Sunday, February 7 - 2:30 p.m.
Hi, kids,
Daddy and I are having a quiet but busy Sunday at home. We were disappointed not to hear from either of you, even a post card, all week, and just hope you are well and too busy to write - not sick and unable. Perhaps we'll get mail tomorrow.
Today is warm and cloudy. After the frigid temperatures of the last week, especially Thursday and Friday, this is quite a relief. Daddy did a masterful job, washing both cars - - they don't look like the two we drove yesterday - both so sparkling now! All the snow is melted off the driveway, but there is still plenty of it on the lawns.
We saw Goldfinger at the State last night - went with Ernie and Milt. It's so ridiculous and improbable and so fast moving that it's entertaining. What an imagination Fleming had! The theatre was jam-packed.
Daddy worked overtime yesterday, and I had my first class at State. The course should prove very valuable because we're going to have to work like dogs - it should be worth six credits, not just two! Our first novel is Dreiser's An American Tragedy, and we have to have read Books I and II for next Saturday - a mere 536 pages. All in all, the course has five required novels, three novels of our choice from within certain groups, with a paper on each, plus a 15-minute oral report on some other topic to be described more fully next week - said oral report to be submitted in writing as well. And a final! If I can keep up with the assignments, I'm sure I'll enjoy it in spite of the labor involved. The class meets in the English Annex, which is on the corner of Northern Blvd. and Washington Ave., sort of kitty-korner from Mayfair Furniture, and just a few doors from Mistletoe Book Store. So I like the area!
Hester and I had lunch at Nicholaus's yesterday, the first time I've been there in just ages. We had a marvelous visit and got caught up on a million little things. Bill did very well for his first semester - in fact, the Shapiros thought it was unbelievable - a 3.8 average. Hester says "now he has no place to go but down!" Sue is happy at Berkley [sic] and is living at International House which she finds particularly fascinating. She will probably have to go through first semester next fall to complete her masters, but she will be home for the summer. The Shapiros and the Stalls are going to Jamaica March 1 for two weeks or so. Hester wanted to be remembered to both of you. I told her Larry had visited with Jim Talbot and Mary Lou, and that Sioux Sue had seen the best of theatre. She said she would write Bill about your Northwestern visit, and she was interested in your reaction to Tiny Alice, SE.
Daddy went to services Friday night - Family night and Boy Scout Sabbath, too. Big crowd. (I stayed home to wash and set my hair and get to bed early. I had neglected to make a hair appointment - must remember to do it first thing Tuesday or I'll be out on a limb again.) Uncle Max ushered at services, and all the boys were there. Joel helped distribute prayer books, but when services started, he joined Daddy, and snuggled up to him, hanging on to his arm throughout the entire time. Michael went skiing yesterday with the Van Antwerp group again. Should have been a good day because it wasn't too cold.
All of the family asked for you both last Thursday in Troy. Bert, Bea, Bruce, and Judy; Mort and Evelyn; Audrey, Walter, and Ellen were all in. Also Frances Payton, Joe's daughter who lives in Florida
y, and Harry and Robert came in. And Larry Vinick, Del's son and Joe's eldest grandson, who works for some airline and came in from New York. Aunt Yettie and Uncle Joe and Aunt Doris didn't come. Aunt Daulie had asked them not to, but suggested that Frances will be here for a couple of weeks, and Audrey and Ellen were studying until today. After Frances leaves, Aunt Yettie will come and stay as long as Daulie wants her to. Joe and Doris might be coming some week-end, Lar. Perhaps you could get a ride in with them.Bruce was not accepted early decision at Rochester, so he's waiting now to hear from U of R as well as the others to which he applied - Tufts, Lehigh, Northwestern, and U of Vermont. Judy looked so tan. She's having a ball with her "job." Actually, she's being paid out of her father's pocket, so far as her job at the agency is concerned. So she is free to come and go as she chooses, although she is also learning the business, too. The Agency has a manager and another woman there, both of whom have been there for years. This is why Judy is able to take these special travel-agent trips, all of which are supposed to help her help future tourists plan their trips. She was supposed to be going on to Bermuda for such a trip when she left Troy. Her tour of the Orient was fabulous, she said. And she shopped and shopped. On the way home she stopped off in Colorado and saw Mike and Sue and the little boys. Bea had a bunch of pictures; those kids are darling. Audrey thinks Larry ought to consider Brandeis. I didn't make any comment to that.
I tried to get in a plug for you and Europe, Sioux Sue, but there is no help from that source. Did you get a chance to call Arthur? Would you write him again? How about Meg? Could you write her? I am going to call Judy Cramer for Jeanine's address.
