Talk:Armine von Tempski

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[edit] Partial timeline

Notes from the timeline on the Don Blanding website:

1935:

00/00 Illustrates Ripe Breadfruit for friend Armine von Tempski.
07/09 Arrive at Charmain London's home with Armine and Al.

1936:

00/00 Armine von Tempski and husband Alfred Ball come from Hawaii to stay with Blanding in Taos.
07/08 The Balls go to Colorado Springs.
07/20 The Balls return to Taos.
07/21 Don, Scotty and the Balls leave for a trip to the Carlsbad Caverns.
12/25 Big Christmas bash at Don & Scotty's: Armine von Tempski, Al Ball, Homer Hayes.

1937:

11/15 Has dinner with Armine and Al in Manhattan Beach.

1943:

12/02 Armine Von Tempski dies.

Stored here; may be useful for von Tempski bio. — Athaenara ✉ 09:28, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Miscellaneous notes

Von Tempski is also spelled Von Tempsky.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

A very few sources (e.g. Find A Grave^[5]) have year of birth 1899 but it's 1892^[3] in the Tsai article.

Her father Louis von Tempsky was, according to the Tsai article,^[3] the son of a Major who emigrated from New Zealand to Hawaii, so "Polish-American" as on the Ox Bow Press page^[6] doesn't seem right.

The Krauss column^[2] seems to have conflated the father Louis Von Temspky with the grandfather Major Von Tempsky.

Louis von Tempsky's wife, who presumably was Armine von Tempski's mother, is named as Amy Dulcibella Wodehouse on two genealogy websites: RootsWeb (“Name: Louis von Tempsky. Marriage 1 Amy Dulcibella Wodehouse b: 1866. Married: 1891.”) and Ancestry.com (“Amy Dulcibella Wodehouse was born 1866, and died 1909. She married Louis von Tempsky 1891.”)

On the ‘Aloha, Don Blanding Collectors Society’ Yahoo! group page,^[7] there is a discussion of the circumstances of Armine von Temspki's death.

(Added notes and references 1-7.) — Athaenara ✉ 04:32, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Additional notes 1

Don Blanding column in March 1956 Honolulu Star-Bulletin.^[8]

“This brings another memory. Armine von Tempski and her husband, Al Ball, were living in my house in Carmel while she was writing the first half of her book, Born in Paradise. We were taking a walk along the Carmel shore to get the typewriter cramps out of our fingers. A group of Sicilian fishermen and their families were seated on the grass. They were eating. They had big loaves of delectable dark bread. They had wine, garlic, onions, etc.

“But Armine and I spotted something else, and began to drool. They were opening and eating beautiful sea-urchins. We paused. A big fat happy looking woman saw us staring. She said something to the others and mockingly offered us one of the sea-urchins. We practically broke her wrist snatching it. She saw the happy reminiscent expressions in our eyes and realized we were veterans to this fare. We were invited to join them. After that, these nice people would call us when they went sea-urchining, and we'd drop whatever we were doing and speed to the feast.”

Biography-in-progress notes by an amateur researcher identified only as "Bev"^[9] (this Bev?)

“Bev. is doing research on the life of Armine von Tempsky, born on Maui, in the Upcountry, in 1892, on the side of Haleakala. In 1907 Jack London and his wife, Charmian, visited Haleakala Ranch, managed, at the time, by Armine's father, Louis. Along with his two oldest daughters, Armine and Gwen, Louis von Tempsky took the London's up to and through Haleakala crater and continued on to Hana on the eastern coast of the island. During this time Armine became friends with the Londons who encouraged her to write. Their relationship continued for years. During her lifetime, Armine von Tempsky wrote 12 books about life in Hawaii, especially about ranch life,centering around the years of the early 1900's. By the 30's and 40's she had become a popular writer with one of her best known books, Born in Paradise. Another of Armine's books, Hula, was later made into a movie, starring Clara Bow. Bev. plans to publish her biography of Armine von Tempsky in the near future.”

(Added notes and references 8-9.) — Athaenara ✉ 21:23, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Additional notes 2

Jack London influence, magazine article. ^[10]

“On Maui, they [Jack London and his wife Charmian] met Louis von Tempsky and his daughters Gwendolyn and Armine, and were impressed with their riding abilities.…They returned to Maui and took the plantation train to Pāʻia. He again met up with the von Tempskys. They rode horses and visited the massive erosional basin at Haleakalā, the House of the Sun. Sixteen-year-old Armine, chubby and red-haired, approached him with some of her stories about Africa and polar snows. She asked him his opinion. He read each one and pronounced them “clumsy, incoherent tripe.” He handed them back, adding, “But every so often there’s a streak of fire on your pages.” Thus encouraged, she went back to write of Big Island cowboys and the Island ranch life she knew, and so became Hawai‘i’s first novelist.”

