Sunday, July 28, 2013

12/21-12/27/47

12/21 Sunday Eight hours all overtime. M. [sic] Gallegos was elected President of Venezuela. The C.P. got 20,000 votes.

12/22 Lillian went to Alexander's for the Monday sale. She got Sylvia a coat with hood $13. Also gloves and a belt for me and a belt for herself. McManus and Ryan of the N.Y. Newspaper Guild were defeated as the right wing won an election. Mark Hellinger dead at 44. 4 hrs. O.T.

12/23 Eugene had a party at school. He brought candy and will ask these riddles. What has four eyes (i's) and can't see? Mississippi. What tree grows on an animal's back? Fir. What month has 28 days? All of them. What shoe is put on last? The one that's left. Sylvia knows them also. Molly was over yesterday to write the invitations for Shirley's shower. She brought Sylvia a toaster set and Eugene a snap 'em and score 'em game. Sec'y of Agriculture Anderson published the names of several hundred big traders and speculaters [sic] in grain and cotton. The Friendship Train packed with food was warmly welcomed in France. The new Italian Constitution was inaugurated amid the cheers of all parties. The Labor Party opened an attack against the British C.P. as a disruption. Three German industrialists received sentences up to seven years in prison. 4 hrs. O.T.

12/24 DEAR MOTHER AND FATHER I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH SYLVIA. I am now in 3A. My teacher is Mrs. Gerhold. I am the leader of group 1 in Arithmetic. Eugene [see scanned-in page] Lillian got the kids a "speedway" sled - $4.50, After lunch we went "belly-flopping" as Sylvia called it. The kids went down together and once I went down on top of them. Last night Norma G. had supper with Sylvia here which delighted them both no end. More Greek Anti-fascists were executed. UN correspondents for a Greek and Indian Communist paper were released by protests of UN Sec'y Gen'l Lee and others after a brief detention at Ellis Island. They had been legally accredited to the UN. Lillian read "Cass Timberlane

After he started that last, he probably remembered that he'd already covered that and crossed it out.  And he apparently let both Silvia and myself write in the diary, this time.



12/25 Christmas We went to Lillian's for a party. Mom, Pop, the Beckers, Edelsteins there. We gave Barbara "Bozo the Clown" and Susan a broom set and pull toy, also candy. Sylvia got pyjamas and a handkerchief set and Eugene shirt and tie. Sister Lillian didn't feel well due to her condition putting a damper on the party. Panama Assembly voted unanimously to refuse bases to us and we will withdraw all our garrisons. Greek guerrillas in the mountains announced the formation of a free gov't under Markos Vafiades. Students fought back against their persecuters [sic] with the formation of the Intercollegiate Academic Freedom Comm. The kids got their Christmas presents from the Kreislers. Sylvia got a plastic garden set and Eugene a beautiful "Tom Sawyer" later exchanged for "Robinson Crusoe" [the last phrase was added in between the lines]. We got Barracini's chocolates. Lillian read"B.F.'s Daughter" by J. P. Marquand M. Berger's "Eight Million" and Best Amer. Short Stories of '46 edited by M. Foley.

12/26 The kids went up to the Singers and got some knick-knacks then all four played here. More than a score of Arabs and Jews were killed in Christmas fighting in Palestine. 500 were rounded up and jailed in Athens as Communist sympathizers.

12/27 The kids had a snowball fight in the yard. The greatest snow storm in New York's history started Friday morning about 5 AM and ended Saturday morning about 2 AM. The total fall about 26 (25.8) [this latter number was inserted in black ink above the 26] inches topped '88's 20.9 inches  All traffic was halted as cars trucks and busses were stuck throughout the streets. Lillian went down 7:30 AM to get milk being sold from wagons in the street. She got three quarts at a grocery at the regular price but paid 25¢ a quart at a Sheffield truck and was asked 50¢ a quart at an independent truck which she of course turned down. She accumulated seven quarts of milk. 
 [newspaper clipping inserted here; see scanned-in page]
 Bobby Riggs defeated Jackie Kramer before 15,000 in the Garden 6-2, 10-8, 4-6, 6-2 to retain his professional hegemony. The record gate was $56,730. (5 hrs. with pay)
[see second scanned-in page with pictures of the snow]  


I remember walking with Dad, after the storm, on the sidewalk on Kingsbridge Road, near Aqueduct Ave., between what seemed like two walls of snow, which I could see over the top of, but not by much!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

12/14-12/20/47

12/14 Sunday Lillian took the kids to the Sunday school for a Chanukah party. Some of the children put on a little ceremony and there were two movies, one about the circus and the other a Dr. Christian picture which Eugene liked very much. Had an advantage of Queen two rooks and a bishop against a Queen and rook on Eugene when he mated me!

12/15 We played the Burl Ives records yesterday and Eugene remembered many of the words. We bought the records when he was four when he used to play and sing them over and over again. Sylvia has been very miserable. We finally got her to bed at 2 o'clock. Russia announced a re-valuation of its currency, abolishing rationing and lowering bread and cereals 12% and many items including shoes and clothing 75%. The object is to head of [sic] inflation and penalize hoarders and speculators. Cash in circulation will be exchanged at 10 old rubles for one new one. The first 3000 rubles of bank savings will be exchanged one for one but additional rubles up to 10000 will be at two new for three old ones. At more than 10,000 exchange will be at 1 for 2. Earl Baldwin died at 80. 

I did love the Burl Ives songs; Dad wrote out all the words to help me sing them. 

