Tuesday, July 31, 1934

Came home. Stopped at Joe's and Ollie's. Ate lunch at Perry. Rained a little. Got home about 5 p.m.



Monday, July 30, 1934

Annie gave me a pen. Helped Aunt Jessie a little. Daddy went to Clay. Had fried rabbit for dinner at Henry's. Mart's and Emmett were there.

Now and Forever
Starring Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard and Shirley Temple
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Henry Hathaway
Run Time: 81 minutes
Writers: Melville Baker and Jack Kirkland

Plot Summary:

Young freewheeling wanderer Jerry Day and his beautiful wife Toni are at odds over their lifestyle. Jerry can't accept responsibility but Toni yearns for a family and a settled life. Then the Days 'rediscover' Jerry's young daughter Pennie, who has been living with his rich deceased wife's family. Pennie appears to be just what Jerry needs to mend his swindling ways and lead a straight life. Despite the responsibility of his new family, Jerry is swayed by the corruptible influence of jewelry thief Felix Evans. When Evans lures Jerry into a job, it puts the continuation of his new family life at risk.

Sunday, July 29, 1934

Had fried rabbit for breakfast and fried chicken for dinner at Joe's. Emmett and Melvin and Henry and Newt were there. Shot rabbits. I stayed at Mart's all night.

Kansas City Metropolitan Rivers with Brush Creek in the middle


Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast

The two most prominent companies owned by Pendergast were Ready Mixed Concrete Co. and the T. J. Pendergast Liquor Distributing Co.

His concrete company, one of the first in the nation to deliver to the site, furnished the concrete for many construction projects during the Depression, including the “Pendergast Pyramids”--present-day City Hall on 12th street and its sister building across the street, the Jackson County Courthouse. Other buildings built with Pendergast concrete were the Municipal Auditorium and Police Headquarters. Paving Brush Creek began November 1935 at a cost originally estimated at $1,395,000 and employing at one time 1,647 WPA workers. Concrete was laid eight to 10 inches thick and 70 feet wide.

Rumors to the contrary, the king of corruption apparently did not lay anyone to rest under Brush Creek on the Plaza. In 1991, when the Army Corps of Engineers was working on a Brush Creek flood control project, it found the creek was paved with just 10-12 inches of concrete — “insufficient,” The Kansas City Star pointed out, “for burying any but the skinniest political enemy.”



 



Saturday, July 28, 1934

Ollie, Ruby, Minnie and Joe came up here for dinner. Then Ruby, Henry and I went to Palmer. Stopped at Nell's. Went down to Joe's. I learned to drive.

July 27, 1934 - Winfield, Kansas

Tex West of Dallas, Texas is shown here on the front straightaway of the race track at the Cowley County Fairgrounds, Winfield, Kansas.  That is the Mayfield Special #C13 of Carl Mayfield of Wichita, Kansas backed up next to the fence at left in this photo.  As dangerous as it was, the cars actually pitted along that inside rail and stayed there throughout the racing program when not competing.

Friday, July 27, 1934

Stayed all night with Gladys last night. Mother came up and we had a fried chicken dinner. We listened to the radio with Sue and Howard.

July 27, 1934 ad for new radio

Thursday, July 26, 1934

Rita Mae stayed here at Henry's last night. Then Ruby and Gladys and Emmett and Melvin came up. Took pictures.

Clay Center Cousins - July 26, 1934
Front Row (L-R) Gladys, Ruth, Ruby, Rita Mae
Back Row (L-R) Emmett and Melvin

Wednesday, July 25, 1934

Rained. Rita Mae and I walked to Susie's. Mother and Mart's went to Clay. Rita Mae and I came back and made candy.

Kansas City Star - July 25, 1934

History repeating itself?

Tuesday, July 24, 1934

Rita Mae and I practiced up at Susie's this morning. Went to show at Palmer. Saw "Dollar Down Family." Sure good.

Heim No. 20 fire station (former Heim Brewery)
Guinotte and North Montgall, Kansas City, Missouri

The Brewery was well-known in the Midwest for its lager beer
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the Prohibition-era
demise of the brewery, Heim No. 20 operated as a Kansas City fire station.

Monday, July 23, 1934

Mother is still sick. Daddy and I went down to Mart's for dinner. I stayed all night at Rita Mae's.

Helen Stephens (1918-1994)

Growing up on a farm in Callaway County near Fulton, Missouri, Helen loved to run and jump and climb. She also had to work hard on the family farm. By the time she was in high school, her coach was working with her
and took her to St. Louis for her first official race. She beat Stella Walsh, a Polish gold medalist in the 1932 Olympics, in the 50-meter dash at 6.6 seconds, setting a new indoor record on a dirt track.

