1941

Richard Blow May 1941, visa photo for trip to Brazil. He looks serious, almost somber. His personal life is a mess. Bowing to social pressure, and the imminent arrival of second son David Jeremy, he and Marya have formally tied the knot (1938). He’s got a second kid, David, but neither he nor Marya are built for parenthood. His marriage is on the rocks. World War II has already started in Europe with Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. Marya and Richard are refugees from Italy, their beloved Villa Pizza Calda taken over by Mussolini’s Fascists. They’re now living in a New York City apartment. Japan is getting ready to attack America. Why Richard makes this flight to Rio de Janeiro at this particular moment is a mystery to me. Get away from fights with the wife and a crying three-year-old baby? Practice his flying skills in preparation for enlisting in the military? (he pilots his own plane down there). Maybe a secret mission for the U.S. government? (not a completely crazy conjecture -- his brother George is working in the Dept. of the Navy in Washington DC. The family is politically connected, and his father was a U.S. Naval Academy grad and famous Spanish-American war hero). Whatever the answer, Richard’s mind in no longer on painting.