STRANGER THAN FICTION

warren an amazing story of triumph over handicap is that of mrs leona felter who creates painstake embroidery work with but one hand now 64 misses her suffered a stroke when she was 48 that paralyzed her left side undaunted she spent many hours daily learning to embroider and crochet until today she produces pieces that are the admiration envy of all this is a striking example of mrs felterserk who's fully rewarded for her perseverance in the comfort she finds in her attainments notice how she holds the thread between her mrs felter has 13 children and 24 grandchildren five of her sons are in the army mrs falter's waking hours here at the west palm beach county home are spent in a wheelchair but that hasn't discouraged this brave lady she has developed an art that brightens each day some of her fine crochet work such as this dresser scarf with popcorn and fillet stitching is turned finer than most work done with both hands it's truly a story of the will to win over obstacles now just sit still folks don't call the manager the camera never lies just watch here in the santa cruz mountains nature has repealed the law of gravity this weight swings easily in one direction but not in the other and when you enter this cabin you must lean to maintain your balance but here's the strangest of the phenomena you can climb the side of the wall and have the sensation of being supported in space people say that all this is due to a buried meteor or some mineral deposit that causes the force of gravity to be relaxed north is west to the compass here and the radio is useless in the area and as for a ball why it just runs uphill who is the taller of the two what a bet finally take these two concrete blocks one inside and the other outside the area any hollywood scout would call these girls the same height but when they switch places one seems at least three inches taller the law of gravity has been repealed now what about some of the others greatest of sculptors is mother nature and here's one of her strangest sidelines the spray from a waterfall fed by a mysterious spring turns everything to stone and various objects in less than six months have been coated with a quarter inch of rock the spring on the ranch of harry goodfellow at pine gulch arizona contains a high percentage of calcium carbonate and the spray veneers everything with lime turning this nearby tree to stone the hats are molded in perfect outline making a straw you'd have a tough time getting rid of on labor day brother it's a skimmer that'd bow you down take this 10 gallon number guaranteed for a lifetime a strange example of nature ceaselessly at work magic in this changing world an echo from some ancient stone age is the work of ed leeds calvin 120 pound superman using but the most primitive of tools he handles huge 15-ton pieces of coral rock with the greatest of ease this is his life work building a great stone city that he hopes will stand for thousands of years he works as the ancient egyptians did when they built the pyramids the four-ton rock that serves as an entrance gate is so nicely balanced a slight push will move it but that's only the first of many wonders to be found in this strange place many and buried are the huge pieces and one of the most striking works is a huge table carved in the shape of the florida peninsula here's further example of how he's balanced these carvings and we have a different version of a merry-go-round junior would sleep like a lamb in this five-ton crib this project may smack of the stone age but it has all modern conveniences maybe there's no running water but mr leeds cannon has built-in basins for modern comfort 2 and what's more a bathtub oh boy she's sitting on top of the world or something just where this unusual artist hopes to be when he completes his most ambitious of hobbies one of the most unique classes in the world is conducted by the university of miami students of marine biology go right to the ocean floor to study flora and fauna at first with regulation navy diving helmets and with air pumped by fellow students can stay underwater for upwards of an hour without the slightest discomfort there's no danger of students playing hooky from this class to spend a day at the old swimming hole no wonder it's the best light course at the university don't get the idea that this is just a stunt students have this field work regularly to acquaint them better with what they study in textbooks during dry land classes f g walton smith professor of biology conceived this idea that certainly takes the student away from dry textbooks interesting or unusual specimens are taken back to the tory for further detailed study easily one of the most unusual classes in the world truly stranger than fiction george p faiko jr and arts of philadelphia has discovered a new and striking art medium smoke painting after an outline in pencil he applies the flame of match after match delicately shading here scorching there until he gets the right gradation it's painstaking work and he burns from a thousand to fifteen hundred matches before a drawing is completed here's a fine sample of his work in this benjamin franklin portrait he shades his work by applying flame from one to four times in each spot using just the match smoke to darken the backgrounds his caricature likenesses are amazing he's captured a great likeness of pedorevsky poland's great patriot pianist george bernard shaw even to that perpetual gleam in his eye and mr faker has portrayed our wartime president along with america's great hero macarthur amazing art in a strange medium you