Figure 1.-- Here we see none other than the legendary and slimmed-down Babe Ruth showing a group of mostly boys how to hit an apple (apparently a baseball ws unavilable) with a small baseball bat. The Babe was at the Mac Jannet School in St. Cloud France. He had traveled to Europe with his wife after finishing up his 1934 Tour of Japan. The Ruths made a pitstop to France for some rest and recretion before retiring. The photograph ws dated January 18, 1935. This a great image of Babe giving back to the kids. The Babe was an American legend and the boys must have been amazed to see him show up at their school so deep in France. The press caotion read, "The Bambino Shows 'Em How: 'Babe' Ruth delighted a hundred American youngsters at the Mac Janet School in St, Cloud with a little lecture and demonstration on the art of smacking the old apple. It was an imdo?? baseball and midget sized bat, but Ruth cloubered the one with the other in a way to delight any fan young or old." The Babe was raised in an orphanage (because he was so large and difficult to deal with) and along with a wild life, always had a soft for kids, especially kids in orphanages and hospitals. There was no school uniform other than the boys had to wear suits. The boys here are dresed more like American than French children. Given the fact that they are in France and at a private chool, the children came from affluent families. And they are dressed as one whould expect from well-to-do American families.

The Mac Janet schools and camps were set up by an American educator for American children in France, after World War I. Donald MacJannet was born in New England (1894). His parents were Robert McJannet, a fundamentalist Scottish-born minister, and Irene Waters, of an old New England family. He was orphaned at age 15 years and then became the main supporter of a younger sibling and the lady who took them in. He was an outstanding scholar and put himself through college with a focus on languages and French literature. He taught at the prestigious St. Albans School in Washington D.C. He was outraged by the German invasion of Belgium and France and wanted to help save the country that so enchanted him. He served as a pilot in France during World War I, a very dangerous undertaking. He studied at the at the Sorbonne after the war. His real passion, however, was teaching and opened his first school, the MacJannet School for Young Americans outside Paris (1924). The next year he opened a second school at St. Cloud. He then opened American-style summer camps for the childre, separate facilities for boys and girls at Angon on Lake Annecy in Haute Savoie. They proved so popular that many French children enrolled. The schools were taught in English so few French children attended. MacJannet met and married German-born Charlotte Blensdorf (1932). Blensdorf had founded her own school of eurythmics in Sweden after World War I. Eurythmics is a discipline which stresses training in rhythm, music and movement which added to the school, but specially camp experience. After the German World War II occupation, the Mac Janets and other Americans had to leave France, but used their facilities to care for French war orphansthroughout the War. They returned and continued to operate their camps (1952).

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Created: 7:00 PM 2/25/2016
Last updated: 7:00 PM 2/25/2016