...Ears are better than fingerprints according to some...
They are unique to us all. No two ears are alike. In this image above you can see a prime example, the image to the left is of the right ear of the Somerton Man and the image to the right is the right ear of another man, or is it another man? Look closely and you will see that the ears are identical, even before taking into account lighting and the fact that both photographs were taken from slightly different angles. The size and structure of both ears are essentially the same. The photo on the right was taken 11 years before the Somerton Man's photo was taken by Jimmy Durham.
I am a little constrained in what I can write at this time but I can say that this man is European and he is associated with the world of Ballet having performed in Australia and the USA. To this point, whilst my understanding is that the man on the right was in his early 30s when this photo was taken in Australia, I have not been able to ascertain the date of his passing.
Here's the data, now is the time for theories...
Not that many Ballet Companies in the 30s. Ballets Russes and Kirsova. The Ballet Russes were originally the Monte Carlo lot weren't they?
ReplyDeleteI think that Ballet Russes Monte Carlo followed in the early 1940s.
DeleteDancers used to skip from one company to another so they would be hard to track down. However I do have a short list of companies that were better known in that era.
ReplyDeleteBorovansky Ballet: Established by the Czech-Australian dancer Edouard Borovansky in 1940, the Borovansky Ballet was Australia's first professional ballet company. It played a crucial role in the development of ballet in the country.
Kirsova Ballet: Founded by Helene Kirsova, a Russian-born ballet dancer, in 1941. Kirsova Ballet was one of the earliest ballet companies in Australia. It performed both classical and contemporary repertoire.
Ballet Rambert Australian Tour: In 1947, the renowned British ballet company Ballet Rambert embarked on a tour of Australia, performing in several cities. Though not an Australian company, their visit significantly impacted the local ballet scene.
Perhaps the best known Ballet company was Ballets Russes it was a renowned ballet company that originated in Russia and later toured internationally, including Australia.
In 1936, Colonel Wassily de Basil, a former dancer with the Ballets Russes, established a new company called the Covent Garden Russian Ballet. This company, also known as the Original Ballet Russe, toured Australia in 1936 and 1937, performing in cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. They presented a repertoire of both classical and contemporary ballets.
Ballets Russes had a complex history with multiple iterations and changes in leadership. After the Original Ballet Russe, another company known as the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, led by Colonel de Basil, visited Australia in 1938. Subsequently, in the early 1940s, the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, led by Colonel de Basil and later by Sergei Denham, also toured Australia.
I got most of this from the National library and there are a lot of collections and hundreds of photographs to search through. I'd better get started!
Really looking for names of male dancers from those years if someone would care to jump in. I have one name which looks positive but it is not certain, will post that along with some pics of this man. It was a huge part of Australian culture in those days, JC Williamson became a pivotal player in the 40s.
ReplyDeleteGreat find, interesting article. While I stand by my Alcatraz, San Franciso Theory, this theory here is also one that is worth pursuing as well. While I am not sold on the man's face, the ears are identical. For you, it is a person's ears, for me, it's their face. I look for two people and see if they have the same size, shape, eyes, nose, lips etc.
ReplyDeleteWhile combining Mt Alcatraz and Somerton Man research, it was pointed out that The Somerton Man may have been a dancer because of the shape of his feet. Since this man toured both U.S A and U.S.S.R, it would also explain why American items, including his suit were among his few possessions.
It is an interesting line to follow. I understand the facial features issues. Have you tried Vance AI? Its amongst the best of commerci facial comparison tools around. There are others a bit higher up the scale but expensive. The challenge with photographs is of course lighting, lenses and camera angles. And in that regard the ear photo comparison in this post has the different angle issue to take into consideration. The facial features seen are partial and at an unusual angle with another question regarding the expression on his face. Hopefully we find a clearer Image of him.
DeleteHere's a wiki link which has a list of Soviet/Russian ballet dancers:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_ballet_dancers
Another starting point. There dates included, ideal for a spreadsheet.
Isn't it fascinating how everyone is treating Carl Webb and the Somerton Man as one individual despite the lack of evidence supporting the assertion made by Professor? The confirmation can only be obtained once the dental chart from the exhumed remains is presented and matches the one submitted by Dr. Dwyer. Previously, Professor Abbot argued that Dr. Dwyer had erred in preparing the chart, presumably because Professor Abbot had earlier claimed that the Somerton Man had Anodontia, meaning the front upper incisors had not grown. However, this claim completely disregarded the fact that the Somerton Man had a total of 18 missing teeth, including the upper incisors. They were not simply undeveloped, but genuinely absent. While Professor Abbot managed to persuade some individuals by drawing a connection between Robin Thomson's Anodontia and the Somerton Man, thereby suggesting the Somerton Man was Thomson's wife's grandfather, his latest assertion is far from credible for several reasons as you can see.
ReplyDeleteIt makes you wonder what agendas people have… including prof. Abbott… why such keen interest in this story… who knows?
ReplyDeleteTo say that the whole SM space is complex is an understatement. Numerous factions and numerous 'personas'. The majority of which seem hell bent on burying the real story in favour of yet another flawed proposition put forward by the professor. Their mantra being, 'Where there is no evidence we'll contrive it and where there is evidence that conflicts with our agenda, why then we'll drown it out with torrents of inconsequential nonsense'
ReplyDeleteGoodness, what a huge amount of information there is on Ballet Companies. Not that much about male dancers for some reason.
ReplyDeleteThere is a good archive that shows images and videos, https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/ballet-russes
What I did find was that the company toured Australia, New Zealand and the USA. All of which countries I see amongst the various posts here and other blogs.
There are lots of candid shots as well as Kirsova's wedding.
Has anyone thought about the tools found in the man's suitcases and the way that most dancers customize their ballet flats by cutting them? It could be that if he was a dancer then the sharp knife etc would have been used to adjust his flats? Not sure that manufacturers do or did such a good job on producing customized flats.
ReplyDeleteRudolf, you make a good point, (no pun intended), my father was a shoe maker and i clearly recall some of the tools that he used including extremely sharp knives used for fashioning leather components. Interestingly they had 'bandaged' handles. And so did the tools used by POWs and internees. The Dunera Boys and other internees regularly put on shows in the camps at Tatura, shoemakers are listed in the Internee files. I bring that up because of a perceived link between Tibor Kaldor and the Somerton Man. It's probably time to revisit the Dunera files yet again :)
ReplyDeleteNijinsky would have been a good starter but he was in his late 50s. STill he would have been pretty fit I suppose.
ReplyDelete