Wednesday, January 31, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. It was cold this morning. I paid my English fee for literature Monday.

Statue of Old Drum
Johnson County Courthouse
Warrensburg, MO

Long story short:
Old Drum was a foxhound named Drum (or Old Drum) that had been killed in 1869 by a
sheep farmer. The farmer had previously announced his intentions to kill any dog found on his
 property. The dog's owner was suing for damages in the amount of $50, the maximum allowed by law.

George Graham Vest, a lawyer as well as a politician, represented the dog's owner and vowed
he would "win the case or apologize to every dog in Missouri." Vest's closing argument to the
jury made no reference to any of the testimony offered during the trial, and instead offered a
eulogy of sorts. Vest won the case (a possibly apocryphal story of the case says that the jury
awarded $500 to the dog's owner) and also won its appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.

Only a partial transcript of Vest's "Eulogy on the Dog" has survived and it follows:

"Gentlemen of the jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become
his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those
who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name
may become traitors to their fairth. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from
him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of
ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when
success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud
upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world,
the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is
his dog.

Gentlemen of the jury: A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in
health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow
and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the
hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters
with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were
a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and
reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through
the heavens.

If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the
faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against
danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes
the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all
other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his
head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true
even to death."

Tuesday, January 30, 1934

Pauline and I rode the streetcar. We are writing Morality Plays in Expression. Making a History scrapbook.

William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 - November 16, 1960)
Born: Cadiz, Ohio
Died: Los Angeles, California
Height: 6'1"
Nicknames:
Gabe
The King
The King of Hollywood
Pa (by Carole Lombard)

Clark Gable's mother died when he was seven months old. At 16 he quit high school, went to work
in an Akron (Ohio) tire factory and decided to become an actor after seeing the play "The Bird
of Paradise". He toured in stock companies, worked oil fields and sold ties. In 1924 he reached
 Hollywood with the help of Portland, Oregon, theatre manager Josephine Dillon, who coached
and later married him (she was 17 years his senior).

After playing a few bit parts he returned to the stage, becoming lifelong friends with Lionel
 Barrymore. After several failed screen tests(for Barrymore and Darryl F. Zanuck), Gable was signed
in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. Joan Crawford asked for him as co-star in "Dance, Fools, Dance"
(1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in "A Free Soul" (1931) the same
year. His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in "Red Dust" (1932) made him MGM's
 most important star. At one point he refused an assignment and the studio punished him by
loaning him out to (at the time) low-rent Columbia Pictures, which put him in Frank Capra's
"It Happened One Night" (1934), which won him an Oscar. He returned to far more substantial roles
 at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935) and Rhett Butler in
"Gone With the Wind" (1939).

When his third wife Carole Lombard died in a plane crash returning from a War Bond drive,
a grief-stricken Gable joined the US Army Air Force and was off the screen for three years,
flying combat missions in Europe. When he returned the studio regarded his salary as
excessive and did not renew his contract. He freelanced, but his films didn't do well at the
box office. He announced during filming of "The Misfits" (1961) that, for the first time,
he was to become a father. Two months later he died of a heart attack. He was laid to rest
 beside Carole Lombard at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Monday, January 29, 1934

Pauline and I rode the streetcar. It snowed last night. Sure was cold. I came home with Pauline.

Loula Long Combs (1881 - 1971)

The daughter of Kansas City lumber baron, R.A. Long, Loula Long Combs and
her husband, Robert Pryor Combs, lived at Longview Farm. For 65 years she
competed in and won international horse shows in New York, Canada and
England. She became known as the Queen of Kansas City's American Royal
and is in the Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame. All of her prize-winning
horses were raised and trained at Longview Farm, including her favorite,
Revelation, whose grave marker is in fron of the Show Horse Arena.

Toward the end of their lives, Loula and her sister Sally America Long Ellis
donated the land for Longview Community College. Other parcels were sold
and became Longview Lake, the second largest lake in Jackson County,
Missouri.

 

Sunday, January 28, 1934

Went to Sunday School and church. In the evening Oliie and Mitchell were over. Sure was cold today.

A rope tow or ski tow

A ski tow, also called rope tow or handle tow, is a mechanized system for pulling skiers and
snowboarders uphill. The first ski tow was invented 1908 in the Black Forest, Germany
by Robert Winterhalder. The first one in North America was near Montreal, Quebec

On January 28, 1934, it was copied in the U.S., at Woodstock, Vermont by Bob and Betty
Royce, proprietors of the White Cupboard Inn. Their tow was driven by the rear wheel
of a Ford Model A. Their relative simplicity—a car engine, some rope and
 a few pulleys were all that was needed—made ski tows widespread and contributed to an
explosion of the sport in the United States and Europe. Before tows, only people willing to
walk uphill could ski. Suddenly, relatively unathletic people could participate, greatly increasing
the appeal of the sport. Within five years, more than 100 tow ropes were operating in North America.

