The Mystery of the Professor's Door
A work-in-progress numbered diagram & legend for analysis of steganographic imagery on Dr. Wing's office door
Author's note (September 1, 2024): In 1989, I discovered that Spanish and Portuguese Professor George Gordon Wing displayed a montage made from clippings of photos, illustrations, and text on his office door in Batts Hall at the University of Texas at Austin. By late 1990, given Dr. Wing’s steganographic use of his car,1 I considered this carefully constructed, complex design worthy of documenting. These are my photographs of his door with a numbered diagram and legend. I created this research tool for ongoing identification and analysis.
“You can hang the truth on a wall for everyone to see, and no one will give much of a damn.” —Mark Lombardi
Wall on Left-side of Door (not diagramed):
First Column:
A. “Millôr enfim, um eseritor sem rótulo!” (Millor finally, a writer without a label!) (hand-drawn text). Note: Probable illustrated text by Brazilian cartoonist, humorist and playwright, Millôr Fernandes.
B. “E como dizia aquele supremo modelo de integridade: ‘A corrucao e tao grande que tem gente se corrompendo ate por 20 000 cruzeiros! Po, por 20 000 cruzeiros eu nao vendia nem a minha mae!” (And as that supreme model of integrity said: ‘Corruption is so great that there are people who are corrupt for even 20,000 cruzeiros! Well, for 20,000 cruzeiros I wouldn’t even sell my mother!’) (text).
C. “Whatever happened to childhood?” (text)
D. “Adviser’s wife learns to smile through sacrifice” (text).
E. “Was Orwell Right?” (text).
F. Grades posted for ten students by Social Security number, for Fall semester, 1990.
G. Grades posted for two students by Social Security number, for Fall semester, 1990.
Second Column:
A. “il est interdit d interdire” (he is forbidden to forbid) (text).
B. “Ancient Order of Hybernians” (text). Note: The AOH is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. It was founded on May 4, 1836, in New York City. It became a conclave for Irish American political activity. John F. Kennedy joined the AOH in 1947.
C. “Department of Spanish and Portugues / GEORGE WING / Associate Professor / Office Hours: Tue - Th 8-2” (text).
D. “304” (office number)
E. “Cómo leer en bicicleta” (How to read on a bicycle); (text on graphic showing man riding a special stunt bicycle with a frame raising the rider high above the ground. Bicycle and rider appear to be pasted over the image of a circular mobius maze. The illustration suggests the bicyclist is riding around the circular maze.)
Door Montage:
1. World Wildlife Fund logo (Panda w/text “WWF”). Note: WWF was cofounded on April 29, 1961, by a group that included Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, a member of the Nazi Party and SS during WWII who worked as an executive secretary of IG Farben; Eugenicist Julian Huxley, who supported refugee Nazi scientists and defended eugenics with the euphemistic qualifiers “humanist” and “scientific”; and Godfrey A. Rockefeller, Sr., a helicopter aviation pioneer, chief pilot for Bell Helicopter, and schoolmate/friend of George H.W. Bush. WWF has been funded by individuals, corporations, and government sources such as the World Bank, DFID, and USAID.
2. “The Humanist in the Bathtub” (text).
3. “Save the Dolphins/Greenpeace” (text) (two dolphins swimming - drawing).
4. “Smoker’s Advocate” (text).
5. “Greenpeace” (w/abstract shapes).
6. “For Pot Smokers Only” (“POT” is handwritten).
7. “Organize to Protect Smokers’ Rights” (w/illegible handwriting).
8. “Feliz Año Velho” [Spanish translation: Happy New Year] (text).
9. Red flowers (photo).
10. (unidentified)
11. (unidentified)
12. (unidentified)
13. (unidentified)
14. “Caligula” (photo of profile relief coin used to illustrate poster of the movie of the same name). Note: “(12-41 A.D.), nickname (meaning ‘little boots’) of Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar, 37-41 AD. He was insanely cruel and despotic and believed he was a god. He reputedly planned to make his horse a consul. His demands that his statue be erected in Jerusalem’s temple almost precipitated a revolt in Palestine. He was assassinated by a tribune of his guard.” (“The New American Desk Encyclopedia” [NY: Signet, 1984] p. 198.) “A cruel and insane ruler of the Roman Empire in the first century; one of the twelve Caesars. In order to humiliate the senators of Rome, he appointed his horse to the senate.” (E.D. Hirsch, Jr., “The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy” [Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1988] p. 192.)
15. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (?) (photo). Note: he married Joan Crawford on 6/3/29 when he was 19 years old.
16. Leo Tolstoy or George Bernard Shaw (photo showing full figure).
17. Leon Trotsky (?) (photo).
18. Photo of painting by Remington or Russell (unidentified).
19. (illegible text).
20. Ramon Mercader (?) (photo of head at young age). Note: Trotsky’s assassin.
21. (illegible text).
