9/16-9/22/51

Sept 16 Sunday Lil, Mike, Harry, Sam and Molly went to the Cemetery this morning. Molly and Sam came home with Lil and stayed here till 6. While Sylvia played with her friends I went to the park with Eugene. He "sold" many acorns to the squirrels as he has been doing recently. Lillian read "The Family Moskat" - I.B. Singer. We both read "My Life with Dreiser" - Helen Dreiser, and "The Wall" - John Hersey.

Sept 17 Eugene stayed home this morning with a "belly-ache". He still balks at eggs. Sylvia has a few fingers full of dry cereal with a few drops of milk in the morning. But give her a full plate of meat. Billy Klem is dead at 77. Gelett Burgess is dead at 86.

Sept 18 At the graft cops trial it was charged corruption leads right up to the Police Commissioners office.

Sept 19 UN and Communist representatives conferred at the latter's request as deadly fighting continued. Another Hollywood film probe went into its third day. The most prominent witness so far was Michael Gordon who refused to answer most of the questions. Chief bookie Harry Gross balked at further questions after identifying each of the 18 police defendants.

Sept 20 Harry Gross refused to testify and was given $15000 fine and 5 years in jail. The 18 police defendants were released in a sensational development. The Cicero grand jury indicted the victims of the recent riots and exonerated the racist rioters.

Sept 21 The Municipal Civil Service Comm. refused to give out information on illegal political jobs held by hundreds of "hacks".

Sept 22 Pop got us two tickets for the Giants-Braves ball gave. Lillian and the kids met me at 161st and took my box of ties while I took Eugene to the Polo Grounds. We saw Jansen beat Spahn 4-1. Dewey ordered Staten Island D.A. disqualified after having a woman forcibly arrested without a warrant after she had testified she saw the D.A. at a gambling joint. Ford Frick was elected Baseball Commissioner to succeed Happy Chandler. 

It is extremely strange to me that I don't remember going to that game. 

9/9-9/15/51

Sept 9 Sunday Split with Buhr at Woodlawn were we met Sam and Molly. Molly was very ill and they went home early. Sam and Eugene watched the ball game. We took many pictures. Going home we walked through the woods ending up at McLean Ave near where we got the #4 bus. 49 nations signed the Jap. peace treaty. Russia, Poland and Czecho denounced it.

Sept 10 The kids went off to school, Eugene starting at P.S. 79 - Creston Jr. High School. Hearst failed to bar Lena Horne from Ed Sullivan's T.V. show.

Sept 11 Sylvia's teacher is Mrs Hannagan, her class is 4-1, Room 405. She had a spelling test of "hard" words missing three - autumn, adjust, clothes. The gambling conspiracy trial of 18 policemen opened with the 25 spectators allowed in the court, frisked for concealed weapons. The newly formed rightist Greek Rally Party of Gen. Papagos won the Greek election.

Sept 12 Eugene has five women & men teachers. A detective and an arsonist were killed in an explosion at 9 W 18 st. A million dollars damage was caused in the plot to burn down a loft for the $20,000 insurance. Gen Ridgway admitted an accidental raid on Kaesong as charged by the Koreans. Hank Deberry is dead at 56. 

Sept 13 Defense Sec'y Marshall resigned and was replaced by Robert Lovett. Ray Robinson regained his middleweight title by defeating his conqueror, the British Randy Turpin by a T.K.O. in the 10th round before 60,000 at the Polo Grounds. It was a tremendous fight which drew a record $750,000 gate. It was televised only in theatres [sic] at $2.50 admission. A Czech locomotive arrived in Germany with about 125 persons of whom a fifth decided to stay. 

Sept 14 Another judge ordered C.R.C. bail to be accepted for a Communist accused. Arthur Szyk is dead at 57.  

Sept 15 Eugene drew "Baseball for Everyone" Joe Dimaggio, "Round the World in Eighty Days" - J Verne, "Cherries are Ripe" - D Reynolds, "The Mystery at Robbers' Rock" D. McCoy. Sylvia at last got "Back to School with Betsy" C. Haywood. Also "Tales from Grimm" - Wanda Gag, "Mary" E Buffler, "The Doll Who Came Alive" E Tregarthen. Franchot Tone is in a serious condition in the hospital after a brawl with Tom Neal over Barbara Payton. Fritz Busch is dead at 61.  

