Out In The Noonday Sun
Saturday, December 11, 2010
The sun came out briefly on late Friday morning but I knew that if I ventured outside the sun’s warmth would be fleeting. I thought of the great (but wonderful) heat of Merida when Rebecca, Rosemary and I went there two years ago. When we visited the Mayan ruins of Uxmal It was extremely hot. We made sure Rebecca wore a hat. But as she scurried away amongst the rocks of the ruins in pursuit of an iguana (she did manage to snap the picture you see here with her digital camera) she thought she was going to lose her hat so she stuffed it in her pockets. By the time we got into our car she told us she was feeling funny. She had a mild case of sun stroke which we treated with some Mexican refrescos (soft drinks).
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| Lord Delamere in outsize toppee with Frederick Jackson, 1909 |
Thinking about the sun today Friday I looked for some pictures I had taken around the time I photographed Lorian (see the blog that precedes this one). They were of two lovely women (the one with black hair was called April, the other one I do not recall) wearing what now looks like the same straw hat. Again the pictures are uncropped and I used Kodak b+w Infrared Film.
One of my favourite books that I re-read often is Out in the Noonday Sun – Edwardians in the Tropics by Valerie Pakenham. I have a particular fondness for it as it is all about the British in exotic locations during the beginning of the end of their empire. It places them in locations which are mostly very hot. It was when I read this book in September 1986 (and I will explain below how it is I remember that date) that I first heard of Noel Coward’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen. It was a couple of years ago that I discovered Life Magazine photographer Loomis Dean’s photograph, of Noel Coward shot near Las Vegas where it is evident why Coward is not wearing a hat!
As I was looking over the book today I spotted bits of my handwriting on the title page of the book. It seems that on September 10, 1986 I had been dispatched by the PR arm of Canadian Pacific Limited to photograph 27 foursomes at the Hazelmere Golf Course in Langley. I had doe this before. I would park my gear in one of the holes (I believe it may have been the 8th hole) and the set up my medium format camera on a tripod with a small soft box attached to my portable Norman 200B flash. Each foursome had one employee of the CP and the other three were either good clients or potential clients. I took colour negative portraits and I would then send the negatives to CP’s head office in Montreal. It seems that between snapping pictures of the foursomes I had picked a shady tree to read Out in the Noonday Sun.
Shortly after, I received a letter from the chief CP lab technician in Montreal. He criticized me for moving my camera and lighting stuff around to take the pictures. He told me it was far easier for them to print the pictures if I stayed put. The exposures all varied.
The reason I moved my gear is that the sun moved and I never wanted the sun to be hitting the golfers’ eyes. I would move the equipment and kept the sun to one side. My reply to the man at CP was:
Dear Sir,
If CP can arrange to make the sun not move for four hours I will keep my camera in one place.
Sincerely yours,
Alex Waterhouse-Hayward
It seems my letter stirred up lots of guffaws with the folks at Montreal and I never did get any more instructions on how to take my pictures out in the noonday sun!
Mad Dogs And Englishmen
Noel Coward
In tropical climes there are certain times of day
When all the citizens retire to tear their clothes off and perspire.
It's one of the rules that the greatest fools obey,
Because the sun is much too sultry
And one must avoid its ultry-violet ray.
The natives grieve when the white men leave their huts,
Because they're obviously, definitely nuts!
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun,
The Japanese don´t care to, the Chinese wouldn´t dare to,
Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one
But Englishmen detest-a siesta.
In the Philippines they have lovely screens to protect you from the glare.
In the Malay States, there are hats like plates which the Britishers won't wear.
At twelve noon the natives swoon and no further work is done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
It's such a surprise for the Eastern eyes to see,
that though the English are effete, they're quite impervious to heat,
When the white man rides every native hides in glee,
Because the simple creatures hope he will impale his solar topee on a tree.
It seems such a shame when the English claim the earth,
They give rise to such hilarity and mirth.
Ha ha ha ha hoo hoo hoo hoo hee hee hee hee ......
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
The toughest Burmese bandit can never understand it.
In Rangoon the heat of noon is just what the natives shun,
They put their Scotch or Rye down, and lie down.
In a jungle town where the sun beats down to the rage of man and beast
The English garb of the English sahib merely gets a bit more creased.
In Bangkok at twelve o'clock they foam at the mouth and run,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
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| Noel Coward by Loomis Dean |
The smallest Malay rabbit deplores this foolish habit.
In Hong Kong they strike a gong and fire off a noonday gun,
To reprimand each inmate who's in late.
In the mangrove swamps where the python romps
there is peace from twelve till two.
Even caribous lie around and snooze, for there's nothing else to do.
In Bengal to move at all is seldom ever done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
Noel Coward and the Mystery Bassonist
