Dorothy - A Life in Stories, 2023

Shooster Publishing www.shoosterpublishing.com 954-537-1200

777 South State Road 7 Margate, Florida 33068

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Life gives you

things

to talk about.

Letter from the Editor

I have spent the better part of the last two years helping Dorothy Shooster remember her life. In that time I have come to know Dorothy and to value her as a friend. The book you have in hand was written before I came into the picture. But it consisted of stories and memories contained in journals, notes, letters and unorganized reflections. Dor- othy kept a diary in the early years of her child rearing years that provided much material. But there were (and still are) large gaps in the written chronology of Dorothy’s life. To- gether we have tried to fill some of those gaps and to reexamine the many stories that provide such a vivid portrait of one woman’s life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Jim Boring EDITOR

Dorothy Shooster’s life spans, and was influ- enced by, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depres- sion, World War II, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the great move- ments for Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, social justice and equality, the times of the Big Bands, Rock and Roll, and Rap, and the enormous technologi-

community in Coral Springs, Florida. Dorothy would always greet me, elegantly coifed and impec- cably dressed. We would pass through the foyer and living room where works of contemporary art worthy of a great museum looked down from the walls or, in the case of the sculptures, stood on display. The

cal changes in all our lives. Her experiences include being a girl during the Great Depression, a young single woman during war time, a Post War entrepre- neur and business woman, a wife with a growing fami- ly in the Fifties, a husband whose battle scars were all inside but nonetheless very

Dorothy’s strength and her joy, her most important legacy is her family. This is the story of that family growing from fragile but resilient roots.

real wounds of war. Dorothy was the essential partner for her husband, Herman, in his long strug- gle to create a lasting business capable of providing for their large and growing family and employees. Her story is that of a first generation of children of immigrant parents who fled pogroms and perse- cution in Russia and of how those sturdy immi- grants embraced the opportunities and the ideal of America. Her story is that of the entrepreneur- ial spirit that starts with nothing and through hard work, perseverance, intelligence and a little mazel, builds a lasting business legacy. But Dorothy’s strength and her joy, her most important legacy is her family. This is the story of that family growing from fragile but resilient roots. If Dorothy were to have her way this book would be thousands of pages long and include chapters on every child and grandchild. If you are one of them and are not mentioned, blame me. No note, no clever saying, no spark of creativity, no act of love or compassion escaped Dorothy’s notice. This book would have included every picture, card and thank you note were Dorothy to have her way. All those reside in an archive available to the interested researcher. But a book has limits; it has to appeal to both the casual and the insatiable reader. Every Wednesday at noon I would arrive at Dorothy and Herman’s home in Eagle Trace, a

art included works by Dorothy’s children and their excellence is a fitting complement to the rest. Indeed the entire house is a gallery featuring the creativity of Dorothy’s children and grandchildren. Dorothy always made me lunch, a tasty simple fare with elegant flair that would have been at home in the best restaurants. During lunch we would talk about each other’s lives. Dorothy is not only a good storyteller but an excellent listener - two qualities that suit her role as matriarch very well. She could probably write a story of my life from all I have told her. After lunch we would settle down around the kitchen table beneath the tall windows looking out on the pool, the canal and the golf course beyond. The big Florida sky would tumble its climbing, roil- ing, heat induced clouds past us all afternoon. Doro- thy’s constant companions, her birds, would come and go during the afternoon. We would begin our work then in earnest, first reviewing the progress of the previous week, then shaping or creating new material for the week to come. I don’t think anyone who reads this book can come away without loving and admiring Dorothy. It was a privilege for me to help her and to gain her as a friend.

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A LIFE IN STORIES

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CONTENTS

2 The Beginning

4 THE ROARING TWENTIES 4 SONJA / SADIE / SARA 5 NOT ONLY A GOOD APPETITE 5 THE SWEATSHOP 5 THE BROTHERS 5 MY RIGHT ARM 6 A TRIP TO CANADA 6 MY FATHER 6 ON THE STREET 6 RADIO 7 CALIFORNIA 7 BOILED HEIGHTS 7 BOBOLINK THE BUTTERFLY 8 THE LONG WAY HOME

was born in 1925, in the middle of what became known as the Roaring Twenties, just about half way between the Great War (WWI) and the Great Depression. It was a time of prosperity and huge social experiments. One of these was Prohibition which banned the sale of alcohol. That didn’t work out too well. Another was the rejection of old social restrictions by a new generation of women called Flappers who bobbed their hair and wore short skirts and generally shook up the older generation. I was just a baby while all this was going on but it shaped the world I would grow up in.

22 M y mother had not informed her relatives that we were coming back to Philadel- phia with a new addition to our family, my brother Allen. Nonetheless when we got back we were welcomed and we moved in with my mother’s sister, Aunt Lil. She and her husband, my uncle Jake, had a tiny row house. They had three children, Marty, Ruthie and Fagie, from nine to three years old. We added my parents and four more kids, my brother Marvin, my sister Pearl, me, and our infant brother, Allen, who slept in a baby carriage all the time we lived there. Uncle Jake’s mother also lived with us. Can you imagine? Twelve people in that little house! With one small bathroom! And all the kids still little. I could tell by the expression on Uncle Jake’s mother’s face that she wasn’t exactly thrilled to have us all there.

