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Title
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en
Aldo Nadi Says
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Date
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March 1938
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volume
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3
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issue
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3
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pages
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2, 12, 19, 20
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content
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en
ALDO NADI SAYS
Our old friend Mr. Paul Anspach, the eminent President of the International Fencing Federation who among his innumerable victories counts the Olympic épée championship in Stockholm in 1912, commenting on this writer's article published in THE RIPOSTE, writes: "The A.F.L.A. proposed the white warning line on the strip over two years ago. The International Fed. tested that new American rule. After being tested, the American proposition was rejected, but the International Federation authorized the U. S. to use it in NON OFFICIAL competition". Mr. ANSPACH also writes: "I agree entirely with you concerning what you write about the flèche: it is no longer fencing, and it is a MORTAL DANGER".
Now we ask: "Are the competitions that we witness OFFICIAL OR NOT? If yes, as we presume, the warning to the fencer at the end of the strip MUST be given, as we suggested, by the President, and NOT BY THE WHITE LINE.
***
We wonder if any of our generous readers will be interested to know that this writer has never read a single word of any book on Fencing. Since childhood my brother and I were forbidden by our father and Master to pay any attention to any of those treatises. And maybe it is not so useless to recall that our Master's pupils have won—to mention only a few of the most important successes—13 first prizes and several second prizes in Olympic championships as well as World's championships (amateurs and professionals); many first prizes in championships of Europe; a couple of dozen first prizes in amateur and professional championships of Italy, and 15 American Championships. This without counting the individual matches that this writer had the honor and luck to win in France. Beppe Nadi can't have been so wrong after all.
***
Huffman said to me a few days before the Metropolitan Foil Championship—in his particular way: "I'll try to win, but this does not interest me as much as the 'three-weapon' or the nationals." We were sure, from that very moment, that Huffman would not win that competition. After being beaten in his first bout of the final by one touch by Bukantz, Huffman succeeded in redressing the situation by winning all his other bouts. José de Capriles, beaten 5-3 by Huffman, had to meet again the National Champion in a fence-off. And there was the uninspired Huffman against the most determined José. The latter won 5-2 and his fighting spirit must be highly praised. Lubell was third, before Bukantz, and in our opinion the former deserved that "place d'honneur". Lewis was the other finalist with Alessandroni who, evidently, was short of training. Giolito was eliminated, and considering the names of the finalists, that was hardly a surprise to us.
***
A big surprise in the Epée Metropolitan Championship: Jaeckel, eliminated from the final. The Fencers' Club's best swordsman was the shadow of himself. Also Wiedel, by one touch, could not enjoy the final. We say "enjoy" because we hardly ever witnessed a more amusing competition: Arm- itage was a scream, talking to everybody while fighting. Let's add that the excellent sabreman allowed himself to behave in such an amusing way because the electric system was in action: it did not work smoothly (so many interruptions) but WHEN it worked, it worked well.
Muray was the only man who defeated José de Capriles and his older experience in every weapon gave him the second place. Skrobisch and Driscoll, showing improvement, caught our attention. But José de Capriles won the Championship easily, we dare say. We took his victory for granted, and he would have had many chances to win even if his task had been made more difficult by a richer field.
Well, José, what next?
***
Short and humble answer to the question-marked title of a rather long article published in the last RIPOSTE.
When we wrote, in this column, that technically certain fencers were 60% wrong, we meant that their technique was 60% bad and 40% good. We are sorry indeed to have to admit that our extremely limited knowledge of Fencing and our exceedingly bad English prevents us from giving a clearer explanation.
However, on giving second thought to the particular cases that inspired our extravagantly absurd mathematical expression, it appears to us that we were a trifle generous.
***
We are happy to extend our hearty congratulations to Miss Dorothy Grimmelmann, for the way in which she won the Junior Championship. She proved to be by far the most efficient in the field, equally superior in technique, poise, and intelligence (we mean 'fencing intelligence'). She hardly did a wrong movement, nor did she, at any moment, give the impression that she MIGHT lose. Her fencing was accurate, substantial, with no useless wide movements. When she attacked, she scored; and her alert calm throughout the final should offer an example to many fencers of the other sex. In addition to all this, Miss Grimmelmann, with and without the mask, was, in our opinion, the most attractive finalist. She also happened to be the best dressed fencer in the whole tournament. I am sorry I have nothing more to say... oh! yes: if there had been a prize for "belles armes" it should have been handed to her!
