S
She Is Mrs. Ida Schnitzer,
Champion Diver, Swim-
Earth
THE SUNDAY OREGOXTAN, PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 20, 1921
of
6
I v
S
fa
1
The Phldlan Contour of Her Youth
fal Body Telia Kloquemly of the Care
ftlxa. bchnltzer Tafcra of Her Health.
w
HEN Ida Bc'mall brings out her
cups and meda'.H they have to
push the re.t of the furniture
to the wall. These glittering hon
oraria are of aii sizes, shapes and
conditions and denote a range of
bedily activity that would do credit
to a collegiate track squad let alone
ne single athlete, and a woman
athlete at that.
Yet there they unmistakably are.
Plizes for swimming. Jumping, run
ning, bowling, discus throwing for
very conceivable th:ng a human
bring with but two arms and legs
could do! And as one Is in the
midst of wondering how In tho world
ne got it all in. Miss Schnall sud
denly paraphrases the celebrated
words of Cornelia, mother of the
Cracchl, by saying: "Those are my
ral prizes." And in walks a Bhining
ad of seven with his little brother
of 26 months behind Mm, They are
ttr sons.
All of which leads up to the central
Idea; that Miss Schnall is only Mlns
Echnall in a professional sense. She
is really Mrs. A. W. Schnitzer, wife,
mother and the fastest stock-darner
in Flatbush. Brooklyn, N. Y. For 18
j ears she has been a champion ath
3te. For nine years she has been a
champion wife and mother, and if
he neglected one for the other the
records do not show it.
Dlvea From Moving; Airplane.
The other afternooa at Brighton
Miss Schnall gave the crowds some
thing to look at by diving off the
wing of an airplane into the ocean.
When he got to shore she imme
diately rushed into a waiting taxlcab
and raced for home. She had Just
remembered poss'bly it "was while
ihe was Btill in the air that she
had promised her husband a curried
cnlcken for dinner that same night.
He got the curried ch'cken.
Miss Schnall is not aware of any
peculiarly vital power within her.
Bhe doesn't feel that are Is appreci
ably different from other women.
Her only secret of achievement Is
that she has alwtys done the thing
that pleased and has done it with all
ber will and strength. This applies
to the curried chicken as well as the
pole vaulting.
Her physical soundness, however,
may be traced to the fact that she
Kot an early start. When she was
tcarcely 8 years old she looked out
of her window into a noldlers' parade
.round Just across the street. What
rhe saw there determined the whole
tent of her life.
This was in Tarnow, an Austrian
c ty In the province of Galicla. The
barrackc across 'he street had been
turned into training headquarters for
recruits and a rigorous routine of
exercise was being Imposed upon
these novices when Ida first began
to take notice. Each day she saw
them put through calisthenic drills.
As they skipped over hurdles, shinned
up poles and vaulted on and off their
wooden horsts. rhe felt her frail
little body responding to a distinct
mental propulsion. Sh wanted to be
doing those drills herself.
Most fascinating of all these was
the wall scaling. This required 'the
co-ordinated action of a whole squad,
ar.d, when neatly done was a beauti
ful sight to see. A group of soldiers
coosted two of .helr fellows to the
iop and they In turn lowered guns
icr the others to rasp. until all were
over.
The watching girl knew every
move, for she studied it day after
tLj and week after week. Then one
dry Ida ventured out of the house,
nd. crossing the stre" watched the
drill from the sidewalk. A squad
started to scale the wall. All of them
went over and the las. member was
about to make hi leap for the low
ered gun. He slipped, for some rea
,n, and before he could regain his
feet, the little golden-Laired girl had
rmoed toward th
cus. i&rselX.
wall and caught
Slid ya auicltfy
mer, Runner, Jumper, Bowler and Beauty, Who
Finds Ample Time to Bring Up Her Two Chil
dren and Also to Win Prizes for Darning Socks.
