Wednesday, May 31, 1933

We got our flag. It is made of silk and has a large pole. Also got our picture. The name of it is Castle of the Maidens by Edwin Abbey.

Sheriff J. W. Freeland, Hill County, Texas issued a Wanted poster for Frank Albert Clause
and Clyde "Champion" Barrow on May 31, 1933. (The date is written on the face of the poster.)
Both members of the "Root Square Gang," the two were wanted for robbery of several
 businesses in and around Dallas, Hillsboro, and Lufkin, Texas. It was during one of those robberies
on April 30, 1932, that Hillsboro shopkeeper J.N. Bucher was murdered. Less than a week after the
murder, Barrow and Clause held up a couple of filling stations in Lufkin. This was, in essence, the
beginning of the infamous Barrow Gang, which included Clyde's partner, Bonnie Parker, and launched
a nationwide campaign of crime that lasted until their deaths in 1934.

Tuesday, May 30, 1933

If, in Gym, we wanted to we could play baseball. Otherwise we could sit in the shade. Which most of us did.

Harvey John Bailey (August 23, 1887 - March 1, 1979)
"Dean of the Midwestern Bank Robbers"

Bailey was incarcerated in the Kansas State Penitentiary (Cell Block A) in Lansing on July 8, 1932,
 until he escaped with ten other convicts on May 30, 1933. During the breakout Warden Kirk
Prather was kidnapped and used as a human shield (he was later released unharmed). Bailey was
 shot in the right knee after going over the wall. He eventually made his way to Oklahoma, where
he joined with George "Machine Gun" Kelly and three other conspirators in kidnapping banker
 Charles F. Urschel. He was recaptured and sentenced to life in prison. Released in 1964, he died in
Joplin, Missouri.

Monday, May 29, 1933

Brought money for our class gift. We are going to get a flag and pictures both. My home room is 103.

William O. Darby
8 February 1911 – 30 April 1945
1933 graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point
Commissioned a second lieutenant in the field artillery upon graduation

Darby organized and commanded the 1st U.S. Army Ranger Battalion in 1942.
From 2,000 volunteers, Darby selected and trained 500 Rangers that successfully
 operated in North Africa and Tunisia. Darby trained and organized two more Ranger
Battalions in 1943. The 1st, 3rd, and 4th Ranger Battalions were known as "Darby's Rangers,"
 and were famous for their endeavors in the Sicilian and Italian campaigns. He was killed while
 leading a task force from the 10th Mountain Division in Northern Italy and  posthumously promoted to
brigadier general.





Sunday, May 28, 1933

Aunt Kate and them came by and took us out to Winnwood Beach, where we ate dinner. Went to baseball game. I went to show.

Winnwood Beach
Courtesy: Kansas City Public Library

Crowds numbering to 10,000 on Sundays visited old Winnwood
Beach in rural Clay County, Missouri. Swimming, boating, dancing,
picnic grounds, cottages, roller coaster, rides and sideshows were available.

The park, with spring-fed lake, was built and developed by Frank Winn,
member of a prominent pioneer Clay County family with large land holdings
and a pre-Civil War mansion. The boardwalk was copied from Atlantic City.

In addition to motor cars, the Kansas City Clay County and St. Joe Interurban
railway carried visitors to the park. Four-lane I-35 now follows the old tracks through the park.

 

Saturday, May 27, 1933

Mother and I went out to Aunt Katie's for dinner. Daddy was over. A lady gave me a pair of white pumps. Uncle Laten brought us home.

Three Little Pigs
Practical Pg, Fiddler Pig, Fifer Pig
Release Date: May 27, 1933
Produced by: Walt Disney
Story by: Boris V. Morkovin
Music by: Carl W. Stalling
Animation by: Fred Moore, Art Babbitt, Dick Lundy, Norm Ferguson
Color Process: Technicolor
Running Time: 8 minutes
1934 Academy Award - Best Short Subject: Cartoons
 "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", the original song composed by Frank Churchill, was
a best-selling single, mirroring the people's resolve against the "big bad wolf" of The Great Depression.

Friday, May 26, 1933

Mrs. Raifert's birthday. Today was our Field Day at school. We had to do two dances and play games. The boys gave a program, too.

Albert Einstein
Einstein had been a professor at the Prussian Academy of Science in Berlin since 1914. He took a two-month winter teaching job at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in 1932, fully expecting to return to his regular job in Berlin once the term was over. Then Adolf Hitler came to power in January of 1933, and in February of 1933 Hitler staged the Reichstag Fire, suspending all political and civil rights in Germany in reaction. Then came the book-burnings (Einstein’s works among them), the “Boycott of Jews” day, the ban on Jews holding public sector jobs.

