4/3-4/9/55

Apr 3  Sunday We drove to mom's where I made pop's income tax. Eugene told us about space travel. Two of Sylvia's poems appeared in E.B.B.'S Chatterbox. ....

Apr 4 Thirty nine, mostly children, were killed in a Belgian theatre fire. 

Apr 5 Two Chinese "Red" leaders were purged. One, Kao Kang committed suicide, the other was Jao Shu-Shih. 

Apr 6 To Molly's for Passover supper. Also there Annie and Murray, Jane and Mildred, Mrs Cohen, Mike Ev & Isabel. Churchill, at eighty, announced his retirement as Prime Minister.

Apr 7 Eugene still plays the piano. He is practicing "Moonlight Sonata" and "The Minute Waltz". Sylvia rarely plays. Eugene and Jerry went to the Ascot to see "The Animal Farm". Afterwards they played scrabble here for 5¢ a game of which we disapproved. Francis X. McQuade is dead at 71. Three men escaped with a record $305,000 in a holdup of the Chase Manhattan Bank at Woodside.

Apr 8 Sylvia went to the library with Ann S. and drew "Sylvan City" N. Paschal "Good Bye, Mr Chips" James Hilton "Love From Sandy" E. Berger "Linda's Homecoming" P.A. Whitney "Sue Barton, Rural Nurse" H.D. Boylston. Eugene went to the schoolyard and played some handball with himself. The kids are off from school and Eugene does shopping for Lil while Sylvia walks her to the subway for work. Theda Bara is dead at 65. 

Apr 9 Jerry and Red called for Eugene and went along with us for a drive to the Botanical Gardens. We saw some pretty flower displays. Lillian ordered a dinette set and two extra folding chairs at Masters $82. Prissy was found dead this morning - of neglect?

Prissy was our parakeet; see 8/29/53. 

3/29-4/2/55

 This is the start of Book 10

Mar 29 Eugene was still home with the same routine plus an argyrol pack. His temp did not exceed 100°. I came home with four hours sick leave having an upset stomach and eyestrain. 

Mar 30 Eugene was better today. His temp normal. He watched daytime movies. At night he likes "Disneyland". Sylvia watches television news programs and hit parades. ... Stayed home today as my eyestrain returned & Sylvia has a stuffed nose. Hoodlumism hit the schools with invasion of Evander and beating of a boy and a fist fight in Bronx Vocational H.S. 

Mar 31 Eugene returned to school. Motion Picture Academy "Oscars" went to Marlon Brando for "On the Waterfront" and Grace Kelly for "The Country Girl". "On the Waterfront" was named best picture. Director - Elia Kazan. Best Supporting Actor - Edmund O'Brien. Best Supporting Actress - Eva Saint Marie [sic]. Bevan received a reprieve from expulsion from the British Labor Party by the Nat'l Exec. Comm. He was cautioned to follow the line. Stanley Howe is dead at 65. 

Apr 1 Joseph Pulitzer is dead at 70. 

Apr 2 We picked up Molly and drove to White Plains where Lillian got a skirt for Susan on her birthday and blouse for Norma on hers. Sylvia got a blouse and socks. We had a little accident where a car rammed us in the back. We took home Chinese food. Col. Robert McCormick is dead at 74. Hundreds died in Philippine earth quakes. Tony DeMarco won the world's welterweight title by knocking out Johnny Saxton in 14 rounds. 

3/27-3/28/55

Mar 27 Sunday Al Edith and the kids over. Then Esther Arons and the kids arrived followed by Joe after work. We had a lovely dinner of turkey and trimmings. Norma spent the day with us as Jerry & Madeline went to see Madeline's mother who had had an attack. The kids played monopoly and scrabble. Eugene beat Danny & Al at chess. Eugene played a lot of piano. Toby did some dancing as did Norma then the three danced. Esther coached Norma a little. Debby wandered, played checkers with the girls and washed her hands, with salt. Jerry & Madeline came home and joined us, having supper also. Eugene complained of a sore throat and headache at night. He gargled and took aspirins. 

Mar 28 Eugene stayed home from school although he had [no] temp. He gargled, took aspirins, privine in the [nostrils], argyrol swab, etc. France approved German rearmament. "The Pajama Game" and "The [Desperate Hours]" won "Tonys" as the best musical and [play] respectively for Mar '54 to Mar '55. Alfred [Lunt and] Grace Kelly were picked as the outstanding actors.  We received word that my cousin Pauline [died].

The words in brackets above were either fully or partially missing, as this page had come out of the diary, and it's edges were torn. 

This is the end of this diary book. At the end of each book, dad included a section called "Events", which was a very brief summary of what he apparently considered the most significant happenings covered in the diary, both family and world events. He also included a "Deaths" list, which, in this case, and others, he ended up not having space for, and continued listing them on the inside back cover. Since all of these things were already in the diary, I have chosen not to blog them; therefore, this is the end of Book 9 of the diary.

3/20-3/26/55

Mar 20 Sunday We drove downtown where Sylvia got shoes at Miles $3.70. We called for Evelyn and Isabel and drove to Rockaway. On the way back we called for Mike and brought them home. Lillian saw "Deep in my Heart" with Jose Ferrer and "Hunters of the Deep". 

Mar 21 Rev Dr Sidney Goldstein is dead at 71 and and Count Karoly at 80. Duquesne won the N.I.T. beating Cincinatti. Maurice Stokes of St. Francis of Loretto was M.V.P. 

Actually, Duquesne beat Cincinatti in the semis. They defeated Dayton in the final. 

Mar 22 Was off today and sold with the car until 4:35 when I picked up Lil at the subway at the moment she came out of the station. Sylvia came home from her dancing lesson where "two freaks" wanted to dance with her and Susan G. but were repulsed. We had a pleasant supper together with a lot of spelling competition. Walter White is dead at 61. 

Mar 23 A military plane crashed in Hawaii with all 66 dead. Dan Tracy is dead at 68.

Mar 24 Clyde Kittell is dead at 54.

Mar 25 Sylvia went to a dungaree party at Susan Cohen's. They danced to records. Present were Judy P, Judy K, Lucy G, Susan G, Eileen D, Roberta G, Ella D. Red and Jerry came over at 9:30 and stayed till 11:45. John W Davis is dead at 81 and Paul McNutt at 63. Lillian read "The Magic [Royal] Box" F. Parkinson Keyes. 

Dad clearly entered "The Magic Box", but Parkinson does not seem to have written a book by that name. She did write a 1954 book called "The Royal Box". 

Mar 26 Drove to the library with Sylvia where she drew "Francie Again" Emily Hahn, "Boy Trouble" R Du Jardin, "Janice" A.R. Hager and "Miss Spring" C. Crowe. Eugene yesterday drew "The Conquest of Don Pedro" H.Fergusson, "Mutiny" ed. by Ed Fuller, "Once Upon a Star" K.F. Crossen, "Majesty's Rancho" Zane Grey, "King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table" ed. by Sid. Lanier.