385. Robert Donat: Knight Without Armor & Peterson Pipeman (+ Last Call for IPSD Event!)
LAST CALL! If you want to participate in the Pete Geek 2024 IPSD Event and earn your CPG certificate or add the Merit Badge, I need your photos and text by Monday, no later that 2:30pm CST. PETE GEEK MUGS ARE SHIPPING NOW The Pete Geek mugs are being shipped! Gigi & I have worked all week packaging and invoicing. If you’ve already paid—many thanks! If you haven’t, please take a moment to do so. Gigi says she’ll hold your mugs until this Wednesday, February 21st at 12 noon CST. At that time, she’ll release them to those who responded on the Second Chance form. While you’re waiting for your mugs, you ought to take a look at the artisanry that goes into Deneen, which is every bit as much a family craft business at Kapp & Peterson was from 1865-1972. Two of my favorite videos are this short one and this longer one (warning: metal heads, you'll be wanting the mug you see in this video). If you didn't receive an invoice and ordered a mug or mugs, please let me know at petegeek1896@gmail.com. Robert Donat in a portrait promoting Knight Without Armor As International Peterson {er, Pipe} Smoking Day is just two days away, I thought this morning it would be fun to stop and take a look at a famous international Peterson pipeman, the English actor and Classic Age film star Robert Donat (1905-58). Our story begins in September of 2011 when Angela Fortune—“the voice of Peterson” as I used to call her—began helping myself and Gary Malmberg on the big Peterson book. Angela (now retired) was K&P’s Girl Friday when Tom Palmer was CEO and director of the company, doing everything from designing print catalogs to booking airfare and answering questions about Peterson pipes. She took it upon herself to become our ally, delving into the Peterson Museum on her own initiative to send us scans of potentially useful items. Among them was a letter and a glossy 8 x 10 photo from Robert Donat. While these didn’t make it into the book, they’re certainly important for fans of Peterson and tell a delightful story. If you have a System 308, now’s the time to think about loading it up, because you’ll be wanting it shortly. There are subtle but delightfully telling differences between the Eire-era 308 / 14 (pictured above) and the Patent as well as Mark Twain iterations The 308 (shape 14) Donat smokes had only recently changed its shape into the one Pete Geeks have sought for years. It differs from the Patent shape used for the POY 2022 (see Post # 297) the almost straight lines seen from mid-bowl up to the crown as well as the greater length of the back bowl to the shank than on the original Patent and its POY 2022 reproduction. Donat was born Friedrich Robert Donat on March 18, 1905 in Withington, a suburb of Manchester in England. By age 16, he’d found his calling…