Robert Devaney • April 16, 2012

“American Stories,” the newest signature exhibition at the National Museum of American History opened today and shows and tells the stories of Americans from the 1600s to the 2000s, beginning with wampum and a piece of Plymouth Rock to Apolo Ohmo’s ice skates and the 2008 presidential election.

At the show’s entrance visitors are greeted by Dorothy’s red ruby shoes from the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” The show flows in a circle with interactive screens in the center near a video camera used by a French film crew at Sept. 11, 2001, in downtown Manhattan.

The historical objects tell “the tales from e pluribus unum,” said the museum’s interim director Marc Pachter at the preview opening. “There are millions of untold stories out there.”

There are items that belonged to Benjamin Franklin as well as a jacket worn by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and Archie Bunker’s chair from the TV show, “All in the Family.” The profoundly historic mixes with the everyday and mythic. “The power of the ruby slippers is real,” Pachter said.

The 5,300-square-feet exhibition displays a fraction of the Smithsonian’s holding to “examine the manner in which culture, politics, economics, science, technology, and the peopling of the United States have shaped the country over the decades,” according to a museum statement. “Dedicated spaces throughout will regularly feature new acquisitions to give a more inclusive representation of the experiences of all Americans.”

Highlights include the following objects:

= a fragment of Plymouth Rock

= a section of the first transatlantic telegraph cable

= a sunstone capital from the Latter-day Saints temple at Nauvoo, Illinois

= the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz”

= baseballs used by Babe Ruth and Sam Streeter

= a Kermit the Frog puppet

= clothing artifacts, including a “quinceañera” gown worn for a 15th-birthday celebration

= Apolo Ohno’s speed skates from the 2002 Winter Olympics [gallery ids="100731,121334,121285,121326,121295,121319,121304,121313" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • April 13, 2012

The Library of Congress hosted “the Department of the Navy’s Commemoration Honoring the Bicentennial of the War of 1812” March 13 at its Thomas Jefferson Building. With Jay DeLoach, director of Naval History and Heritage Command, as master of ceremonies, Librarian of Congress James Billington welcomed the crowd and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. Billington noted the library’s link to the war and the Burning of Washington in 1814 with its first replacement volumes from Thomas Jefferson. Mabus said that the War of 1812 is “overlooked and least remembered” of America’s war but has “an outsized impact” on its history. As the 75th Secretary of the Navy, Mabus recalled that the first Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Stoddert — who built and lived in Halcyon House on Prospect Street in Georgetown — had no ships to begin with. The war “confirmed our independence,” Mabus said, and was “fought over the idea of the freedom of the seas . . . not just for ourselves but for all.” Navy events for the War of 1812 begin in New Orleans in April and continue on the East Coast through the year. For details, visit www.OurFlagWasStillThere.org. [gallery ids="100638,100639" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • April 5, 2012

Saturday’s misty morning seemed nature’s soft rebuff to Friday’s 80-degree day at the Tidal Basin under the cherry blossoms. A sunny walk near the monuments around the cherry trees with petals at their peak was to be followed by the next day’s climb along the stones into the monumental tower of Washington National Cathedral.

A one-day event was announced by the cathedral for a “tower climb” on March 24 to show that the central tower — its ecclesiastical name is Gloria in Excelsis Tower — was “deemed to be structurally sound and safe for visitors. The tower climbs have been a semi-regular tradition for many years.” It was the first time since the Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake that visitors were allowed into the central tower, the highest geographical point in Washington, D.C. Four teams of about 80 persons took separate morning climbs.

With volunteer guides to direct and comfort, we began our 45-minute tour in the cathedral’s crypt at the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea and ascended approximately 333 steps to the tower’s bell ringing floor. The stairs, whether of stone or metal, spiraled and challenged some a bit. And whether physical or mental — “I have issues,” said one woman — all made it.

