"Low-lands," part 2a: Notes, pg 55-66

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "davemarc" <davemarc at panix.com>
To: "Pynchlist" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 4:43 PM
Subject: Re: "Low-lands," part 2a: Notes, pg 55-66


> From: The Great Quail <quail at libyrinth.com>
> Subject: "Low-lands," part 2a: Notes, pg 55-66
>
> > Pg 57: Odd name, "Geronimo Diaz." I assume Pynchon selected the first
name
> > on the basis of it's more colloquial connotations ("Geronimo!" is often
> > yelled before doing something reckless) than to make any reference to
the
> > Native American!
> >
> More on Geronimo:
>
> http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_146.html
>

"The custom of yelling "Geronimo!" is attributed to Aubrey Eberhardt, a
member of the U.S. Army's parachute "test platoon" that demonstrated the
feasibility of parachute troop drops at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1940. To
speed up the drops, the brass decided to try a mass jump, in which the
chutists would jump from the plane in quick succession. The men were nervous
about this, and to relieve the tension a group of them went to see a western
at the post movie house the night before the jump. The movie featured the
cavalry mixing it up with the famous Apache chief Geronimo. None of our
sources said exactly what movie this was, but one supposes it was Geronimo
(1939) with Andy Devine and Gene Lockhart."

Thanks, a lot of literary yelling of this battlecry is explained now:
V. (10)
Vineland (11)

DeLillo's _Underworld", chap. 1 (no page number available)

"The movie "was largely and economically cobbled together from existing film
vignettes." and: "Nominal heroine Ellen Drew has one of the least demanding
assignments in movie history, spending two-thirds of the film in a coma
after being injured in a stagecoach accident!"
http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=A92868

Otto

__________________________________________________________________

Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - http://mail.yahoo.de
Weihnachts-Einkäufe ohne Stress! http://shopping.yahoo.de