Back home again

Mon., August 10, 1936 - Dora had a bath.  All of us shopped, went sight-seeing and visited with Aunt Kate.  Iny & I packed our clothes tonite and went to bed early.
Tues., August 11, 1936 - Left at 2:40 this a.m.  Had breakfast in Sidney, Iowa.  Stopped in Omaha an hour.  We had dinner at Olga's.  Had watermelon at Carrie's.  I got home at 5:45.  Howard came a little later.  He has been bailing straw.
Wed., August 12, 1936 - Howard bailing again today.  I went into town before dinner to see Mom. Stayed all afternoon.

I sure would be interested to know what sight-seeing they did, but there's no one to ask anymore.

Here's a little bit of information on Sidney, Iowa from my favorite go-to site, wikipedia:

     Sidney is in Fremont County, Iowa. The population was 1,138 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Fremont County and is one of the smallest county seats in Iowa.  It was laid out in 1851 and was originally to be named Dayton. The surveyors were boarding with the Milton Richards family. Richards wife suggested they rename the city for her hometown of Sidney, Ohio.  The Sidney Iowa Championship Rodeo operated by American Legion Post No. 128 since 1924 claims to be the world's largest continuous outdoor rodeo and one of the world's largest rodeos with around 38,000 visitors each year.  The event is held in late July/early August.

Even little towns have people that go on to big things.  Sidney can claim John Scott Redd:

     John Scott Redd (born September 10, 1944) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy, and afterward the first Senate-confirmed Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, serving from 2005 until 2007.  According to David Martin at the CBS Evening News, "Scott Redd may be the most important person you've never heard of."  He is also the past President of the Naval Academy Class of 1966 and has served on the advisory boards of several non-profit organizations. An avid amateur radio operator, Redd has won twelve world championships and nine national championships.

And that's all I have for that.

I learned how to property credit a photo (I think), and here it is for the county courthouse, above: 

By JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22698424

Monopoly disrupted

Fri., August 7, 1936 - Just had a hot pack today as I had a funny pain in my chest.  Rained most of the day.  Tonite we were invited by our foot doctors Hazel Linard and Dorothy Masters to play Monopoly with them.  We were just nicely started when we had to go home because they had a call to fix a lady's sprained ankle.
Sat., August 8, 1936 - Iny took her last bath yesterday.  She read while I took mine.  We went to a beauty shop this p.m. and had our hair shampooed and waved.  We didn't like the place very well.
Sun., August 9, 1936 - I took my last bath today. Carrie Sweet, Dora & Olga came down today to visit Aunt Kate.  They persuaded us girls to wait until Tuesday and go home then when they do.

Ah, Monopoly.  The creator of family feuds and angry board-flipping incidents.  But, still fun.  Here's what wikipedia had to say about the game's history.  Interestingly, it appears it was still very new when Grandma and her group were attempting to play.

"The board game Monopoly has its origins in the early 20th century. The earliest known version of Monopoly, known as The Landlord's Game, was designed by an American, Elizabeth Magie, and first patented in 1904 but existed as early as 1902.  Magie, a follower of Henry George, originally intended The Landlord's Game to illustrate the economic consequences of Ricardo's Law of Economic rent and the Georgist concepts of economic privilege and land value taxation.  A series of board games were developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of that land. By 1933, a board game had been created much like the version of Monopoly sold by Parker Brothers and its related companies through the rest of the 20th century, and into the 21st. Several people, mostly in the Midwestern United States and near the East Coast, contributed to the game's design and evolution."

We all know what a Monopoly board looks like, so I'm sharing a page from the patent submission of its precursor. 

Very busy day

Tues., August 4, 1936 - We went to the matinee and saw "The Dancing Pirate" -- a picture in colors.  Rec'd a letter from Howard and one from Mom.
Wed., August 5, 1936 - Rec'd another letter from Mom.  Iny rec'd 4 letters today.  Were up to see Aunt Kate tonite -- we've been going up every night after supper to see her.
Thurs., August 6, 1936 - This p.m. Aunt Kate, Iny and I went sightseeing.  We were out to Lake Maurer, an amusement park, and to the Jesse Kennels.  Saw all kinds of pups there.  This evening Iny and I went to the show.  We saw "Dames" with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, and "Sins of Man" with Jean Hersholt and Don Ameche.

