets; Military Uniforms; Plaster Figurines; Plaster Statuettes; Quatermaster General's Department; Robert Cranston; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T H Jones; Uniform Info; Uniforms Through The Ages; US Army Uniforms; US Military Academy; USMA West Point; West Point Museum; 1 USMA United States Military Academy West Point Uniforms Through The Ages-074
Text reads . . .

The Colorful Kaydets

Realistic figurines, here pictured for the first
time, form pageant of West Point uniforms


IN HONOR of West Point’s sesqui-
centennial,  which  is  being  cele-
brated  this  year,  a  series  of  21
small   military   figures  has  just
been completed, to show changes in
the  U.  S.  Military Academy’s uni-
forms since the first was adopted 150
years ago.  Standing  approximately
10[*] inches in height, the little cadets
took more than a year to make. They
were originally sculptured by T. H.
Jones of the Heraldic Branch of the
Quartermaster General’s office in

Washington, D. C. Later, they were
cast in plaster, and then meticulously
hand-painted by two of the Branch’s
artists, Jack Ocenasek and Jackson
Buchanan.  Often,  because  of the
plaster’s porosity, the painters had to
apply several coats to make details
stand out realistically. Following its
unveiling at the West Point Museum,
the collection is slated to be sent on
a tour of other museums. Ultimately
it  will  be  returned  to  the  Point,
where it will be a permanent exhibit.


NEWS COLORFOTOS BY ROBERT CRANSTON. DANIEL JACINO AND FRANK LIVIA

. . . * Ten inches is approximately 260mm

1802; American Infantry Uniforms; American Revolution; American Toy Figures; American War of Independence; Cadet Uniforms; Composition Statuary; Composition Toy Soldiers; Daniel Jacino; Frank Livia; Heraldic Branch; Jack Ocenasek; Jackson Buchanan; Joseph Gardener Swift; Military Academy; Military Academy West Point; Military Cadets; Military Uniforms; Plaster Figurines; Plaster Statuettes; Quatermaster General's Department; Robert Cranston; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T H Jones; Uniform Info; Uniforms Through The Ages; US Army Uniforms; US Military Academy; USMA West Point; West Point Museum; 2 USMA United States Military Academy West Point Uniforms Through The Ages-075
Text reads . . .

Here's [the] uniform [that] U.S.M.A.s
first grad [uate], Joseph Gardner
Swift of Massachusetts, wore
in 1802. It was patterned
after those of engineer offi-
cers in [the] Revolutionary War.

PAGE 4

1802; American Infantry Uniforms; American Revolution; American Toy Figures; American War of Independence; Cadet Uniforms; Composition Statuary; Composition Toy Soldiers; Daniel Jacino; Frank Livia; Heraldic Branch; Jack Ocenasek; Jackson Buchanan; Joseph Gardener Swift; Military Academy; Military Academy West Point; Military Cadets; Military Uniforms; Plaster Figurines; Plaster Statuettes; Quatermaster General's Department; Robert Cranston; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T H Jones; Uniform Info; Uniforms Through The Ages; US Army Uniforms; US Military Academy; USMA West Point; West Point Museum; 3 USMA United States Military Academy West Point Uniforms Through The Ages-076
Text reads . . .

Between West Point's original 1802 dress uniform (below, left [now above]) and the
current 1952 one (below right [now just 'below']), these uniforms were worn, at one time

or another, by Academy cadets. Their dates are respectively (l to r.)
1814, 1825, 1840, 1840, 1857, 1875, 1886, 1890, 1899, 1220 and 1930

. . . the 1899 looks surprisingly 'Confederate'!

1802; American Infantry Uniforms; American Revolution; American Toy Figures; American War of Independence; Cadet Uniforms; Composition Statuary; Composition Toy Soldiers; Daniel Jacino; Frank Livia; Heraldic Branch; Jack Ocenasek; Jackson Buchanan; Joseph Gardener Swift; Military Academy; Military Academy West Point; Military Cadets; Military Uniforms; Plaster Figurines; Plaster Statuettes; Quatermaster General's Department; Robert Cranston; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T H Jones; Uniform Info; Uniforms Through The Ages; US Army Uniforms; US Military Academy; USMA West Point; West Point Museum; 4 USMA United States Military Academy West Point Uniforms Through The Ages-077
Text reads . . .

Today, cadets have special uniforms for various occasions. Left to right:
Summer full-dress "50/50"; Summer chapel attire ([model/model's painting?] to be revised because
of inaccuracies); hop manager; all-white; lst sgt. in dress gray; sgt. in
"50/50"; officer of the day in "f. d. gray"; yearling in overcoat with cape.

I presume (like 'assuming' but using the circumstantial evidence in the text!) that they are still to be seen in a cabinet at West Point's museum/visitor centre somewhere; has anybody seen them? I also bet the current wardrobe at West Point differs greatly from that of 1952!

While I am on the subject; I can't recommend The Long Grey Line by Rick Atkinson highly enough, along with Chickenhawk (Robet Mason) and the one by a tracked-carrier officer I can't remember; it is one of the seminal memoirs of that era, helping to explain not only the Vietnam conflict (as the other pair do) but also the mess of the mid-to-late 1970's that may well have contributed to the truck-bomb catastrophe in Lebanon a few years (1983) later.

7 comments:

Terranova47 said...

I haven't been to the West Point Museum for some years now. I have no memory of either toy soldiers on exhibit or for sale as souvenirs other than some rack toy bags of plastic ACW figures.

Hugh Walter said...

Ahh-pity! If I hoped anyone had seen them it was you Terra, as I know you like a good museum! They may be in the storage archive, a lot of museums have more hidden than on display?

H

Terranova47 said...

It is true that much is archived in museums and the exhibits at West Point were different for both the times I have visited. The first time I was there they had a remarkable amount of hand made trench weapons from WW1 that rivaled London's Imperial War Museum. There were however none of the dioramas the IWM displayed to explain D-Day etc.

Unknown said...

Jack Ocenasek was my great Uncle. Our family has many of his paintings he did while traveling with the generals. Plus a self portrait that he painted in front of a mirror. He was from Cleveland (born 1893, deceased in New York City 1957). I would love to view them someday.

Hugh Walter said...

Hi 'Unknown', I've deleted two of your duplicate comments (it's sometime hard to work out if the thing's posted!), anyway, thanks for that background on one of the artists and I'm glad it was here for you to find! Does anyone in your family know if these still exist anywhere?

H

Jloy65 said...

Hopefully, this doesn’t get posted twice... All I know is that many of our extended family members received a few of his paintings after his sister’s passing. They were all retrieved from his NYC apartment. Mostly watercolor paintings of the European villages he visited during his career in the military. He was an artist for the generals and would paint their portraits. Don’t know if any of our family has any of those. I will do some digging. His paintings are beautiful. My name is Jeff Loya (619) 838-8343. Feel free to call.

Hugh Walter said...

Cheers Jeff,

I'm currently finding stuff from my Great Aunt Nina (Helena Hall) who was a designer in the Eric Gill group/sphere of late Arts & Craft/Art Deco cross-over artists, among my late Mother's belongings, which (in line with this post) includes a lovely sketch-book of late colonial era/Edwardian dress uniforms!

Thanks for the backgrownd too, I probably won't ring, I hate to think what the cost would be from UK on my Mobile, and until all the current mess is sorted out I'm watching the pennies, but do let us know if you discover anything more, especially if any of his military portraits are to be seen in public?

Thanks again
H