The Remise
Item
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Title
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The Remise
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Date
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December 1939
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volume
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4
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issue
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7
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pages
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3, 12-13
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content
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en
THE REMISE
Our frantic dispatches to the address given us for our anonymous columnist have remained unanswered. Perhaps our insistent requests that he reveal himself have gone against the grain. Anyhow, we shall endeavor to act as commentator until either the other contributions are resumed or we begin to receive small hatchets or daggers through the mails.
There are so many competitions this season and, believe it or not, this magazine takes so much of our time, that it is quite impossible to edit a magazine, go to our regular business daily, continue active fencing and attend every competition as well. We are naturally in a position to comment only upon those competitions we have attended.
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The John Allaire Memorial Competition was not particularly spectacular this year. The greatest single achievement of the evening was Norman Armitage’s amazing low score of only 10 hits made against him in 7 bouts in sabre. This competition has only been held for three years, but this performance has already established a record which will be hard to beat. Since this competition is decided upon the unusual basis of touches against, Armitage’s contribution to his team’s victory would normally be of utmost significance. As it happened his teammates were similarly efficient, with Lt. Gustave Heiss and Tracy Jaeckel jointly turning in the low epee score for the evening and Hugh Alessandroni turning in the second lowest foil score. A well-balanced, experienced and efficient group of winners, this Fencers Club team outshone its like victories of the other two years.
Special mention must be made of Pieter Mijer, 59-year-old veteran of the Salle Santelli, who finished the evening with only 18 epee points being made against him. This was particularly impressive in view of the fact that he lost his first bout and therefore entered his second bout with 6 touches already against him. His total score was bettered only by the joint work of Heiss and Jaeckel of the Fencers Club who together received only 17 points against them. He added further to his record a few days later when he won the Senior Individual Epee Competition.
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The Cartier Trophy Competition narrowed down once again to a contest between the Salle Santelli, the defenders, and the N.Y.A.C., the contenders of the past two seasons. Rightfully, no tears can be shed over the 5–0 shut-out which the N.Y.A.C. administered to their opponents in the final match. They had been on the receiving end of 5–1 and 5–1 scores in the past two years in the same contest and after “taking it” for two years they eventually had their opportunity to “dish it out.”
Mr. Joseph Vince was pleased as well as concerned to learn that there were 39 entries for his special Women’s Foil Prize Competition. This entry list exceeded the competitive capacity of his Salle d’Armes. He was faced with the problem of either providing additional facilities for the competition or turning the competition over to the Metropolitan Committee for placement elsewhere. After considering the first course and realizing the unfairness to the competitors in providing additional makeshift space for the competition, he sacrificed the holding of his own competition. The Metropolitan Committee took action immediately, contacted other clubs and salle d’armes, and eventually voted to place the competition at the Salle Santelli, which cooperated fully with the Committee with its short-notice problem.
This competition was the largest girls’ competition of the season thus far. It produced good, clean fencing but somehow lacked the zest of similar competitions in the past. The bouts unfortunately followed a cut-and-dried pattern and were noticeably lacking in the exciting tilts which these same girls have produced in the past. Perhaps Sunday afternoon is a bad time to expect young ladies to tear into one another as if their boyfriends had been insulted. There were some unexpected upsets, particularly that of Maria Cerra and Mildred Stewart, and the finals were marked with close and well-fought bouts.
Miss Dorothy Grimmelman of the Salle Santelli came off the winner. As a quiet, modest competitor, she proved to be a popular winner, and she seems now to have acquired the competitive experience to profit from her disappointing tries of the past. Her fencing in the finals was the coolest, the most reasoned fencing of the strip, and she deserved her victory.
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It was at this same competition that all the competitors were assembled together at one time for a brief explanation of the change of location which had been made. We had not seen so many girls together since we were janitor of the Martha Washington Hotel, but indeed they did look nice in their white uniforms. From time to time we have heard little rumblings of discontent about the strict A.F.L.A. rulings on girls' uniforms this year. Perhaps we have forgotten too easily the miscellaneous and unattractive varieties displayed in the past. To remind you of conditions that existed in even the very recent past, we searched through one of the larger fencing scrapbooks in the city and found the picture we show below. Mind you, this was taken in 1933 at the National Outdoor Championships at the Chicago Century of Progress. There were six types of costumes worn by these 12 girls, varying all the way from short shorts to short white skirts over long black bloomers and black silk stockings. In fact, today's approved costume was not evident at that competition. Despite rumblings to the contrary, I feel that the girls owe a debt of gratitude to the A.F.L.A. for their action in this matter.
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The Greco Prize Competition attracted 35 entries. Warren Dow was the only Senior entered and won the competition for the fifth straight year. He completed the competition without the loss of a bout. In fact, he has lost only three bouts in this competition over a period of 5 years, an unusual record.
Mr. Anthony Greco, patron of the competition, was naturally disappointed that there had not been a stronger entry list. For some reason or other the strength of Open Prize competitions of this type seem to be in inverse relation to the size of the entry list. Seniors seem to prefer to enter only such competitions as promise to finish at a respectable hour. This is because most, if not all, of them are working and cannot afford to exhaust themselves in a long competition and stagger to the office half awake the next day. As matters developed, the competition this year was divided into two parts and would not have proved lengthy the first evening. Mr. Greco plans to place some limits on the competition next year to attract more of the stronger fencers.
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It is reported that the Rules Committee of the Intercollegiate Fencing Association has placed a complete taboo on the use of the fleche in its competitions this year. We were opposed to this when it was proposed a year ago, but have now come to the conclusion that the elimination of the fleche will not necessarily restrict the potentialities of the fencers. To hit an opponent out of distance there is the lunge, the advance and lunge, the balestre, and the fleche. Of these the fleche can be the most dangerous and since it is not studied but is more the inspiration of the moment its elimination in college competition is probably wise. Many successful fencers never use the fleche which proves that it is not essential to success. One further argument in favor of the ruling is that the fleche seems to be habit-forming. Once a competitor begins having success with the fleche he seems to forget how to lunge and uses the fleche at every opportunity. This does not make for the best fencing. We therefore retract our last year’s arguments against the I.C.F.A.’s abolition of the fleche.
The A.F.L.A. will continue to permit the fleche so long as it is recognized by the F.I.E. However, both the F.I.E. and the A.F.L.A. have introduced penalties for its careless or improper use.
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With the resignation of Joseph Levis as A.F.L.A. Vice President to assume his professional duties at M.I.T., there have been two nominations for the office: Mr. Ferard Leicester of San Francisco and Mr. Richard F. Warren of Philadelphia. Both men are very similar in nature, qualifications and loyalty to the sport and the A.F.L.A. over many years. Regardless of which man loses the friendly ballot now in progress, the A.F.L.A. stands to acquire a fine Vice President.
