1907.……MY MOTHER AND HER PET ROOSTER

I AM HEADING OUT TO NEW YORK AGAIN. THE FOLLOWING ENTRY IS ONE THAT I'VE POSTED BEFORE SO I HOPE THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE READ IT BEFORE WILL FORGIVE ME. I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE A NEW ENTRY AND I'VE ALWAYS LOVED THIS PICTURE AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT SURROUND IT. (I'LL BE BACK TO REGULAR BLOGGING IN ABOUT A WEEK) !
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In January, 1907, this adorable picture of my mother and her pet rooster, Teddy, appeared in the “Boston Globe”, along with the following article:

“Roosters are not unknown as pets, but little Ruth P. of West Brattleboro, Vt., has an exceptional rooster, Teddy, in that he will allow her to do anything she may wish with him.

The way this little mistress manages her bird playfellow is extremely interesting. She never punishes him because he never needs a rebuke. She speaks to him in a quiet tone, but there is in her eyes a certain power of the will, a power which is rare in children, which forces him to submit to her kind, though sometimes odd, treatment.

In the morning he struts into the kitchen and with a jolly “crowing” he mounts the low table at Ruth’s command, steps into the washbowl and patiently submits to a sponging with soap and water. After shaking his feathers a bit he is dried off with a towel and then brushed until his coat shines bright and clean.

Then follows another of her favorite pastimes. She hitches Teddy to her small doll-cart and drives her noble steed by “gee” and “haw” out through the woodshed, down the front yard to the sidewalk for a jaunt... both child and bird with tiny white hoods crowning their heads.

Ruth has had this strange comrade for several years and has trained him entirely herself. Teddy shows a great fondness for his mistress and obeys her without the least hesitancy.”

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My mother lived to the grand age of 92 and, as one of her five daughters, I can attest to the fact that she “trained” us pretty much in the same way that she did Teddy!

PORTRAIT of a NEIGHBORHOOD… 1962

My husband, 3 children and I were living on West 94th St. in NY City in 1962. This was a reputable address ... until you turned the corner. In 1965 I wrote the following article for a Writer’s Workshop. The assignment was: “Portrait of a Neighborhood.” I think you will see why we decided to move to the country.
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To me, “off-Broadway” is not a theater production but a massive, out-dated hotel for transients on New York City’s upper West side. Hanging from the marquee is a grimy cloth banner that proclaims this to be “THE WHITEHALL”.

All shades of humanity pass through the filth-infested hallways of this building just four doors from the respectability of West End Avenue. A handful of World War II vets wheel their chairs to the pavement. They sit deceptively still in the sunlight. Then a pedestrian walks by and they spiel off obscenities from mouths twisted with hatred.

A maroon convertible purrs to a stop in front of the hotel. Five girls and the driver, a handsome black man, pile out of the car and stand around cracking jokes with the men. “Big Boy, you sure can peddle them white gals”, says one of them.

A police siren pierces the air and, as if by osmosis, the group fades silently into the building and the street is deserted. Only the men remain, their faces closed as they watch the squad car approach. The police rush into the building and the men place bets on who they’ll pick up this time. They all lose.

It’s just a family quarrel and the police are still breaking it up as they drag the couple to the squad car. The man holds his arm, blood seeping through the dirty towel that he’s twisted around it. “She used a bottle on him”, say the men knowingly.

And so it goes at THE WHITEHALL, the transient hotel where only vice and corruption find a permanent home

A RABBIT’s TALE….stranger than fiction.

In August of 2004 I was in Duke Hospital undergoing the removal of a brain tumor. It was benign, but, because of the location, it was imperative that I have the operation or take the chance of losing my hearing.

I was very positive about the outcome (My neurosurgeon was Allan Friedman, the same Doctor who operted on Senator Ted Kennedy last year !) but I was advised to make all the arrangements anyway in case I didn’t make it. My wishes were simple, a memorial service and the reading of part of “Watership Down”. This is a remarkable tale about a group of rabbits and their quest for life. The main character lives to a ripe old age and the final pages tell of his death.

“He woke to realize that there was a rabbit lying quietly beside him and that his ears were shining with a faint silver light...‘If you’re ready, we might go along now’ said the stranger. They went out...where the sun was shining and it seemed to him that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch...strength and speed flowing out of him and into the sleek young bodies of his rabbits.

‘You needn’t worry about them’, said his companion and ...together they slipped away, running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.”

Now the interesting thing is that my best friend Bonnie was the only person who knew of my desire to have this read if the need arose so it was a great surprise when my daughter told me this:

“After you were taken to the operating room we all settled in for a 5 hour wait. At one point Brian and I went outside for a breath of air and found ourselves in a large area that was being remodeled. It was a type of courtyard with walls on all four sides and no greenery because of the construction. We sat on some cement blocks and drank our coffee.

All of a sudden we were amazed to see a small rabbit come hopping across the tarmac and, although it looked completely out of place, it was not in the least bit shy. It seemed to study us for a few seconds and then it hopped off. ‘How strange is that?’, we said to each other.”

Strange indeed…..stranger than fiction?


Does anyone remember these guys? “BOB & RAY”, 1949

The comedy team of “Bob & Ray” was catching on like wildfire in 1949, the year that I was a Junior in Wellesley High School in Massachusetts. Their wacky radio show, “Matinee with Bob & Ray” aired on WHDH, Boston, and I couldn’t wait for the daily 15 minute segments to begin.

Their format was typically to satirize radio and TV (which was just emerging) with off-the-wall dialogue, usually presented in a deadpan style. For instance, their review of the radio show, “Mary Noble, Backstage Wife” would include an interview with Mary Backstayge, the noble wife. Corny? Yes, but very effective when done in their style.

Another spoof was their game show entitled, “The 64 Cent Question” and my favorite segment, the cowboy singer who did rope tricks on the radio. Bob was usually the interviewer and Ray would take on different accents and voice tones. He had a wonderfully flat tone that he used for all his female characters, especially Mary McGoon, a home economics advisor who shared her bizarre recipes with the audience.

By 1949 they had been airing the show for three years and, although their popularity was growing, they hired the Ad Agency that my Dad worked for to promote it even further. Dad made plans to attend a live broadcast and he took me with him. It was my first time to watch the inner workings of a radio show and it was fascinating to see the technical end of the business...especially the sound effects.

I guess the closest thing that we have to that show today would be the car guys on National Public Radio’s “Car Talk”. Although they are supposed to be giving advice on automobile upkeep, Tom and Ray Magliozzi veer off to a variety of subjects, all presented in a “tongue-in-cheek” style with lots of laughs.

They are more commonly referred to as Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers and isn’t it interesting that they originate from Boston, too. Must be something quirky in the water !