Osa Johnson's 9.3x62

[Ruraldoc]

Yep, I have a CZ 550 Classic in 9.3x62.

Close but no cigar.

 

[BFaucett]

Yep, I have a CZ 550 Classic in 9.3x62.

Close but no cigar.

That's what I have (and I used way back in 2005). At least I can say that both Osa and I have used the 9.3x62 cartridge in Africa. I kind of like that idea (even if it is just a very small connection with her).

Cheers! Bob F.

CZ 550 American 9.3x62 -- handload: 286 gr Woodleigh RN at 2395 fps -- Warthog cull

 

[BFaucett]

I already have a BRNO ZKK 600 9,3X62 made in 1967. Close but not the same as a Mauser like Bob's one...

Well, I don't think of the Mauser as being mine. It's still Osa's rifle in my mind. I'm just holding on to it for her (so to speak) until I donate it to the Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas. I think the rifle needs to go back home and be with Osa. (She and Martin are buried in Chanute.)

Cheers! Bob F.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

So what rifle did Martin prefer?

 

[Ruraldoc]

Martin was behind the camera more than a rifle

 

[BFaucett]

Just for fun. . . A photo montage video set to the music of the Indiana Jones theme.

Osa Johnson, Indiana Jane
video posted to YouTube on Jun 28, 2017
YouTube channel: Linda Bastholm Jensen

"Indiana Jane"?? But Osa was a proud Kansan!!

(Photo by me.)

Cheers! Bob F.

 

[BFaucett]

I came across this today and I thought it might be of interest.

Cheers! Bob F.

source: https://www.facebook.com/MartinandO...ions-together-in-1919-the-wi/710336657551464/

 

[BFaucett]

I thought this might be of interest. Below is Osa's list of the guns "the arsenal with which we arrived at Lake Paradise." "I list this arsenal roughly." Notice that she specifically stated ROUGHLY. This list and the quotes above are from her book I Married Adventure, © 1940; chapter 22. (I have a first edition copy of the book.)

The Springfield rifle being listed as a .303 is, IMO, a simple mistake. Much like the term "Mauser action" seems to indicate a bolt action and not necessarily an action specifically made by the Mauser company. Osa wasn't a firearms expert or enthusiast (like so many of the forum members here). Also, remember that Martin and Osa spent a great deal of time around British colonists; the labels/names such as .30-03, .30-06, .30 cal 1903, or .30 cal 1906 (as examples) may have been confused with the label/name .303 as a designation for a .30 caliber rifle. Additionally, the book was ghostwritten (which doesn't detract from the book or Osa, IMO). I doubt if the ghostwriter(s) had much knowledge about firearms in order to do in-depth fact checking. Even the original publisher of the book, J. B. Lippincott Company, didn't catch it.

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Martin and Osa's time spent at Lake Paradise.

* NOTE *: Going by the serial number on Osa's Mauser 9.3x62 rifle and Jon Speed's book, Original Oberndorf Sporting Rifles, Osa's 9.3x62 rifle was manufacured in approximately 1930/31. So, Osa didn't have that rifle in her possession during their time spent at Lake Paradise.


AFRICA 1921

In 1921, when Martin and Osa arrived for the first time in Kenya, battle lines were being drawn concerning the future of East Africa’s wildlife. Many white settlers favored eradicating the animals because of agricultural interests, while conservationists and guides preferred game preservation. The Johnsons were there to make an authentic record of wildlife in its natural state at the urging of Carl Akeley. By the time they left in 1922, Martin and Osa had shot 100,000 feet of film and taken hundreds of still pictures. The resulting film, ”Trailing African Wild Animals,” premiered in April 1923 while Martin’s book “Camera Trails in Africa” was published a year later in 1924.

For the first several months, they made photographic safaris to several areas in central Kenya, including the Athi Plains, the Ithanga Hills, the Loita Hills and northwest across the Loita Plains. Their trip culminated with a visit to the northern reaches of Kenya, specifically Mount Marsabit where they spent time camped near a lake which they named Paradise. Here they found an area seldom visited by sportsmen hunters and animals easier to approach.

source: https://safarimuseum.wixsite.com/martinosajohnson/expedition-4-africa-1921

AFRICA 1924

With the support of the American Museum of Natural History, Martin and Osa returned to East Africa for a second time with the intent to stay up to five years. Leaving the states on December 1, 1923, they reached the most notable film location of their career, Lake Paradise, in the spring of 1924.

