http://www.gothamist.com/2007/06/01/king_cole.php All comments for King Cole Returns To The St. Regis en-us 2007 design_jill Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:26:27 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss jpriluck@earthlink.net jpriluck@earthlink.net 60 http://www.gothamist.com/2007/06/01/king_cole.php#comment-1117508 http://www.gothamist.com/2007/06/01/king_cole.php#comment-1117508 Comments Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:01:52 -0500 <p>Through decades of mixed-drink conviviality, bartenders have shared with their regulars a secret of the painting that is considerably less elegant than the hotel, the bar or indeed the mural itself. The legend, repeated by generations of bar patrons, is that the king’s sheepish grin, and the startled reactions of his knights, were occasioned by the flatulence of the monarch. Some versions of the this tale, passed on through the decades, hold that there was a satirical competition among the well-known artists of Parrish’s era to find a way to depict this condition in a painting, a contest that Parrish is reputed to have won. Whatever the truth of that version, “it’s a good story, and part of the legend of the painting,” </p> http://www.gothamist.com/2007/06/01/king_cole.php#comment-1117371 http://www.gothamist.com/2007/06/01/king_cole.php#comment-1117371 Comments Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:21:41 -0500 <p>So what was the joke that was obscured?</p>