The Backstory: The Music of Romance

Hi guys-

My grandparents both love music, my Grandfather especially. Instead of giving my grandmother flowers, my Grandfather Jim would provide my grandmother with records of the music that meant most to them at the time. In almost all the letters Jim wrote to Margie referred to the specific songs that were the soundtrack to their romance.

I've put together a playlist of these songs on Rhapsody - you can access it here:

http://p.rhap.com/mp.145072958.

 

The playlist includes original and recent versions of the following songs:

 

Memories of You - Frank Sinatra

The Nearness of You - Ella Fitzgerald

I'll Never Smile Again - Tommy Dorsey

Only Forever - Bing Crosby

Frenesi - Artie Shaw

Song of the Volga Boatman - Glenn Miller

Maria Elena - 101 Strings Orchestra

Daddy - Sammy Kaye

Blue Champagne - Glenn Miller

 

Enjoy!

 

Laura

 

 

Dearest Margie: July 13, 1940

Dearest Margie,

I received your letter this morning and picture, and both were swell. The only thing wrong with the picture is that I can’t frame it and put I on my dresser where everybody can see it. However, it is nice until I get another one that I can frame.

I haven’t been doing much out of the ordinary except last night I went down to the Edgewater Beach Hotel and who should I run into but Bill Schroder and Bob Pitt. Both wondered if I had seen Chuck before he left and I said no. Pitt said he had written you, but I said nothing. I danced with one of the brothers' (SAE) wives to Will Osborne and tried to imagine what it would be like if it was you. It was awful dancing with somebody else to that music. Say, and by the way, watch out for these Notre Dame guys - I don’t trust them any farther than I can throw a piano. That’s one complex I have for some reason, but I never did trust a Loyola or Notre Dame man because I've seen too many in action. But I know you can take care of yourself and I'm not worried.

Have you heard from (Janet) Cope and is she going to stop through here? I hope so, I would like to see her.

Thanks a lot for getting the petitions signed. It sure didn’t take you long. Al thinks your marvelous, so that makes it marvelous.

I should also say that you shouldn’t listen to anything people say about me and Barb. They love to talk about things they know nothing about.

Tonight is Saturday so we’ll probably go down and have a couple of Zombies, and then they’ll have to hold me down to keep me from flying out to Los Angeles. I want everything to work out right so much that I can hardly wait till I get back, yet I’m almost afraid to. It would sure be marvelous if you could only get back here some way. Why don’t you just get in the car some night and start back? I’ll send you a credit card and you can get back farther than Pomona.

You know I wouldn’t be surprised to see “Nearness of You” in first place on the hit parade. I sure hear it a lot. Of course, I’m not surprised because they must know what it stands for. I just sit here and listen to it and “I’ll Never Smile Again” while I’m writing. And every night I play them just before I go to bed.

The weather here is sure screwy. One day its hot as the dickens and raining and cold the next. But its different so I have liked it so far.

When I get out to the coast why don’t you and your mother drive up to San Francisco on the weekend end? If she can’t maybe Cope would go up with you and we could have a great time because I will be there for a week and I wouldn’t have to be busy with my family and other friends. We could have a marvelous time. You could probably stay at the Sorority house or a hotel. Be thinking about it and tell Cope I would pay for her gas and get her a date with a good SAE. Say the more I think of that the better it sounds. Stay up a week and I’ll just skip Southern California.

Keep writing often and I’ll write as much as possible. And remember,

All my love,
Jim

The Backstory - Margie's Recollection of May 6, 1940

 

 Note: This email was sent to me today from my grandmother, Margie, in response to the blog post about her father's murder on May 6, 1940. The picture above was taken of my Grandmother shortly after she arrived home that night. 71 years later, she still thinks of him every day, so this was a very difficult letter for her to write. I am so grateful of her taking the time to capture her memories on paper and share it with us.

 

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY, MAY 6, 1940.  I HAD JUST FINISHED MY CLASSES AT USC AND DECIDED TO GO TO THE LIBRARY TO STUDY.  ONLY THREE WEEKS OF SCHOOL LEFT, AND OF COURSE, THERE WERE TESTS COMING UP AND A FEW TERM PAPERS DUE, SO WHERE ELSE TO

COORDINATE ALL THAT KNOWLEDGE BUT AT DOHENY LIBRARY.

 

I WAS SO HAPPY.  FINALLY JIM HASTINGS HAD ASKED ME FOR A DATE AND THAT WAS TO BE THAT EVENING.  IT TOOK A  LOT OF WORK ON OUR MUTUAL FRIENDS TO HAVE THIS COME ABOUT.  I WAS DATING CHUCK, A GOOD FRIEND OF JIM'S, SO HE WAS RATHER RELUCTANT TO ASK ME OUT..

WE HAD BEEN EYEING EACH OTHER FOR ALMOST A MONTH, SO  AT LAST!!!  MONDAY NIGHTS WERE SORORITY AND FRATERNITY MEETINGS, SO ABOUT 8PM EVERYONE "HUNG OUT" ON 28TH STREET WITH THEIR DATES.  IF THE GUYS WERE FEELING FLUSHED, WE MIGHT GO OVER ON FIGUEROA TO SIMON'S, FOR THEIR "TWIN HAMBURGERS"  THESE WERE EARLY "SLIDERS" AND WERE VERY POPULAR

 

THE LIBRARY WAS CROWDED SO I FOUND A SEAT NEAR KATIE LOFTUS, A SORORITY SISTER, AND WE SETTLED DOWN TO STUDY.  I THINK IT WAS ABOUT 3PM WHEN CHUCK CAME IN THE LIBRARY TO FIND ME.  HE SAID THAT HE HAD BEEN IN THE DEAN'S OFFICE, WHEN SHE GOT A CALL THAT I WAS TO GO HOME, AS THERE WAS AN EMERGENCY.  THAT IS ALL HE KNEW.  I THINK LOOKING BACK THAT THE DEAN KNEW THE REAL STORY BUT DIDN'T WANT ME TO KNOW NOR DID SHE TELL CHUCK WHAT IT WAS.