Photo above and this summery from lakemaurer.com:  Lake Maurer has rich history.  As early as the 1920’s-30’s, Lake Maurer was an amusement park where families spent their weekends.  In 1965, the Assemblies of God purchased the grounds and developed a camp and the Northern Missouri District offices.  In 2008, the NOMO District moved its offices to Columbia, Missouri.  The leadership appointed Lloyd and Bunny Hartzler as Executive Directors to further develop the grounds into a retreat center with year-round activities.

From wikipedia re "Dancing Pirate":  This movie is an American musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Corrigan. It is the third film shot in the three strip Technicolor process and the first musical in that format.  The film features the debut of stage star Charles Collins and the cast includes Rita Hayworth as one of The Royal Cansino Dancers. Other dancers in the film were Pat Nixon and Marjorie Reynolds.

Set in Boston in the 1820s, the film tells of dancing teacher Jonathan Pride, shanghaied by pirates and forced to be a slave aboard his own ship. Jonathan is able to join a provisioning party that lands on the coast of California, then a part of the Spanish Empire where he makes his escape; his only possessions being his umbrella and music box that he uses for his dancing lessons.

He is seen by a shepherd who warns the nearest town whose excitable population transform Jonathan's arrival into a full-fledged pirate invasion. The Alcade Don Emilio Perena leads the militia into shooting up their own town whilst Jonathan is later captured in the boudoir of Alcade's daughter Serafina. Jonathan is sentenced to death.

When Serafina and the women of the town discover Jonathan's profession of dancing teacher, his execution is delayed until he teaches the waltz to the women of the town.

Meanwhile, Serafina's suitor, Don Balthazar a Captain of the Guards of the Presidio of Monterey and some of his soldiers visit the town to not only marry Serafina, but unbeknownst to the town has been cashiered from the Army along with his men who seek to loot the town. Don Balthazar also plans on secretly executing his rival Jonathan.

Jonathan makes his escape and motivates the local downtrodden but peaceful Indians into an uprising through a teaching them a torrid war dance. The Indians use their only "weapons" their lassoes to capture the former soldiers now bandits. Don Balthazar challenges Jonathan to a duel with swords but Jonathan defeats and captures him with his umbrella and his dancing skills.

The photo was also found on wikipedia.

Another summary and photo from wikipedia:  "Dames" is a 1934 Warner Bros. musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright with dance numbers created by Busby Berkeley. The film stars Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, ZaSu Pitts, and Hugh Herbert. Production numbers and songs include "When You Were a Smile on Your Mother's Lips (and a Twinkle in Your Daddy's Eye)", "The Girl at the Ironing Board", "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Dames" and "Try to See It My Way".

Eccentric multimillionaire Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert), whose main purpose in life is raising American morals through a nationwide campaign, wants to be assured that his fortune will be inherited by upstanding relatives. He visits his cousin Matilda Hemingway (ZaSu Pitts) in New York City, in Horace's view the center of immorality in America. What Ounce finds most offensive are musical comedy shows and the people who put them on, and it just so happens that Matilda's daughter Barbara (Ruby Keeler) is a dancer and singer in love with a struggling singer and songwriter, her 13th cousin, Jimmy Higgens (Dick Powell). On Ezra's instructions, Jimmy the "black sheep" has been ostracized by the family, on pain of not receiving their inheritance.

Matilda's husband Horace (Guy Kibbee) meets a showgirl named Mabel (Joan Blondell), who's been stranded in Troy when her show folds, and connives her way into sleeping in Horace's train compartment as a way to get back home. Terrified of scandal, he leaves her some money and his business card, along with a note telling her to not mention their meeting to anyone; but when Mabel discovers that Horace is Barbara's father, she blackmails him into backing Jimmy's show.

Photo from wikipedia, summary from imdb.com:  In this drama, Austrian church bell ringer Freyman loves music and wants his two sons (both played by Ameche) to love it too. The first goes to America and the second is born deaf-mute but gains hearing during WWI bombing.

I am really liking all of these movie posters.  Very cool.

