How the news of Emils approach reached Shanghai is a bit of a mystery, as the artists itinerary was a closely-guarded secret, even in the U.S. In fact, not until he arrived in Honolulu was it was learned he was accompanied by Miss Dewey. However, the news reached Shanghai on March 8 that a US ship, the President Clinton, was approaching the city and that one of the passengers aboard was the world-famous and much-loved artist...EMIL WEST. The citys art community was abuzz with the news, and hasty preparations to greet him began immediately. But a possible flaw in this was the question of whether Emil would get off the ship, which would dock there for less than 24 hours, leaving early the next morning. The itinerary was secret as he had wanted a quiet, relaxing holiday, free of the mobs of reporters who besieged him whenever he traveled outside the U.S. This time would be no different, as there were already more than 40 Chinese and foreign journalists at the dock at noon, before the Clinton had even entered the harbor. For some reason, there were no local celebrities at the dock, perhaps because the visit had caught the studios a bit by surprise; in any case, they made up for it that evening, especially considering they had only 24 hours to prepare. (It later turned out that Emils original itinerary was: Sail from California to Honolulu and then across to Japan. One days stopover in Shanghai, then depart for Hong Kong on the same ship. Change ship in Hong Kong and go on to Manila, Bali and Indo-China. At last, passage through the Suez Canal to Paris. The entire trip was to take five months.)
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 07:14:28 +0000
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