22 A Bowl of Cherries 24 SADIE AND LIL 24 GRANDMA MARY AND SHVITZ

24 A SPECIAL DISH 24 NATRONA STREET

25 THE NEIGHBORHOOD 26 THE PIT AND THE PIANO 28 SADIE WRITES TO THE PRESIDENT 29 STRAWBERRY MANSION 29 SOME KIDS 31 THE STAR CLUB 31 A LITTLE SUPPLEMENT 33 BY THE SEA 33 I AM A WOMAN 34 NOT SO SWEET CHARITY 34 THE BOTTOM RUNGS OF THE LADDER 34 31ST AND CUMBERLAND 35 “WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEW?” 36 “GIF ME DA VHEEL!” 36 UNCLE MICKEL HAD A FARM 37 EVERY CHILD NEEDS A PET

38 GIRLFRIENDS 39 FIRST CRUSH 41 THE HAYRIDE

41 SCARLET FEVER 42 ANOTHER MOVE 42 HORSING AROUND

48 War 48 CONTENTS

51 MARVIN’S ADVENTURES IN JEWELRY 52 WAR AND A YOUNG GIRL’S BROKEN HEART

53 THE WORKING GIRL 54 WARTIME ROMANCES 55 THE BLIND DATE DISASTER 56 THE ROAD HOME GOES LEFT 58 THE WAR LABOR BOARD 58 SOMEBODY ELSE’S TROUBLES

T oward the end of my sixteenth year, on December 7, 1941, World War II began. Presi- dent Roosevelt called it “a day that will live in infamy.” For a girl my age the war came as a complete shock. The possibility of war may have been considered by adults but for us teenagers our world was swing music, bobbysox, Frank Sinatra and boyfriends. Soon many of our potential boyfriends were going off to fight and die in Europe or the Pacific. When the Japanese at- tacked Pearl Harbor none of us had ever heard of the place and had no idea where it was. As for the Holocaust going on all over Europe and especially in death camps in Germany and Poland we knew nothing until later. When we did know, our military was already fight- ing its way across Europe to the rescue. Sadly rescue came too late for millions.

58 FOX FUR AND UNIFORMS 63 THE BOYS COME HOME 66 The Working Girl 68 DOCK STREET 69 AN EXTRAVAGANCE 69 THE BLUEBIRD OF SOMETHING

70 THE DRESS BUSINESS 73 WORD OF MOUTH 73 WHERE’S THE SALAMI? 73 MOVING ON 75 MA MERE 76 A CHANGE OF HEART

80 T hat date changed my life forev- er. But it wasn’t something I re- alized at the time. Marty, Pearl and I and another couple met at Mar- ty’s apartment at the President Apartments on City Line Av- enue. My blind date, Herman Shooster, was to meet us there. He pulled up in the most gor- geous red Lincoln Continental convertible with his hair flying and my first reaction was to ask Pearl if this guy had ever heard of Vitalis (a popular men’s hair dressing). He had a sign in the front window of the car that read, “Ice Cream Popsicles 15 Cents.” I wasn’t too impressed.

80 Enter Herman 84 PEARL’S BIG SPLASH 84 EXILED

86 HERMAN TAKES CENTER STAGE 88 THE COLD WAR 88 THE KOREAN WAR 89 ALLEN GOES TO WAR 93 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS 96 SHOOSTER’S DRIVE-IN 99 A NIGHT OFF IS A NIGHT OUT 100 COURTSHIP 103 THE WOUNDS OF WAR 106 PEARL AND AL TIE THE KNOT 106 A SHORT TRIAL SEPARATION 106 THE PROPOSAL 106 WARM CHAMPAGNE 108 TAKE A COLD SHOWER 108 PEARL AND AL GET MARRIED 110 OUR WEDDING 118 THE HONEYMOON 118 MINESTRONE? 118 A BEAUTY SECRET 119 A ROCKY START 122 MARRIED LIFE BEGINS 123 A GIFT FROM IZZY 124 A SURE THING 124 CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME

125 OUR OWN PLACE 125 MY PINK KITCHEN 128 Making Whoopee 130 A SURVIVAL EXPERT 132 WAITING FOR FRANKIE 132 FRANKIE ARRIVES 138 TWO CHILDREN? NOT POSSIBLE 139 MAE JOINS THE FAMILY

139 MICHAEL ARRIVES 140 LOST HEIRLOOMS

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CONTENTS

O ne day I took Frankie and Michael to see Aunt Pearl and Uncle Al, Nana Sadie and their cousins Larry and Leon. Driving there Frank- ie saw a beautiful house on a hill. He said, “Mommy, isn’t that house beautiful?” I agreed that it was. “When are we go- ing to move to a new house, Mommy?” he asked. “It’s not because I want to make new friends, I just want a new house.” For a three and a half year old, Frankie was awfully conscious of wanting a new house. Nothing else that hap- pens in your life connects you so closely to another human being. To be a mother is be- yond taking on responsibility for a child, it is to be a part of each other for the rest of your lives. 154

141 SOUR PICKLES 141 I AM NOT A CUPCAKE 141 REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY 142 HOW I RAISED THE KIDS 142 WITHOUT LOSING MY MIND 145 HORSE SENSE 145 HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING

154 Kid Stories

156 THE OLD SWITCHEROO 156 SHOW BIZ 156 FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES 156 LOVE AND PLAY-DOH 157 THE MIX MASTER 157 MELTING A MOTHER’S HEART 158 GOD, FOOD, AND FRANKIE 158 FAIR TRADE AGREEMENTS 159 SPECIAL OCCASION WORDS 159 BROTHERLY LOVE 161 NOW I LAY ME DOWN . . . 161 HAPPY THE CLOWN 164 SPRING BABY 164 STEPHEN LEON SHOOSTER ARRIVES 164 STEPHEN’S EARLY HACKING 176 WIGGLY AND SHMIGGLY 178 THE CONSPIRACY THEORY 178 I THINK I’LL TAKE A WALK 179 OOH-YA OOPS 179 STEPHEN STORIES 179 DON’T RUN BY THE POOL 180 LET SLEEPING FATHERS LIE 180 WHOOPS 180 TOUGH KIDS 181 JUST A LITTLE OFF THE SIDES 182 THE LONG WALK HOME

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192 W e think s o n g s are sil- ly these days but it would be hard to find a sillier song than the Number One hit at the time. Mostly it repeated “Sh-boom” and “Ya-da-da-da” over and over again. But one line from the song describes what all young married cou- ples hope for - “If only all my precious plans would come true.” When Herman and I married Shooster’s Drive-In restaurant seemed like a reli- able source of income for the foreseeable future. And for a while it was. But life is a se- ries of reactions to unexpected circumstances and we were no exception.