Outing and abouting

Wed., July 29, 1936 - Iny's temperature O.K.  We went to the movies and saw Spencer Tracy and Walter Abel in "Fury" and Robert Taylor and Chester Morris in "Society Doctor."
Thurs., July 30, 1936 - 7:00 before we got up.  I got a letter from Mom.  The usual schedule of drinking, eating, and bathing.  Aunt Kate is feeling very good.
Fri., July 31, 1936 - We got up at 6:00.  Had rolls and plums for breakfast.  After baths and dinner we went to a chiropodist.  I'm going to take 12 treatments.  My feet are quite weak and may be the cause of the sciatica.  Went to see Aunt Kate.

I think I would enjoy both of these movies.

From wikipedia:  "Fury" is a 1936 American drama film directed by Fritz Lang which tells the story of an innocent man who narrowly escapes being lynched and the revenge he seeks.  The movie is loosely based on the events surrounding the Brooke Hart murder in San Jose, California.

En route to meet his fiancée, Katherine Grant (Sylvia Sidney), gas station owner Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) is arrested on flimsy circumstantial evidence for the kidnapping of a child. Gossip soon travels around the small town, growing more distorted through each retelling, until a mob gathers at the jail. When the resolute sheriff (Edward Ellis) refuses to give up his prisoner, the enraged townspeople burn down the building, two of them also throwing dynamite into the flames as they flee the scene. Unknown to anyone else there, the blast frees Wilson, but kills his little dog Rainbow, who had run in to comfort him in the cell.

The district attorney (Walter Abel) brings the main perpetrators to trial for murder, but nobody is willing to identify the guilty, and several provide false alibis. The case seems hopeless, but then the prosecutor produces hard evidence: newsreel footage of twenty-two people caught in the act.

However, Katherine is troubled by one piece of evidence. The defense attorney had tried to get his clients off by claiming that there was no proof Joe was killed, but an anonymous letter writer had returned a partially melted ring belonging to Joe. Katherine notices that a word is misspelled just as Joe used to spell it.

She discovers that Joe escaped the fire and that Joe's brothers are helping him get his revenge by concealing his survival and framing the defendants for his murder. She goes to see Joe and pleads with him to stop the charade, but he is determined to make his would-be killers pay. However, his conscience starts preying on him and, in the end, just as the verdicts are being read, he walks into the courtroom and sets things straight.

About "Society Doctor" from tcm.com:  At the Metropolitan Hospital, where Horace Waverly is Physician Superintendent, doctors Bill Morgan and Tommy Ellis vie for the attention of nurse Madge Wilson. One day, Frank Snowden, son of the wealthy and influential Harris Snowden, is brought in with an acute case of appendicitis, which requires immediate surgery. Harris insists on waiting for Dr. Harvey, their family physician, to arrive and give his opinion of the matter, but Dr. Morgan performs the urgent operation after quickly securing the consent of Frank's wife. When Dr. Morgan is reprimanded by Waverly for taking Dr. Harvey's patient and is dismissed from the hospital, he angrily criticizes Waverly's and Harvey's unethical behavior, accusing both of serving only the petty whims of the rich and obstructing basic medical care for the sick and injured. One of Metropolitan's wealthiest resident patients is the chronically lonely Mrs. Crane, who, after learning of the young doctor's dismissal, uses her influence to have him reinstated. Meanwhile, two reporters arrive at the hospital and wait for the impending arrival of gangster Butch McCarthy, who has been released from prison for one day to visit his hospitalized mother. The reporters try to get the story about how Waverly has kept the con's visit a secret, especially considering that police officer Harrigan, who is being treated for the gunshot wounds from Butch's gun, is on the same floor. Dr. Morgan spoils Madge and Dr. Ellis' plans for a date when a staff shortage requires him to instruct Ellis to stay at the hospital. The eager Dr. Ellis proposes marriage to Madge, but she tells him that she is in love with Dr. Morgan. Later, when Dr. Morgan learns that his reinstatement came not from his own merit as a physician, but from Mrs. Crane's doings, he decides to leave the hospital in the name of saving his self-respect. Mrs. Crane wants Dr. Morgan to be her physician, so she offers to set him up in a private practice and keep him in business by sending her rich friends to him. Seeing no other alternative, Dr. Morgan accepts the offer, but when Madge finds out about his decision and believes that he has acted out of greed, not self-respect, she spurns him and agrees to marry Dr. Ellis. Escorted by the police, Butch McCarthy is brought to the bedside of the woman who is supposedly his mother, but once his handcuffs are removed, he grabs the gun that was smuggled in by the phony patient and goes after Harrigan. After Dr. Morgan is shot by the convict while trying to stop him, Harrigan's wife succeeds in preventing her husband's murder by shooting Butch. Dr. Morgan is rushed to the operating table, where it is discovered that the nature of his bullet wound is so severe that all hope for his recovery is abandoned. However, the still-conscious Dr. Morgan pleads with Dr. Ellis to perform a method of operation that only they have studied at the hospital. Dr. Ellis agrees, and under Dr. Morgan's guidance, the risky operation begins. During the procedure, Dr. Morgan tells Madge that he had reconsidered Mrs. Crane's offer and turned it down, thus fully redeeming himself. When the operation ends successfully, Dr. Ellis insists that Dr. Morgan ask Madge to marry him, and she accepts.