Einstein returned to Europe in March of 1933, but seeing the writing on the wall, he stopped in Antwerp, Belgium rather than returning home to Berlin. He found out that not only would he be actively persecuted, but also that his name was on a list of government assassination targets, where he was listed as “not yet hanged.”

He resigned his position at the Prussian Academy of Science, then he renounced his German citizenship. He got on a ferry to Dover from Oostende, Belgium on May 26, 1933. When he arrived at Dover, he filled in a landing card, as did all foreign nationals. He wrote in his name, stated his occupation as “professor,” and most tellingly of all, he wrote “Swiss” as his nationality. He added a note to the back of the document saying he would be lecturing at Oxford.

Thursday, May 25, 1933

It rained today. I waited until about four-thirty but it didn't stop raining so Dorothy Brashear and I walked home in the rain. I sure got wet.

1-cent yellow-green Fort Dearborn stamp for the postcard rate
Issued for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair by the US Postal Department on May 25, 1933
This was one of three stamp designs for the 1933 fair, with a total of seven varieties.

In 1933 the city of Chicago staged its second world's fair,
A Century of Progress, to celebrate its centennial. In just one
hundred years the city had grown from a small community formed
around a trading post and a federal fort to the fourth largest city in the world.

Wednesday, May 24, 1933

Had an English test on the life of William Shakespeare yesterday. Thought we were going to have a Science test, but we didn't. Walked home with Viola. It was cool. Mother made ribs and kraut.

Pork Ribs and Sauerkraut

1 slab of pork ribs cut into individual servings
1 can or jar of sauerkraut
1 small onion, sliced
Sprinkle of granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle of caraway seeds
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Season ribs with salt, pepper and garlic. Brown uncovered in oven on rack so fat drains away. Do not cook completely. Place the kraut, onion, brown sugar and caraway seeds in baking dish. Top with ribs and cover. Bake for 1 hour at 375 degrees or until pork is "fall off the bone tender". (Browning the ribs gives a much better flavor).

Tuesday, May 23, 1933

I met Viola Clark up at Twenty-Seventh and Chestnut and walked to school with her. Practiced dance in Gym today for Field Day.

John Herbert Dillinger, Jr.
June 22, 1903 - July 22, 1934
American gangster and bank robber
Charged but never convicted with the murder of an East Chicago police officer

Dillinger was convicted of assault and battery with intent to rob, and conspiracy
to commit a felony. He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State Prison
in Michigan City, Indiana, for his crimes. After serving four-and-a-half years, Dillinger
was paroled on May 23, 1933. He immediately returned to a life of crime, robbing banks across
Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Iowa. He was killed by federal agents in Chicago.

Monday, May 22, 1933

Went in swimming in Gym. Mother and I and Gweyn and Dean and the kids all went out to Alfireda's. She has a nice place. Listened to the rado a while.





"Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel"
"F, S, and F" was a situation comedy radio show starring Chico and Groucho Marx
that depicted the misadventures of a small law firm, with Groucho as attorney
Waldorf T. Flywheel and Chico as Flywheel's assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli.
Sponsored by the Standard Oil Companies of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Louisiana and the Colonial Beacon Oil Company, it was the Monday night installment
of the Five Star Theater, an old-time radio variety series that offered a different program
each weeknight. Episodes of "Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel" were broadcast live on
NBC's Blue Network beginning November 28, 1932, and ending May 22, 1933.

 

Sunday, May 21, 1933

I didn't go to Sunday School or church today. It rained. Aunt Katie, Uncle Laten and Helen were by and we went for a drive.

Route 66 through Missouri
The Dust Bowl and Depression conditions of the 1930s led displaced farm
families to follow the two-lane road west to California. John Steinbeck described
it in The Grapes of Wrath, coining the term Mother Road. Heading west through
Missouri, you travel from St. Louis - Sullivan - Waynesville - Springfield - Joplin.



Saturday, May 20, 1933

I read my magazines all morning. Aunt Katie, Uncle Laten and Helen were by this afternoon. In the evening I went out and played.

National Maritime Day was created by Congress on May 20, 1933.
Its purpose is to recognize the maritime industry and its importance to the nation.
National Maritime Day is observd on May 22, the date that the American steampship
Savannah set sail from Savannah, GA, on the first ever transoceanic voyage under steam power.
It also honors the sacrifices of the men and women serving the United States in the Merchant Marine.

Friday, May 19, 1933

We went outside in Gym and played baseball. Last night we played a game and our side won. It was 8-6, I believe.