Even When She Bends the
She Keepa Her Smile.
-tised to the ton and over to the
jther side, where a laughing, cheer
ing group of soldiers caught her.
After that she was auopted as the
iughter of the regiment. The of
ficers gave her sweets, the privates
toddled her and the drill sergeants
taught her all they knew' about phy
sical culture.
After a while Ida was no longer a
'ather sickly girl, still suffering from
a fcevere fall she h.id had in her early
childhood, but an active young ath
lete who took any physical fisk that
t 'fered. She became bo proficient, in
fact, that she was occasionally told
iff to teach a batch of recruits.
In the cours of time the Schnall
family was caught by the hire of the
new world and came to the United
States. The family bettled in the
Bronx. New York. One of the first
Rights Ida saw when she began to
ake stock of her environment was a
ytillng. dancing, gang of boys who
ji-emed to be indulging in some sort
of meaningless running game She
watched them for a long time and
concluded they wtre crazy.
The next day, however, they were
. till at it. Ida realized that some sort
of idea must be at the bottom of all
this fuss and fury and she started
to find out. In less than a week
1 1. a was playing baseball as well as
ary boy of her age. And, needless to
juy, once she bocame converted to
ti'.e game, she remained under its
spell. It was entirely appropriate,
Lereforo. that Ida Schnall -should be
ue organizer, captain and manager
i the first woman's baseball' team
formed In New York city, as she was.
" Miss. Schnall had the same expe
r ence with bowling. Being engaged
.n numerous other athletic activities
rhe was scarcely aware that such a
came as bowling existed. A con
test for women, however, was an
nounced in New York She entered
ner name, spent a week practicing
rt.d took second prize. Likewise with
rtivlng. As an expert In the gymna
sium, at the age of :6, she hadn't
found the time to learn swimming.
Nevertheless, in 1910. after one or
'wo private efforts, she entered an
inateur contest at Sheepshead bay
i'lid won it even though attendants
tad to stand around with hooks and
f'J.h he.- out after each dive.
A Cure for Temperament.'
Miss Schnall realized however, that
the might want t do bit of diving
some time when persons with long
Looks weren". standing conveniently
ty. So she went in for swimming.
It wasn't long before she was begin
ning to build up the same sort of
record of achievemenr in this line
'bat she had done In a'.l others.
During all the time she was garner
ir g many sorts of rlbbirs, medals and
ci ps for a myriad of physical feats,
she was still an amateur. As such
Jte was instrumental in forming the
Women's Amateur Athletic union,
face became a professional diver
itrougfe an accident an accident to
a woman who was the first of her
sex to gain world eminence as a
ver. This was Annette Kellerman.
Miss Kellerman was putting on a
diving act at the Winter Garden at
the time this was in 1912 but one York, with a population of 5,620,048, not . only is there a distinction be
night refused to go on. All pleadings census of 1920, is larger than the mu- tween "Greater London" and plain
were In vain. The diver said she niclpallty of London. But this is more "London," but that the "City of Lon
wmilrf sea the whole show sro to or less of a technicality Inasmuch as don" is "something yet again." The
smash before she would yield her
point, ailsa Scanall. who jraa known
1 LT . : V-
Crab"
Adept nt Ahot-riltllnir
Mr.
..
to the management as a very capaoe
amateur diver, was called in. one an
. .i.- tr-ii... .tnt. 4
evciy one oi aoinii.u
aa than. n well that the audience
wasn't aware that they were looking
at an understudy.
iia Kphnall'it en?atrement to Dlav
the leadlnK role ln Undine, the great
feature photoplay, followed her Win-
-o "'i S " I-'ndlnr the Field la Hordle Hare ' -( I
tV I V f- ill ill
NEW YORK AND ITS ENVIRONS
ARE BIGGEST CITY IN WORLD
Estimated on Same Basis aa Population of Greater London, Gotham
Ranks English Metropolis by Large Margin.
iHE biggest city in the worltf has
1 moved from the orient to the
Occident, and. estimating New
York on the same basis as the popu
lat'on of Greater London was com
puted during the recent census, the
metropolis of the western hemisphere
is the largest city Jn the world.
