Norway: 'The Mayor of Hell'

"The Mayor of Hell"

Lorentz Stenvig

Lieutenant Lorentz Stenvig (1884–1967) vas a farmer (cattle and grain) in Lånke and as a part time job, supervisor of some military installations (Tønsåsen Batteri). During the German invasion of Norway in April 1940 he participated in the defense of the Hegra fortress and received a medal after the war. In the period 1929–1940 he was elected chairman of the Lånke district assembly. Lånke is a district south of the Stjørdal River with 1465 inhabitants in 1938. Hell is a village in Lånke. In the newspaper article/clipping below Lånke is called Hell. Also, the postal address to a major fraction of the Lånke people is 7517 Hell. Now the former administrative district Lånke is incorporated in Stjørdal, which earlier occupied an area only north of the Stjørdal River.

October 16, 1937 Stenvig received this telegram from Robert L. Ripley , host of the "Believe It or Not" NBC radio show running from 1930 till 1948 (the wording might not be quite correct):

"Lieutenant L. Stenvig. Chairman Country Assembly Hell. Can you come to America at once to speak on radio as representative of Hell round trip steamship fare and all expenses will be paid cable reply believe it or not Ripley"

Tuesday, April 5, 1938 Lorentz Stenvig embarked on the liner "Stanvangerfjord", bound for New York. As deduced from the article below he disembarked in New York Friday, April 15.

Stenvig returned to Norway, disembarking May 19, 1938.

As evident, the depicted letter was mailed May 30, 1938.


Lieutenant Lorentz Stenvig, by courtesy of the Lånke Historical Society .	Friday April 22, 1938

Saturday, April 16, 1938

HELL'S MAYOR HERE TO LOOK US OVER

Lorentz Stenvig Wants to See Country That Sends Him So Many Tourists

The Mayor of Hell, a gentle, pensive man with none of the attributes of the fabled overlord of the infernal regions, arrived yesterday on the Norway liner Stavangerfjord, to participate to participate in a radio broadcast and look over the country that has sent so many tourists to his bailiwick.

Hell, insofar as Mayor Lorentz Stenvig is concerned, is a village of 1,456 persons on the River Stjordalselver, not far from Trondheim, and being not only a good town but a good Norwegian word meaning slope, has double meaning only for fun-loving Americans who make a point of getting it down on their itineraries. They buy railroad tickets marked "to Hell and return" and they add riches to the national postal service by sending cards back home bearing the Hell cancellation. Many of the visitors write down on the cards, "It is sure hot here. Hoping you are the same."

Among the items of interest gleaned from the reticent Mr. Stenvig as they filtered through an interpreter were these: Hell has plenty of skiers in the Winter time, when the thermometer drops to as low as 13 degrees below zero; in Summer, when the American trippers come along on North Cape cruises, can rise to 86 or so; there are no divorces in Hell (this with some emphasis) and no jail, and Mr. Stenvig can't remember the last crime, it was so long ago.

"What do you do with drunks?" asked a realist among the interviewers, and the Mayor replied, "If anybody gets drunk we send him home."

Ironically enough Hell has no fire department, and if a house catches fire the people "simply try to put it out," explained the Mayor, reasonably. If they can't put it out they let it burn. The women of Hell, according to the Mayor, are good looking, and most of them are blondes. The village's chief businesses are dairy products and timber, and there are two dance halls where, on Saturday nights, the townsfolk gather to enjoy a few waltzes. The "big apple" hasn't struck Hell yet, and probably never will.

Mayor Stenvig is a farmer and gets no salary as Chief Executive of the town. He is 55 years old and has been Mayor nine years, only recently having been returned to his post for another three years. He said proudly that elections in Hell were quiet, friendly affairs, and "on the level", unbesmirched by tin boxes and patronage grabs.

Altogether it seems a pretty nice place.

Monday, April 25, 1938

An hour's train ride from Trondheim, in central Norway, is Hell, a tiny hamlet (pop. 1,465) which thrives on U.S. excursionists who have fun sending home Hell-marked postcards. Situated on hilly ground, Hell (the Norwegian word for luck or slope) maintains two churches but no fire department, has cool summers, bitterly cold winters, sometimes freezes over completely. Last week mild-mannered, blue-eyed Lorentz Stenvig, mayor of Hell, arrived in Manhattan as the guest of publicity-wise Robert ("Believe It or Not") Ripley, gave the press a chance to make free use of naughty expressions. Sample: chided by Host Ripley for bringing Manhattan a heat wave, Mayor Stenvig replied: "Why, it's hotter than Hell in New York."

Comments

We should note that the knowledge of English among the great majority of Norwegians was rather poor at that time. If Stenvig really knew the meaning of "mayor" we'll never know. For a Norwegian it's easily confused with "major" which in this language has only one meaning: army (and now air force) major. Maybe he did know, and accepted "the Mayor of Hell" as good publicity, not only for Robert L. Ripley. After Stenvig's return from New York he was jokingly called, translated, "the major from Hell". This sounds as a "promotion" (from lieutenant) and was either an intended or genuine misinterpretation.

The facts given by New York papers seem quite accurate. They can hardly be blamed for this "Mayor of Hell" stuff, and the false explanation of the origin of the name 'Hell' was probably given by Stenvig. As explained on the main page, it derives from Old Norse 'hellir', a cave or overhanging cliff that shelters from rain and snow, of which there are three in the area.

The 1933 Mayor of Hell

This isn't the real Hell either, but contrary to Stenvig's Hell it's pretty gloomy.

Cagney

The Warner Brothers movie "The Mayor of Hell" had it's premiere June 23, 1933. It was directed by Archie Mayo and starring James Cagney, Frankie Darro and Madge Evans. To learn about the plot you may visit e.g. Wikipedia .

Cagney

Nowadays it's available on DVD (right), those shiny discs, you know. In 1933 Warner Brothers used the Vitaphone sound system; special phonograph discs mechanically synchronized to the film projector. Most likely they would also use the inflammable celluloid film, cellulose acetate "safety" film wasn't widely supported by the movie industry until after World War II.

Maybe worth noting, starting 1931 Robert Leroy Ripley hosted a series of "Believe It or Not" short films for Warner Brothers, who also produced "The Mayor of Hell".