192 The good with the bad 193 LOSING MY FATHER

194 THE NEXT GENERATION 194 THE WORKING MOTHER 194 A CHILD’S PERSPECTIVE 195 FORE! 196 THE LOTION TECHNIQUE 196 PAPER AND SCISSORS 197 POTATO CHIPS

197 THE ART OF THE SHOOSTERS 197 LEMONADE FROM LEMONS 197 WHY MOTHERS TURN GRAY 200 Life Could Be a Dream 202 THE SUPERHIGHWAY 203 “I’M OUT”

203 IMPOSSIBLE 204 FOLLOW ME 204 DRIVING ON FROM SHOOSTER’S DRIVE-IN 206 A JEWEL 206 CHERRY HILL

206 GENEROSITY DEFINED 207 VALLEY OF THE DOLLS 209 ONE OF DORA’S STORIES: 209 HOW IT BEGAN 209 THE CIRCLE OF LIFE 212 THE NEIGHBORS 212 WOODCREST FRIENDS 213 THE BUS TO NOWHERE 214 NICE DRESS 214 ROLLING IN THE AISLES 215 SCHOOL DAYS 216 BAD NEWS

217 OUR DE-FEATHERED FRIEND 217 ONCE AN ENTREPRENEUR . . . 218 INSPIRATION 219 ONE BUSINESS LITERALLY TAKES OFF 220 FRENCH? 220 TARZAN OF THE GOLF COURSE

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CONTENTS

232 C herry Hill Foods, found- ed by Herman Shooster, and taken public by him was Her- man’s dream come true. He had succeeded when others were sure he would fail. But there was a worm in the apple. As the head of a public com- pany Herman’s was no longer the only voice in executive decisions. There was a board of directors whose combined authority outweighed Her- man’s. One day Herman came home from the office on what had started as just another day and told me,“I’m out.”Neither he nor I could believe it. The board had voted Herman out of his own company. We were both devastated.

220 “LOOK OUT FOR THE . . .” 221 SHOOSTERS IN SLINGS 221 EDWARD R. BURRO 222 THE BUNNY HOP 222 THE SHOOSTER ROUND TABLE 222 WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL 223 CAMDEN 224 LET’S WALK 224 OUR FIRST CRUISE 225 FIELD TRIPS I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT

226 OFF TO COLLEGE 227 MORE GUNPLAY 227 A FISH STORY 228 FUN IN AMISH COUNTRY 232 A Dream Deferred 234 THE ODYSSEY

234 A CHANCE ENCOUNTER 238 HERMAN’S GOOD ADVICE 238 THE DEAL IS OFF 239 DING-A-LING 240 NO MONEY DOWN 241 FRIENDLY COMPETITION 241 NOT ALL WORK AND NO PLAY 242 THE MENCHENS 242 AN EXPENSIVE LECTURN 242 DUCK?! 243 SORRY, I CAN’T HEAR YOU 243 HOW TO SELL ANSWERING SERVICE 244 “WHAT DO YOU KNOW?” 248 THE BIG MOVE 249 A BIG BROTHER CAN BE A USEFUL THING 249 WENDY’S CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS TRAINING

249 WENDY’S TRAINING PAYS OFF 249 WENDY BEGINS TO DELEGATE 250 WENDY FINDS A WAY 250 THE DANCE OF LIFE 251 NANA LECTURES AND NANA LATKES 252 THE MOVIE STAR 254 I LOSE MY BEST FRIEND 278 DO NOT DATE EMPLOYEES

284 T here is an old saying that “Der mentsh trakht un Got lakht.”. Meaning, “Man plans and God laughs.” It simply means that no matter how carefully you plan there are things beyond your control that will affect the outcome of your plans. When Herman started Ding- a-Ling we had no idea how it would all turn out. All we knew was that if we worked hard we might succeed with an answering service business. For the first three years Ding- a-Ling kept growing bit by bit, answering calls for more and more customers. We moved out of our rented house and bought a house in Palm Aire.

284 Stand By Me 286 SISTERS, SISTERS

288 MOMENTS BIG AS YEARS 288 AN ANNIVERSARY TO REMEMBER 289 THE JAGUAR 289 HOW TO LEARN POISE AND CONFIDENCE 290 A GREAT WEEKEND AND A CLOSE CALL 290 “GET AN AMBULANCE” 292 A MOTHER DAUGHTER BAT MITZVAH 292 ANOTHER KIND OF WEEKEND

293 A BIG HEART BREAKS 294 HOME HEALTH CARE 294 MY ROLE 294 MY 75TH BIRTHDAY 295 WINNING THE LOTTERY 295 CARLY KNOWS 296 HOW I COULD MAKE A LOT OF MONEY 297 A SPECIAL YAHRZEIT 298 ANOTHER CLOSE CALL 318 Mazel and hard work 320 ARTIST OR AGENT? 322 FROM DING-A-LING TO GLOBAL RESPONSE 323 THE CHANGES KEEP COMING 324 MOVING ON UP 324 WENDY 325 EAGLE TRACE 326 A VISIT FROM WILMA 326 THE BIRD LADY OF CORAL SPRINGS 328 MY BIRD 329 LIFE GOES ON

330 DAY ONE 331 DAY TWO 342 EXCALIBUR AWARD

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CONTENTS

W r i t i n g t h e s e stor ies a g a i n after so m a n y years is like traveling through time. There are years that pass by as if they are moments; there are others that seem to last forever. It is the same way with memory. I remember in- cidents and people from my childhood as if they happened yesterday. And there are years that were filled with incidents and people of which I have no memory at all. Why this is so is a mystery of the human mind. We all share this strange selective memory. A doll or a dress from childhood is viv- id and clear. A year of work or raising kids without some major disaster or some major accomplishment can easily be forgotten. 318

346 Little Things like Love 363 FATHER’S DAY 364 WHO DO I THINK I AM? 365 ABIGAIL AND THE MASKS 366 The Key to the City 368 Wendy 370 Epilogue 373 Hello Dotsy 374 Each of us is an Author 375 To Face the Future

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Whatever other lessons my story may teach,

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... the most important one is that of the love of family.