Their intention was to set up a semi-permanent camp and this required an enormous amount of supplies to be transported to northern Kenya. Five trucks, four cars and several wagons were required to move their gear which included nearly two dozen cameras. The trip to Mount Marsabit took them three months and it took another three months to construct the buildings which included personal quarters, a workshop, kitchen, and a laboratory with the capabilities to develop film.

While at Lake Paradise, the Johnsons spent long hours in blinds both during the day and at night. They also followed the animals as they migrated according to the seasons to areas south of Marsabit, including the Mathews Range and the Lorian Swamp.

The Johnsons left Lake Paradise in December 1926 and returned to the states in the spring of 1927. They brought back 200,000 feet of silent stock which was edited into the highly successful movie “Simba.” Martin’s book, “Safari” and Osa’s “Four Years in Paradise” contain some of the 2,300 photos taken during this trip.

source: https://safarimuseum.wixsite.com/martinosajohnson/expedition-5-africa-1924
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Cheers! Bob F.

 

[BFaucett]

A Wild Love Story - (The Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum)
video posted to YouTube on Feb 14, 2024

"History is filled with notable adventurers, but very rarely is it a married couple! To celebrate Valentine's Day, today we bring you to a small town in Kansas where we find the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, a collection that tells the story of two of the world's greatest adventure seekers! Come tag along as we discover that the biggest adventure of them all just might be Love."

YouTube channel: Abnormal Voyages

Cheers! Bob F.

 

[Foxi]

However, I must admit that, unlike him, I never found this woman remotely likeable.
Her photos (at least to me) exude vanity and a thirst for publicity.
Almost always wearing makeup in her trophy photos, she always seemed fake and posed to me.
Your comments, on the other hand, really shed light on a piece of African history.

But now I've ordered this antiquarian book anyway and I'm very excited about it.

 

[BFaucett]

However, I must admit that, unlike him, I never found this woman remotely likeable.
Her photos (at least to me) exude vanity and a thirst for publicity.
Almost always wearing makeup in her trophy photos, she always seemed fake and posed to me.
Your comments, on the other hand, really shed light on a piece of African history.

...<snip>...

But now I've ordered this antiquarian book anyway and I'm very excited about it.

I think you will enjoy the book.

You may find the following excerpts to be of interest:

Women Film Pioneers is published in partnership with Columbia University Libraries.​

Osa Johnson​

by Laura Horak​

​

Throughout her career with Martin, Osa fashioned her persona as a dutiful, hardworking wife, attentive to her appearance as well as her husband’s needs. In a Photoplay article titled “A Wife in Africa,” she claimed: “I went to Africa with Martin for just the same reason that lots of girls settled down on Main street back home—just to be with my husband.” In the same article she emphasized her beauty regimen, remarking, “Yes, I always had my vanity bag handy, even in the jungle—everybody knows what an American husband thinks of a shiny nose” (33). ... Osa’s presence in the Johnson films, as simultaneously a devoted American housewife and a courageous heroine, set their films apart from other expedition pictures of the time. By the late 1930s, Osa’s film and public appearances had turned her into a fashion icon for active women, and the Fashion Academy in New York named her one of America’s “best-dressed” women in 1939, an honor shared with Bette Davis and announced in the New York Times (48).​

​

In 1953, in the middle of planning her next expedition, Osa suffered a heart attack in her New York hotel room, dying at age fifty-eight. Her New York Times obituary sums up her distaste for the artificiality of city life and her preference for the jungle: “I can hardly wait to get back to the jungle. I prefer it out there. When I sling my rifle over my shoulder and go out into the forest, I feel as if everything belonged to me. There’s no competition out there, no worry about what to wear and what other women are wearing. I am Queen of the Jungle” (30).​

​

source: https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-osa-johnson/​

I recommend that you read the entire article located at the link above.

Cheers! Bob F.