Jack London influence, Stasz book. ^[11]

“They most preferred visits to ranches, where they could enjoy the isolation and hospitality of a family, as well as daily horseback riding. Their favorite was Haleakala Ranch, managed by Louis von Tempsky. His teenage daughter Armine, a budding writer, was surprised to find Jack a “breezy, boyish-looking man with ... a mop of rather untidy hair. Intelligence, vigor, and a gusto for life emanated from him.” For ten days she joined the couple on horseback. Jack rode “like a sailor,” while Charmian was “such a finished performer that I lent her Bedouin, who had never carried another woman on his back.” Jack read one of Armine's manuscripts and dubbed it “tripe,” but added that she had “a streak of fire” that promised success once she understood that writing was the hardest work in the world.”

Citations in Hartman movie. ^[12]

“Celebrating proudly in the Parker Ranch victory was a sixteen-year-old rancher's daughter Armine von Tempsky. Her father managed the Haleakala Ranch on Maui, an island away. Encouraged by Jack London who first visited their ranch in 1907, she aspired to become a writer; and in striving to write what she knew, chronicled the spirit of Hawaiian ranch life, its people and music in her autobiography Born in Paradise. Her first novel, Hula, was turned into a silent movie in 1927 starring Clara Bow. (Armine von Tempsky was published under a different spelling, "Tempski.") The paniolos Armine grew up with taught her about mana, or spirit, which was of the land and in each person who knew themselves. Troubadours on horseback, they would serenade by moonlight. … In Born in Paradise, Armine describes a trip to the island of Lanai as she accompanied a team from Honolulu's Bishop Museum studying ancient petroglyphs. Awestruck by the history of Hawaii's ancient people, Armine wrote of the steel guitar of the paniolos who led them to the remote spot. Around the campfire, "Lomi and Kenny took out their guitars and played, using their jack-knives for steels, the long-drawn-out notes sounding like the voices of forgotten people calling to one another across time." ”

(Added notes and references 10-12.) — Athaenara ✉ 19:28, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

References

^ Armine von Tempsky Tells Further Plans. Maui News. Newspaper Abstracts website (2 May 1928).
^ ^a ^b Bob Krauss (13 April 2005). An earlier rescue of barren isle. The Honolulu Advertiser (includes extensive quotes from Armine von Temspki's first published article). “The battle to save Kaho'olawe in the 1970s was a big part of the Hawaiian Renaissance. It wasn't the first battle. I recently stumbled across another battle for Kaho'olawe that took place 50 years earlier. What caught my attention in an old Advertiser dated Dec. 23, 1922, was the name of Armine Von Tempsky, who became one of Hawai'i's best-known authors. Before her novels "Dust" and "Hula" made her reputation, she reported this battle for Kaho'olawe for The Advertiser. The story is part of her debut in print called "The Redemption of an Island." Although Von Tempsky doesn't name him, the hero of her story is her father, Louis Von Tempsky, a colorful veteran of the Maori Wars in New Zealand who came to Hawai'i as a rancher. He made a valiant attempt to turn Kaho'olawe green again.”
^ ^a ^b ^c Michael Tsai (2 July 2006). Armine von Tempsky. The Honolulu Advertiser. “Von Tempsky, daughter of rancher Louis von Tempsky and granddaughter of Maori War veteran Major von Tempsky, was born in 1892 and spent much of her life working on the ranch.”
^ Haleakala Ranch Company History. Haleakala Ranch website (2005). “In 1899 Louis von Tempsky was hired as manager. His outstanding knowledge of horses and cattle, along with his love for the people and the land, enriched the company. He organized the first polo game on Maui. His eldest daughter, Armine, wrote many books about Hawaii. Her most famous, Born In Paradise, is the story of her youth, growing up on Haleakala Ranch.”
^ Armine Von Tempski (1899-1943). Find A Grave. “Birth: Apr. 1, 1899. Death: Dec. 2, 1943.”
^ Ox Bow Press, Woodbridge, Connecticut. Complete Works of Armine von Tempski.
^ Aloha, Don Blanding Collectors Society. Tempski discussion. Yahoo! Groups.
^ Quote from 3 March 1956 column by Don Blanding, Honolulu Star-Bulletin (posted 12 June 2001). Re: Tempski. Aloha, Don Blanding Collectors Society, Yahoo! Groups.
^ Hal & Bev [no surname given]. About page. ourmauihometoo.com.
^ Joseph Theroux. They Came to Write in Hawai‘i. Spirit of Aloha (Aloha Airlines) March/April 2007.
^ Clarice Stasz (p. 123), Jack London's Women. University of Massachusetts Press, 2001. ISBN 1-55849-301-8. ASIN 1558493018 (Google Book Search Preview).
^ Amy Hartman. Hawaiian Voice (SWF). movie (introduction).