The Beginning

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad, now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime? Best known song of the Great Depression by E. Y. Harburg and Jay Gorney

My name is Dorothy Shooster. I am 88 years old at the time of this writing and I am telling my story in order that future generations of my family will have some sense of what i t was like for one of their ancestorswho lived in times of great t ragedy and great joy. This is my part of the history of our family during these times, seen through my eyes, and experienced with my heart.

02/03/2023

Sadie and Leon Schluger with their children Dorothy and Marvin 1928

hatever other lessons my story may teach, the most important one is that of love and of family. With those two values firmly in place you can survive any hardship and you cannot help but spread love in the world. If you are reading this story you are probably one of my children, or married to one of my children, or you are one of my beautiful grandchildren. Or perhaps you are one of my descendants, far in the future. It is you I have in mind as I write, you and your children and theirs.

Second from left, Haia-Sara Movsheuna-Krassinskaya, a Jewish girl, at The Kamiskaska School, Har’Kov, Ukraine 1910

THE ROARING TWENTIES I was born in 1925, in the middle of what became known as the Roaring Twenties, just about half way between the Great War (WWI) and the Great Depression. It was a time of prosperity and huge social experiments. One of these was Prohi- bition which banned the sale of alcohol. That didn’t work out too well. Another was the rejection of old social restrictions by a new generation of women called Flappers who bobbed their hair and wore short skirts and generally shook up the older gener- ation. I was just a baby while all this was going on but it shaped the world I would grow up in. The year I was born Calvin Coolidge was President of the United States. He was such a quiet man that when a reporter accepted a bet that he could make Coolidge say three words, Coolidge replied, “You lose.” In Tennessee the Scopes Trial was fought over the issue of teach- ing Evolution in the public schools and the very first television images were produced. At the time it was called radiovision. And the actor, Paul Newman was born.

SONJA / SADIE / SARA My mother, born in June 8th, 1895, came from a town called Choslavitch (Kostyukovichi) in the state of Mogelov (Mogilev) in what was then Russia but is now Belarus. Her name in Russia was Sonja Krezinsky, when she came to America with her mother, my grandmother Mary, it was changed to Sadie Carson. She never liked the name Sadie but she went along with it. She was the first child. Her mother had been forced to marry a widower with five children when she was 19. One of the main things I remember about my grandmother was that she was blind. Sadie was the oldest of five siblings. After her came Lily, Katie, Charlie, then Max, in that order. My nephew Andy Nipon and his wife, Nancy, named their daughter Sadie after my mother.

Grandmother, Mary Krezinsky

NOT ONLY A GOOD APPETITE My mother used to tell this story – in Russia it was the custom to invite travelers to dinner at private homes. One evening a man was having dinner with my mother’s family and he said to my mother, “Little girl, you eat like a bird.” To which my mother answered, “Ja, aber ich Scheiße wie ein Pferd.” Which means, “Yes, but I go to the bath- room like a horse.” Well, that translation is not exactly what it means. Her mother was horrified. In those days girls were not encouraged to get an education but Sonja’s father insisted and she was enrolled in a Catholic school taught by nuns. The nuns frightened my mother with their black habits and their severe teaching methods. Still, she was often used as an example to the other children – “Why can’t you be like Sonja.” She was very intel- ligent and a good student. In the Russian schools they taught dancing as part of the curriculum and

THE BROTHERS Meanwhile Uncle Charlie and Uncle Max went into the electrical appliance and furniture business. Charlie had had to drop out of school to support the family. He got a job as an ice truck driver. This was in the days before refrigerators. It turned out to be a good thing because it gave him the inside track on when refrigeration was arriv- ing. That is how he opened a store with Uncle Max to sell refrigerators. It was called Carson Brothers. Eventually Carson Brothers expanded into two stores, an electrical appliance store and a four story furniture store. MY RIGHT ARM My mother and I were always very close. She was always there for me and she was interested in every detail of my life. Every day she told me I was her right arm. We used to wash and dry the dish-

My mother came from a town called Choslavitch in what was then Russia but is now Belarus.

so my mother had eight years of dancing lessons. She loved dancing – if no one asked her to dance at any gathering she would simply get up and dance by herself. THE SWEATSHOP Like most immigrants, my mother and her family struggled to make a living in America. In Philadelphia she worked in a sweatshop factory sewing clothes. Her sister Katie worked in a similar sweatshop. The boss- es would stand in back of the workers and make sure they worked every second they were there. It was slave labor. Aunt Lil worked in a furrier shop and sewed linings into fur coats. I remember her bringing work home to make extra money. She would sit with the heavy fur in her lap no matter how hot it was. In those days there was no such thing as air conditioning. Her hands eventually became crippled from the work.

es together. While doing this she loved to sing, especially her Jewish or Russian songs. My mother struggled all her life. I would have to say she had a very difficult life. She spoke five languages and could also write in some of them. But her talent and skill was used up in the struggle to make a living and raise a family. She was the strength of our family.

