Indholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2020 i Reminisce

DEPUTY EDITOR, REMINISCE John Glenn was a Marine fighter pilot, one of the original seven astronauts in the NASA space program, the first American to orbit the Earth and a four-term United States senator. Not exactly your average guy. Yet he summed up better than anyone that most average of afflictions facing us all: “There is no cure,” he observed, “for the common birthday.” That’s a nice piece of wit, for sure, but I also love the simple truth of it. Birthdays do indeed keep coming. And thank goodness, for they can be some of the best days of our lives, as our cover feature, “Best Birthday Ever” (page 38), proves in glorious technicolor. When we were gathering the submissions for this feature, I was struck by how vividly the…

Hattie McDaniel was a veteran of the stage and radio, and a powerful singer who wrote her own songs. She shifted to movies in the early 1930s and eventually got the role of Mammy in Gone With the Wind (1939) amid tough competition. At the 1940 Academy Awards, McDaniel made history when she became the first African American to win an Oscar, taking supporting actress in a field that included her co-star Olivia de Havilland. Here are a few more essential facts about McDaniel. She was the youngest of 13 children. She was born in 1893 (some sources say 1895) in Wichita, Kansas, to Henry and Susan McDaniel, former slaves, and grew up in Denver, Colorado. Her father fought in the Civil War. Most of the family enjoyed performing; Hattie…

Make Way for Ducklings (1941) By Robert McCloskey Mallard parents with a raft of ducklings in a busy Boston park must find a safe home for their little family. Pippi Longstocking (1945) By Astrid Lindgren One outlandish adventure follows another for this pigtailed girl who lives by her own set of rules. Little Town on the Prairie (1941) By Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura takes on new responsibilities as she grows up and tries to be a credit to her family. The Little White Horse (1946) By Elizabeth Goudge Orphaned Maria arrives at her ancestral manor and finds enchanted Moonacre Valley shrouded in mystery. The Little Prince (1943) By Antoine de Saint-Exupery A stranded pilot meets an extraterrestrial visitor who teaches him about the value—and strangeness—of friendship and love.…

A loss, a search that comes up empty, and then moving on with only a memory lost, now found Until one day, when least expected, what was missing comes back. AFTER BEING DRAFTED and serving two years in the U.S. Army in Seoul, Korea, I received an honorable discharge. I got my old job back at the Pennsylvania Railroad, but was also looking for new opportunities. In high school, I really enjoyed drawing and painting, and that’s how I found myself taking a drawing class, sketching a plaster cast in charcoal, at the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia one evening in 1954. A representative from the office announced that the portrait class was looking for a model. Even though I was well aware of the advice I’d learned in the…

During my junior year of high school in Niles in 1956, I signed up for business classes; friends and I envisioned ourselves as future private secretaries in prestigious offices. Our shorthand teacher, Mr. Scobie, had his students buy the miniature Gregg Shorthand Dictionary, which was only 3½ by 4½ inches but listed 28,774 shorthand forms. In class, nimble fingers raced across steno pads as Mr. Scobie dictated at gradually increasing speed. Typewriters clicked fiercely as students transcribed their work into perfect business letters. At home, I studied my mini dictionary and challenged myself by playing bop hit records on our phonograph, jotting down lyrics in shorthand, then transcribing them aloud. My efforts paid off senior year when Mr. Scobie approached me with an amazing opportunity. He recommended me to local…

TIME CAPSULE Guided by Merriam-Webster’s Time Traveler, we look at words added to the dictionary in a given year for a fascinating snapshot of the period. Page 12 FRONT & CENTER Curious and essential facts about a celebrity who played a key role in a featured year, with a standout illustration by Michael Witte. Page 18 KEEPSAKES A new version of our old “Kept It” column, long popular with readers, considers all treasures great and small—and the occasional collectible. Page 52 IN THE NEXT ISSUE • Major WWII battles• Class Trips• March Madness…