Greater London includes all the sub-
urbs within a radius of 15 miles of
Charing Cross and has a population
of 7,478,168 persons. ; On this basis
New York would Include Jersey City,
Hoboken, Bayonn-e, Yonkers and New
Rochelle.
Again the municipality of New
Greater London Is classified as a
-unit as retards population. If, how.-
Schnitxer Saya She Learned That the Qulrkeat Way to Kn.l
f to Stand on Your Head.
. . .-j u ,.
ter wr . -pp"-- -
dbsoukui iu u ujj -
roi- S5he didn't care for this, how-
- - -
ever. She wanted to maintain an all-
rouna pnysica.! eL-m.e.. ...
that she couldn't If she specialized as
ri.
At her present age. 28, Miss Schnall.
or Mrs. Schnitzer. Is as active and as
ver, one is seeking the spot on the
earth's surface where the greatest
number of persons are gathered New
York and Its environs lead.
The Greater London which haa
nearly seven and a half million has
an existence as a metropolitan. and
police unit. It is municipal London
plus the so-called outer ring. The
7,176.168 people of "Greater London"
are distributed over 693 square miles,
an area six times that of municipal
London, and more than twice that of
municipal New York.
In passing it should be noted that
"City of London" covers only 67
jurea and baa resident population
,. , y. I" -J
.-.JK?
Hradni-ha
Whenever her davs
- - jums fro"m
... : .
the top of some building into
fire-
.
man s net
or makes a spectacular
... .
some swirt-moving air-
-
plane.
As testimonials ot her prowess, ira.
As testimonials of her prowess, Mrs.
Schnitzer can show prizes or citations
jliaLiuiia
ror swimming,
diving, long distance
of fewer than 25,000. The day popu
lation, however, exceeds 300,000.
Nw York of today is an agglom-
eration of towns. All have been
amalgamated with the original New
York, comprised ln what now is me
borough of Manhattan, or the county
of New York. The New York which
Includes the boroughs of Manhattan,
Brooklyn. Bronx, Queens and Rlch-
mond is a municipal unit with an area
of SZS square miles ana VP"""""
of 6,620,048
Rtrlrtlv Rneaklnf the municipality
f New York has more people than
the municipality of London. For le
gally, as a municipal unit, "London"
refers only to the area within the
boundaries of the county of London.
Thus the municipal London, which
corresponds to the municipal New
York, comprises about 116 square
mnes and, in 1911, ha a population
0f four and a half million. Only ths
-Greater London" figures are carried
dispatches, but at the rate of
growth they indicate, London proper
still is under the five million mark.
Suppose New York, were to add to
its present area the aggregate 273
miles oi iiuaoon, x.ssex ana ur.iom
counties in Nvr Jersey, It still
S I
?v f
VVr'r
home of the Cupn and Medaln Mr. Sehnliaer
Captured. The Loreeat Cup Waa for Beins .Judged
"the Beat-Formed Vmu la Ajnerlca."
running, sprints. Jumping, pole vault
ing, discus throwing, shot-putting,
bicycle riding, baseball, .tennis, bowl
ing, dancing. ' horsemanship, golf,
cricket, basketball. Ice skating, tum
bling. Total those up and take an
other look for Mrs. Schnitzer also
holds prizes for making embroidery
and darning. Then take a final look
at her house, a model of neatness, and
her table, groaning with savory food
prepared under her supervision and
the two shining faces of her sons
already mentioned. One understands
then why she is called "the most ath
letic mother on earth."
