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Leacock, Stephen, 1869-1944

"The Hohenzollerns in America"

But
if he has none of these things to express and is only in
the scene as a background for the others, then he goes
over and leans in an easy attitude against the tall
cardboard clock.
That then is the place for Bartolomeo Colombo. To the
clock with him.
Now what comes next?
"...The young Christopher developed at an early age a
passion for study, and especially for astronomy, geometry,
geodesy, and the exact science of the day."
Quite easy. On spins the film. Young Christopher in a
garret room (all movie study is done in garrets). The
cardboard ceiling slopes within six inches of his head.
This shows that the boy never rises from his books. He
can't. On a table in front of him is a little globe and
a pair of compasses. Christopher spins the globe round.
Then he makes two circles with the compasses, one after
the other, very carefully. This is the recognised movie
symbol for mathematical research.
So there we have Christopher--poor, honest, studious,
full of circles.
Now to the book again.
"...The young Columbus received his education at the
monastery of the Franciscan monks at Genoa. Here he spent
seven years."
Yes, but we can put that on the screen in seven seconds.


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