My mother, Sonja “Sadie” Krezinsky

A TRIP TO CANADA One of my mother’s step-brothers, my Uncle Meyer, lived in Montreal, Canada with his wife Rose. She was crazy about her half brother, Meyer. He got her to correspond with my future father, Leon Schluger, a friend of his. My father fell in love with the letters my mother wrote him so he invited her to visit him in Montreal. I’m told when my mother arrived, all dressed up from America, my father lifted her up in the air and carried her off the railroad platform. From that day on they were never apart. They were married in a garage in Philadelphia on a freezing cold day (January 14, 1923) in a no frills, very plain wedding. MY FATHER Leon Schluger (Lejby Szlugera) was never one to worry about time. No matter what he promised, he would always be late. My mother told us a story of her visit in Canada when she went with my father to buy him a new pair of shoes. She nearly left him in the store it took so long for him to make up his mind about which shoes to buy. My father was a coppersmith. He was very good at working with metal. When he was a young man in Montreal he made a copper still. It us used for making alcohol. Liquer smuggled in to the United States from Canada was very profitable during the times of Prohibition. Unfortunately the Canadian police discovered his still and confiscated it and all of my father’s equipment. They also took $8,000, which was a fortune at the time. Funny thing I heard was the that police said it was the best still they had ever seen. Another Jewish man in Canada had better luck with his still; his name was Bronfman. He founded the Seagram’s liquor empire. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Everyone needs a little mazel. Who knows, my father could have been a billionaire. ON THE STREET One of my earliest memories was when I was five years old, my mother sent me to fetch my brother Marvin for dinner. Marvin was about a year and a half older than me. After I sent him home I decided to play in the street. I was having a good time just running back and forth. Then I ran out into the street without looking and was hit by the car of a young couple coming back from their honeymoon. The poor man carried me home to my

Uncle Meyer Introduced Leon to Sadie

Leon Schluger (Lejby Szlugera) with Uncle Meyer

mother who was hysterical. She took me to the hospi- tal. This made me upset because I thought they might keep me overnight. Fortunately I had only minor inju- ries. They painted my legs with antiseptic and sent me home. RADIO The hot technology when I was born in 1925 was radio. Broadcast radio had just recently been intro- duced and everyone was buying radios and making them the new center of the home. Families would gather to listen to news and entertainment shows. At the time my father had a store where he sold beautiful lighting fixtures. I remember there was one that was shaped into grapes that lit up. When radio started to become popular my dad began selling similar items made of brass and other items for decorating radio sets. They sold like hotcakes. As my mother put it, “Money was pouring in.”

got broken and that my father sent to the doll hospi- tal to have fixed. When we went to the movies it only cost a nickel and they gave you an envelope that might contain a nickel or a dime prize. Somehow the chance to win a prize made going to the movies even better. BOBOLINK THE BUTTERFLY I was part of a school play in which all the kids were dressed in farm animal costumes. I had the role of Bobolink the Butterfly and wore a black and orange crepe paper costume. My mother wasn’t able to come to school with me to fit me into my costume. Some nice lady at school got me ready. I think my mother was waiting for my father to come home from work. In the middle of the play I looked out into the packed house and saw my family. I started waving excitedly to them and that got the audience excited and then everyone began laughing. That was my stage debut. Another time my mother somehow forgot to put underpants on me and sent me to school with- out them. When I walked up the school steps some boys behind me noticed and lifted my skirt. I was so embarrassed that when I got home I actual- ly hit my mother out of frustration.

CALIFORNIA Unfortunately this period didn’t last. When the Great Depression began with the stock market collapse in 1929 my father’s business crashed as well. He had to find some other way to support the fami- ly. At the time my dad’s brother, Isaac, lived in Los Angeles, California. My uncle suggested that my father move to California and they would go into business together. So, if you had been a bird in a tree one fine day in 1930 you would have seen five people, my parents, my brother, Marvin, my sister, Pearl, and me all crammed into a big car with running boards, head- ing for California. The trip took twelve days. While driving in the desert my mother would constant- ly mop my father’s brow and put bits of ice on his head – this was long before cars had air condition- ing. When we stopped at motels along the way my favorite food was something called a snowflake roll. I was such a terrible eater in those days that it prob- ably lasted me all day. Even today a road trip from Philadelphia to Los Angeles is a long haul. Back then, before super-highways, it was an eternity. At some points there was no one else on the road. Once the car got stuck in mud and we had quite an adventure getting it out. At the time there was no such thing as a car radio. I was so bored that, as we drove along, I would throw my play dishes, one by one, out the window. Maybe I was leaving a trail. BOILED HEIGHTS California was not what my parents hoped it would be. We lived in an area known as Boyle Heights. At the time it was one of the most diverse communities in the United States. Eastern Euro- peans, many of them Jewish, as well as Chinese and Mexicans, lived in Boyle Heights. We called it “Boiled Heights.” It was not until just recently I learned the correct name. One area, known as The Flats, was considered the worst slum in the country – worse than anything in New York City. My father and his brother Isaac were not successful in their business venture and, to make matters much worse, the sisters-in-law did not get along. In the two and a half years we lived in Cali- fornia I have only a few vivid memories. There was a crab apple tree outside our house and my moth- er made jelly from the apples. I remember a minor earthquake. I remember I had a porcelain doll that

Dorothy 7 years old

Once when we had a day at the beach I was digging in the sand and found a wallet with two and a half dollars in it. You can’t imagine how much money that was in those days. We used the money to fix my bicycle. To give you another sense of how tough times were, one day some men came to repossess our furniture. I must have been a feisty little girl because I remember punching them again and again for making my mother cry. My sister, Pearl, who was then about four years old, got very sick with double-pneumonia. With no money for proper care she was in danger of dying. My mother told me that a Japanese doctor saved her by putting long needles in her feet. That sounds like acupuncture, but I really have no idea. What- ever did it, Pearl pulled through.

THE LONG WAY HOME Not long before we gave up on California to return to Philadelphia my mother gave birth to my brother, Allen. When she went to the hospi- tal a woman I didn’t know took care of us kids. I remember waking up and seeing this strange, homely woman and being frightened at her appearance. Fortunately she turned out to be very nice. When Allen was about six months old, just as the family was preparing to leave California, he contracted whooping cough. At the time there was no vaccination for this highly contagious disease making it often fatal to infants. The plan was for my mother to travel by train with us children. My father would follow driving an oil tanker that he had built himself. Both trips were eventful with my mother managing all of us and trying to get medical care for Allen every time the train stopped. One doctor told her that her baby wouldn’t make it if the trip continued. But, as with most things when you have no choice, my mother continued on. Luckily Allen did make it. My memory of that train trip includes seeing the sunrise over some mountains. What I was doing up at dawn I have no idea, but I had never seen anything so beautiful, and so close it seemed I could touch it.

