5/23-5/29/48

5/23 Sunday Sylvia was all better and a totally new person. Went over to Mothers for lunch with Eugene. Harry Lilly and Susan also there. Then Harry drove us home with Lilly's part of the meal. Pop beat Eugene two chess games and lost one to me. We showed "Jack & The Beanstalk". Sylvia was irrepressible. We let her off the bed to see the movies. She stayed up the rest of the night chattering without a stop.

5/24 Sylvia still in bed. She made a mask out of a paper bag which she is coloring now. Eugene's nose was stuffed during the night. Lillian put the vaporizer on. Israel will cease fire in compliance with a Security Council demand. It's up to the Arabs now. The U.S. Consul General and another American were killed in Palestine. Newspapermen asked a probe of the Polk murder.

5/25 Sylvia up and about. She got a letter from Isabel this morning asking her to get well. She's all excited about answering it. ...  Lillian called up Dr. Holzman who ordered Sylvia back to bed today on account of the weather. Russia vetoed an UN inquiry into the Czechoslovakian situation. Finnish workers struck in protest against the ouster of C.P. Minister of Interior Leino.

5/26 In the morning, ties. After school to the library with Eugene who drew "The Polish Fairy Book" Elsie Byrde "Siegfried and Beowulf" by Z A Ragozin "The Jinx Ship" by Howard Pease. For Sylvia we took "Sniff" by J S Tippett. When we got home Lillian went to the Ascot to see"I Know Where I'm Going" with Wendy Hiller. Negro dancer Claude Marchant won a $1,000 verdict for discrimination in a Tudor City elevator. U.A.W. officials accepted a GM offer of 8¢ an hour cost of living adjustment and 3¢ per hour annual improvement. Drops in the cost of living will mean a cut in wages.

I believe the reference to "ties" is the first mention in the diary of the "side job" Dad undertook, which was selling ties, at businesses in the Bronx. He did it part time, and then essentially full time after retiring from the Post Office. As a result, I never had to buy a tie for much of my adult life.  

5/27 The Allergin pillow case and blanket came for Eugene in our campaign to discover to what Eugene is allergic. Sylvia insists she saw a headless boy while riding a bus. She thought he must have broken his head somewhere. We all went to Assembly this morning for a third year program. There was ballet dancing and piano playing. Eugene sang "Tick, Tock, Little School Clock" with about fifteen other children. The Arabs rejected the UN truce bid.

5/28 The kids went to Bobby Rs seventh birthday party yesterday morning, but Sylvia never got there. She started to cry and came back. Later she went down for a container of milk. However she came back without it after standing in front of the house for a while. At the Mundt bill hearings in the Senate, the only opposition witness, Rep. Isacson was asked if he was a Communist. Att'y Gen'l Clark ruled the C.P. seeks to overthrow the gov't. Dismissal of C.P. members in gov't jobs was mandatory, he said. Russia asked for sanctions against the Arabs at the UN. G.M. Electrical division signed with the U.E. on the same basis as the GM Auto contract. Marshall and a rep. of the State of Israel refused an award by the liberal magazine "The . Churchman". Dame May Whitty is dead at 82.

5/29 Beat Sheib at Riverview, Sylvia in tears when I stayed in the dressing room five minutes, although she was with Eugene. After lunch we went to the zoo where we saw a monkey eat eight bananas and an orange. Sylvia had a pony ride, Eugene passing on the chance. We had ice cream, peanuts, pop corn, hot dogs, soda. Foster denounced the Mundt Bill at the hearings, asserting Communists would not register. Hundreds of delegates demonstrated outside the chamber. Old Jerusalem fell to the Arabs. Chrysler settled for 13¢ an hour. South African Premier Smits resigned after an election defeat.