Edna: December, 18, 1930 Chicago, Ill.

Dear Friends,
I hope everyone had a good week. Mine was quiet. The weather was good. But soon it will be turning cooler once again. I think most of the trees around here have lost their leaves and the corn field next to me has been taken off. Now to get the firewood in the basement. Then we will be set for the coming weather.
Anyway, here is the last letter from 1930. It's from Edna aka Eddie:

Since it is a nice typed letter, I will not rewrite it. But I can comment on things.

She mentioned the Blackstone Hotel.

It was built between 1908 and 1910.
It has gone through a lot of things over the years.
It is known as a place where a number of presidents have stayed.
It also holds a number of lavish parties for well known people.
It was and is a formal kind of place. I can understand why she wasn't sure if she was going to attend.

I wonder how long she was up here. It might have been a quick one or a busy one that she was unable to see Grandpa.
I wonder how often they were entertained with accidents on the street below when they were working.
Oh well, that's the end of 1930. The next will be 1931.

Here is a picture from the scrap book:

The front trucks of this street car went north on S. First st. and the rear turned west into Greenfield av. The cause-a split switch. Result- a traffic tie up of about an hour Tuesday afternoon.- Journal Staff Photo.

It looks like this accident was the entertainment that day, for awhile anyway. It must have been an interesting thing to watch happen. I suppose the passengers got a thrill they were not expecting.

Here are a few pages from the joke book, "Bedtime Laughs":

For all those that like silly questions. Enjoy.

Staying with the idea of accidents, here is another one from the past:

Grandpa is the one on the right. I'm not sure if I have shown this one before. Not sure what happened here.

Well, that's about all I have to share with you today.
I hope you all have a good weekend.
Don't forget to come back again real soon for more Fading History.
Till then.
Your friend,
Sandy

Edna: Nov. 21, 1930 Chicago, Ill.

Dear Friends,
I hope everyone had good weekend. Mine was quiet. It was rainy on Saturday and kind of sunny on Sunday. Nothing else to say about it.
So here is the next letter from Edna:

Since it is typed, I'm not going to retype it.
But I will comment on it's content.

She mentioned a number of movies she saw.
The first one, "Let Us Be Gay"



Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Housewife Kitty Brown (Norma Shearer) doesn’t spend much time on her personal appearance. She is devoted to her husband Bob (Rod La Rocque). Kitty spends all her time seeing that Bob has everything he needs. Bob is embarrassed to be seen with his wife because he considers her dowdy and he doesn’t like the homemade clothes she wears.

Kitty gets a shock when Bob’s latest girlfriend, Helen, shows up at their home. Kitty is polite to Helen and pretends that she has known about the affair all along but secretly she is broken-hearted. She excuses herself to go to her room and cry. Later that evening, she leaves Bob to get a divorce, taking their two children with her.

Three years later, Bob is courting Diane (Sally Eilers). Diane’s grandmother, Mrs. Bouccicault (Marie Dressler), is a leader in local society and disapproves of the match. Mrs. Bouccicault invites Kitty for the weekend. Kitty is now a fashionable, very attractive woman. Mrs. Bouccicault hopes to use Kitty to break Diane and Bob up.

Mrs. Bouccicault asks Kitty to steal a gentleman away from her granddaughter so Kitty flirts with each arriving male guest in turn assuming that each is the gentleman in question.

Bob arrives and is surprised by Kitty’s appearance. They pretend to meet for the first time. The other weekend guests, including Towney (Gilbert Emery), Madge (Hedda Hopper), and Wallace (Tyrell Davis), are baffled by the way Bob and Kitty behave around each other. Kitty continues to flirt with the male guests. She speaks disdainfully of marriage and makes it clear she is happily divorced. Diane has long had an understanding with Bruce (Raymond Hackett), who is also a guest. Bruce loves Diane and is pained to see her with Bob.

Townsend goes to the terrace outside Kitty’s room. She flirts with him. When Bob knocks on the door, Townsend hides. Bob begs Kitty to marry him again. Bob hears a sneeze and discovers Townsend hiding in the bathroom. He leaves through the terrace only to find Wallace waiting. Wallace has brought Kitty a poem. Disgusted and angry, Bob leaves. A few minutes later Mrs. Bouccicault comes to Kitty’s room to announce that Bob has just become engaged to Diane.

The next day, Bob is upset to overhear Kitty making plans for a yachting trip with Towney. Kitty plans on leaving immediately, but her nanny shows up with Kitty and Bob’s children. The children are overjoyed to see their father.

Bob tells Diane he still feels he is married to Kitty. Diane breaks up with Bob. Kitty says she doesn’t want him either. She says goodbye to Bob. He begs for another chance. Again, he asks her to marry him. She tearfully tells him she still loves him and she asks him to take her back.

The next one is "Her Wedding Night":

An American movie star vacationing in France, get mixed up with a song writer, mistaken identity and winds up married to someone she doesn't know.

Sounds like a few other movies I've seen lately.

The last one, "Follow Thru":

Lora Moore, the club champion, loses a golf match to a woman from another golf club. Then Jerry Downs, a handsome golf pro, and his goofy friend, Jack Martin, show up. Lora takes him on as her golf teacher to work on her putt. She falls for him, but so do several other women. Meanwhile Angie Howard, Lora's friend, chases after Jack. A lot of silliness ensues.

It must be very funny if she put her hat on backwards after seeing it.

It was also the second all color all talking picture from Paramount Pictures.

Now for the rest of the letter.

I wonder if she went to many football games. For those of you who follow football, you will have to look up how bad Northwestern beat Wisconsin that year.

The party she went to sounded like it was a very exciting one. I think it would be a lot of fun attending a party like that.

This is the kind of letters I like to read. With lots of information about the time. Plus it is typed. No messing up the translation.

Here is a picture from the scrap book:

 Kenosha fishing tugs tried to buck harbor ice in a determined effort to reach their fishing grounds but they could get only half way out the harbor channel. They are shown waiting for the coast guard cutter Escanaba, ordered to Kenosha from Grand Haven Mich. The boats are the Buick, W.H. Pugh, J.W. McDonald and Search.

I wonder how long they had to wait.

Here are few pages from the joke book, "Bedtime Laughs":

More marriage laughs. Enjoy.

Finally a random picture:

The name says Janet. No idea what her last name was.

Well, that's all I have to share with you today.
I hope you will come back soon for more Fading History.
Till then.
Your friend,
Sandy