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From Redd’s
journal, 1914: “Ever since being invited to accompany President Roosevelt on
his tour of the Amazon, I’ve found myself utterly captivated by the man and his
sense of the hunt. This afternoon, we stalked a crocodile along the riverbank,
lurking in the thick greens of the jungle bush, battling mosquitoes and a
variety of other nasties without name. The beast eluded us for nearly six
hours, slipping in and out of the muddy waters, and I was on the verge of
despair when Roosevelt called out to me in a booming whisper: ‘Redd. Stay
absolutely still.’
Teddy Roosevelt (left) during a 1914 tour of the Amazon rainforest
I froze.
Immediately to my right, the crocodile lay waiting—twelve feet long, teeth
bared. I stepped backward. The beast lay still.
It seems we’d found
our game. ‘What do you think?’ I asked the President. ‘Shall I shoot?’
‘Hmm.’ He lowered
his rifle. ‘Perhaps we ought to give the croc his victory.’
‘Suits me,’ I said.
‘I’m much more disposed to chasing some of the indigenous ladies.’
We left the reptile
in peace. That night, I found the only game I ever needed on the beach, by the
glittering sea—a lady in my arm, and a coconut in each hand.”
Sea/Kelly Green
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A view of the prestigious Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland
Another glimpse at Robert Redd's journal, from an undated entry: "Hit the Old Course again with partner-in-crime Walter Hagen, after an evening of excessive libations that lasted far past our bedtime and still haven't worn off, truth be told. Not quite playing to the best of our abilities, we mostly bragged our way through the course, trying to one-up each other's outrageous anecdotes."
Walter Hagen, professional golfer
"Walter claims that, after being refused entrance to a clubhouse dressing room due to his status as a professional golfer, he hired a Rolls Royce in which to change. It seemed like a hilarious waste to me, and I told him so. 'But why not?' he retorted. 'You're only here for a short visit, Robert,' he said. 'Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.' He reached over and plucked a lilac from the bush adjoining the fairway. 'Case in point,' he said, lifting it to his nose."
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Leading up to the release of the updated Robert Redd Color Stories, we at REDD are disclosing bits and pieces of the material we've collected and researched so far. Of particular note is an excerpt from a journal Robert Redd kept in his early twenties, in his college years, during which he spent considerable time learning abroad. In 1896, Robert had the following to say about his stay in France: "It's been said so often as to become banal, but there really is nothing like Paris in the springtime. Clouds against blue overhead, the Jardin des Tuileries all around, and the grand-standing Palais du Louvre on the horizon. I watched Madeline—excuse me, Margarette—walk the eight-sided perimeter of the reflecting pool, in which I swear you could see the image of the clouds more sharply than they appear in the firmament itself.
Maurice Prendergast, Sailboat Pond Tuileries
"But what a difference the daylight makes! Last night's misadventure in the Moulin Rouge is but a memory, yet the gaudy lights of the cabaret still dance across my mind's eye. And the taste of tangerine, offered to me by Margarette—or was it Melanie?—lingers still on the tip of my tongue."
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If there's one thing that distinguishes the REDD brand, it's our color stories—painstakingly reconstructed anecodes about Robert Redd's life, based on evidence and accounts contributed both by him and the people he called friends. Maybe you've checked them out our Adventures in Color page, or read one of them on the hang tags that accompany our knit shirts. If that's the case, and you want to learn more about the Legend of Robert Redd, then we've got good news: Following several months of additional research, our team is preparing to roll out a new round of updates to the old stories, featuring a more in-depth look at Robert's life and times.
For now, throughout the next few posts, we'll lead you through a few examples of what's to come. Drawing from sources as diverse as photographs, blueprints, and Robert's old college-era notebooks, we've assembled dramatizations of key events in his life—and found a color pair to match. In a folio containing Robert's accounting ledgers and other financial record books, for example, we discovered an unusual document: a carbon copy of a cancelled check, issued by Milton Hershey to the White Star Line for a first class stateroom on the RMS Titanic.
Portrait of Milton Hershey.
Robert Redd had visited Hershey in Pennsylvania in 1913, a year after the maiden voyage of the ill-fated luxury liner, to discuss the foundation of a philanthropy trust. During his visit to Hershey's company town, Redd remarked that the enormity of the chocolate entrepreneur's achievements was testament to the value of honest, diligent effort. "Just look what a man can achieve," he is said to have remarked, "with a strong work ethic, a can-do spirit, and a refusal to quit." Hershey had shaken his head, laughing, and told Robert not to discount the role that luck plays in good fortune. It was his wife Kitty's illness, after all, that had led Hershey to cancel their reservation on the doomed ocean liner the year prior. A minor disappointment, Hershey said, but just as instrumental to the endurance of his ventures as his many years of hard work. As Redd left, Hershey gave him a copy of the room deposit check as a memento of their conversation.
We've rendered the account with the colors Chocolate and Ocean Blue, thus representing the Hershey success story: a mixture of industry and serendipity.
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