Diane Arbus, Max Maxwell Landar, Uncle Sam,1961
July 2, 2019
We celebrate our history for Independence with this vintage portrait by Diane Arbus taken for THE FULL CIRCLE, an article she published in Harper's Bazaar, back in November, 1961.
Here is what Max Landar said to Diane:
"Last year this time I was Nobody, now I'm Somebody . . . I am what I call a Personality . . . without a doubt the youngest 80-year-old man in the world: no hair even on my private parts . . . my beard is now like Bernard Shaw's; even if it doesn't grow, its out of this world, and my face is interesting . . . when I'm ready I'll be Buffalo Bill from the back . . . I have a suggestion for you: I could be other people . . . No? . . . Good! . . . I am greater than ever before . . . I've got the greatest laugh in the Country and the World...I am writing my life story which will be similar to MISSION TO MOSCOW which Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote . . . you will be in it . . . I am a soprano contralto, the Greatest Singer in the world today and I have the voice of a man, woman and child . . . I'm going to Hollywood . . . you won't be sorry . . . there's no question about it: I'm going to be rich and famous.
I can prolong the life of the Leukemia victims of the world and Eleanor Roosevelt and Bob Hope will take care of Cancer . . . I am ordering Congress what to do and I'm sure I'll have a meeting with Kennedy . . . I am a Phenomenon . . . M . . . E . . . ME!"
Indeed we have come full circle.
