NY Times fi lmed Kazimiroff family honey hunting
REPRINTED FROM 11-4-2010
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J BTR ULY 26-AUGUST 1, 2019 51
Jorge Santiago recently
sent me a video taken by the
New York Times in the 1950s
showing former Bronx historian,
Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff
and his son, Ted, searching
for honey in Pelham Bay Park.
They are shown leaving their
home and driving to Pelham
Bay Park in the vicinity of the
Bartow-Pell Mansion in their
quest for a honey bee hive.
Ted Sr. fi nds an open area and
places his paraphernalia box
containing some raw honey
and some other items he needs
for his mission. He places some
oil of anise on the honey comb
to attract bees and then waits.
His fi rst encounter is unsuccessful
but he tries again and
when he attracts a honey bee,
he paints aluminum oxide on
it and releases it explaining triangulation
to his son. Using
triangulation they determine
the direction of travel and location
of the hive. They follow it
and it leads them to an unidentifi
ed bee keeper in Pelham Bay
who has a commercial hive and
here they explain their quest
and are given a smudge pot,
etc. to use.
They return to the woods
with the additional equipment
and repeat the process as Ted
Sr. shows his son how the bees
return to the hive using the angle
of the sun to the horizon to
obtain the bee line and how the
bees then dance to show the location
of the fi nd to other bees.
Ted and his son then fi nd the
hive using triangulation. They
then go and obtain an abandoned
ladder they had seen
earlier and take it to the tree.
Ted Sr. uses the smudge pot to
quiet the bees and then widens
the access hole to the hive in
the tree trunk to reach in and
obtain some honey combs. He
can only take one third of the
honey otherwise the hive will
die and he does not want to do
any damage. He takes his third
and puts it in a jar. The fi lm
shows them proudly taking
their fi nd back to Mrs. Emelia
Kazimiroff to use with the next
mornings breakfast.
It’s a great fi lm of a great
man explaining one of the glories
of nature, a subject Ted. Sr.
often lectured on. There was a
great deal of conjecture among
local historians as to where the
commercial hive was located
and fi nally Julie Kazimiroff
notifi ed Jorge that it was located
in her grandfather’s
backyard. His name was William
Pintauro and the hive was
at his home at 2138 Continental
Avenue off Pelham Parkway.
It turns out that Mr. Pintauro,
the hive keeper, like his son-in-
Ted Kazimiroff is teaching his son how to successfully hunt for wild honey
in Pelham Bay Park in this fi lm clip produced by the New York Times.
law, was a man of many talents.
Interestingly, Charles Lindberg
would stop by his home
to check on the engine that Mr.
Pintauro, a master machinist at
R. H. Hoe and Wright Aeronautics,
was working on to check
the endurance of the Spirit of
St. Louis engine. The fi lm was
obviously made to teach a lesson
on bees so the family connections
are not important to
the audience. I should also add
that Theodore Kazimiroff senior’s
wife, Emilia, who was
in the fi lm, was the attorney
who incorporated the Bronx
County Historical Society on a
pro bono basis. She’s still alive
and well at 95 years of age.
The video can be viewed
at vimeo.com/9011697 and
thanks go to Julie for the explanation.
BRONX SCENE
/9011697