More of Art

December 7, 1932 - Cold again today.  I stayed home tonite and read the "Good Housekeeping" magazine while the folks went to church.  Hans Brogren, Jr. [birthday].
December 8, 1932 - Mr. Walker and I played "Over The Top" tonite.  I won, wonder of wonders.  I hektographed some Santa Claus', too.
December 9, 1932 - Ray came after me about 4:30.  We stopped out to Ola's.  Art and Rudolph were there.  I stayed for supper while Ray went into town.  He came out after supper.  We looked at Art's scrapbooks of China.  He explained a lot of the pictures.  It was surely interesting.  Gladys Schmitt [birthday].

Here we have Art again.  Now we know he went to China, but that doesn't help me figure out anything else.

I looked and looked for December 1932's Good Housekeeping magazine's cover but did not find it.  Maybe Grandma was reading an old issue.  (I didn't look for January 1933, maybe that is what she had.)  This is a really sweet cover, though.

And speaking of Good Housekeeping, here's a little bit of information from wikipedia:

     "Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval."

     The magazine was founded May 2, 1885 by Clark W. Bryan in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

     The magazine achieved a circulation of 300,000 by 1911, at which time it was bought by the Hearst Corporation. It topped one million in the mid-1920s, and continued to rise, even during the Great Depression and its aftermath. In 1938, a year in which the magazine advertising dropped 22 percent, Good Housekeeping showed an operating profit of $2,583,202, more than three times the profit of Hearst's other eight magazines combined, and probably the most profitable monthly of its time. Circulation topped 2,500,000 in 1943, 3,500,000 in the mid-1950s, 5,000,000 in 1962, and 5,500,000 per month in 1966. 1959 profits were more than $11 million.

     Good Housekeeping is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.

     The Hearst Corporation created a British edition along the same lines in 1922.

     Famous writers who have contributed to the magazine include Somerset Maugham, Edwin Markham, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Frances Parkinson Keyes, A. J. Cronin, Virginia Woolf, and Evelyn Waugh."

Winter undies

December 4, 1932 - We went to church this a.m.  We found out that our Aid won the contest at Wayne.  Mom and I slept and read this p.m.  Ray worked at Nieman's today and yesterday afternoon.  Ray brought me to Walkers this evening.  Esther Boyen's [sp?] birthday,
December 5, 1932 - I believe winter is on its way in earnest for it was colder today than yesterday.  i went to bed quite early this evening.  Marvin Trautwein's birthday.
December 6, 1932 - The weather turned much colder today.  I donned my winter undies.  We went to League at Meierhenry's tonite.  We had a good time.

I looked for a legitimate 1930's ladies' underwear ad to put here, but I thought this was cute in a weird sort of way, so here it is.

Just thought of something . . .

December 1, 1932 - Cloudy and cooler today.  Raymond, Art and Rudolph were up to school this evening.  Art didn't seem to look so bad to me.  He doesn't know how long he's going to be around Winside visiting.  Allan Bruse birthday.
December 2, 1932 - Warm and sunshiny.  I walked home, and Ray came just as I got to the mailbox.  We were out to Ola's for supper.  When we got back into town I washed and finger-waved my hair.  Then Mom, Ray and I played Pinochle.
December 3, 1932 - Went out to Ola's, finger-waved Tillie's hair, and brought Annabelle back with me.  Mom and I made her a jumper and blouse.  I went down town to help at the bazaar, went to Wayne in a truck to vote instead.  Went up to Uncle Hans' to the dance with Annie and Ola tonite.  I surely had a good time.  Ola Brogren's birthday.

I do not know which Art this is, but something must have been going on with him for Grandma to comment on how he looked.  Perhaps there will be clues somewhere down the line.

Regarding my just thinking of something -- I realized just this moment that Grandma hardly ever mentions her or Grandma Anna or Uncle Ray being ill.  Either they were very hardy or weren't sick enough to mention, which in a way is very hardy.

I am not looking forward to too much snow and cold, but this photo of a country road in the snow and sunshine made it not seem too terribly bad.

Belated Thanksgiving information

November 28, 1932 - So tired today.  Got teased today about the "business trip to Cushing Iowa" two weeks ago.  That's what the Norfolk paper said about it a couple of days ago.  Went to bed quite early, didn't even stay up to hear the minstrels.
November 29, 1932 - So nice and warm, just like a spring day.  Harry H. was up at school this morning before school started.  Mike, Mote, and Evie went to a committee meeting tonite.
November 30, 1932 - Nice again today.  Rudolph and Raymond stopped at the school house tonite.  I went home with them.  We had supper at Raymond's and then went over to Ola's.  We played Pitch.  I got home at 12 o'clock.

What's this with folks just dropping by at the school house?  And what minstrels were there around to listen to?  I have more questions than answers.

I missed anything Thanksgiving-ish for 1932 (it was on the 24th that year, a couple of posts ago), but I stumbled upon this tidbit for today's post.  The above is from the New York Times in 1932, pricing out the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner.  The article read, in part:

     “All the ingredients of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner are less expensive this year and families of moderate incomes should be able to afford the best on the market, it became apparent yesterday. Experts in the Bureau of Home Economics of the Department of Public Markets figured that a New York housewife would be able to serve an old-fashioned turkey dinner, with all the fixings, at a total cost of not more than $5.42.”

I was a bit thrown by the oranges and bananas, but shrugged it off.  Then I found a menu for the USS Altair, a Navy vessel of some sort and their Thanksgiving dinner included . . . oranges and bananas.  Also on the menu, cigars and cigarettes.

Who knew?

Contest? And a recipe

November 25, 1932 - Mom, Ray and I went with Irene Gaebler and Mrs. Unger to Wayne this morning to vote in the contest at Wayne.  I baked a cake this afternoon.  Ray and I went to the surprise party for Florence S. this evening [her birthday].  She was surprised.  We danced in the dining room and front room. I had a good time.  

