CHURCHILL, KARSH AND A CIGAR: THE STORY OF A FAMOUS PORTRAIT
By Chris Must
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Posted Dec 10, 2009
EMC Lifestyles – "Never in the field of human conflict was so much
owed by so many to so few."
With these words, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill immortalized
the badly outnumbered Royal Air Force fighter pilots who thwarted
the Luftwaffe’s best efforts and ended the threat of a Nazi invasion
of England.
Churchill, who placed number one in a recent list of the top 100
Britons of all time, inspired a nation to fight on against all odds
with speeches that are well remembered today.
Another of Churchill’s most memorable speeches took place in December
of 1941, when he spoke to Canada’s House of Commons a few days after
the United States entered the war.
The day of that speech, Dec. 30, was also the day Churchill met one
of the most famous residents of Ottawa: photographer Yousuf Karsh.
Churchill visited Canada seven times during his lifetime. His first
visit was during the winter of 1900-1901.
Then 26, he was already a veteran of four military campaigns,
author of five books, and a newly-elected member of Britain’s
House of Commons. Churchill was a descendent of the aristocratic
Spencer family. He was born in a room at Blenheim Palace, the son
of politician Lord Randolph Churchill and the former Jennie Jerome,
the daughter of an American millionaire.
The embodiment of the principle that much is expected from those to
whom much is given, Churchill held many high offices in the British
government in the early decades of the 20th century. He served as
First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911 to 1915 and was appointed to
that post again on the same day the Second World War broke out, Sept.
3, 1939. Shortly afterward, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
concluded that he did not have the confidence of the government,
and resigned.
In May 1940, Churchill was appointed Prime Minister, and led Britain
for the remainder of the war.
The opening months of the war were dark days indeed for the allies.
France surrendered in 1940 after a lighting strike by the German army,
leaving Britain to fight alone. Hitler planned to clear the skies of
the Royal Air Force, and then invade and conquer Britain. Only the
determined efforts of those "few" RAF fighter pilots stopped this
from happening.
By the time Churchill visited Canada in December of 1941, he had more
reason for optimism. Spurred on by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
the United States had entered the war a few days earlier.
When Churchill spoke to Canadian MPs Dec. 30, he had this to say:
"When I warned (France) that Britain would fight on alone whatever
they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and their divided
Cabinet, in three weeks England would have her neck wrung like a
chicken. Some chicken!"
Waiting for the laughter to die down, Churchill added: "Some neck!"
Shortly afterwards, a historic meeting took place between the top
Briton of all time and the man who went on to become one of the
world’s most famous photographers. For Armenian-born Ottawa resident
Yousuf Karsh, it would be the highlight of a long and distinguished
career. What happened is best told in Karsh’s own words:
"After the electrifying speech I waited in the Speaker’s Chamber where,
the evening before, I had set up my lights and camera. The Prime
Minister, arm in arm with Churchill and followed by his entourage,
started to lead him into the room. I switched on my floodlights,
a surprised Churchill growled ‘What’s this, what’s this!’ No one
had the courage to explain. I timorously stepped forward and said
"Sir, I hope I will be fortunate enough to make a portrait worthy of
this historic occasion." He glanced at me and demanded ‘Why was I not
told?’ When his entourage began to laugh, this hardly helped matters
for me. Churchill lit a fresh cigar, puffed at it with a mischievous
air, and then magnanimously relented. ‘You may take one.’ But to
get the giant to walk grudgingly from his corner to where my lights
and camera were set up some little distance away was a feat! To this
day I consider it my greatest diplomatic triumph. Churchill’s cigar
was ever present. I held out an ashtray, but he would not dispose
of it. I went back to my camera to make sure that everything was all
right technically. I waited, he continued to chomp vigorously at his
cigar. I waited. Then I stepped toward him and without premeditation,
but ever so respectfully, I said ‘Forgive me, sir,’ and plucked
the cigar out of his mouth. By the time I got back to my camera,
he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me. It was at that
instant that I took the photograph. The silence was deafening.
Then Mr. Churchill, smiling benignly, said ‘You may take another one.’
He walked toward me, shook my hand, and said, ‘You can even make
a roaring lion stand still to be photographed.’ In my archives the
photograph of Churchill is filed under ‘The Roaring Lion’."
The resulting photograph is one of the most famous and frequently
re-printed pictures ever taken.
Karsh’s reputation derived from an ability to seemingly capture the
essence of his subject in the instant the portrait was taken. In his
book Karsh Portfolio in 1967, he wrote: "Within every man and woman
a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it
if I can."