 

AS HE HAD A MEETING IN A FEW MINUTES, CHUCK SAID TO TAKE HIS CAR TO GO TO SOUTH PASADENA, AND HE WOULD HAVE SKINNY ELLIS DRIVE HIM OUT WHEN THE MEETING WAS OVER TO PICK UP THE CAR.  KATIE INSISTED ON GOING WITH ME, AND OF COURSE I WAS GLAD.

SO WE HEADED OUT ON THE NEW PASADENA FREEWAY.  CHUCK HAD AN ELEGANT BUICK CONVERTIBLE SO WE HAD THE TOP DOWN AND THE MUSIC LOUD.  I THINK I THOUGHT THE EMERGENCY WAS MY MOTHER.  SHE HAD NOT BEEN WELL, AND I GUESS I THOUGHT SHE MIGHT BE IN THE HOSPITAL.  I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT I THOUGHT, I WAS IN A BIT OF A SHOCK.

 

AT 4PM THE MUSIC STOPPED AND THE NEWS CAME ON.  THAT IS WHEN I HEARD WHAT THIS EMERGENCY WAS.  IT WAS VERY DETAILED, AND NAMES WERE GIVEN.  KATIE WANTED TO DRIVE, BUT I SAID NO.  I REALLY DON'T REMEMBER WHAT I FELT AT THAT TIME.  WHEN I GOT TO OUR HOME AND GOT OUT OF THE CAR, ABOUT 8 REPORTERS FROM ALL THE LOS ANGELES AND PASADENA PAPERS DESCENDED ON ME WITH QUESTIONS.  I THINK I SCREAMED FOR THEM TO LEAVE ME ALONE.  I REALLY CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT I DID.  I DO KNOW THAT MY MOTHER HAD BEEN SEDATED BY THE DOCTOR SO I WAS IN CHARGE.  IT WAS A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY FOR A 20 YEAR OLD.  I COMPLETELY FELL APART WHEN THE MORTUARY OWNER CAME AND HANDED ME MY DAD'S GLASSES, WALLET AND SOME OTHER ITEMS THAT HE HAD HAD WITH HIM. 

 

CHUCK AND SKINNY CAME OUT AND TOOK ME TO THE MONTEREY INN FOR SOME FOOD.

AND THAT IS JUST ABOUT ALL I REMEMBER OF THAT WEEK AT HOME.  I MUST HAVE EATEN, AND THE NEIGHBORS WERE THERE TO SUPPORT ME.  MY BROTHER, WHO LIVED IN NEW YORK, ARRIVED SEVERAL DAYS LATER AND I WAS VERY HAPPY TO TURN OVER THE DECISIONS TO HIM.

AS FOR THE FUNERAL.  I COULDN'T TELL ANYONE WHAT IT WAS LIKE.  I KEPT MY EYES SHUT THE WHOLE TIME.  THE CHURCH WAS FILLED TO CAPACITY AS HE WAS SO WELL LIKED IN THE COMMUNITY AND THE HIGH SCHOOL

 

I DO REMEMBER GOING TO SLEEP FINALLY EACH NIGHT, BUT WHEN I WOKE UP I REALIZED IT WAS NOT A NIGHTMARE.  THAT WAS THE HARDEST.  A WEEK PASSED AND I HAD TO GET BACK TO SCHOOL.  MY BROTHER WAS STAYING ON.  I WAS SO RELIEVED TO RETURN TO THE SORORITY HOUSE.  MY FRIENDS WERE WONDERFUL, AND AS I HAD A LOT TO MAKE UP, I KEPT VERY BUSY WHICH HELPED ME.  MY PROFESSORS WERE COOPERATIVE.  I TOOK MISSED TESTS IN THEIR OFFICES, AND HAD AN EXTRA WEEK FOR MY TERM PAPERS.  COMING BACK TO A NORMAL LIFE PUT ME ON THE ROAD TO SOME KIND OF RECOVERY.

 

AS FOR THAT DATE WITH JIM -  IT NEVER HAPPENED, BUT OF COURSE SEVERAL WEEKS LATER WE GOT TOGETHER, AND YOU KNOW THE REST.  LOOKING BACK I KNOW THAT THE ROMANCE, WRITING EVERY DAY, HEALED ME SOMEWHAT AND GAVE ME THE HOPE OF  A HAPPY FUTURE.

 

SOON I WILL WRITE ABOUT MY RELATIONSHIP WITH MY DAD.  IT WAS VERY REMARKABLE AND I AM SURE ANY GOOD QUALITIES I HAVE, I CAN LOOK BACK TO HIS LOVE AND SUPPORT.

 

THANK YOU LAURA FOR CARING ABOUT ME AND  WRITING SO ALL MY FAMILY WILL KNOW WHO I AM AND WHAT A WONDERFUL LIFE I HAVE HAD.  AND WILL STILL HAVE!!!!!  REMEMBER, I AM LIVING TO 106 AND I HAVE A LOT OF ADVENTURES STILL TO COME.

 

LOVE,

MARGIE

Dearest Margie - July 11, 1940

Dearest Margie-

Well here I am drinking zombies and thinking of you, not that I have to have a zombie to do that. I suppose you are at the Grove or someplace, I only wish I were with you.

Al sends his love and says your just marvelous for sending back the “All Star” lists filled. I agree.

The only trouble writing post cards is that you can’t say much. But keep writing because I look in the mail each morning for your letters.

Love,
Jim