Late in the 1930s, animation king Walt Disney and orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski began to imagine a Disney film uniting groundbreaking artwork with classical music. The two-hour cinematic masterwork would be named Fantasia, and the movie’s highlight would be “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” an elaborate 20-minute segment with a mischievous Mickey Mouse. Disney artists cooked up a visual feast of traditional animation, mattes, multilayered paintings and gels, and used filming techniques such as trick dissolves and other special effects to realize Walt’s dream. The boss himself approved each scene. To convey the power of Stokowski’s Philadelphia Orchestra as if it were performing live in the theater, Disney created Fantasound—essentially massive speakers behind and on both sides of the screen. The result was an early version of stereophonic sound. Fantasia premiered on…

IN THE EARLY 1950s, my friend Dotty and I loved to play Monopoly. We’d keep at it until my mom or dad told us to go to sleep. “OK,” we’d lie, and turn out the lights. Then, when we thought they were asleep, we’d clamp book lights to the board, and I’d tiptoe to the kitchen to get a jar of pickles. Dotty would have everything ready. I’d crawl under the covers, pickles and all. We whispered and laughed, quietly (or so we thought), until the pickles were gone. We did this often. I never knew how late we played, though I don’t remember ever seeing the dawn. I’m sure my parents let us think we were getting away with it—because there was always a convenient jar of pickles in…

Researching my family, I’ve found many oddities and a few outright mysteries. Frederick and Sophie Grabow came to the U.S. around 1866. Frederick’s citizenship papers show he was born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany. My grandfather, George, always claimed Frederick’s son and George’s father, Otto, was born in Spain. I checked U.S. census records and found that those from 1900 and 1920 did indeed list Spain as Otto’s birthplace, as George claimed. But an 1880 census gave Otto’s birthplace as Central America. And the one from 1870 said Venezuela. And Otto’s citizenship papers state he was born in Central America. Why did all these records differ? A partial answer to the mystery came from a book about the founding of my hometown, Waukesha, Wisconsin. It includes an account from Otto’s sister, Sophia…

MY CLASS RING somehow made a 20,000-mile journey without me. I’ve never traveled outside the U.S. but my ring went halfway around the world—and made it back. The ring, which was embossed with the name of my school, had my initials engraved on the inside. I was a member of the 1959 graduating class of Glen Burnie High School in Maryland. After graduating, I married my husband, Robert, and we lived in Phoebus, Virginia, near the Chesapeake Bay. One hot summer day in 1960, we went to Buckroe Beach in Hampton. I was wearing my class ring while swimming in the bay, and it fell off my finger into the water. Robert and I tried to find it but had no luck. I thought I’d never again see my ring.…

LUCKILY I WAS PITCHING and could see across the street in Cairo, Illinois, one summer day in 1956, because the cutest girl I’d ever seen walked past. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, and the softball hit me in the shoulder because I forgot to look at the catcher. I found out her name was Sherry Britton; she was 11 and I was 12. The next Saturday at the Gem Theatre’s double feature I spotted Sherry with her friends. I mustered the courage to sit right behind her, then I pulled her ponytail to make her turn around. Sherry and I were together for the next eight years. I played basketball and she was a cheerleader and the homecoming queen her senior year. I graduated a year before her…

I spent weeks preparing for my birthday party in the fall of 1962. I was finally becoming a teenager! My first challenge was to convince Mom and Dad to let me invite both boys and girls to my party. They were apprehensive, but I argued that as a high school freshman, I was definitely old enough. It wasn’t my fault I had skipped a grade and was a year younger than all my classmates. Once my parents finally agreed, I began to search for the perfect venue, and found it at a relative’s farm, 12 miles from my hometown of Beloit. I could use the hayloft, but I had to clean it out. It was hard and dirty work, yet the hours went by quickly as I thought of the…

The most popular speed-writing system worldwide is the Pitman method, devised by Englishman Isaac Pitman in the mid-19th century. But the Gregg method, introduced to America in the 1890s by its inventor, Irish immigrant John Robert Gregg, is dominant in the United States. Though some see it as a lost art, shorthand holds on among a dedicated few as a valuable skill for executive assistants, especially for recording meeting minutes. Gregg dictionaries like Annette’s can be found online and in used bookstores for as little as $4 apiece.…