9/2-9/8/51

Sept 2 Sunday Very bad weather caused us to call of the picnic we were to have with Anne & Mac and Lil & Harry at Tibbetts. Lil went down to Louis Nelson's funeral in the morning. In the afternoon we watched the Giants trounce the Dodgers 11-2 to go to five games behind. Don Mueller, a "single" hitter made it 5 homers in the two game series. Abe Cahan is dead at 91. Earl Cochell was suspended by the U.S.L.T.A. for unsportsmanship-like conduct for his disgraceful exhibition at Forest Hills.

Sept 3 Labor Day Another poor day. We invited Lil and Harry over and had tongue, hot dogs, potato salad, etc. Harry "hexed" the Giants as usual, they splitting with the Phillies as the Dodgers swept the Braves to go six games ahead. Susan and Sylvia took out the baking set as usual and ground bread and grapes. Peggy scampered around everywhere. We had hoped mom and pop would be coming home and stop here and sure enough they spied Sylvia in the street as they passed and stopped to find Peggy and Susan there also. They came up and told us about Loch Sheldrake over the coffee. Sylvia got a pocket book and Eugene a dollar. 37 are dead in a a startling fishing boat accident off Montauk point. A gale capsized the over-loaded Pelican panicking the 56 on board. More Communists were arrested - Dobbs, Carlson, Spector.

Sept 4 Lost to Levine. George Flores dead of injuries suffered when he was K.O.'d by Roger Donoghue Wednesday. Serge Voronoff is dead at 85. Nat'l Singles Sedgman d. Seixas 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 Veterans Singles McGuffin [sic] d. Sisson 6-3, 6-3. Mixed Doubles Sedgman-Hart d. Rose-Fry 6-3, 6-2. Womens Singles Connally (not yet 17) d. Fry 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. 

Sept 5 Sarah R. came over with Bobby then took Eugene back to spend the day. It was disclosed that the U.S. Army launched a victorious drive while the peace talks had been going on. Two U.N. employees who had been fired for "leftist" leanings were ordered re-instated by the UN Supreme Court. The Japanese Peace Treaty Conference opened in San Francisco. Louis Adamic 52 was found shot to death in his burning farm house. As he had turned Titoist there are charges of murder. 

Sept 6 Sylvia drew "The Hundred Dresses" - E. Estes, "The Wonderful Baker" Mabel L. Hunt, "Twelve Months Make a Year" E. Coatsworth, "Pippi Longstocking" A. Lindgren. Eugene drew "Good Field No Hit" D. Decker, "George and his horse Bill - R.F. Alsop, "Great Husky" E.B. Tracy, "The Mysterious Island" J Verne. Red China was barred from the San Fran. parley. Acheson gagged Gromyko. Truman invoked the Taft-Hartley injunction process to get the copper miners back to work. 

Sept 7 Lil and Madeline went down to Macy's and Gimbels last night. They left at 530 and were home by 10 P.M. They were looking for rotisseries. The kids managed all right. The T.U.C. supported the gov't by a close margin. The Teachers Union was barred from meetings in the Schools. 

Sept 8 Over to mom's after lunch. Edelsteins, Thaws and Beckers also there. Six kids made quite a rough house. They played house and "sick". Barbara did her ventriloquist act. They sang and danced for us. Peggy and even Richie were able to participate. Gromyko escaped death in a reported death plot. The F.B.I., tipped off in advance, guarded him in conjunction with the police. James Gerard is dead at 84 and Maria Montez dead in her bathtub at 31.

8/26-9/1/51

Aug 26 Sunday I gave Lil a nylon slip which she had wanted for her birthday. The kids made cards as usual. At noon Harold Levine and Milly drove us to Forest Hills. We paid $1.50 and got the kids in as juniors at 25¢ each by making out E.L.T.A. applications. Eugene was interested but Sylvia mostly annoyed us. We skipped lunch but had hot dogs, ice cream, cracker jacks, pop corn, soda. We saw the Doubles finals which had been postponed for rain several times. McGregor and Sedgman beat Rose and Candy 10-8, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. A good match was Bartzen's fight against Seixas 4-6, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. We had to keep the kids warm at the end (7 PM) as it has been beautiful and cool for four days. At home we took in Chow Mein and egg rolls.

