Zeppelin: Graf, Aircraft Carrier, Dirigible and Led

What a strange foursome!  How did they get together?

First came Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin, 1838 - 1917. 

Often known simply as Graf Zeppelin, the count (Graf) was a German general who later founded the Zeppelin Airship Company. He served in the Prussian engineering corps, then as a general staff officer in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. He did reconnaissance in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 and had various other assignments until retiring from the military in 1890.

He was also involved in our Civil War as an "observer" for the northern troops in 1863, and he participated with Russians and Indians in an expedition to the source of the Mississippi. But perhaps his most important activities in this country were his visits to our balloon camps. He made his first ascent at St Paul, Minnesota, and a life-long interest in aeronautics was born.

The Rise and Fall of Rigid Airships

The count first mentioned an idea for large dirigibles in his diary on March 25, 1874, and in 1891 when he retired he began testing materials and engineering concepts. Despite engineering and test issues, logistics, and political hurdles, work continued. Finally, on July 2, 1900, the first successful flight of LZ1 took place in southern Germany. Several more models were built and progress was relatively steady, but Zeppelin's relationship with the military was poor, so he turned to commercial airships in order to capitalize on the growing public enthusiasm. By 1914,  37,250 people had flown safely with his German Aviation Association. 

Due to the commercial success of airships, "zeppelin" entered vernacular speech as the name for rigid airships. Both the LZ 127 (the Graf Zeppelin) which eventually circled the world,  and the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II were named for him.

The LZ 130 was the twin to the LZ 129 Hindenburg which in 1937 met a fate so terrible that it put an end to the "zeppelin era".

World War II: the German Aircraft Carrier Graf Zeppelin 

The only carrier launched by Germany in World War II was named for the count. It was launched December 8, 1938, but it was never completed or operational.

Led Zeppelin, The Band

There are several stories about how the band got its name, but one thing is certain: the count's granddaughter, Countess Eva von Zeppelin, once threatened to sue the band for using it. One story seems plausible: the band originally was known as The New Yardbirds. But when a newspaper article proclaimed that it would "go down like a lead zeppelin" the name stuck except for the spelling. 

Xanadu

Just for fun, here is some of what I found when I googled Xanadu:

It's a Place,  a Fine Art Gallery, a Movie, a Song . . . all inspired by an ancient ruin, details on the ...

UNESCO World Heritage list at Xanadu Site Ruins

Located in what is now Inner Mongolia, Xanadu was the cool summer home of the khan of that era. It included both a beautiful marble palace and one made of strong cane, along with a vast and beautiful park where the khan enjoyed riding. In 1872 a Britain with the Legation in Beijing visited the site and found blocks of marble, tiles and other artifacts. But by 1990 everything was gone, probably used by locals in building their town. Only some art now remains in the walls of that town, Dolon Nor.

The name became famous in our times with the revival of the poem Kubla Khan by the English romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Written it in 1797 while he was apparently under the influence of opium, it praises the city built during the period 1252-1256. It was visited in 1275 by Marco Polo who later (1298-99) dictated a description of it in glowing detail. In 1369 it was occupied and burned by an enemy, and then abandoned for several hundred years.

Picture Gallery:  UNESCO's details and pictures of remains at the site.

Xanadu Art Gallery

"Resource for collectors, designers, builders, and corporations for procuring the highest quality art ..."

Xanadu:  1980 Romantic Musical Fantasy Film. 

A musical based on the film also opened on Broadway in 2007. 

I don't recall either of these. If any readers do their comments will be welcomed. 

AND FINALLY . . . 

Oilvia Newton John sings "Xanadu".  I wonder how the khan would have liked this!

Brigadoon

B is also for buff, film buff that is. That's me.

The movie Brigadoon came out in 1954 when I was a freshman in college. It was based on the Alan Jay Lerner Broadway musical of the same name and featured a fine cast and many of Lerner & Loew's best songs. Dated as the film is by today's standards I still have fond memories of the story and music.

This is a whimsical love story set in a misty version of a long ago time. It plays to our desire for the unattainable, to remain forever young and in love. No wonder it was so popular in that post-Korea era!

Because I studied German literature I noticed a similarity to the German story Germelshausen by Gerstacker. That, in turn, was based on the ancient tale of a town that falls under an evil enchantment and disappears, reappearing for just one day each century. Like the town, the story keeps resurfacing, so we must be due for a new version. I can't wait to see how it is treated in today's idiom!

The obvious and comforting point here (for some!) is that however much civilization may "improve" us over the centuries, in our hearts we humans remain the same.

Several of the Brigadoon songs were long-runing hits in the day. My favorite is sung here by Frank Sinatra. We girls were all in love with him, and our mothers were convinced that all that "swooning" and screaming was terribly unhealthy for us. (Adolescent females then were pretty much like today's.)