Early inventors found ways to make bicycles go faster by attaching motors and engines to assist with pedaling. Motorcycles evolved from these prototypes, but true motorized bikes kept the pedals, using the engine or electric motor as a boost for hills and rough terrain. 1869 Sylvester Roper of Roxbury, MA, showed off his steam-powered bicycle at fairs and circuses. It was a hit with the public. 1903 George Wyman of Oakland, CA, rode a motorized bicycle from San Francisco to New York. The trip took 50 days, and though he relied on a small internal combustion engine, pedal power alone took him to the finish. 1915 Popular Mechanics advertised a kit to modify your “old-fashioned leg power machine” with a chain-driven engine from Shaw Manufacturing Co. of Galesburg, KS. 1939…

ACROSS 1 John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara star in this romance set in Ireland, 3 words 7 He was asked to “play it” in Casablanca 9 First lady 10 Miss. neighbor 12 Star of The Philadelphia Story 13 See 30 across 16 Compete with a rival 17 Cry deeply 18 Murphy’s _____ 19 Tomato type 22 Katharine Hepburn played one in The Philadelphia Story 25 Small ensemble 29 Ollie’s partner in comedy 30 1957 tear-jerker, with 31 across, 32 across and 13 across 31 See 30 across 32 See 30 across 33 Rare baseball game, 2 words 38 Rainbow curve 40 Gone With The Wind plantation house 41 Exodus author 44 _____ Rogers, comics hero 46 Historic time 47 Starred with Joel of 34 down, Claudette _____ 48 To _____, With Love 50 Temperature…

TELL US HOW TO FIND YOU Whether you send your submission via mail or email or post it online, include your full name, daytime phone number, email address and mailing address. If you have a post office box, tell us your street address too. HELP US SORT THINGS OUT Include the name of the department your submission is for (Motoring Memories, Growing Up, etc.) on the first page of your submission or in the email subject line. For any photos you submit, please identify the people, city, state and year the photo was taken. We reserve the right to use submissions in any section of our magazine, or elsewhere. We do not return unsolicited materials. Send quality photo reprints or email high-resolution JPEG files (300 dpi at 8x10) so you…

PHOTO TIPS Please identify the people, city, state and year the photo was taken. For photos sent by mail: • Be sure your photo or reprint is in focus. Do not send photocopies; we cannot print from them. For photos sent digitally: • Scan your photo as a JPEG file at 1200x1800 pixels, 300 dpi and 1MB. • No scanner? Walgreens, OfficeMax and FedEx Office offer this service. SEEING STARS Have you ever run into someone famous—by accident or design? Tell us all about it. Label your story and pictures “Close Encounter.” SUNDAY DRIVES Did Dad pack everyone into the Plymouth after church and drive out to parts unknown (or partly known)? We’re planning a feature on leisurely day trips and would love to hear about your favorites from years…

A bestseller in 1939 and a Pulitzer Prize winner, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was also controversial. The saga about Dust Bowl migrants was banned in several places, including Kern County, California, where the story’s fictional family ends up. The controversy didn’t stop Hollywood from making the story into a movie in 1940. What do you remember about this classic? 1 The title comes from what Civil War tune? 2 What is the family’s last name, which sounds like the Bible’s Job? 3 Some scenes were shot in these three states—part of the route real Dust Bowl migrants took to California. 4 Which actor, speaking as Tom, declares, “Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there”? 5 This actress, above, won the Academy Award…

On Oct. 5, 1952, I was invited to appear as a guest on a TV show hosted by Joe DiMaggio, one of my baseball heroes. The program, called The Buitoni Show, was sponsored by that big pasta company. I was one of three baseball players selected to go on the show. We were all 14 and students at the American Baseball Academy, which was free to boys 13-18 who were interested in baseball and lived in New York City. The academy was founded by Phil Rizzuto, the Yankees shortstop, and professional baseball players taught there. That week’s show had a guest appearance by Rizzuto, who was the maestro of bunting in the American League. On the show he was going to teach the three of us the art of bunting.…

