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X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:54 am
by Pine
Old pic from the Cape Town Museum - can anyone figure out the signwriting on the panel van to the left?

Image

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:46 pm
by karmakoma
If my eyes dont deceive me, it says Lawson & Kirk
and below that Dry Cleaners.

a quick google to confirm, reveals that there was indeed a company around like that at the right time:

My mother initially earned her living as a sewing machinist, having first gone into the workplace at the age of 13, waged at seven shillings for a seven day week. In the late 1950s she left her job at Sweet-Orr Overalls to become a dry-cleaners shop attendant in District Six, for a company called Lawson & Kirk. From that time she was widely known on the streets of the district as ‘Cleaners’

interesting pics as always Pine! (gruesome story though !)

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:51 pm
by Pine
WOW! You are goooooooooood, Karma - thanks for the info Image

Now: how many gunmen in this pic? :twisted:

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Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:53 pm
by karmakoma
LOL, only one, slightly behind you to your left (iirc), or if you believe in conspiracies, a number of other possibilities, how much time have you got ?! :lol:

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:58 pm
by Pine
Now I understand why the pic is in the Cape Town Museum! Interesting story:
A Heart for Louis
In 1967, many surgeons in medical centers throughout the world were on the verge of performing the first human heart transplant. Since 1954, when the first successful kidney transplant had been achieved, surgeons had performed innumerable heart transplants on dogs, calves, and monkeys in preparation for the first attempt on humans. Major obstacles had to be overcome. For example, the immune systems of heart recipients tended to reject the new hearts. This problem had not yet been solved. There were also moral, legal, and emotional problems with transplanting a heart into a human.

Nevertheless, on December 2, 1967, Christiaan Barnard and the thirty members of his team transplanted the heart of Denise Darvall into the body of Louis Washkansky at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Even though Washkansky lived for only eighteen days after the operation, a whole new medical frontier had been entered.

Washkansky had suffered several major heart attacks since 1960. His coronary vessel, which sends blood to the heart muscle, was almost completely destroyed, and both ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart) were also failing.

Beginning in November, 1967, Barnard's team got themselves and Washkansky ready for the transplant. Marthinus Botha, the immunologist, would have to make sure that the new heart matched Washkansky's body. Arderne Forder, a bacteriologist, looked for any dangerous bacteria, not only in Washkansky but in all the team members as well. Washkansky was washed many times to remove any germs, and a germ-free recovery room was prepared. The biggest risk was that the doctors might not be able to tell the difference between rejection of the new heart and an infection.

Washkansky's health was getting worse every day. On November 23, a possible heart was found, but it failed before the parents of the donor could be reached for permission. On the afternoon of December 2, twenty-five-year-old Denise Darvall and her mother, Myrtle, were hit by a car as they were crossing a street. Myrtle Darvall was killed instantly. Denise Darvall was taken to Groote Schuur Hospital, but her skull was fractured in many places, and the doctors knew there was no hope. By 5:30 P.M., her brain was dead. A machine was used to keep her heart beating, and after a few hours Botha found that her heart would match with Washkansky's. Edward Darvall, Denise's father, gave permission for her heart to be given to Washkansky.

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:34 pm
by karmakoma
who says this forum is not educational ! :shock: :D

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:06 pm
by buggyfan
To commemorate 50years since the 1st heart trqnsplant a docu-drama called Hartstog was made depicting the events leading up to the accident that claimed the lifes of the 2 women.
If the movie was factually correct the young Denise fractured her skull when she hit the rearwheel hubcap of a Vw beetle that was parked next to the road after being struck by a drunk driver.
Image

Image

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:47 pm
by John Alves
This is what it looks like today

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:53 pm
by 73type2
@John Alves: Did you actually go out there to take this picture?

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 4:13 pm
by fig
73type2 wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:53 pm @John Alves: Did you actually go out there to take this picture?
It looks like google streetview.

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:58 am
by beetlepower
Great Thread

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:40 am
by John Alves
Google pic, I grew up in the area so know it well

Re: X marks the spot

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:46 am
by Pine
buggyfan wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:06 pm To commemorate 50years since the 1st heart trqnsplant a docu-drama called Hartstog was made depicting the events leading up to the accident that claimed the lifes of the 2 women.
If the movie was factually correct the young Denise fractured her skull when she hit the rearwheel hubcap of a Vw beetle that was parked next to the road after being struck by a drunk driver.
Image

Image
They got the car for the re-enactment also quite right. The Beetle in the pics has flat hubcaps, so it could only be a 1967 1500 - so in other words an almost brand new car at the time of the accident.