The Menasha Centennial Celebration

Although Albert didn’t live in Menasha, he worked for Marathon Corporation in Menasha, Wisconsin.  When Menasha celebrated it’s centennial in 1954, they decided to have a beard-growing contest at the mill.  Here are the results of the activity.

UPPER RIGHT:  Albert Glassnap sits on the bumper of his Mercury in Appleton, posing with his full, prize-winning beard.  He had a good set of whiskers by this time.  He kept it immaculately trimmed but it got very hot in the summer.  He finally shaved it off, probably shortly after this picture was taken.  Later he moved to the town of Menasha.

LOWER RIGHT:  These were the rest of the contestants.  Albert is on the right.  You can see why Albert won.  He was quite a hairy fellow.  The gentleman in front was probably the judge.

NEXT PAGE:  After he won the contest, they wanted a picture of the winner.  The photographer wanted him to dress up like a Russian Cossack for this character portrait.  Except for the hat, he dressed like that in the winter anyway, but he sure got warm while the they took the picture in the summer.  They didn’t have air conditioning then.  Later, he had a hat like that (perhaps the same one) and wore it all the time in the winters so the attire was not atypical for him.  The beard was not characteristic of him, however.  That was a one-shot deal for the Menasha centennial celebration only.  It was so uncomfortable that once was enough.