22. George Bernard Shaw (?) (photo). Note: he helped found the Fabian Society and in 1883 he wrote “Caesar & Cleopatra.” The cover of one of Wing’s “Esquire” backseat magazines illustrated Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in the movie “Cleopatra.”
23. Illustration of Elizabeth Taylor in the movie “Cleopatra.”
24. “Robert Taylor/Greta Garbo” (movie ad for “Camille”). Notes on 1936 film “Camille”: Novel & play by Alexandre Dumas Fils; cast: Marguerite Gautier - Garbo, Armand - Taylor, Monsieur Draval - Lionel Barrymore, Nichette - Elizabeth Allen, Nanine - Jessie Ralph, Baron d Varville - Henry Daniell, Olympe - Lenore Ulric, Prudence - Laura Hope Crews, Gaston - Rex O’Malley; setting: Paris, 1847; copyright 1936, renewed 1963 MGM, Inc.; TV version: 1984; plot: Marguerite and Armand find true love until Monsieur Duval convinces Marguerite that their relationship will hurt Armand. She leaves Armand and marries Baron de Varville for his money. Armand wounds the Baron in a duel for Marguerite’s honor and must leave France. He returns in Time to learn that Marguerite, now gravely ill, still loves him just before dying in his arms.
25. (unidentified) [same as #74].
26. (unidentified).
27. Martin Luther King, Jr. (photo w/illegible text).
28. (unidentified).
29. Anton Chekhov (?) (photo).
30. Shakespeare caricature by Al Herschfeld.
31. “U.S.A. The Big Money” (text).
32. Lyndon Baines Johnson (photo of face).
33. “Prelude to War” (text).
34. Rita Hayworth (face from famous pin-up photo).
35. John Huston, film director (photo).
36. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (photo smoking cigarette).
37. (unidentified).
38. (unidentified).
39. (unidentified).
40. Ingred Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca.”
41. Manuel Artime (?) [compare to Widen, “Bay of Pigs,” photo section p. 9].
42. Apollo spacecraft command and service modules (photo).
43. (illegible text).
44. (unidentified).
45. Linda Lovelace (photo). Note: star of 1972 movie: “Deepthroat.”
46. (unidentified).
47. Albert Einstien (photo of Princeton sculpture of head by Robert Berks - plaster, 1953).
48. Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, Sr. (photo of head).
49. Martin Luther King, Jr. (photo of head).
50. Orchestra Rehersal, (a.k.a., Prova d'Orchestra), US poster, 1978.
51. Virginia Woolf (photo by George Charles Beresford, July 1902).
52. (unidentified).
53. Maria Callas (photo of face) Note: she had and affair w/Aristotle Onassis, died 9/16/77.
54. “You are what you read.” (text).
55. (unidentified)
56. (unidentified)
57. “Chimneys,” National Geograghic, 1979 (photo by Cotton Coulson of chimney sweep balancing between chimneys in Bandon, Oregon)
58. (unidentified)
59. Louis Armstrong (photo of head - singing)
60. (unidentified)
61. (unidentified)
62. Ingrid Bergman (?) (photo) Note: from “Joan of Arc,” 1948
63. George Gordon Wing (?) (photo - young)
64. Danny Kay (photo)
65. Goldie Hawn (photo)
66. Pablo Neruda (?) (photo) Note: aided escape of David Siqueros, attempted assassin of Trotsky.
67. (unidentified)
68. “Wing it.” (text)
69. Drawing of the Beatles from “Yellow Submarine” Note: in the 1972 film “The Assassination of Trotsky” staring Richard Burton, Trotsky is quoted after the first attempted assassination as saying, “Steel door, shutters on the windows, new bulkheads, they won't get in so easily next time. We live in a submarine; My faithful periscope Natasha [Mrs. Trotsky].”
70. Cartoon derived from famous cartoon by German cartoonist George Grosz in which he attacks pre-war German Society (pig-man & prostitute, see Jung, “Man and His Symbols,” p. 283).
71. (unidentified)
72. “I think, therefore I love” (text)
73. (unidentified)
74. (?) [same as #25]
75. Natalie Wood (photo) Note: she died mysteriously while on a boat with her husband, actor Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken.
76. Joseph Conrad (Photogragh by Alfred A. Knopf)
77. (unidentified)
78. Liz Taylor (?) (photo)
79. John Wayne (photo)
80. Marilyn Monroe (photo) Note: death ruled suicide, but false rumors persist that she was murdered and that RFK and JFK were involved.