On August 4, 1936, eighteen-year-old Helen Stephens set the Olympic world record for the 100-meter event at 11.5 seconds. Her record stood for twenty-four years until Wilma Rudolph beat it in the 1960 Olympics. On August 9, Stephens was the anchor in the 400-meter relay team that also set a world record time of 46.9 seconds. She received a gold medal for each event.

Helen returned to Fulton after the Olympics and earned a degree from William
Woods College. She paved the way for future female athletes of all ages. She is in the National and United States Track and Field Halls of Fame as well as the Women’s Hall of Fame. Helen Stephens died on January 17, 1994. She is buried in Fulton, Missouri.



Sunday, July 22, 1934

Didn't go to church or Sunday school. Rita Mae came up this afternoon. Went with Sue and Henry for ice cream.

John Dillinger in the morgue - July 22, 1934
Shot and killed by lawmen as he left the Biograph Theater in Chicago, IL.



Public Enemy No. 1 ... a goner.

Saturday, July 21, 1934

Mother is sick. Rita Mae and Henry and Daddy and Mr. Lakes and I went to Clay Center. Stopped by Aunt Nellie's for a while.

Oreo Cookies - Happy 100th Birthday!

Oreo is a trademark for a popular sandwich cookie by the Nabisco division of Kraft Foods. Since its 1912 introduction, Oreo has become the best selling cookie in the United States, through the 20th century and into the 21st.

Friday, July 20, 1934

We ironed. It sure was hot! Rita Mae, Olive and Warren, Mr. Constable and Raymond and Mother and Daddy and I had fish at Joe's.

Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 – October 6, 1950)

Carrier was an American engineer and inventor, most widely known as the man who invented modern air conditioning. In Buffalo, New York, on July 17, 1902, in response to a quality problem experienced at the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing & Publishing Company of Brooklyn, Willis Carrier submitted drawings for what became recognized as the world's first modern air conditioning system. The 1902 installation marked the birth of air conditioning because of the addition of humidity control, which led to the recognition by authorities in the field that air conditioning must perform four basic functions:

1.) control temperature; 2.) control humidity; 3.) control air circulation and ventilation; 4.) cleanse the air.

After several more years of refinement and field testing, on January 2, 1906, Carrier was granted U.S. patent No. 808897 on his invention, which he called an "Apparatus for Treating Air," the world's first spray-type air conditioning equipment. It was designed to humidify or dehumidify air, heating water for the first and cooling it for the second.

And the rest, as they say, is history . . .

Thursday, July 19, 1934

Washed clothes. Us girls went after the cows. Went down to Olive and Warren's. We played on the swings.

Buster Keaton (1895-1966)

Born in Piqua, Kansas, Keaton was confined to a sanitarium in 1934 for
alcoholism. He escaped his straitjacket using a secret learned from the magician Harry Houdini. Keaton later gained control of his drinking. 





Wednesday, July 18, 1933

Went over to get some water at Erickson's. Then we went down to Martin Johnson's. Toasted marshmallows.

Mary Louise Brooks - AKA Louise Brooks
(November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985)

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Brooks was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known as the lead in three feature films made in Europe, including two G. W. Pabst films: Pandora's Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Prix de Beauté (Miss Europe) (1930). She starred in 17 silent films and, late in life, authored a memoir, Lulu in Hollywood. A notorious spendthrift, she eked out a post-retirement living as a courtesan with a few select wealthy men as clients.


Brooks was found dead of a heart attack after suffering from arthritis and emphysema for many years. She was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester, New York.

Tuesday, July 17, 1934

In the afternoon Ruby and I went over to the schoolhouse for her singing lessons. Also piano lessons.

Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955)
(originally Carnagey until 1922 and possibly somewhat later)

Born into poverty on a farm in Maryville, Missouri, Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. He was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), a massive bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), Lincoln the Unknown (1932), and several other books. One of the core ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's reaction to them.

His family moved to Belton, Missouri when he was a small child and he
managed to attain an education by attending the State Teacher's College
in Warrensburg, Missouri. After saving $500, he quit his sales job and moved to New York in hopes of becoming a Chautauqua lecturer but instead
wound up developing the Dale Carnegie course in public speaking. His first collection of his writings was Public Speaking: a Practical Course for Business Men (1926), later entitled Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business (1932).

Carnegie died of Hodgkin's disease at his home in Forest Hills, New York, and is buried in the Belton, Cass County, Missouri, cemetery.  