Mrs. Schnitzer feels that she has a
congenital aptitude for athletics and
a-L.ount3 for her superiority in that
way. To the observer, nowever, ner
unswervaDie win et.u iu
i ........ .. - f hap .nulnniant VflT
imim
whole record there is not one
f " w e t
-. ' r""-" - '
vi l uu' "
of course,
bard, put in sucn caaea c n.inyijr
would be a hundred square miles cislon. There she learned that her
smaller than "Greater London," but mind was her own, and that if a hus
would pass the seven million mark in band more or less insisted on bedev-
population. Were it then to add por-
tions of Westchester county (north
of the Bronx) and of Nassau county
ton uraS iiw.U y
don's population well within a like
Municipal New York is larger than
municipal London. A nhica!
"Greater New York" extending as far
into its environs as does "Greater
London" would be larger than
"Greater London." Aside from mu-
nlcipal definition New York and the
territory about It constitutes a
greater population center than Lon
don.
More than 9,000,000 persons live
within 50 miles of the New York city
hall and one-ninth of the entlr popu
lation of the United States reside
w'thln a hundred-mile radius of that
city.
-
DIVORCE CURE IS SOUGHT
(Continued From Pne 2 )
nauian Indian. He demanded that she
consent to exile herself ln France.
Mrs. Stillman sought Zurich as the
place where eh a would salts her do-
9 CI
But Her Greatest Stunt, She Declares,
la HearlnK Her Two Mont-Coveted
I'rUea, theater Malcolm,
Solomon,. Jb,
called on her reserve power and went
at the task all the harder.
Though she runs her own home,
Mrs. Schnitzer says she has never al
lowed her household duties to become
onerous. She does her work accord
ing to the simplest and most direct
plan she can find. She does no fret
ting and she keeps in condition.
"I expect to be taking prizes at
twice my present age," she said. "And
I will probably have a larger family,
too."
One of the most remarkable phy
sical characteristics of Mrs. Sohnltzer
is tho softness of her body. Exponent
of the strenuous as she Is, one cer
tainly would expect to find muscles as
hard as a blacksmith's and a form
bulging wltfi knotty sinew. But, In
stead, even her really powerful bleeps
are as soft as a debutante's.
The contour of her form Is such
that at a contest held on the west
coast she was awarded the largest of
the loving cups pictured on this page
as a tribute to her being "the most
beautifully formed woman in Amer
ica." Many stage beauties competed
against her, but her form far sur
passed any that the Judges looked
upon.
The outline of her figure, pictured
on this page, reveals that there Is
nothing to Indicate maternity about
her, nor a curve denoting that she has
been twice through the ordeal of
motherhood. She re-gained her youth
ful profile by- depending on nature,
rather than artificial means. Her ex
perience should be of great value to
young married women the world over.
"It is the natural thing for a woman
to be perfectly formed," she declares
to those who often comment on her
own symmetrical, figure. "Look about
you at the growing girls. In the past
generation one saw nothing but flat
chested young women. Tho corset
less girl of this day permits her body
to develop. She blooms like a flower,
with the roundness and the symmetry
that was intended should be hers.
Young mothers should remember that
nature will restore youthful beauty
when her work is not interfered with
by artificial devises."
(imgr the thoughts of a day, all she
had t( dQ wae to changre tlie thought,
exacty wnat ghe dldt and Bne
h Unlted states ready
.f a to la divorce
whip, that she had beat him to the
-
dom.
Mrs. McCormick was at Zurich
when Mrs. Stillman arrived there, and
It Is an Interesting fact that when
Mrs. Stillman returned to America, the
first haven of refuge open to her was
the Chicago home of Harold F. Mo-
Cormick.
So Mrs. McCormick has had a large
and comprehensive view of marital
misery, set with millions, and the
Rockefeller fortune has never had a
more promising field for researoh
than her latest project.
And besides
'If it succeeds
There is nothing to keep a poor
man or woman from trying it, for
every one owns his own mind, and It
doesn't cost anything to changs iu
That's what the new science proposes
to. do as a curs for the unhappy.