Part of original immigration document

Lejby Szlugera

Mr. & Mrs. Leon and Sadie Schluger

Sitting Center: Sadie and Leon Schluger Left to Right: Allen, Pearl, Marvin, Dorothy

Sadie Carson Schluger

Leon Schluger

Pearl Schluger (13)

Marvin Schluger (17)

Dorothy Schluger (16)

Allen Schluger (9)

In the meantime my father’s trip was also an adventure. There was an accident along the way. I don’t know the details but the man who was help- ing my father with the tanker truck lost a couple of fingers in the accident and returned to Califor- nia. My dad continued on his own. Afre near- ly a month on the road he made it. He showed up in knickers and boots looking very handsome. My mother was always proud of my father’s good looks. So that was how my life began – first in pros- perity, then in dire straits. I went from Philadel- phia to California and back before I was little more than seven years old. I watched my parents struggle to make ends meet, saw their shame when their few possessions were taken away, then saw how strong they were to continue on despite the worst

economic times in the history of the United States. It was a time when the word “depression” was used to describe not only the economic conditions but the state of mind of very many people. It was a time when suicide was an almost ordinary event. My parents loved each other and they loved their children. I believe that love made them strong enough to handle the difficult circumstances they found themselves in. They also had the toughness that comes with the immigrant experience; they knew they had to work hard for anything they would get in this new world.

Mr. & Mrs. Leon and Sadie Schluger

Sonja Krezinsky

Lejby Szlugera

Passover Dinner late 1930’s

A family Passover Seder, 1942, in the home of Lilly and Jake Simon (N. Thirty-third near Diamond Street). Marvin Schluger (1), Dorothy Schluger (2), Pearl Schluger - age 14 (3), and Allen Schluger (4), Sadie Schluger (5) and Leon Schluger (6), Elsie (7) and Max Carson (8); Grandmom Mary Carsinski (Blind) (9) and Charlie (10), Unknown Carson-from the furniture business on South Street (11), and Ruth Simon (12), Marty Simon (13), and Frances Simon (14).

Mary Krasinsky’s Passport 1910

Name: Masya Zalmanovna Krasinskaya “Owner of this passport can not read or write.” Passport: Mogiliou County, March 19, 1910 Passport given to go overseas. Cost: 15 Rubles (You could buy a cow 15 rubles) Top Right: Left Side : German Right Side: French Passport owner is 40 years old and is traveling with her daughters for a personal visit beginning

March 19, 1910 Russian Citizen (Not leaving as a Jew) Cost:

10 Rubles - 6 months 20 Rubles - 12 months 30 Rubles - 1.5 years

Sadie’s Primary School Records 1904 -1911

Formal Name: Haia-Sara Movsheuna-Krassinskaya Age attended 9 to 16 Grades earned 1 to 7 Family Owns a Business Race / Religion Jewish Tsar Alexi Nicholiovich’s Kamiskaska School Best Behavior No religious studies allowed Grades

Russian

B C B

Math

Common Geography

Contemporary History

History Physics

A C C

Applied Geography

Average Grade 3 4/7

Writing & Arts and Crafts

Painting

B A B C B

Pedagogy (Teaching)

French Music German

Second from left, Haia-Sara Movsheuna-Krassinskaya, a Jewish girl, at The Kamiskaska School, Har’Kov, Ukraine 1910

Sadie’s Advanced School Records

Advanced Certificate of Teaching issued by the Ministry of People’s Education Formal Name: Haia-Sara Movsheuna-Krassinskaya Har’Kov, Ukraine Born June 8th, 1895 Start Aug. 11th, 1911 Graduation June 12th, 1912 Teacher of German Language Graduated with honor Graduation Project (B)

Classes

Religion

Did not Study

Pedagogy

(Teaching)

Teaching Russina Teaching Math

A B

Teaching Hygene A Teaching Singing A

Specialist in German Language.

Degree in Teaching

Sadie’s - Student Creed

Kethubah - Certificate of Marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sadie and Leon Schluger

A Bowl of Cherries

What we were singing then... “Life is just a bowl of cherries, Don’t take it serious, Life’s too mysterious, You work, You save. You worry so, But you can’t take your dough When you go, go, go. “

Depression Era Song by Lew Brown and Ray Henderson

y mother had not in- formed her relatives that we were coming back to Philadelphia,

with a new addition to our family, my brother Allen. Nonetheless, when we got back we were immediately welcomed moving in with my mother’s sister, Aunt Lil.

Dorothy Age (13)

She and her husband, my Uncle Jake, had a tiny row house. They had three children, Marty, Ruthie and Fran (Fagie), from nine to three years old. We added my parents and four more kids, my brother Marvin, my sister Pearl, me, and our infant brother, Allen, who slept in a baby carriage all the time we lived there. Uncle Jake’s mother also lived with us. Can you imagine? Twelve people in that little house! With one small bathroom! And all the kids still little. I could tell by the expression on Uncle Jake’s mother’s face that she wasn’t exactly thrilled to have us all there.

SADIE AND LIL

GRANDMA MARY AND SHVITZ

A SPECIAL DISH

Once we all got impetigo, a contagious skin disease that gave you ugly pimples all over your face. When we played in the street the other kids ran away from us. With so many kids in one place in tight living conditions with neighborhood kids who were in similar circumstances it is easy to imagine how lice would be a social problem. Any child scratching his head would be immediately subjected to an inspection by an adult. Aunt Lil and my mother were very close. They talked together every day before going to work; even years later they would sit in the kitchen and talk with their arms around each other and still talked on the phone at 6 AM every morning. I remember Aunt Lil offering to buy me a big, fat, salted pretzel from a street vendor. You put mustard on them and they were supposed to be delicious. But I was still a terrible eater and I turned it down. It cost a penny then, when a penny could still buy something. I just didn’t want it. Today I would love one but the other day in a shopping mall I saw some at a stand and the price was $4.00 – that’s some increase.

