Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Podcast385: Interview with Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (Glenn Stoops)

This podcast is an interview with Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, portrayed by historical character actor Glenn Stoops. French artist Auguste Bartholdi conceived and sculpted the design for “Liberty Enlightening the World,” more commonly known today as The Statue of Liberty. It took 21 years from the initial conversation among Free Masons in Paris in 1865 about the idea of creating this symbol of liberty to the public unveiling of the statue in the United States in New York City. This interview was recorded on Liberty Island in The Statue of Liberty Park on November 5, 2011. “Travel is the death of prejudice,” according to Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain.) Through his travels to Africa as well as the United States, Auguste Bartholdi found that statement to be true. A central tenet of the Free Mason order was individual liberty, and in his historically-based responses to interview questions Bartholdi explains the background of the Masons promoting the idea of Lady Liberty. The work and influence of Edouard Rene de Laboulaye was vital in this process, which eventually led to a private meeting between U.S. President Ulysses Grant and Auguste Bartholdi making plans for “Liberty Enlightening the World. “This was a wonderful opportunity to step back in time and learn both about and from Auguste Bartholdi. Many thanks for Glenn Stoop for sharing his historical/theatrical passion and skills through reinactments and conversations like this one! Refer to the podcast shownotes for more information about Auguste Bartholdi, Glenn Stoop, the Statue of Liberty, and Laboulaye. This interview was recorded using the built-in microphone of an iPhone4 and the free version of the iTalk application. Transition music was created by Wesley Fryer using royalty-free loops in the software program, GarageBand. Thanks to 8 year old Rachel Fryer for sharing her voice in the outro.

Show Notes:

  1. Auguste Bartholdi (WikiPedia)
  2. Glenn Stoops (New York-based actor) – Bartholdi on Demand
  3. Statue of Liberty National Monument (official website)
  4. Statue of Liberty (WikiPedia)
  5. Édouard René de Laboulaye
  6. Freemasonry (WikiPedia)
  7. 101 Photos from my date with Lady Liberty (Flickr set)

Lady Liberty faces east to France

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (Glenn Stoop) and Wesley Fryer

Subscribe to “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” weekly podcasts!

Podcast RSS Feed

iTunes Podcast Link

Receive an email alert whenever a new Speed of Creativity podcast is published!

If you enjoyed this post and found it useful, subscribe to Wes’ free newsletter. Check out Wes’ video tutorial library, “Playing with Media.” Information about more ways to learn with Dr. Wesley Fryer are available on wesfryer.com/after.

On this day..


Posted

in

,

by

Tags: