The Emperor's 197th Birthday: A Party & Presentation of Recent Findings
John Tenniel's (1820-1914) illustration for the story of the Lion and the Unicorn, from Lewis Carroll's (1832-1898) novel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871).
Was Emperor Norton really born in 1819, as his gravestone says? Or was he born in 1818? At the next event of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign*, we'll shed new light on the answer to this old question.
THE EMPEROR'S 197th BIRTHDAY
A Party & Presentation of Recent Findings in Pursuit
of the Elusive Answer to the Question:
When Was Emperor Norton Born?
Tuesday 3 February, from 7 to 10 p.m.
Eric Quezada Center for Culture & Politics
518 Valencia Street (near 16th Street)
San Francisco, California
A Fundraiser for The Emperor's Bridge Campaign
Goal: $1,000
Admission: $10-20 sliding scale donation requested
No one will be turned away
Please RSVP via Facebook or by dropping us a line here.
One of the most intractable mysteries surrounding Emperor Norton is the date of his birth. Most U.S. sources treat the year inscribed on the Emperor's gravestone in Colma, Calif. — 1819 — as authoritative. But, in researching this question over the past several weeks, The Emperor's Bridge Campaign has made a series of unreported (or underreported) discoveries that point to a date — 4 February 1818 — that challenges the conventional wisdom.
A presentation of these findings will be the highlight of a 197th birthday party that the Campaign is throwing for Emperor Norton on Tuesday 3 February.
The event is a fundraiser for The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, a new nonprofit. We are seeking to raise $1,000.
Please join us!!! There will be wine and cake! (Did we mention that there will be wine?)
As a bonus for the final hour or so of the event, we'll be screening two rarely seen television episodes — a 1956 episode of Death Valley Days and a 1966 episode of Bonanza — that interpret the story of Emperor Norton.
Hope to see you!
* In December 2019, The Emperor's Bridge Campaign adopted a new name: The Emperor Norton Trust.
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For more on our Emperor's Birth Date Research Project, please visit the project page here.
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