Aldo Nadi
Aldo Nadi, the son of a fencing master from Livorno, Italy and brother of Olympic record setting fencer Nedo, was a six foot tall rail-thin explosive dynamo of fencing. After winning three Gold and one Silver Olympic medal in 1920 (Nedo won 5 medals in 1920, all gold, a record unequalled for a single Olympics until Mark Spitz in 1972),
Aldo turned professional during a brief between-war period when fencers traveled Europe like prizefighters, competing in well attended matches for cash purses. In this world of travel, glamour, drinking, womanizing, gambling and fencing, Aldo Nadi reigned supreme, going nearly 8 years without a defeat.
READ MORE...When the time came that no one would any longer choose to meet him in a match, Nadi turned to teaching, first in Paris, then New York and eventually Los Angeles. He taught at various locations in the LA area from 1940 until his passing in 1965. An egoist on a grand scale, Nadi was nonetheless an excellent instructor. However, in his years of teaching in LA and Hollywood, his students never achieved anything like his own level of success.
He worked with some excellent talents, including Jan York Romary, but never developed on his own students who excelled on the national, much less the international, level. His book, “On Fencing”, is still widely read and includes a dramatic description of a somewhat bloody duel Nadi fought as a rash young man.
Articles
In Vino Spiritus
The Latin meaning of that, according to Google Translate, is “Wine of the Spirit”. As a philistine in the ways of Latin, I’ll have to accept it. No clue. Truly.
Short Stories
A number of things have come my way recently through various paths. Taken individually, they add to the collection in nice ways, but don’t necessarily give me the grist to crank out a full story around them.
Herbert Rhodes: Fencer/Politician
Serendipitous. Is that a word? Spellcheck isn’t trying to correct it, so I guess I’m on firm ground. Serendipitosity happens a lot around here. I find one piece of information, an image, a packet of photos. Time passes. I find another piece that fits into that puzzle. Then, quite unexpectedly, something comes across my desk…
Nadi’s Victims in Caricature
If I don’t write something about Aldo Nadi for too long, I get this annoying twitch in my eye that will only begin to calm down with a collection of images and some quality time with my laptop. Buckle up!
Image Upgrades by Happenstance
I love running across old photos of fencers. It doesn’t matter who’s in them or what condition they’re in for me to be fascinated with the discovery and the challenge of putting names to faces.
An Unexpected Addition
In going about my daily Archiving routine, I’m beginning to recognize that small obsessions can take over my focus. Sometimes for days, sometimes longer.
Historical Holiday
Driving around Southern California may not seem like much of a Holiday, especially when traveling alone, but a recent weekend outmatched all my expectations. The plan was to make four different stops in hopes of collecting fencing history.
More Time with Jerry Biagini!
There is nothing in the world quite like Jerry Biagini’s greeting to me when I visited him about two weeks ago. Me: “Mr. Biagini, how are you?” Jerry: “I’m 90 years old and cranky!”
The Salle in the Woods
In the woods of Southern Oregon off a dirt road and across a valley from the winding I-5 was a fencing salle d’armes built by Charlie Selberg in an old barn. It was stuffed to the rafters with fencing memorabilia dating back decades.
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