Miss Barbara Cochrane was the runner-up, and we are considering giving up any hope for Miss Maria Cerra, third.
***
In the last competitions we have seen with pleasure at least two PRESIDENTS of the Jury LOOK AT THE CHESTS of the opponents when a right-handed fencer is against a left-handed. Perhaps, the most conservatively wrong will follow their example!
***
Marson eliminated before the semi-finals, and Huffman from the final of the Metropolitan Sabre Championship!! We simply do not understand the National Champion: but in his defense we must admit that Huffman was highly disturbed by some capital mistakes in the judging.
José de Capriles was also eliminated from the final, by 3 touches: from his strip Nagy entered it, but we can't help feeling that the latter's victory over Doctor Acel was somewhat extraordinary—5 love. This writer has fenced in the past with Doctor Acel: his fencing has little to recommend it, but that does not prevent the fact that he is very difficult; and we feel that there is hardly a fencer in the world who can win 5 love from him.
Mike de Capriles won the brilliant competition: he was unquestionably the best man of the day. He highly deserved the title and to him go our warmest personal congratulations. Mike met no defeat in the final, while the always terrible solid Armitage was beaten twice, securing second place. We can't help recalling his parry of second against WORTH, followed by a marvelous riposte "de pointe". We see so very few—not enough indeed—"coups de pointe" even amongst the best sabre-men, that we feel happy when we see one so perfectly executed. The trouble is that to score with the point in a sabre riposte means perfect control of the weapon...
Viscidi, third, was excellent, and has every right to be happy with such a result. Lubart and Nagy proved to be dangerous for everyone.
At the Fencers Club, where the competition took place, there was, during the early preliminaries, much excitement in the air: the reason being the presence of Mr. George Worth in the championship. We had been told that he was marvelous, and may-be terrific: also, terribly fast. We expected to see the scourge of God, which in this case, should have proved to be the scourge of all American sabremen.
Nothing of the kind. Mr. Worth is quite a good fencer, but has still plenty to learn. To those who think that he is so fast, we may say—without fear of making mistake—that we have seen many fencers, particularly sabremen, much faster than he. His legs need tremendous work, his technique is incomplete, his posture highly defective, his timing nothing exceptional. He was FOURTH (which almost rhymes with Worth) and thus we proved not to be wrong when, before the final, we told his teacher that he would not win. Maybe Mr. Worth—who is indeed a charming person and whom we must congratulate for taking his severe defeat as any excellent sportsman would—is still young. But being 22 (we are sure he won't mind if we say he looks much older) and presuming that he started fencing very young, we wonder if he will ever be able to become as good as some of the other Hungarians we know. For the moment he is by no means superior to the best Americans. If, in Hungary, Mr. Worth is rated amongst the best 15, here he is amongst the best 5. Nothing more. But being colorful fighter as well as a good actor (maybe slightly too theatrical, which at his age can be understood and forgiven) he is, anyway, an excellent element which we hope will improve so that American Fencing can count another star of medium greatness.
***
Gold won the Junior National Championship and his victory, in our humble opinion, could have been obtained by a greater margin than the one listed in the official score: for his defeat by Giolito, 5-1, makes us think of the Metropolitan Sabre Championship in which Mr. Nagy scored so easily over Doctor Acel.
Giolito was, thus, the runner-up. This being the second year that he fails to win the Junior crown, it is to be expected that some time—in some future year—he will be promoted to Senior.
Grasson, always in good spirits, was third. He was defeated by the winner 5-4 on a touch very difficult to judge, and, in turn, defeated Giolito 5-2. We can say, thus that he was not very lucky.
Kaplan, Goldsmith, Ozol, Bukantz (who fenced at his worst), and Wesselman followed in that order. The best four bout of the evening was the one in which Goldsmith curbed Grasson 5-3.