12/16 Sylvia better but still in bed. The kids have been making paper chains to decorate their beds. The Foreign Ministers Council ended in failure, on Marshall's motion. The main hitch was Molotov's demand for 10 billion dollars reparations from Germany. A. Johnson C.P. will speak at Columbia. Lillian enjoyed Lewis' "Cass Timberlane". We both read Ella Winter's "I Saw the Russian People". Truman's Comm. on Higher Education denounced segregation, free education through the first two years of college, subsidies to students, new colleges. We pulled our last troops out of Italy and Russia hers out of Bulgaria at the deadline. 

12/17 Eugene had to go up to Gloria's as soon as he came home from school to see whether her tinker toy was larger than his as she had boasted. Sylvia is out of bed but her symptoms remain. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced an average family of four would need about $3400 per year to get by. This is an increase of $500 in a year. The P.C.A. Exec Comm. voted to ask Wallace to run for the Presidency on a third ticket. Whitney, Walsh and Deutsch, Liebling Kingdon and Crum have resigned being against a third party now. G. Eisler has been touring the colleges speaking to many students with a few disturbances. 4 hrs. O.T. Pay 133.17. 

12/18 Lillian went to school this morning to see a show the children put on. They had Christmas Cards Jingle bells and portrayed Christmas and Chanukah presents. Eugene was an aeroplane. 4 hr. O.T. 

12/19 45 Union leaders asked Wallace to run. America evacuated Hungary. 4 hrs. O.T.

It seems likely to me that the shortness of the last few entries are due to all the overtime he's working, which was commonplace for postal workers as Christmas approached.  

12/20 The U.S. will set up an Economic Cooperation Administration to supervise the Marshall Plan in Europe. a MP[?] rep. to the 16 nations and a network of Economic officials in the various embassies. Quill was elected city C.I.O. head to replace Curran, resigned. A N.J. delegation asked Wallace to run. Jouhaux and a majority of the C.G.L. leaders have taken their followers (about 25%) out of the Confederation. They have organized the "Force Ouvriere" as an Anti-Communist movement. 12 hrs. all O.T. 

This is Saturday, and he's working 12 hours.                                    

Friday, July 19, 2013

12/7-12/13/47

12/7 Sunday After lunch for a window shopping walk to Fordham which Eugene enjoyed very much. At night Sylvia put on an apron which reached to her toes and helped Lillian beautifully. Then she ate her supper without a hitch. The kids always lick their saucers of apple-sauce clean. Played some chess and studied Sylvia as usual playing with the surplus pieces. Nicholas Murray Butler is dead at 85.

12/8 Eugene's mind is full of the comic book characters - Superman, Captain Marvel, The Green Lantern and dozens of others. Most of them turn invincible when they say some special word. Sylvia is overdoing "Good-bye folks" which she picked up from Lillian. Greece has ordered a maximum penalty of death for strikes. 50,000 partisans paraded in Rome while French trade union leaders failed to come to an agreement with the Labor Minister on an increase.

I guess Dad had heard "SHAZAM" from me. 

12/9 Eugene is slightly hoarse and Sylvia has a slight cough. The Foreign Ministers at London agreed to discuss Soviet British and French proposals on Germany. Finnish elections resulted in a rightward swing. Left wingers in the N.J. State C.I.O. walked out of the convention when they were refused adequate representation. Tank-led Army troops battled French coal miners. The Paris transport strike failed to come off.

12/10 When Eugene comes home from school at noon he reads the comics in P.M. and the D.W. before washing. Sylvia objects to wearing Eugene's old legging set because it makes her look like a boy. French strikes were called off after a Gov't ultimatum with only a cost of living bonus gained. City College banned a C.P. speaker. Leon Josephson's conviction was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals 2-1. The Haganah killed 70 Arabs. 750 visited Washington for rent and price controls and housing. Russia broke off trade talks with France and expelled a French Repatriation mission in reprisal for similar acts by France.

12/11 Sylvia helped clear a park path of snow this morning. Eugene misses "The Nebbs" in the D.W. which have jumped the paper in the hysteria. The "House" voted to bar aid to Communist countries. Lillian went down to the Union Square Optometrists where Eugene got an examination and new lenses $1.50 & $3.25. He has progressive myopia.

My progressive myopia finally stopped after my cataract operations a few years ago.  

 12/12 Sylvia's belly hurts her after every meal. Eugene made a waste paper basket in school. A half million started a general strike in Rome for a public works program to alleviate unemployment among other grievances. Police and troops attacked them. Hunter suspended student members from the student-faculty comm. as three other city colleges banned Howard Fast. A course on the Soviet Union was stricken off the Teachers curriculum. The Supreme Court voided a death sentence passed on a Mississippi Negro on the basis that Negroes had been barred from the jury. The "House" voted $590,000,000 to China, France, Italy, Austria. Wallace continues on his speaking tour warning of the path to war and suggesting a third party. 19 were killed in Palestine.

12/13 Eugene drew "The Tortoise and the Geese" - Fables by Bidpai "The Arabian Nights" edited by Wiggin and Smith "Trains At Work" by Mary Elting and Sylvia drew "Lullaby" by J. Bernhard. Eugene has made an aeroplane out of his tinkertoy which he zooms around. Lewis took his coal miners out of the A.F.L. because of the surrender to the Taft-Hartley Bill. N.Y.U. broke the solid front by allowing Fast to speak. Rome labor ended the general strike after a pledge of a large public works program and an unemployed bonus of unnamed amount. Strikers had been subjected to police brutality in the two day walkout. Lillian took the kids to Fordham and got them Chanukah presents. Sylvia got a tin doll house ($3.89) to replace her old cardboard house which was falling apart. Eugene got a metal game of shooting balls into various slots marked with different scores called "Big Shot" ($1.98). 7 hrs. O.T.