Vlado’s Beard Visits New Zealand

In almost all of the photos of Vlado he is clean-shaven, except for a brief period of time when he decided to grow a beard:
Fabry Archive - Selected Photographs (105)
This isn’t my favorite look for him, it makes me think of the Boers.
Here are two newspaper articles about Vlado’s visit to New Zealand in 1950, sporting his new beard in the photos (click images to read):
Vlado New Zealand newspaper
There are some women who really like beards, and Anne Harris of New Zealand is one of them. She sent Vlado this letter from Middlemore Hospital, where she had been for 16 months as a patient, asking him for a little of his beard:
Letter from Anne Harris New Zealand
Letter from Anne Harris New Zealand2
On the back of this letter, there is a note that Vlado replied with a Christmas card that year. If you’re still around, Anne, you’ll have to let me know if Vlado sent you some of his beard!

3 thoughts on “Vlado’s Beard Visits New Zealand”

  1. makagutu

    I don’t like to keep a beard, most times I find it so uncomfortable. Human beings are interesting animals. The things that motivate some of them border on the fringe!

  2. john zande

    I suspect Anne is a certifiable nutcase 🙂

    What an astonishingly strange thing to ask… and the way she asked it! I’m Australian so i know kiwis can be quite odd, but this is just weird. Great find!

    1. fabryhistory Post author

      This is definitely the weirdest letter I’ve found so far – the sort of letter a teenage girl sends to a celebrity heartthrob! I wonder why she was in the hospital for so long – maybe TB?

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