8/10-8/16/47

8/10 Sunday The kids played cards today for quite some time before a fight broke it up. Eugene has been copying a U.S. map in color for a couple of days. After lunch we went to the "Marble Hill" to see the English picture "Great Expectations". Whatever it contains is quite faithful to the book. Sylvia was fidgety but Eugene was very interested in it and also the other picture The Web with Ella Raines and Vincent Price & Edmond J. O'Brien.

I think I remember seeing "Great Expectations"; maybe I just remember talking about having seen it. Don't remember "The Web".

8/11 I clash repeatedly with Sylvia as she infuriates me with her stubborn resistance to reasonable requests. She also squeals at the slightest contact with Eugene. Bill Odom set a new world record of 73 hrs. 5 mi. 11 sec. in a round the world solo flight flying a Reynolds Bombshell. 

8/12 Beat Levy while the kids picked shells of large red nuts. Jinnah has been named the first head of the Muslim state of Pakistan. Pakistan separates from Hindu India Aug. 16. American seamen were jailed in Greece. Bklyn Trust Co. strikers had their strike headquarters smashed while police idled. Lillian took the kids to Devoe wading pool.

8/13 The kids get $18000 from a burglar they killed. Eugene has a gun which is also a sword and a bat. He also has a small gun which he uses for killing. Took the kids to Walton where Eugene showed improvement until he decided it was too hot. It will probably be 95° today. Ray Carlucci, a former labor spy is chief Army policeman in Britain. We threatened to by-pass the UN in Greece "to fight the Communist plot there". The C.I.O. demanded a special session of Congress on run away prices. Dan Tobin and R J Thomas spoke of a third party. Protestant ministers visiting Yugoslavia asserted there was freedom of worship there. Lillian took the kids to Devoe Wading Pool.

8/14 Split with Weckworth in 90+ heat. In the afternoon to pick berries with Eugene, he being enthusiastic although complaining of the heat in his sweat shirt and heavy pants. Later we all had a picnic supper in Woodlawn. UNSCOP delegates were appalled at D.P. camps conditions. The unanimous opinion is that almost all Jews want to go to Woodlawn Palestine. Egypt asked UN to oust British troops. Jew-Arab clashes occurred in Tel-Aviv. Pearl Bergoff is dead at 62. We saw "The Glass Menagerie" at the Windsor.

That crossing out was amusing. 

8/15 Split chess games with Eugene in the park. Then he played checkers in the playground while Sylvia went on all the swings sliding ponds & seesaws. Taught the kids "pisha-paysha". The drive against "bookies" has resulted in police shakeups and demotions. Nehru leads the Hindu "Indian Union". Terror continues in Dominica under Trujillo. In Paraguay, a revolutionary Army battles Morinigo. A Negro "Legion" post was ousted for inviting Robeson to sing.

8/16 To Walton for some tennis then the Strong St. playground. Eugene will not go on the seesaws. The kids played cards again. Sylvia is intrigued by "stealing bundles" Russia charged Greek terror against its Embassy employees. Arab Jewish fighting continued. The Soviet atom plan was rejected 10-0 by the UN Atomic Comm. Eisler was convicted of making false statements in applying for an exit permit. Actors Equity won an agreement from N.Y. Theatre [sic] owners to keep plays out of Washington until Jim Crow is eliminated there. It will go into effect Aug. '48. Mike Quin is dead at 44. Free Pakistan and Hindu India tools [?] were instituted.

8/3-8/9/47

8/3 Sunday We watched the St. James Tournament matches all day while the kids played in the playground. Eugene played checkers with the kids there most of the day while Sylvia went on the sliding pond and swings. At night I beat Eugene a tough chess game and an easy one.

8/4 In the morning to get balls, the kids seeing four trains and three ferry boats. They were also delighted with some stubs for the Windsor and silver pennies. Another Negro charged with rape has been killed lynched  in Miss. Dutch authorities complied with UN orders by ordering 'cease fire' in Indonesia. Anti-Semitic mobs in Liverpool stimulated by the Palestine issue fought police in rioting. Ike Williams won the worlds lightweight title KO'ing Bob Montgomery in 6.

8/5 Beat Weckworth while Eugene played chess in the playground and Sylvia got tar over herself on the sliding ponds and see-saws. Bought a set of jacks for Sylvia. Lillian and kids went to Orchard Beach with Len and Helen Davis in their car. Elliot Roosevelt testifying in the war aviation investigation against How charged an attempted smear against F.D.R. Howard Hughes, plane manufacturer and millionaire is under attack by Republicans. Bookies are under attack in a police drive to clean up the city.

Don't remember the Davises. 