There were stops to look out narrow windows, doors or balconies to see the sides of the one of the largest churches in the world with some of its pinnacles missing and masonry cracked because of the earthquake. Our heavenly view was constricted by the fog to the cathedral’s close and parts of Wisconsin Avenue and Woodley Road, but we were touring through the holy hollow of master work that went on for 83 years. Only in 1990 was the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, a national sacred place of many celebrations and memorials, considered officially completed, its final stone set. Now, with the earthquake damage, the cathedral estimates that it will take 10 years and $20 million dollars to fix the cracks and replace lost finials, pinnacles and other stonework. Only $2 million has been raised for the restoration.

In the bell room, ringers of the Washington Ringing Society showed us the ropes to the massive peal bells above us, heard often up and down Wisconsin Avenue. Spiral stairs above that room are now closed but were used to get to the observation deck years ago. Nevertheless, out on the balcony the view could go down to the Potomac — though not on this drizzly day. Descending to the cathedral’s carillon room, carillonneur Edward Nassor put on another show. Happily, he did not ring the largest bells, closest to the floor and bigger than his visitors.

Moving through the transept, we looked down on the netting that protects worshippers from falling mortar or dust and the rose window unobscured and prepared to climb to the ground floor. Soon enough, we were back on earth, our glimpse of heaven within and without veiled in the fading mist. [gallery ids="100640,100653,100652,100651,100650,100649,100648,100647,100646,100645,100644,100643,100642,100641,100654" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

The murderer of Vladimir Djordjevic, a manager of the strip club Good Guys on Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park, was sentenced to 35 years in prison last week by the U.S. District Court, according to the Associated Press.

Vasile Graure attacked Djordjevic in November 2007 after being thrown out of Good Guys for photographing one of the dancers. Graure then shortly returned to the entrance of the club and poured gasoline on Djordjevic and ignited it, causing burns over 90 percent of the manager’s body. Graure was found guilty of assault and arson four years ago and given a 30-year sentence in prison.

According to WTOP, Djordjevic had undergone dozens of painful surgeries since the attack and testified from his hospital bed by videotape during Graure’s first trial. Djordjevic died from his injuries in May 2010; Graure was convicted of murder in January.

Robert Devaney •

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, came to Georgetown University March 28, the day after he cut his campaign staff by a third and spoke to a crowd of well-mannered students at Gaston Hall.

In a seemingly new phase of his campaign, Gingrich was forceful, relaxed, passionate and academic — and still under Secret Service protection. He behaved as a happy warrior of ideas transformed into a 21st-century thought leader, as they say in seminars, ready to speak with anyone. Before the speech, he spoke to student journalists about his “steamlined,” not suspended, campaign, according to the Georgetown Voice.

After citing the dysfunctional political life in this “imperial capital,” Gingrich said, “I have not done a very good job as a candidate.”

Nevertheless, Gingrich lit into his list of America’s best ideas and achievements. He took students and others in the university’s historic hall through parts of his stump speech that became a lesson on history, civics and sensibility. He paid homage and mind to America’s versions of value, innovation and exceptionalism.

Drawing first on the very American stories of Captain John Smith at Jamestown and the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, Gingrich exhorted all to solve the problems of our times, as Americans have in the past. We are “smart by doing something, not by tenure.”

He invoked the name of Abraham Lincoln. Read the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address slowly, he softly advised.

Gingrich also ran through an array of improvements to make America better, smarter that made sense to him on the following: a restrained judiciary, Social Security, neurological research, government efficiency, respect for a higher power and more.

“Ideas matter,” he said, “for people . . . and for reporters.” The former House Speaker said he fights the threats of those overly secular and cynical and discerns the “denseness of Washington that resists innovation.”

