Viking Magazine - March 2015 - 9

BILL PULLMAN
ON STAGE IN
BERGEN
In December, Bergen's theater
scene welcomed American actor
Bill Pullman. He's playing the lead
role in " Othello " at Bergen's Den
Nationale Scene (The National
Scene) now through mid-March.
This adaptation of Shakespeare's
drama uses the original script but is set in modern day Cyprus.
Although the majority of the cast will speak Norwegian, Pullman
will perform the show in English. Throughout his 30-year career,
Pullman has acted on stage and in Hollywood fi lms, including
" Independence Day " and " While You Were Sleeping. " Learn more
about " Othello " and fi nd tickets at dns.no.
NORWAY CELEBRATES 1915 WORLD'S FAIR
BY JEFF M. SAUVE
his year marks the centennial of the Panama-Pacifi c
International Exposition, a world's fair held in San
Francisco, California, between February and December 1915
that celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal and the
host city's recovery from the 1906 earthquake and fi re. Many
nations had pavilions at the Exposition, including Norway.
On June 1, 1915, thousands attended Norway Day
at the Norwegian pavilion. The $40,000 pavilion was
dominated by a 95-foot tower with the Norwegian coat of
arms displayed on its facade. Rooms inside the story-anda-half
tower included an exhibit hall, an assembly hall, plus
reception and offi ce rooms. Refreshments were served around
a fountain in the outdoor garden in the center of the building.
While other foreign pavilions used gold or silver spades
for their groundbreaking ceremonies, on Oct. 31, 1914,
the Norwegians used two special shovels presented by
Capt. Roald Amundsen. One, an ice shovel, was made by
Eskimos of salvaged wood from the abandoned ship Victory,
captained by Sir John Ross of his ill-fated Arctic expedition
from 1829-1833. The other shovel was part of the equipment
of the Gjøa the fi rst ship to traverse the Northwest Passage,
commanded by Capt. Amundsen. He anchored the ship in
San Francisco in 1906. At the time of the 1915 International
Exposition, the ship was on display in Golden Gate Park. The
Norwegian Club of San Francisco kept both shovels since the
conclusion of the fair.
For interested readers, youtube.com offers video clips of
T
Aging Gracefully
Global AgeWatch Index 2014 recently rated
Norway the No. 1 country in which to
grow old. The study ranked the social and
economic well-being of older people in 96
countries. Norway claimed the top spot
due to its well-developed organizations
for elderly citizens and an awareness of
aging issues. The United States ranked No.
8. Here's a look at the top 5 rankings.
1 Norway
2 Sweden
3 Switzerland
4 Canada
5 Germany
the fair. For members of Sons of Norway's Henrik Ibsen
Lodge in San Francisco, there is no better place to watch
these fi lms than from the masterfully crafted dragestil, or
Viking-style bench, found at the lodge, which was exhibited
in the pavilion.
Jeff M. Sauve serves as an archivist for the Norwegian-American
Historical Association in Northfi eld, Minn.
sonsofnorway.com VIKING MARCH 2015 9
PHOTOS (RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM): COURTESY OF DNS, PHOTO BY ALBERT H. TEICH / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, PHOTO (FAR LEFT) COURTESY OF NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOC., NORTHFIELD, MINN.

http://www.dns.no http://www.SHUTTERSTOCK.COM http://www.youtube.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com

Viking Magazine - March 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - March 2015