Our ancestors were on the move a lot. A move may have involved crossing a continent or ocean. Things could happen that redirected their course. When we analyze the research, it may differ from what we find in an online tree. Back up your findings with documentation: ■ Vital records■ Bible entries Baptism and christening records■ Census records■ Probate records■ Migration patterns Sources provide proof that an event took place, but not the context. For example, a family migrating from New England to Ohio in the early 1800s may have traveled on the Erie Canal. Along the way, they may have recorded a life event that occurred in a small New York town, even though they never settled there. PEGGY CLEMENS LAURITZEN, an accredited genealogist, writes and lectures about family…

Shopping at a flea market in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, a couple bought a brass trinket on a whim. Inside the small case they found a newspaper clipping announcing my engagement, along with pictures of me and my future husband. The album had been missing for 63 years. Using information in the announcement, the couple, John and Christine Hawthorne, tracked me down by contacting the alumni office at Moravian College in Bethlehem, where I was a junior at the time of my engagement. The Hawthornes insisted on bringing me the album. I was overjoyed to meet them after finding they went to so much trouble just to give me back my little keepsake, which I’d long since forgotten. The pictures look like they were taken yesterday, and seeing them brought back wonderful…

NEAT AS A HAIRPIN Daystrom specialized in inexpensive dinettes for middle-class buyers, sourcing raw materials and making its own laminates to keep costs down. Today’s collectors love the sleek features, especially the hairpin legs, which epitomize 1950s design. BRIGHT SOUNDS Cincinnati, OH, biz wiz Powel Crosley Jr. sold his venerable company in 1946, but the old Crosley slogan “better costs less” held on in the ’50s with stylish designs made of new materials such as Bakelite. So what if Crosleys weren’t top-of-the-line electronics? They looked fabulous. INSTANT CLASSIC Crafted by noted American industrial designer Michael Lax, the Lytegem captured 10% of the market almost as soon as it hit shelves. And no wonder: Its pared-down profile of basic shapes—cube and sphere—with telescopic arm makes for a textbook example of form…

Classmates of Luella Kern Robinson in Oelwein, Iowa, exchanged valentines at school in the 1920s. Luella’s daughter, Sharon Robinson Spalding of Ashland, Oregon, saved these little cards with their sentiments of friendship. WHITNEY MADE MOST CARDS IN THIS collection are from the George C. Whitney Co., whose dainty designs were long popular with schoolchildren. George Whitney took over his brother Sumner’s stationery business, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, after George returned from serving on the Union side in the Civil War. Working with his brother Edward, he renamed the firm the Whitney Valentine Co. and bought up many of his competitors. By the turn of the century, over 90% of the valentines sold in the U.S. came from Worcester printers, most of which belonged to Whitney. In January 1910, a fire, fueled…

When I was in kindergarten in 1976, I hated green beans and loved Superman. And everybody knows (or so I thought) what Superman’s one weakness is—kryptonite. So one day I got the bright idea to tell my teacher that I couldn’t eat my green beans because they had kryptonite in them. To my surprise, she had no idea what that was. “Is that something you’re allergic to?” she asked. Even at that tender age, I knew an opportunity when I spotted one. I nodded. As she walked away, my peers stared at me in awe. I felt like the king of the kindergarteners. Then a few minutes later, the principal was in front of me: “Young man, why can’t you eat your green beans?” Knowing the stakes were now much…

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Charlotte and I made our debut as cooks for an important church dinner. We lived in Happy Valley, on the Tennessee side of the Smoky Mountains. At the end of World War II, like most country folks, we were poor, but proud. Our white farmhouse was cleaned every Saturday, laundry was hung out each Monday, and a full meal was on the table three times a day. Mother trained us early for all sorts of work, and if Daddy told you to do something, he expected it to be done well, trained or not. Each summer there was a weeklong revival. The deacons’ wives took turns feeding the evangelist and his entourage, and competition was fierce to offer the best meal. In 1950 my mother, who was pregnant, signed up…