8/6 Eugene drew "Paul Bunyan" by E. Shephard, "How Old Stormalong Captured Mocha Dick" by Irwin Shapiro, "The Chisel-Tooth Tribe" by W. S. Bronson and Sylvia chose "Trucks at Work" by Mary Elting. In the afternoon with Sam & Molly to Woodlawn where we picked berries. I beat Eugene a rapid transit game. We also had supper there. At night with Sam and Molly to see "Deep Are The Roots" at the Windsor. "The Negro in the South" with optimism expressed at the end. Prime Minister Attlee asked wartime powers to check the growing crisis in England. A North Car. jury refused to indict seven white men charging [sic] with attempting to lynch a rape suspect but also failed to indict Godwin Bush charged with the crime. License Comm. Fielding resigned as an officer of the A.L.P. but remained as a member after censure for supporting an 8¢ fare. Marcantonio's bill to allow alien seamen to ship out was signed by Truman. Some Negroes voted in the Miss. primary although they had to swear to oppose anti-lynch, polltax and F.E.P.C. legislation.

8/7 Eugene played chess all morning then I lost a game to him. Sylvia built a house of blocks. Lillian went to the "Oval" pool to meet Sadie and the kids. Evictions are growing.

8/8 Beat Mencher. Eugene's favorite is shooting with a 'gun' finger or anything at all. Sylvia's stubbornness cannot be broken down by anything short of violence. A general strike has started in Palestine protesting arrest of Jewish mayors.

8/9 A delight for the kids is to have a penny each to put in a nut machine. After Walton this morning Eugene grabbed his comic books and Sylvia the toy typewriter which was out of order however. Lillian and the kids went to Orchard Beach again with the Davises. High C.P. leaders testified in the Eisler trial. They denied there is an "affiliation" to the C.P. One is or is not a member.

7/27-8/2/47

7/27 Sunday In the morning to Walton then by cab to Woodlawn where I beat Waldman & Zinderman. Eugene played three people at chess and beat one. Pop was up. In the woods the berries were ready to ripen. We found six balloons there which delighted the kids no end. Read Edna Ferber's "Peculiar Treasure".
 
7/28 Eugene solved this puzzle [see scanned in page] in a short time. He cannot take any kind of physical punishment starting to scream and cowers as if he were being murdered. James V. Forrestal is the new Sec'y of Nat'l Defense. He helped rearm Germany. Remington Rand has settled for 8¢ per hour, and arbitration of the other 7¢. Truman's mother is dead at 94.

7/29 Beat Diembrava [?]. Eugene is devouring the comic books by the scores. Sylvia wouldn't take a shower with me because her bedroom slippers were so ragged it transpired. Sam over with a lovely little dress for Lillian that Molly picked up. Lillian took the kids to the Devoe Wading Pool. Another nitrate ship blew up - in Paris with hundreds of casualties. Joe Brodsky is dead at 57. [...]

That was Devoe Park, not far from where we lived. 

7/30 Eugene drew "The Spear of Ulysses" by A.B. Alessios, Maeterlinck's "Children's Life of the Bee", "Ol' Paul - The Mighty Logger" by Glen Rounds and Sylvia chose "Pelle's New Suit" by Elsa Beskow. Three Irgunists were executed by the British. 4500 Jewish Refugees deported to France before reaching Palestine will not leave their ship. Russia vetoed the U.S. proposal for a standing Balkan Commission to supervise the Greek border. In the afternoon we picked the first berries of the season at Woodlawn, then to Mom's for supper and farewell as Mom and Pop are going away to Feingold's. Lil Harry & Susan also had supper. At night to see "I Remember Mama" at the Windsor with Mady Christians. Trials and tribulations of a Norwegian family in San Fran.

This ("I Remember Mama") was apparently the play, not the movie, as the movie is dated 1948, and Mady Christians was in the play, not the movie; the Windsor did host live plays. 

7/31 Beat Eugene game of chess. Lil made the first jam of the season. Sylvia filled in a picture with crayon then played with her carriage and balloons. Dutch Ambassador Van Kleffens said the UN had no right to stop the Indonesian war as Indonesia was not a sovereign state. Traitor Douglas Chandler got a life sentence and $10,000 fine.

8/1 Beat Weckworth. The kids found a playing card, comb for a doll and a jack which they took home. Irgunists executed two British hostages, booby trapping them afterwards in a retaliatory measure. British troops ran amok in Tel Aviv killing five Jews. The Board of Estimate voted to submit the fare issue to the people in a referendum. Lillian took the kids to Woodlawn to pick berries.

8/2 In the morning to Woodlawn Walton. The kids played casino, Sylvia winning. A British armored car ran down Jews in a funeral procession for the pogrom victims. The UN called on the Netherlands and Indonesia to cease hostilities. The gov't is blocking much pro-Eisler evidence in his current trial.