Monday, July 16, 1934

Mother, Daddy, Henry and I went down to Joe's. Ate a fried chicken dinner at Ollie's. Rita Mae came back with us.

St. Louis Kid starring James Cagney (right)
Production begins on July 16, 1934

Cagney plays Eddie Kennedy, the pugnacious truck driver who always finds himself in jail and uses a new method of punching guys--using his head (literally)!

Kenndy (Cagney) gets embroiled in a "milk war" between a trucking company and striking dairymen - a topical subject of the time. The trucking company is determined to maintain its milk shipments even though the dairymen are on strike. When a dairy worker is murdered, Cagney is accused of the crime and must find the real killer to clear himself. He also must rescue his kidnapped girlfriend (Patricia Ellis).

Sunday, July 15, 1934

Went to church this a.m. Went down to Mart's for dinner and supper. Rita Mae wasn't there.

Released July 15, 1934

The Clairvoyant (US title: The Evil Mind) is a 1934 drama film made in the UK, starring Claude Rains, Fay Wray, and Jane Baxter, directed by Maurice Elvey, and based on the novel of the same name by Ernst Lothar.

Saturday, July 14, 1934

I didn't do much today. This evening Mart's had fish here. Joe and Minnie came in.

July 14, 1934 - Dog Bite Victims Receive Pasteur Treatment

Scranton, PA: One of thirteen other dog bite victims, most of them children, receiving an inoculation of the anti-rabies serum, which is being furnished by the city health department. These thirteen victims were all bitten by dog from St.Ann Street in West Scranton.

Friday, July 13, 1934

Rained. We went over to the ice cream social at Marie's. It hailed. I went home with Gladys.

William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838)

An American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor,
Clark was a native of Virginia. He grew up in prestatehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Missouri. He was also a planter and slaveholder.

Aong with Meriwether Lewis, Clark led the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803 to 1806 across the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean, and claimed the Pacific Northwest for the United States. Before the expedition, he served in a militia and the United States Army. Afterward, he served in a militia and as governor of the Missouri Territory. From 1822 until his death in 1838, he served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

Clark is buried in St. Louis, in the Bellefontaine Cemetery, where a 35-foot (11 m) gray granite obelisk was erected to mark his grave. The cemetery has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

Thursday, July 12, 1934

Rita Mae came down today. Then Rita Mae and Ruby and I went down to Joe's.

Fort Osage, Missouri

During the Lewis and Clark Expedition, William Clark identified a spot
on the Missouri River which he felt would make an ideal location for a
fort. After the Expedition he returned to this spot in 1808 and constructed
what would later become Fort Osage. The fort served as a strategic trading post and military outpost and garrison until it was abandoned in the mid-1820s.

Located in Sibley, Missouri, the fort today is operated by Jackson County
Parks and Recreation with a professional staff. The Fort Osage
Education Center opened in 2007 and features state-of-the-art exhibits,
classrooms, auditorium, special exhibit spaces and a gift shop.

Wednesday, July 11, 1934

Daddy went fishing. Went down to Joe's. Ruby came back with me and spent the night. Rita Mae was up and bit and Gladys's were here.

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943)

Nikola Tesla, father of modern methods of generation and distribution of electrical energy, announced a new invention, or inventions, which he said, he considered the most important of the 700 made by him so far.


He has perfected a method and apparatus, Dr. Tesla said, which will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies of millions to drop dead in their tracks.

This "death-beam," Dr. Tesla said, will operate silently but effectively at distances "as far as a telescope could see an object on the ground and as far as the curvature of the earth would permit it." It will be invisible and will leave no marks behind it beyond its evidence of destruction.

An army of 1,000,000 dead, annihilated in an instant, he said, would not reveal even under the most powerful microscope just what catastrophe had caused its destruction.

But while it will make every nation safe against any attack by a would-be invader, Dr. Tesla added, the death-beam by its nature could not be employed similarly as a weapon for offense. For this death-beam, he explained, could be generated only from large, stationary and immovable power plants, stationed in the manner of oldtime forts at various strategic distances from each country's border. An exception, however, he added, must be made in the case of battleships, which, he said, would be able to equip themselves with smaller plants for generating the death-beam, with enough power to destroy any airplane approaching for attack from the air.

The production of the death-beam, Dr. Tesla said, involves four new inventions, which have not been announced by him. The scientific details of these inventions are to be given out by him before the proper scientific bodies in the near future.

Tuesday, July 10, 1934

Stayed at Henry's all day. Went up to Emmett and Melvin's for supper. Had fish. Sure were good. Went back to Henry's.