During the question-and-answer period, a student, who had been a janitor, said he had felt insulted by Gingrich’s remarks about janitors from months ago. The candidate replied that his daughters had been janitors at his church. Another asked Gingrich, “Why aren’t politicians like you?” [gallery ids="100710,120092,120087" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • March 27, 2012

S&R Foundation attorney Alice Haase has confirmed that Halcyon House, one of Washington’s most historic homes at 3400-3410 Prospect Street, N.W., has gone to settlement. Under contract since November 2011 to the S&R Foundation, a National Cherry Blossom Festival participant, the property was sold by the Dreyfuss estate for $11 million. 

Purchased by Edmund Dreyfuss and Blake Construction in 1966 from Georgetown University, Halcyon House has been held by the Dreyfuss family and its business concerns for almost 46 years, the longest tenure of any of the property’s deed holders, including its builder and original 1787 occupant, Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy and friend of George Washington.

Sculptor John Dreyfuss, who led the renovation and reconstruction work during the 1980s and 1990s at the house and its gardens, as well as building a lower studio and hall, received an award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for his efforts. At one time, Dreyfuss also headed up the Francis Scott Key Foundation, a non-profit which completed Francis Scott Key Park and the Star-Spangled Banner Monument on M Street, now part of the National Park System, next to Key Bridge.

S&R Foundation, which last year purchased another historic Georgetown home, Evermay, is a non-profit founded in Washington, D.C., by Dr. Sachiko Kuno and Dr. Ryuji Ueno in 2000 “to encourage and stimulate scientific research and artistic endeavors among young individuals.” The foundation plans to operate its day-to-day business from Evermay on 28th Street in Georgetown. The married couple, Ueno and Kuno, founded Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company based in Bethesda. Sucampo is one of the sponsors of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

In addition, with its Japanese-American mission, S&R Foundation is hosting its first “Annual Overtures Artist Concert Series,” which will feature seven award-winning, world-class performing artists at the Kennedy Center as part of the festival’s centennial celebration, honoring 100 years of the gift of trees from Tokyo to Washington — Wednesday, April 4 – Sunday, April 8, Tuesday, April 10, Thursday, April 12; all performances will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Robert Devaney • March 22, 2012

Harlem Globetrotter star Herbert “Flight Time” Lang traveled on Key Bridge into Georgetown March 19 to start the tip-off for Globetrotter Week. During his dribbling, walking and basketball spinning from Lee Highway in Arlington to the basketball courts at Volta Park, Flight Time paused at Francis Scott Key Park on M Street and saluted the Georgetown author of the national anthem and the Star-Spangled Banner which waves above the park.

Flight Time’s one-mile walk was part of the Globetrotters’ school visits and goodwill appearances which lead up to the team’s three games demonstrating the Globetrotter’s unique skills and techniques on March 24 and 25 at the Verizon Center and the Patriot Center. (They will take the court at the Verizon Center, March 24 at 1 p.m., and then the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., March 24, 7:30 p.m., and March 25, 2 p.m.).

One of the Globetrotters’ most dynamic ball handlers, Flight Time appeared with teammate Nathaniel “Big Easy” Lofton on “The Amazing Race” in two separate seasons. In their second effort for the finish line in the TV show, they came in second. Having appeared on other TV game or “reality” shows, Flight Time’s record was perfect on “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” during which he answered each question posed to him correctly.

For more information, visit www.HarlemGlobetrotters.com. [gallery ids="100585,100586" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • March 15, 2012

“Civic Pride: Dutch Group Portraits from Amsterdam” is now on view at the National Gallery of Art. The special installation involves two large-scale group portraits, rarely seen outside the Netherlands.

Two of Amsterdam’s most important portraitists from the mid-17th century, Govert Flinck (1615–1660) and Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613–1670), captured the confidence of the men who governed the Kloveniersdoelen, the building where one of Amsterdam’s three militia companies held its meetings. The painting were created during the years the Dutch controlled New Amsterdam, which was to become New York City.