November 26, 1932 - We went to Norfolk this morning and did our Xmas shopping.  I went to the library this p.m. and read awhile.  Tonite 35 young people went to Wayne in one of Ed Granquist's trucks to vote in the contest.  We were crowded but it was fun just the same.  Ella Eckert Willers' birthday.

November 27, 1932 - Ray worked down at Nieman's filling station this p.m.  Tonite Ray and I went up to the school house and started a fire, took my suitcase to Walkers, and then went to the dance at Hoskins.  Had a pretty good time.  Art and Rudolph Kahler are here again.  Art went to York with Walter.

I do not know what the contest is that allows multiple votes by the same person.  It must have been something fun and/or important for multiple trips to Wayne.  Especially, taking a truck with a whole passel of kids.  Hopefully Grandma will clue us in later.

Since it is Sunday, and since Grandma mentions baking a cake, I will add a cake recipe here.  It is in her handwriting but there is no reference as to who she may have gotten the recipe from.  Also, I do not recall her making this particular cake, but my memory isn't what it used to be.  Without further ado, I give you:

Coconut Pound Cake

1 1/2 c. Crisco

5 eggs

1/2 t. salt

1 c. milk

2 1/2 c. sugar

3 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1 c. coconut

Cream Crisco and sugar 10 minutes. Add eggs one at a time beating 5 minutes after each addition.  Sift flour, salt and baking powder together.  Add alternately with milk to creamed mixture.  Blend in coconut.  Turn into a well-greased and floured tube (Bundt or angel food) pan.  Place in cold oven.  Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

I should make this; I bet the duck eggs will make for an extra-special texture.

Listening to the radio

November 22, 1932 - School was about the same as usual today. Read and listened to the radio this evening.
November 23, 1932 - Four people knocked at our door this p.m.  Ray, Happy Stamm, Mom and Louise Nurnberg,  Harry H. was at the school this noon.  Ray and Mom went to Norfolk with Ola's this p.m.  I went over to Strate's after school and got my check.  When Ray got back we went up to Uncle Max, got our duck for tomorrow, had supper.  Stopped at Uncle Hans' on way home.
November 24, 1932 - We had our dinner late this afternoon.  I ate too much and felt rather miserable of course.  Mom, Ray, and I went out to Ola's this evening.  We played Michigan.

This made me think of the lady who sold me two of my goats.  She was almost 10 years younger than me, but I could still chuckle and shake my head when she told me this story.  She was talking to a person much younger than both of us; someone raised on much more contemporary technology.  Kathy was saying something about how she enjoyed the time she spent milking her goats -- she liked the calm and the process itself and listening to classical music on the radio while she milked.  The young person said, "Radio?"  He or she didn't know what Kathy was talking about.

I found this on a PBS website about radio in the 1930s:

     For the radio, the 1930s was a golden age. At the start of the decade 12 million American households owned a radio, and by 1939 this total had exploded to more than 28 million.

     But why was this ‘talking telegram’ so popular?

     As technology improved radios became smaller and cheaper. They became the central piece of furniture in the average family’s living room, with parents and children alike, crowding around the set to hear the latest instalment of their favourite show.

     Radio may have had such mass appeal because it was an excellent way of uniting communities of people, if only virtually.

     It provided a great source of entertainment with much loved comedians such as Jack Benny and Fred Allen making their names on the wireless.

     It marked the advent of the soap opera, a running story that people could return to, with characters they could sympathise with and love. The series ‘Our Gal Sunday’ - about a small town girl finding love with a wealthy Englishman - had the young women of the country glued to their sets.

     Radio programs provided a source of inspiration, with heroes like the Lone Ranger and The Shadow getting embroiled in deadly capers. But they also promoted old-fashioned American family values and gave people a model to live by. On Wednesday nights at 8pm when the public tuned in to ‘One Man’s Family’ they were greeted with the opening: ‘Dedicated to the mothers and fathers of the younger generation and to their bewildering offspring.’

     News broadcasts also influenced the way the public experienced current affairs. When the Hindenburg airship exploded in 1937, reporter Herb Morrison was on the scene, recording the events to be broadcast the following day.

     But above all the radio provided a way to communicate like never before. Franklin Roosevelt’s ‘fireside chats’ helped the population feel closer to their president than ever.

     By the end of the decade radio had exacted quite an influence on the American media. Advertisers capitalised on radio’s popularity and the idea of the ‘sponsor’ was born. Radio also helped establish the national broadcasting networks such as NBC and CBS, still present to this day.

     After the 1930s the popularity of radio began to decline at the hands of newer, more visual technologies. But the influence of the ‘golden age of radio’ on the American way of life will never be forgotten.

Some things don't change

November 19, 1932 - We got up late.  Mom came for me about 9:30.  We went over to Behmers, I got my order.  I washed and fingerwavd my hair. We went out to Ola's this evening, got Ray, and invited them in for dinner tomorrow.  Ray got a library book for me.  I finished it before I went to bed.
November 20, 1932 - Mom went to church, but I stayed home and got dinner.  After dinner we played Michigan.  Leeroy acted up as usual and the things Annabel didn't tell.  Ray brought me to Walkers.  I went to church with them this evening.
November 21, 1932 - Rather warm today.  Harry H. came into the school this afternoon at 2nd recess with a gun.  It gave me such a scare I could hardly talk for a few minutes.  We listened to the radio this evening and I read.  Max Stahl birthday.

With recent events in the news, I will not comment on Grandma's reaction to having a gun in school.  Obviously, nothing happened with Grandma and her pupils, thank goodness.  Here's a movie poster for a 1932 western.