My Grandma Mary was my moth- er’s mother. She had three sisters that I know of – Tanta Sania, Tanta Hennia, and one more whose name escapes me. She also had a brother named Hemia. There may have been others I don’t know about. When we were little all the women and kids would go to a tradi- tional Russian-Jewish steam bath to shvitz. That means to sit in the steam bath and sweat. It is more than that – it is a special social occasion at which my mother, Sadie, her mother, Mary, her aunts, Sania and Hemia, and her sisters, Lena and Katie, plus us kids would have a picnic in the steam bath. The women would bring food and play music and dance. Tante Sania played the violin and Tante Hennia played the tambourine. I don’t think such plac- es exist any more but they are a fond memory for me. The women absolutely had the best of times when they would go there. It was a big, happy celebra- tion for them.

I was very thin when I was a little girl. I just did not like to eat. It was the least important thing to me. My moth- er was not a great cook – so that may have had something to do with it. But there were a few dishes no one could make as well as she could – kreplach was one of them. These tiny triangular dumplings stuffed with ground beef were her specialty. They were delicious. It took her all day to make them so we didn’t get them very often; they were served with hot chicken soup. Her spaghetti on the other hand was plain noodles with a can of Del Monte toma- to sauce. Her hot cereal was lumpy and made with scalded milk with an awful scum on top from the heating. Not so good. We lived at Aunt Lil’s and Uncle Jake’s for many months until my parents found a small row house of our own to rent at, 2512 North Natrona Street. The area was a mostly a poor working class Jewish community. The row houses were all attached to each other – in a row. There was no lino- leum on the floors just bare wood. The Natrona house was about eight blocks from Aunt Lil’s. NATRONA STREET

Sania playing the violin

2512 North Natrona Street.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

– this was before refrigerators. The coal-man brought coal for the furnace. We shook the burnt coal ashes from the furnace and left them in a container out for the garbage men. The milkman brought milk that was left outside the

We had a car because my father needed it for work but if any of our neighbors had a car I don’t remem- ber it. You walked everywhere. There were no supermarkets, just neighbor- hood grocery stores, butcher shops,

race up and down the narrow alley- ways. We played a game called Jacks in which you tossed a ball and picked up the right number of jacks before the ball came down. I loved to play Jacks. Sometimes a merry-go-round would come down the street; it cost just a penny to ride. Once in a while an organ-grinder would come by with a monkey all dressed up and wearing a round little hat. When we would give the monkey a penny he would tip his cap. It was so cute. When the ice cream truck came by all the kids on the block would run out – that was the greatest treat. Fruit and vegetable peddlers also came by regularly with their horse-drawn wagons to sell their produce. We would play silly pranks – at the time there was a popular pipe tobacco named Prince Albert. Someone would call the drugstore and ask if they had Prince Albert in a can; when they said “yes” the prankster would say, “Well let him out.” 25

and bakeries. You walked to all the separate stores to shop. There was the deli, the drugstore, the fish market, the dairy store, the fruit market, candy

Our furniture was just the bare necessities, but poor as we were, my mother got us a piano and a piano teacher.

door of the house and when it was cold the cream would freeze in the narrow bottle neck and lift the cap right off the bottle. We played in the streets: jumped rope (Double Dutch was a way of jumping two ropes at a time. You had to be quick and very nimble to do it), played hop scotch and roller skated. I was a very good skater and would

store, and the barber shop. Then you had to carry everything home. The neighborhood was a kind of outdoor mall. You walked to school. You walked to visit relatives. You took walks after dinner and talked with neighbors sitting out on their front steps or on benches. You went to Fairmont Park for picnics. The iceman brought blocks of ice for the icebox

When my mother took me to school in Phila- delphia for the first time I remember I was wearing a boy’s cap. Why I don’t know. But it is the kind of thing a little girl remembers. Mrs. Oldt was my teacher and I was in third grade. I loved the swings in the school yard and would pump them as high as I could. During summer vacation, in the schoolyard, when we lived at 30th and Dauphin, I put on skits based on fairy tales for the neighborhood kids. I would teach all the kids their various parts and if they didn’t learn them fast enough they were out and I would do all the parts. Once I was out walking with one of the young women who cleaned for my mother when she started throwing rocks at the school building

THE PIT AND THE PIANO When we lived on Natrona Street the country was still in the worst economic depression it had ever experienced. Everyone was very poor, both food and jobs were scarce. My father opened a garage on the corners of 30th Street and Dauphin Street. He serviced cars and I remember the pit over which the cars parked while he worked on them from underneath. He also had a little store attached to the garage where he sold oil products for the cars. Later we would move to a house next to the garage. My mother was always very supportive of my father and she would often help pump gas or clean the customers’ car windows, check the oil or inflate the tires. Years later is when she worked in the factory. Our fami-

and actually broke some windows. I don’t know why she did it but to me as a child it was an astonishing act. W h e n I think back on the back-breaking work that the women who worked in our house did,

ly doctor was Dr. Koppel, he was right out of medical school, and was a customer at my father’s garage. My father would have him check us occasionally while his car was being serviced. Dr. Koppel charged a dollar for his services. Once when he checked us over I remember him saying about my cous- in, Ruth, “Now this is

I put on skits based on fairy tales for the neighborhood kids. I would teach all the kids their various parts and if they didn’t learn them fast enough they were out and I would do all the parts.

with all the cleaning and ironing, and with fami- lies of their own, and I consider how we kids never thought anything of it and just threw our clothes around as if they ironed themselves, it bothers me. We should have known better. On my ninth birthday Aunt Katie had a double birthday party for me and my sister, Pearl. All my friends were invited. One neighborhood girl appeared at the door and asked to come in; when I saw she had no present in her hands I simply said, “No,” and closed the door. Aunt Katie rushed in to allow the girl into the party. My best present was from my friend Shirley who brought me a twen- ty-five cent paint set that I loved. Aunt Katie, my mothers youngest sister, was married at the time to her first husband whose name was Kringle. He was George’s father. Kate had George when she was sixteen. Her second

what I call a healthy girl.” Made me wonder what I was – I must have been very thin and undernour- ished looking. I know it is hard to believe but in those days doctors came to the house when you were sick rather than you going to them. My mother always had someone to help her with ironing and cleaning the house. I remem- ber she paid them $4.00 a week. Our clothes were always ironed and starched so beautifully that they could stand up by themselves. Our furniture was just the bare necessities but poor as we were my mother got us a piano and a piano teacher named Grace Stein who instilled a love of music and play- ing in my brother, Marvin, and me. She was a wonderful teacher and we were very fond of her. Each lesson was fifty cents.