Seventeen-year-old Jackie Mitchell (left) poses with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
after striking out both men back to back in an exhibition game on April 2, 1931.
A pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts, Jackie was known for her wicked,
dropping curve ball. A few days after the exhibition game, Baseball Commissioner
Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Jackie Mitchell's contract, claiming that
baseball was "too strenuous" for a woman. In 1933, after barnstorming across the
country pitching in other exhibition games, Jackie signed on with the House of David,
a men's team famous for their very long hair and long beards. Jackie retired from baseball
in 1937, at the age of 23, and went to work in her father's optometry office.

Thursday, May 18, 1933

I had the English test but I don't know what I made on it because we didn't grade the papers. I got some movie magazines.

Photoplay
May 1933
Nancy Carroll on cover

Modern Screen
April 1933
Claudette Colbert on cover

Wednesday, May 17, 1933

Went back to school again today. We hd a Civics test. I made 90 1/2 on it out of 100 1/2.

Thomas Leonard "Tommy" Carroll
Bank robber and member of the Dillinger gang
1901 - June 7, 1934
An ex-boxer, Carroll was first arrested in 1920 and continued to have run-ins with
the law (when he wasn't in prison) from then on. He was arrested in St. Paul, MN,
on May 17, 1933 for possession of burglar's tools but was able to negotiate his
release and the charges against him were dropped. It was after this that Carroll
joined the Dillinger gang. He was killed in a police shootout in Waterloo, IA.

Tuesday, May 16, 1933

I went to the school picnic at Fairyland Park with Avonelle Ridenour. I went on the sky rocket, the tumble bug, jumble twice, caterpillar, fun house, and the teeter dip.

Fairyland Park - 1930s
Postcard courtesy of the Missouri Valley Special Collections at
the Kansas City, Missouri Public Library. The Ferris wheel, the whip
and many other rides and concessions of old Fairland Park are pictured
in color on this old postcard from the '30s published by Max Bernstein.

The amusement park was located at 75th and Prospect, at the south end
of the street car line, and is remembered as the place for many a school picnic.
Fairyland always had an pre-season opening for students, when there was no
10 cent gate charge and all rides that day were half price. A huge grassy picnic area
was one of the park's best features and helped make the event a success.

 The park opened in 1923 on 80 acres of farm land. It was damaged by fire in
1938, and lightning struck the towering sky rocket ride in 1942. After years of financial
problems, Fairyland Park closed in 1978. No trace of the park remains today.

Monday, May 15, 1933

Graded Mathematics test papers. I missed 4 of them. Tomorrow we are going to have the school picnic. I am going to go to the park.

The Death Giver by Maxwell Grant*
Another tale about the man who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
Published May 15, 1933
*Maxwell Grant was a pen name used by several different authors of The Shadow pulp
magazine stories, the most prolific one being Walter B. Gibson who wrote 282 of the 325 Shadow novels.

Sunday, May 14, 1933

Went to Sunday school and church. Today was Mother's Day. I went over to Montgall Park (Kansas City, MO) and played baseball.

Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd
Gangster and Bank Robber (1904-1934)
On Mother's Day 1933, he visited his mother in Oklahoma and attended services with her at
the Sallisaw Baptist Church. He was killed in 1934 in a cornfield in Ohio by law enforcement officers.

"Come all you ramblin' gamblin' boys
Wherever you may be.
Listen to my story,
And shun bad company."

— Harrison Town

Saturday, May 13, 1933

Walked up to the 31st Street Dime Store with Mother. I got her a pair of hosiery for Mother's Day. Bought me a pair of white anklets.

Pair of real silk stockings
Average price of women's hosiery in 1933: 69 cents

Friday, May 12, 1933

Thought we were going to go in swimming but we didn't. We had some slides in English.

The Barbarian
Starring Myrna Loy and Ramon Novarro
Released on May 12, 1933
An American woman tourist in Egypt has several suitors,
among them an Arab guide who is more than he seems.

Thursday, May 11, 1933

Played baseball outside in Gym today. Have a Mathematics test tomorrow. It rained and hailed, also.

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone - 1931 mug shot
A notorious gangster who ran an organized crime syndicate in Chicago during the 1920s,
 Capone, was both charming and charitable as well as powerful and vicious. He became
an iconic figure of the successful American gangster before being convicted of income tax
evasion and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. His incarceration included a stay at Alcatraz.
In the final years of Capone's life, his mental and physical health deteriorated due to neurosyphilis.
 On January 25, 1947, he died from cardiac arrest following a stroke in Miami Beach, Florida.



Wednesday, May 10, 1933

We played baseball outside today. Eilean and I walked home together down Monroe Avenue. Went out and played in evening.

