Old Island Days No.99 'A Fabulous Industry'
Old Island Days No.99 'A Fabulous Industry'
© Key West Art & Historical Society
Name/Title
Old Island Days No.99 'A Fabulous Industry'Entry/Object ID
1987.01.3209Description
Wood carving by Mario Sanchez depicting the Eduardo Hidalgo Gato Cigar Company with Mario's father (Pedro) as the Reader surrounded by cigar makers at the factory on Simonton Street and Virginia Street. The wood carving is two pieces of wood bolted and glued together. Sanchez wrote about his father's experience in the Gato Cigar Company, 'My father, Pedro Sanchez, was the reader in the Eduardo Hidalgo Gato cigar factory in the early 1900s until the 1920s. In the mornings, he read the news which he translated from the local papers. He read international news directly from Cuban newspapers brought daily by boat from Havana. From noon to 3 in the afternoons, he read from a novel. He was expected to interpret the characters by imitating their voices, like an actor. The workers chose novels to be read from a list prepared by the reader. Among novels offered were Emile Zola's 'I Accuse', Cervantes' 'Don Quixote', 'Legend of the Centuries' and 'The French Revolution' by Victor Hugo; Jules Verne's 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' and 'A Trip to the Moon'; 'The Land of Art' by Blasco Ibanez; 'The Demise of the Century' by Max Nordau. So, many years before the advent of the submarine and the radio, long before the first landing, the cigar makers of Key West had heard Jules Verne's predictions of those scientific developments read to them in the cigar factories. Each cigar maker paid the reader 25¢ a week for their education.' Print Available 1992.20.0008.Type of Sculpture
ReliefArtwork Details
Medium
Wood, OilSubject Place
City
Key WestState/Province
FloridaCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaCounty
MonroeCollection
Mario Sanchez CollectionMade/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Sanchez, MarioRole
ArtistDate made
1963Time Period
20th CenturyPlace
City
Key WestState/Province
FloridaCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaCounty
MonroeEthnography
Culture/Tribe
American