Dorothy Schluger (18-19)

husband, Louis, was some kind of ironworker. They had all sorts of ironwork - gates and grills around the house. Louis would travel all over. Once he came back from South America with a couple of monkeys named Minnie and Sally that he kept in the basement. I remember them jumping from the pipes. Great entertainment for us kids. One of my friends was a girl named Geraldine whose mother had passed away. I took some hand- me-down clothes from Aunt Pearl’s (Uncle Char- ley’s wife) kids and tried to give them to Geraldine. Her father would have none of it and made me take them back. No matter how poor some people were they had too much pride to accept charity. SADIE WRITES TO THE PRESIDENT I would run an errand for my mother to the place where the government gave out free sugar 28

and flour. My mother once wrote a letter to Presi- dent Roosevelt complaining about how bad things were. And, believe it or not, two very well dressed young men came to our house in response to the letter. I don’t think there was anything more done but even that was important. After all, this was America and when my mother wrote to the Pres- ident you expected him to listen. I made ten cents an hour for reading to a man in our neighborhood who was practicing to be a legal secretary in a courtroom. In anoth- er instance, my mother rented a room to a very nice young man from New York. He paid $16 per month. He loved to sit on the chair in the living room and I should play with his curly hair. He promised me a pair of roller skates if I did that. After a couple of months I had to beg for the skates. He finally bought them for me. Meanwhile, Pearl

when Rex burst into the house, soaking wet and with a very thick broken rope around his neck. Rex was a smart, tough dog. Skippy was cute and playful, my mother loved him. Rex and Skippy played together all the time. Skippy was killed when he was run over by a garbage truck in front of our house. My father had taken Rex somewhere and when the dog returned and smelled the blood in the street he was fran- tic. He ran through the house looking for Skip- py. The poor dog was devastated by the loss of his companion. STRAWBERRY MANSION We moved to a rented house next to my father’s garage when I was about ten years old. The area was called Strawberry Mansion. Needless to say, there were no mansions in Strawberry Mansion. The neighborhood was named for a restaurant that was famous for strawberries and cream. The neighborhood was much like Natrona Street but living next to the garage made it easi- er for my father to get to work. My father and a partner had a lot of used cars that were very interesting looking. They kept them on the street near the garage and later rented a big place on Lancaster Avenue to store and sell them. By all rights my father should have been rich. He sure tried. But he never regained his wealth after the Crash of 1929. SOME KIDS The house was three stories and was next to a similar building that was always empty. We rent- ed out the third floor to a woman and her son, Blackie, who was about fifteen years old, and her daughter, Reba, who was somewhat slow mental- ly. Reba was about my age. I remember they had to come downstairs to use our bathroom. And I remember Blackie bringing his older friends around – they were impressive to a young girl.

Woodside Amusement Park, Strawberry Mansion

earned fifty cents a week for setting the table for the teacher’s lunch room at school. These are the kinds of things we did to make a little money. Once at Easter time we made Easter baskets at school. I remember being very proud of mine but on the playground a boy snatched it away from me. I was very upset and ran crying back to school to tell my teacher. She was very under- standing and in no time at all we had designed and constructed a new basket. We had two dogs, a German Shepherd named Rex and a fox terrier named Skippy. I remember one of the things we fed them was cooked onion from the chicken soup my mother made. Once Rex was stolen by someone; he must have escaped because he came back during a terri- ble rainstorm. The whole family was very excited

Cousin Marty Simon: Wearing his star club sweater

THE STAR CLUB

Some other older kids that fasci- nated me were my brother, Marvin’s buddies. My dad bought Marvin a bicycle for his thirteenth birthday. Marvin then started a bicycle club called The Star Club. The members wore Navy blue sweaters that had a white star on the front. When they got together I would sit hidden and quiet just to listen to them. I especially liked one of them, a boy named Elmer Babitsky, who had deep dimples. I got into trouble once because of a boy named Richard who I liked but who was ignoring me. To get back at him I drew an explicit, anatomically correct picture of him on the street. His mother told my mother and I was very embarrassed. It was a stupid thing to do. My mother simply told Rich- ard’s mother that I was just a child and that she should take that into account. In the back of our house was a little pantry where my mother kept two barrels – one filled with red cherries fermenting into a liquor, and another filled with red wine with tiny berries in it. Whenever I was going out to play I thought nothing of dipping a glass into the wine barrel and drink- ing the wine or eating the tiny berries. No one ever told me not to and no one ever caught me doing it. I would take a drink just about every time I left the house. I don’t think anyone was aware of it. I sometimes wonder if that wine was making me drunk. Maybe it was keeping me healthy. Who knows? I was such a poor eater that my mother would give me a dime once in awhile during the evening and tell me to go buy a banana split to fatten me up. She always told me not to tell my brothers or sister about it. A LITTLE SUPPLEMENT

Marty Simon 2012 The funniest man I have ever known.

Fairmount Park was a very large city park not far from us. We would go there for family picnics or just to walk in the park. Inside the park was the Woodside Amuse- ment Park that had roller coasters and all sorts of rides. My favor- ite was called The Pretzel that had things like pirates that would jump out and scare you. One of my child- hood dreams was to grow up fast so I would have my own money and could go on those rides as often as I liked. Most of the rides were a dime except for the boats that you drove yourself, they were twenty cents, a special treat.

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