Helen and Syd and the boys were in town for overnight. Helen's father had an operation for hernia, and they came in to see him. Bruce was accepted early decision at the University of Buffalo, and they are thrilled. It was obviously his first choice because of the fine combination of liberal arts and music experience he can get there. Mark is very happy at New Paltz and has been doing some teaching at the campus elementary school there and loving it. He is considering attending the University of Peru this summer. He and his room mate delivered a car to California during Christmas vacation and got themselves home somehow. Helen had to leave for the hospital so she couldn't give me details. Their house is shaping up very well.
Odds and ends section:
Bobbie Rubin is in the infirmary as of yesterday. Ernie was going over today to see her. Nothing serious, I guess, but she was running a temp. with other respiratory complications so her friends talked her into going in for treatment. Jeff passed
herhis driver's test Wednesday - first try - and had the car out last night. He's not been accepted at three of the five four-year state schools to which he's applied, so they are now looking into some others, because Ernie is sure he's not going to get into either of the others. They were talking about Utica and RIT last night.Joyce and Bernie Segel are in Jamaica at some stock broker's convention, which is a five-day deal. They're staying on an additional five days.
Dr. Louis Cohen had some complications when he was operated on in Boston for the removal of that dentist's instrument and had had [sic] to have several transfusions. He's supposed to be making good progress. He may even be back in Schenectady; I don't know. Ralph Marwill was not working on him when the accident occurred; he was being treated by a dentist out of town.
The story is that Bob Silverman and Leanne Sweet eloped last week. The Schachter girl's
'fiancee was converted to Judaism, McKinlock his name is, and he was called to the pulpit with her at services Friday night. Conversion was completed last Thursday. I think the wedding is today. Rose Tischler broke her wrist last week. Juday Sidman flew to Colorado to visit Jack and Leona and meet her granddaughter.It's pouring!
Jane Rifkin said she was "green" when she heard about the plays you had seen, Sioux Sue. She and Sam are going down during the February vacation; they have tickets for Funny Girl and also for a Boston Symphony concert. Marty has a 3.8 average for this semester.
Daddy and I have been invited to a Valentine's Party at the Ted Vinick's next Saturday; should be fun. I'd also like to go to Mr. and Mrs. Club next Sunday - demonstration and dancing lesson by someone from the Arthur Murray's studio.
Poppa will be coming in either today or tomorrow to stay for about two weeks while Raymond is in Florida. Aunt Rosella isn't coming back with him; she'll probably stay on another two weeks. They are taking the 2:30 plane out tomorrow. I hope it won't be too terrible for Poppa. He can't stand the quiet all day long and misses going to the store, too. Well, I'll be home next Friday - and Rose will be here, too. And if Daddy doesn't work overtime in Albany, he'll go up to Amsterdam with him on Saturday.
I stopped in to visit with Grandma and Max yesterday. She's feeling quite a lot better, but Max is still coughing and is still weak. The dining room is all finished - new ceiling and fresh paint. Looks very nice. Mr. Stein is working on the alcove and the living room now. I told Grandma to throw away her old drapes. She had spent $6 to have them washed and ironed, and while they are clean, they are so faded and shabby, they aren't worth returning to the windows. Too bad she bothered to have them cleaned. She feels better just seeing the house look better, I think.
Although the
Vclippings re the VA closing indicate that Johnson means for the program to go through, there is still no date given for it in Albany, and when the manager came back from New York Friday, he told the Albany group that the order from Washington was "cease and desist." So that leaves it all up in the air, and we know even less than we knew when the closing was originally announced. I guess the hue and cry of the Congressman et all have muddied up the situation enough so the action might be postponed indefinitely. In the meantime Daddy could have the job as a Legal Counsel in the Insurance Department and is supposed to see someone else this week in another department (att'y general), but he doesn't know what to tell them. Of course he'll remain with the VA if the VA remains in Albany. SO there we are. More jobs than he knows what to do with! It's reassuring to know he can find something else so quickly, isn't it?Ida Levy is going to be the new Hadassah president, SE. Muriel White is continuing with Sisterhood. Lisl Aftergut is going to be Council president.
Hester told me AAUW stands to net about $1400 from the one-night stand of In White America which they put on a week ago Thursday. She was hoping they would just break even! I told her it's her magic touch. Look at the money Sisterhood earned with the Art Show she put on last year.
The story is that to be on the Temple board one must be a member of the Rigadoon Dance Group. Of course this is not true, but nevertheless, ten Board members out of twenty-one are in the dance group. And the last four members who were added are Rigadoons.
I hope, really, that everything is OK with you kids. Please let us know what's going on - new classes, subject changes, etc.
Love n' kisses,
Mommy [Eleanor F. Friedman][The letter had been typed on carbon paper, but the postscripts were written in ink on this copy.]
P.S. We also stopped in to see Uncle Henry on our way home from Troy. He's coming along well, going to work for a few hours every day, and managing with his brace. He can't drive his car yet. He said over and over what a beautiful letter you had sent and how much it meant to him.
Ray & Rosella just dropped off Pop's suitcase and took him on to Troy to see Aunt Daulie. They'll drop him off here later.