Our next bearded genius is not only considered one of the best (if not the very best) 20th Century American writers, but had a beard so famous that there's an annual lookalike contest for him:
The lucky winner not only gets kissed, but I have a good feeling he
gets groped, too. I mean really, it is Key West after all.
Hemingway looked pretty good shirtless, too:
Here's another shot of Mr. Hemingway:
I don't mean to disparage, because it is a very fine beard indeed, but I do wonder if it reached such celebrity status because Hemingway wore it in what has to be considered one of the most clean-shaven periods in history since, perhaps, Roman times. (Did you know that Hemingway was yet another major personality of the last century to embark on a very serious, life-long search for Atlantis, which he, inter alios, was convinced had once existed? He had a property in Cuba and the copious notes of his maritime explorations were smuggled out in an American fishing boat to Florida under cover of darkness, to end up, of all things, in The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. I wonder if they wore beards there, too...)
ReplyDeleteLike you, I've always considered Hemingway's beard an outward mark of a nonconformist. I knew about the Cuba connection, but not his Atlantis search. Interesting!
DeleteHe loved cats, and the colony of his 6 toed cats at his Key West home still thrives I've been there, and a friend was given a kitten from that colony.
ReplyDeleteOops, that was me-Dee Exx
DeleteI also have pictures of him with what appear to be hunting dogs.
DeleteRemember Carlin’s line: Gabby Hayes had whiskers, Lenin had a beard. Beards still seem to generate controversy, even in our enlightened times. Allen Sherman noted when criticized for his beard that god gave men beards and he just got tired of fighting him.
ReplyDeleteGreat comment!
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