478 Wisumahi design history
Got this in from Joe Rosenthal regarding the design on the Wisumahi 478 flaps:
The S1 was designed by a good friend of mine in the lodge, Bob Dick. He was a patch trader of some repute in those days…the only “true” patch trader in the lodge then. Bob designed the S1 in such a way that it stood out and would be very desireable. Two of the patches he used as examples back then were the Ashie flap(FF) and the San Gorgonio nc patch (X1, in today’s parlance) because he thought the solidly embroidered patches were more eye-catching. The double-headed bird is another story that I will tell you later…if you wish to hear it…
I was Chief of Wisumahi in 1959 and that was the year we ended the reign of the S1’s. It was all the fault of my Mom: she noted to me that the patch was too big for the pocket flap and suggested that, when the lodge ordered new ones, we make them smaller. Hence the S2!
To think, we paid $1.00 for the S1 in 1955!
Okay, here is the story, but first a few facts…
(1) Most of this story is remembered by two other Lodge Chiefs from Wisumahi, Larry Grace (our first Chief) and Vern Evans (our second Chief), both of whom I am still in contact with.
(2) We have still not been able to find Bob, the major designer, but I have some more leads…I have been looking for over a year.
(3) I was the 8th Lodge Chief, but Bob was a very good friend in my early days in the lodge. We went to various Fellowships, Conclaves etc. during the 50’s. In fact, he arranged for two of us (Ted Tudor (the 9th Lodge Chief) to receive our Brotherhood at the 1955 Canalino Sundance. Bob was a good friend, to say the least.
The first 478 patch was the round type (probably not what the BB calls R1a, but R4b) and it was completely restricted: one per member, given out at the end of the Ordeal already sewed to the nc. So, it was not a candidate for traders. The R1a was produced for a short time in order to have something to trade, but, in truth, it is not a very inspirational patch.
Well, the guys came back from the Irvine Jamboree (Larry and Vern) and were all enthusiastic about flaps, having seen a few there. Bob, our only really serious patch trader, volunteered (enlightened self-interest?) to take on the task. That was ca. 1954, the year I was inducted into Wisumahi. I remember the year well because we did not have a flap the year I was inducted.
Since Bob was a patch trader he wanted a real “zinger” of a patch and he thought the solidly embroidered ones were the most spectacular. The idea was sold to the Lodge and an adult was asked to give guidance to Bob. That adult was Andy Bisaccia, a District Exec, who had a lot of artistic talent. Parenthetically, Andy was the person from whom I learned how to do beadwork: he was very adept a woodcarving, beadworking, leatherwork, etc.
After the decision was made to have a fully embroidered flap, the hard part was tackled, design. Three elements were easy: Wisumahi, Lodge 478, and an Arrowhead (Arrowhead Area Council and “Wisumahi” = “Arrowhead” in Lakota). However, how many ways can one make a spectacular patch only using an arrowhead…probably from zero to none. So, Bob expanded his horizons and began to consider other design elements. An eagle came to mind because it is a spectacular bird and could fill up the field on a flap. At this point Andy weighed in with the notion that symmetry would be desireable and suggested a double-headed eagle like the old German ones. The idea changed slightly when they decided to extend the beak of the bird, again, for the purposes of symmetry and filling the field. So, that is how the double-headed bird came about, a “totem’ that had absolutely nothing to do with Arrowhead Area Council, our Lodge, or the environs in which we lived!
The Arrowhead was added to the patch in the center and, now, all that was needed was a color scheme. Here, Bob took over and tried to make the patch as different from any others and as showy as he could imagine without being ridiculous. Hence, the unusual color scheme.
Geer made the patch for us and it was available at the 1955 Ordeal…Bob also became Chief at that Ordeal.
(An interesting aside: Dave Minnihan, the BB -Wisumahi Editor, told me he ran into Bob in the mid-90’s and Bob told Dave that he had designed the patch.)
Larry and I still have our patches from that Ordeal: Larry’s is an S1b and I have both S1a and S1b. I have had a long and heated(?) discussion with BB folks about changing the designation of S1b to FF, also. I am morally certain both types were issued at the ’55 Ordeal.
Okay, the last bit of the story. About two weeks after the Ordeal a group of us went to the first “official” Canalino, Lodge 90, Sundance (1955). Bob was with us. The car was hardly parked before he hopped out, ran over to the dining area, unrolled his “trading blanket”, and began to test the waters with our crispy, newly minted patches. I do not think we actually checked in and got our sleeping arrangements for several hours since we had to watch Bob in action. The patch was a big success!
I also have to note that we were not a very big lodge: San Bernadino County was the largest county in the America in those days, but it spanned a lot of uninhabited mountains and desert. Further, it was a very agricultural county. Thus, the population was fairly small. So, our lodge was small and we could not order a lot of patches for budgetary reasons. Our lodge inducted less than thirty Scouts a year and we were only 3 1/2 years old in 1955. I think we only placed two or three orders of ca. 100 patches for the S1’s. Hence, they are not too common. But they were not restricted, so the prices are high, but not astronomically high.
Well, that’s it: I hope you found it interesting.
Yours in (historical) Brotherhood,
Joe Rosenthal
Oh, yes, here is the cast of characters