In a symbolic act of ominous significance, on 10 May 1933, German students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of "un-German" books, presaging an era of state censorship and control of culture. On the night of 10 May, in most university towns, nationalist students marched in torchlight parades "against the un-German spirit." The scripted rituals called for high Nazi officials, professors, rectors, and student leaders to address the participants and spectators. At the meeting places, students threw the pillaged and unwanted books into the bonfires with great joyous ceremony, band-playing, songs, "fire oaths," and incantations. In Berlin, some 40,000 people gathered in the Opernplatz to hear Joseph Goebbels deliver a fiery address: "No to decadence and moral corruption!" Goebbels enjoined the crowd. “Yes to decency and morality in family and state! I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann, Ernst Gläser, Erich Kästner.”

Tuesday, May 9, 1933

I brought my report card back. Today they handed out Fairyland Park slips. It is a week from today. I am going to go.

Raisin' the Rent
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra
Vocal Ivy Anderson
New Desor DE3306b
Recorded May 9,1933, ARC session, New York City

Monday, May 8, 1933

Went in swimming. Today was report cards. I got S in Math, English and Expression, and I got M in Civics and General Science.

On May 8, 1933, Harold Ickes, Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior,
decided that the name of this dam should be "Boulder Dam." Construction started
in 1931 on the concrete gravity-arch dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River,
on the border between the U.S. states of  Arizona and Nevada, and it was opened in 1936.
In 1947 a resolution naming it Hoover Dam was passed by Congress and signed by President Truman.

Sunday, May 7, 1933

I didn't go to church today. Aunt Katie and them were by. We went for a ride. They stayed for dinner.



Harry and Bess Truman on their wedding day.
Harry wrote love letters to Bess for almost 50 years, including one on May 7, 1933.
To read that letter as well as others, visit: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/bessltr.htm
The letters not only show the personal loving relationship between Harry and Bess,
but, later, the President's efforts to use his wife as a sounding board for the issues of state.



Saturday, May 6, 1933

Uncle Laten was by today. I sewed and read a little, then went out and played a while.

On May 6, 1933, President Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the
Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was just one of many relief programs
created under the auspices of the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which Roosevelt
 had signed the month before. The WPA, the Public Works Administration (PWA) and other federal
 assistance programs put unemployed Americans to work in return for temporary financial assistance.

Friday, May 5, 1933

I climbed halfway up the ropes and chinned myself once. I got an E on my math test, the highest grade in the room.

Johnny Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin
Outfielder and third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals
He hit for the cycle - a single, a double, a triple, and a home run - on May 5, 1933.

Thursday, May 4, 1933

I gave my book report. Joyce has got the measles. I went out and played tonight with Pauline and Sugar.

A suspense film released on May 4, 1933
When a famous doctor kills his adulterous wife, he is defended by his
best friend--an attorney who suspects that his own wife is having an affair.
The film was remade five years later by director James Whale as Wives Under Suspicion.

Wednesday, May 3, 1933

My English teacher, Miss Gilmore, announced that I won the Lady of the Lake contest. I said my Expression lesson today.

Mrs. Nellie Ross
On May 3, 1933, she was appointed as the first woman director of the United States Mint.
A widow, she was also the first U.S. woman to serve in the office of governor (of Wyoming),
 when her husband, Governor William B. Ross, died of complications following an appendectomy.

Tuesday, May 2, 1933

After school, I went out and played with Pauline. In the evening Mrs. Raifert came over.

May 2, 1933: Loch Ness Monster Sighted

(Shapes of the purported sightings of the Loch Ness monster)

Although accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland's Loch Ness date back 1,500 years, the
modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born when a sighting makes local news on May 2, 1933.
The newspaper Inverness Courier related an account of a local couple who claimed to have seen "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface." The story of the "monster" (a moniker chosen by
the Courier editor) became a media phenomenon, with London newspapers sending correspondents to Scotland and a circus offering a 20,000 pound sterling reward for capture of the beast.

Monday, May 1, 1933

Went in swimming. I said my lines, which made me 650 altogether. But that boy was absent and I don't know how many he knew.

Engaged on May 1, 1933
Prince Wilhelm, 26, eldest son of Germany's onetime Crown Prince Wilhelm,
 and Dorothea von Salviati, commoner. Many a monarchist considered young Wilhelm
the logical candidate for a Hohenzollern restoration. Under old Prussian law his marriage would
not bar him from the throne, but his children could not succeed him. And the marriage had to be
sanctioned by the head of the family, who was reported grieved. Wilhelm renounced any rights to the
succession for himself and his future children in 1933, and he and Dorothea married on 3 June 1933
 in Bonn. They had two daughters. In 1940, the marriage was recognised as dynastic and the girls were
given the title and style of Princesses of Prussia. A member of the unified armed forces of Germany,
Wilhelm took part in the invasion of France in May 1940. He was wounded during the fighting in
Valenciennes and died in a field hospital in Nivelleson May 26, 1940.