“These group portraits offer a remarkable visual record of the inner workings of the Dutch Republic at the height of its presence on the global stage in the 17th century,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “It was through the efforts of the citizens depicted, and the civic organizations they represented, that the young republic achieved its economic, political and artistic golden age. We are not only grateful to the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Museum for lending these masterpieces to the Gallery for a period of five years, but also to the city of Amsterdam, which owns the works, for agreeing to this generous loan.”

Also, at the March 9 reception for the exhibit was Renee Jones-Bos, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States. Arthur Wheelock, Jr., is the curator for Northern Baroque paintings at the National Gallery of Art. One of the paintings depicts an ancestor of the exhibit’s research assistant Henriette de Bruyn Kops.

The two works, both titled “Governors of the Kloveniersdoelen,” were painted 13 years apart. Flinck (in 1642) and Van der Helst (in 1655) created comparable yet distinct interpretations of the shared sense of duty and personal interactions of two different generations of governors. The attire and demeanor of the governors varies from painting to painting, reflecting the different decades in which the men were portrayed. The two canvases are on long-term loan from the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Museum, respectively. A new type of portraiture appeared in the northern Netherlands in the 17th century: large group portraits depicting the leadership of professional and civic organizations. Guild administrators, government officials, board members of charitable institutions and officers of militia companies commissioned distinguished artists to create these large-scale group portraits, destined for the walls of the organizations’ headquarters. The portraits often depict the sitters in the midst of a meeting or a meal, emphasizing the members’ shared responsibilities, personal interactions and civic-mindedness.

Flinck and Van der Helst were two of the most renowned portraitists of their time. Flinck had trained under Rembrandt, and like his famous teacher, specialized in both history paintings and fashionable portraiture. Van der Helst was famous for the elegant realism of his portraits and was a favorite artist of the Amsterdam militia companies. His version of “Governors of the Kloveniersdoelen” (1655) has just undergone a complete restoration for the occasion of the exhibition. The results are dramatic, as the painting now has a brilliance of color that was obscured by old varnish for many years. Although hundreds of group portraits were painted during the 17th century, they are rarely seen outside the Netherlands; many still remain with the organizations that originally commissioned them.

The exhibit runs through March 11, 2017.
[gallery ids="100533,119968" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • March 10, 2012

Set the scene at a local bank, plan a heist and throw a party a la movie, “The Thomas Crown Affair,” whose investigators say things like “I love this neighborhood,” “Some of these broads are wearing my salary” and “This is an elegant crime, done by an elegant person. It’s not about the money.” Sounds like a perfect fit for our town.

It was like that March 3 at the TD Bank on Wisconsin Avenue, where teller counters became the bar, during a benefit for the Citizens Association of Georgetown’s free music series, Summer Concerts in the Park, now in its 10th year

Suspects included Jennifer Altemus, Nancy Taylor Bubes, Jack and Michele Evans, Carol Joynt, John and Kristen Lever and Topher Mathews. What were they hiding? Joynt was carrying a kid’s pink backpack, Bubes lugged around a guitar case, Lever was rolling some luggage, and holding a vintage case was Altemus, who was caught trying to abscond with a Katherine Sable print. Whodunit? She did. The CAG president, no less. Mystery solved. What a town. [gallery ids="102437,121424,121401,121409,121417,121429,121435,121442" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • March 1, 2012

While you may have missed former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strolling around 36th and Prospect Streets near his alma mater Georgetown University, after dining at 1789 Restaurant Feb. 17, you can tune into public television tonight for the start of a two-part documentary on Clinton, just in time for Presidents’ Day.

Public Broadcasting Service’s “American Experience” takes on the Clinton years in a four-hour, two-part treatment, which airs 9 p.m., tonight and tomorrow (locally, WETA and WHUT).

Clinton began his presidential run in autumn 1991, giving his “New Covenant” speeches at Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall. At the time, Georgetowner editor and publisher David Roffman gave an assignment to one of his editors to cover the address by the Arkansas governor who was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Roffman had thought it a minor local event as he believed Clinton did not have a chance to beat Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.).