81. (unidentified)
82. (unidentified)
83. (unidentified)
84. (unidentified)
85. (unidentified)
86. (unidentified)
87. Joseph Conrad (?)
88. (unidentified)
89. Shotgun shell (actual shell attached to door window)
90. (unidentified)
91. Pablo Neruda (?) (photo)
92. (unidentified)
93. (unidentified)
94. (unidentified)
95. (unidentified)
96. (unidentified)
97. Louis Armstrong (?) (photo)
98. (unidentified)
99. (unidentified)
100. (unidentified)
101. (unidentified)
102. (unidentified)
103. Natasha Kinski (photo from movie “Tess”) Notes on 1979 film “Tess”: Stars Nastassia Kinski; Roman Polanski's adaption of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” about an intelligent, sensitive, poor girl driven to murder and death by hanging by a concatenation of events and circumstances so bitterly ironic that it is considered one of Hardy's darkest novels.
104. Jody Foster (photo - young) Note: she was the focus of John Hinkley’s obsession at the time of his shooting at Ronald Reagan.
105. (unidentified)
106. (unidentified)
107. Princess Dianna (photo of face)
108. “How to take a nude picture of yourself” (text)
109. (unidentified)
110. (unidentified)
111. Eugene O’Neill (Photograph by Nickolas Muray, Nickolas Muray Photo Archives, Eugene O’Neill Foundation)
112. Edward Sorel cartoon of protest marchers carrying signs that read: “Americans for a closed society. My children have a right not to know. Let it all hang in.”
113. Anton Chekhov (?) (photo)
114. (unidentified)
115. Pablo Picasso, 1905, Lady with a Fan (Femme à l'éventail), oil on canvas, 100.3 x 81 cm, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
116. Sigmund Freud (photo of face)
117. “Sexercises” (text)
118. Richard Nixon (photo of face - laughing)
119. “Why is this man laughing?” (text) Note: See my essay, “Why is This Man Laughing? Richard Nixon’s and Lyndon Johnson’s Big, Dark Secret (an appended, annotated excerpt from my book, The Deep State in the Heart of Texas)” bartholoviews.substack.com
120. “Encore Rag” (sheet music cover)
121. “Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead)
122. (illegible text)
123. Sammy Davis, Jr. (?) (photo)
124. Louis Armstrong (?) (photo)
125. Lee Marvin (photo of head - from Western movie, possibly “Paint Your Wagon”) Note: “Paint Your Wagon (1969) C-166m. D: Joshua Logan. Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Harve Presnell, Ray Walston, Tom Ligon, Alan Dexter. Splashy, expensive musical from Lerner-Loewe play about gold-rush days in No-Name City [ref. to No Name Key?], California, where prospectors Marvin and Eastwood share one wife (Seberg) whom they bought at auction. Pure entertainment; witty, often risque script (by Paddy Chayefsky!). Presnell outshines cast of nonsingers with ‘They Call the Wind Maria.’ Beware of shorter prints.” (Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin’s TV Movies and Video Guide 1989 Edition (NY: New American Library, 1988), p. 795.)
126. (unidentified)
127. Stevie Wonder (?) (photo)
128. (illegible text)
129. “Como Suicidarse Sin Maestro” [“The Master of Suicide”] (text) Note: a second line in parenthesis is illegible.
130. “It’s the law / We do not sell tobacco products to persons under 18” (text)
131. “Cursos de Detetive” (Detective Courses) “Com Diploma e Credencial” (With Diploma and Credential) pessodoras psiodicos (psychopathic people [handwritten in pencil]) “Impresso no Pasciente Mundo dos Detetives” (?) (Printed in Patient World of Detectives) “Por Correspondencia e Com Aulas Ao Vivo” (By Correspondence and With Live Classes) “Profissão do Momento e do Futuro” (Profession of the Moment and the Future) (illegible text) “…de Investigações” (of Investigations) (illegible contact information in Sao Paulo) Note: Print advertisement for Detective school in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
132. “A four-letter word: work” (text)
133. “PAIN” (text)
134. American Automobile Association logo: “Protected by AAA”
135. “Specialist in Women and other diseases” (text)
136. “STOP” (graphic of traffic sign)
Note: Wing’s image montage item nos. 131—136 combine to create a transposed-word-effect sequence telling the knowing (specialist) observer (detective) to stop and pay attention (stop sign) to Paine (PAIN) women associated with a protected automobile (AAA) and work that is dirty or unpleasant (four-letter word), all regarded as abnormal and harmful (other diseases). The decoded message refers to investigating multiple Ruth Paines and their role in Oswald’s employment at the Texas School Book Depository (commonly known by the “four-letter word” TSBD) and a Rambler station wagon insured by Professor Wing, matching an identical getaway car seen leaving Dealey Plaza after the JFK assassination.2
137. (illegible text)
138. (illegible text)
See “Roger & Me: Steganography & Roger Craig's Getaway Car: An Appended, Illustrated Post of My 1995 Essay,” bartholoviews.substack.com.
See “Bartholomew Versus the Wheel: An Illustrated, Annotated Edition of the Abstract for My Rambler Monograph,” bartholoviews.substack.com.