I was interested, as Dad says, but I really didn't want to go; I remember very clearly wanting to stay home and watch the Giants' game on TV, as they were 14 games into what became a 16 game winning streak, getting them back in the pennant race. I also remember the applications we filled out, saying we intended to become members of the Eastern Lawn Tennis Association. 

Aug 27 Gave the kids tennis lessons at Walton. Then at St. James the kids "won" each other at nok-hockey, Eugene winning seven games. Lillian read "The Rest they Need" Herbert Lyons.

Aug 28 Lost to Levine. Bobby and Danny came over and I took all the kids to St James where they played nok-hockey and ball. Bobby tore his pants and Eugene broke a lens.

Aug 29 Eugene drew "Journey to the Center of the Earth" - Verne, "Clutch Hitter" - R. Wayne, "A Treasure Chest of Sea Stories" - MJ Herzberg, "Scotty Allen, King of the Dog Team Drivers", Shannon Garst. Sylvia drew "The Drugstore Cat" Ann Petry, "Two Hundred Pennies" - C. Wooley, "Tommy and his Dog Hurry" H Ferris, "Storm on the Island" E.F. Lattimore. Ridgway rejected a proposal to re-examine the alleged bombing spot. The Nat'l Student Congress voted 220-48 to denounce McCarthyism. Seven Communists were arrested in Hawaii in the "Red" drive. The Giants lost to the Pirates 2-0 to break their 16 game winning streak.

Aug 30 Judge Metzger who reduced the bail of the seven Hawaiian "Reds" faces an ouster. Screen star Robert Walker choked to death after taking a sedative for an emotional disturbance.

Aug 31 Beat Hotez. Peking charged a new bombing of neutral Kasong [sic]. Minor fighting has been going on while truce negotiations pend. At the V.F.W. convention here McCarthy was attacked by Secy of Labor Frances Tobin then invited to defend himself which he did. 

Interestingly, the then-Secretary of Labor was Maurice Tobin. The previous Secretary of Labor was Frances Perkins. It appears Dad conflated the two names. 

Sept 1 Eugene has been working on the Book of Knowledge Centerville for weeks. It is a village of cardboard including bungalows, church, town hall, gas station, etc. We went to Woodlawn but could find no more berries. It was such a dismal day that we went home early. Supreme Court Justice Douglas created an uproar in Congress when he called for the recognition of Red China in order to split it from Russia.

One year, at Christmastime, our building superintendent asked to borrow the cardboard town to put around their Christmas tree.                        

8/19-8/25/51

Aug 19 Sunday Lost to Goldberg and beat Roseman as Eugene played nok-hockey and won five games. Sylvia was in bed again. She played checkers with us, read, wove and played with the anagrams. Eugene won a word game from me.

Aug 20 We forced Eugene to get out of the house so he went to St. James and played nok-hockey. Bobby and Danny came over so he had someone to play with after lunch. We got Sylvia to get out of bed and try to walk. Her first attempt gave her a little pain. We took her to Dr Schmith who changed her dressing and was pleased with the wound.

Aug 21 Beat Hotez. Judge Weinfeld again denounced the gov'ts bail policy on leftists. He ordered $5000 bail for Bittelman to be accepted. An ambush in Korea has resulted in another snag in the negotiations. Negro vet Robert Kelly was slain by a Trenton cop.

Aug 22 The kids played nok-hockey in St James, Sylvia still limping. Eugene won several games. "Reds" charged violations increasing the truce crisis. An estimated half to two million leftists youths ended a two week peace demonstration in East Berlin. Delegates from 70 countries including 50 U.S. youths attended.

Aug 23 Beat Warner. Truce talks were broken off when the "reds" charged their barracks were attacked with napalm bombs. Allied negotiators denied it. Quill chartered a cops Union in secret claiming 120 delegates present. The Appeals Court upset Remington's perjury conviction on technical grounds. L.H. champ Joe Maxim a 7-5 underdog shellacked Bob Murphy in 15 rounds. 

Aug 24 Home from work. Dr Schmith took out Sylvia's stitches today. Sylvia got brown shoes at Miles 3 1/2D $4.49. Larry Evans 19 year old sensation, won the U.S. Chess Championship nosing out Reshevsky.

Aug 25 Stanley took us to Woodlawn picking up Molly on the way. However a storm sent us scurrying home soon. We spent the rest of the day watching television movies including the fine Italian film "Shoe shine". Ridgway rejected the "Red" charges peremporally [sic] but offered to resume negotiations.