The French opened a new railway line which connected Brazzaville, 
 in the French Congo, to the Atlantic coast at Pointe Noire

Monday, July 9, 1934

Daddy and Melvin went fishing. Mother and I went up to see Gladys in p.m. and ate supper there. Stopped at Emmett's and Ruby was there.

Charles Marion Russell (March 19, 1864 – October 24, 1926)
AKA C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Russell was an artist of the Old American West. Russell created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Indians, and landscapes set in the Western United States and in Alberta, Canada, in addition to bronze sculptures. Known as 'the cowboy artist', Russell was also a storyteller and author. The C. M. Russell Museum Complex located in Great Falls, Montana houses more than 2,000 Russell artworks, personal objects, and artifacts.


Russell's mural titled Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flathead Indians hangs in the state capitol building in Helena, Montana. Russell's 1918 painting Piegans sold for $5.6 million dollars at a 2005 auction.

Sunday, July 8, 1934

Went to church. Went home with Rita Mae for dinner. We went to Idana. Sue and Herbert brought us home.

Buddy Baer and Gene Garner
July 8, 1934 in Los Angeles, California

Gene Garner was to fight George Turner to a ten round draw 19 days later.

Saturday, July 7, 1934

Rita Mae stayed here while her folks went to Palmer. I mopped the kitchen and dining room. Emmet and Melvin came down.

John Dillinger

On July 7, 1934, Dillinger meets with Billie Frechette's attorney at Schiller Street and Sacramento Boulevard, Chicago, to discuss Billie's appeal. Polly Hamilton (Dillinger's new squeeze) is nearby, but the attorney declines an offer to be introduced.

Friday, July 6, 1934

Mother and I went up to Aunt Millie's in the afternoon. Daddy and Newt went fishing. Had fish and fried chicken for supper.

July 6, 1934 newspaper advertisement
for Coca-Cola's Handy Home Carton.

Thursday, July 5, 1934

Went over to Annie's (Ruth's step-grandmother). Down to Joe's for dinner. We went to Mart's for supper. It rained on the way back.

"Bloody Thursday" - San Francisco, CA - July 5, 1934

During the 1934 strike by maritime workers and longshoremen, conflict erupted when the Industrial Association (consisting of employers and business interests) started moving goods from the piers to warehouses -- in an effort to break the strike.

Bloody Thursday refers to July 5, 1934 -- and to the violence that ensued between strikers and their supporters, and the police trying to contain the strike.

As goods began moving, police tried to clear the transportation track of strikers. When the strikers wouldn't budge, police began clubbing them and strikers retaliated by throwing rocks and bricks.

Wednesday, July 4, 1934

I went down to Rita Mae's. She came up here. Had fish for dinner. Went up to Parallel for an ice cream social.

Marie Curie (November 7, 1867 - July 4, 1934)

Throughout her life, Mme. Curie actively promoted the use of radium to alleviate suffering. The importance of Mme. Curie's work is reflected in the numerous awards bestowed on her. She received many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of learned societies throughout the world. Together with her husband, Pierre, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity. She also received, jointly with her husband, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1903 and, in 1921, President Harding of the United States, on behalf of the women of America, presented her with one gram of radium in recognition of her service to science.

July 3, 1934

Ruby was up here for dinner. We went to Emmets and Melvin's for lunch. Marie and Sue were there too.

Clay Center, Kansas cousins

(L-R) Ruby, Rita Mae, Ruth and Gladys

Monday, July 2, 1934

Daddy went to Clay. Rita Mae was up here. Daddy and Wayne went fishing. Rita Mae and I worked puzzles.

American tennis player Sarah Palfrey at Wimbledon, London on July 2, 1934

She teamed with with Helen Jacobs to win the 1932, 1934, and 1935 U.S. women's doubles championships, but didn't win the women's doubles
championship at Wimbledon until 1938 and 1939. She won the U.S. singles
championship in 1941 and 1945.

Sunday, July 1, 1934

Didn't go to church or Sunday school. Gladys, Nellie, Wayne and Clarence were here for dinner. Went down to Mart's in evening.

The Chesterfield Nightclub
314 E Ninth Street, Kansas City, MO

KC in the 30's: Rowdy Music Memories of America's Wildest City
Capitol Records release produced by Dave E. Dexter, Jr.

The Chesterfield Club featured a "businessman's lunch" served by waitresses who wore nothing but shoes and see-through cellophane aprons. Some of the girls had an affinity for poker and incorporated club, heart, diamond and spade designs into their "uniforms." The club was cited in 1933 for "allowing an indecent act to be exhibited," and it was shut down by a court order in April 1939 for encouraging "lewd and lascivious shows by female entertainers. Two months later, a fire destroyed the place.