Fun in Missouri

Sun., July 26, 1936 - Hunted up new cafes for our meals.  Slept most of the afternoon.
Mon., July 27, 1936 - To Dr. Musgrave this a.m.  Iny has a temperature and can't take a bath today.  My back is weak and my blood pressure a little low.  I'm supposed to drink around 12 glasses of different waters.  I took my first bath this p.m.  It's lots of fun.  Rained tonite, lights went out so Iny couldn't wave my hair.
Tues., July 28, 1936 - Aunt Kate entered the McCleary Sanitarium today.  Iny's temperature still a little above normal.  She took a bath anyway.  I have to stay 2 wks.  Brrr!

The photo is of the McCleary Sanitarium and Clinic in 1930.  I borrowed it from exsmo.com.

I learned elsewhere on the wonderful worldwide web that the sanitarium was founded by Dr. A. S. McCleary in 1901 for people with gastro-intestinal issues.  He specialty was curing hemorrhoids without surgery and he advertised success or the patients did not have to pay.  The sanitarium remained in business until 1974.

On the road

Thurs., July 23, 1936 - Cleaned the house.  Howard fixed shelves on the porch.  Started to iron after supper.  Andrew Andersens came over so I had to quit.
Fri., July 24, 1936 - Finished the ironing.  Iny came at 2:30.  We went to Fremont and stayed with Aunt Kate all nite. Aunt Kate is going with us to Excelsior Springs.
Sat., July 25, 1936 - Left Fremont at 3:25.  Stopped an hour at Shenandoah for breakfast.  Were eating dinner at Excelsior Springs at 12:30.  We are 334 miles from home.  We're staying at The Avalon.

I don't know when the photo was taken, but you'll note the sign says "Avalon" and I did find it with a search for Excelsior Springs.  Neat-o!

Welcome to Post No. Four Hundred . . . One

"April 3, 2002:  Mary here at noon so I could shower.  Book Club meeting in evening.
April 4, 2002:  I called Myrtle in a.m.  Baked dilly bread.  Tom here for supper.  We played Rummikub.  Bill called -- he has made an appointment at Dental Clinic for me on April 17.  Tom took my laundry home.
April 5, 2002:  An uneventful day.  I called Raymond -- all okay with him."

I missed announcing the last post was Number 400.  But, the sun came up this morning, so it is all good.

Ah, Dilly Bread!  One of life's greatest pleasures in my book.  Especially lightly toasted with a bit of butter.  I was in a little shop some time back and the two ladies working there were talking with one another.  As it turns out, and as they shared with me, one of them is a big dill fan.  I asked if she had ever had Dilly Bread.  Not only had she not had the pleasure, she had never heard of it.  I promptly got the recipe from Mom and took it to her a few days later, much to her surprise.  The last time I checked, she had not made it yet but I will stop in again some time and check.  Of course, I have forgotten her name now but if I just ask for the Big Dill Fan, I should be okay.

Here's a great photo of some family picnic.  I know I wasn't there since I wasn't born yet, so I don't know if anyone brought Dilly Bread.  That's Aunt Margaret, Aunt Myrtle, Little Grandma, Aunt Kate (I think), and Aunt Clara in back.