The Statue of Liberty on the Banana Wall of Fame

Legend tells us that in 1870, when sculptor Frederic Bartholdi began design on the Statue of Liberty as a gift from France to the U.S., his original plans were to have Lady Liberty holding a banana in her right hand. This idea was overruled by the French government and Bartholdi reluctantly agreed to replace the banana with a torch, thus ruining the aesthetic quality of the statue as a whole. It was as if da Vinci had decided to paint the Mona Lisa with a frown instead of a smile. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles, so today the world unfortunately sees Lady Liberty holding a simple torch instead of a magnificent 30-foot long banana.

At least, that’s what the legend tells us....