Saturday, January 27, 1934

Mother and I got up early and went over to Aunt Katie’s and stayed all day. Went skating and to Helen’s school play.

Child Labor Laffs - January 27, 1934

Flapper Fanny by Gladys Parker

Gladys Parker was an American female comic artist of the 1920s and 1930s. She drew 'Gay and her Gang', a witty comic strip about the so-called "flappers": stylish, wise-cracking young women of the roaring twenties. She took over the one-panel cartoon 'Flapper Fanny' from Ethel Hays in 1932, and gave it a more cartoony style. At the same time, Ms. Parker drew a comic strip series for Lux soap.

During the second World War, Gladys Parker came up with 'Mopsy', a girl who made her own contribution to the war effort by appearing as a nurse, soldier or engineer. 'Mopsy' ran from 1939 until 1965. Gladys Parker also took over the war-strip 'Flyin' Jenny' from Russell Keaton in 1942, until 1944, when his assistant Marc Swayze took over.

Friday, January 26, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Had History test. Practiced marching in gym. Walked home with Nadine and Pauline and Ruth R.

The German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact
Signed January 26, 1934

The German and Polish governments signed a non-agression pact
which respected the two countries' borders for ten years. The pact
provided Poland with some assurance that Germany would not
attempt to recover the Polish corridor by military force.

But as history reminds us, the pact was not to stand. On April
28, 1938, the Nazis removed Germany from it and on September
1, 1939, they invaded Poland (see photo above), putting aside
any notion of peaceful and neighborly behavior.

Thursday, January 25, 1934

Sure cold this morning. Pauline and I walked to school. I went up to Nadine’s in evening. Made candy. Wrote story for Ruth R.

927 North Second Avenue
Tucson, Arizona
Rental house where John Dillinger was arrested on January 25, 1934

On January 15, 1934 while robbing a bank in Indiana, Dillinger was confronted by
Officer William O’Malley, who shot him several times. Dillinger, who was wearing a bullet
proof vest, was unharmed but in turn he allegedly shot and killed Officer O’Malley.

Dillinger and his gang (Russell Clark, “Fat Charles” Makley, and “Handsome Harry” Pierpont)
eventually made their way to Tucson, Arizona in January 1934. Dillinger rented a house
located at 927 North Second Avenue. Gang members Clark and Makley checked into the Hotel
Congress under aliases. On the night of January 22, 1934 a fire started in the basement of the
 hotel and spread up to the third floor. The desk clerk notified them of the fire and the two
escaped by aerial ladders. As the story goes, Clark and Makley asked two firemen
 to retrieve their luggage.

The luggage revealed their true identities and the fireman notified the Tucson Police
 Department. Dillinger and his gang were arrested at his house on January 25, 1934.



Wednesday, January 24, 1934

I went up by for Pauline. Got to school pretty easily. Got cards yesterday. I got 10 points for semester grade.

January 24, 1934 - Jews are banned from the German Labor Front

Here, Nazi storm troopers block the entrance to one of several Jewish-owned stores in Berlin.
Their signs read: "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy
only at German shops!" and "Germans, defend yourselves, buy only at German shops!"

Tuesday, January 23, 1934

Daddy took Pauline and I and Ruth Ray to school. Nadine didn’t go. In the evening Pauline and I walked home.

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 - October 6, 1989)

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Davis was an actress in film, television and

theater. Davis was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters.

She was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from

contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional

comedies. Her greatest successes, however, were her roles in romantic dramas.

Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and

confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported.

Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public

persona which has often been imitated and satirized.

She was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president

of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She won the Academy Award

for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations

for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the 

American Film Institute.

Bette Davis died from breast cancer in France and is interred in Forest Lawn-Hollywood

Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. On her tombstone is written: "She did it the hard way", an

epitaph that she mentioned in her memoir Mother Goddam as having been suggested to her

by Joseph L. Mankiewicz shortly after they had filmed All About Eve.

Monday, January 22, 1934

Pauline and I walked to school. Only went till noon today. Ruth Ray and I walked to home at noon.

Secret Agent X-9
King Features - January 22, 1934 until February 10, 1996

Secret Agent X-9 was a comic strip begun by writer Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon)
and artist Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon). X-9 was a nameless agent who worked for a nameless
agency. X-9 acquired the name "Phil Corrigan" in the 1940s and decades later the strip was
renamed Secret Agent Corrigan. The nameless agency was also briefly the FBI when
 the FBI was in vogue, but when the FBI became less popular, references to it were dropped
and the agency was nameless again.

Despite the initial combination of talents, the strip was never a success. Perhaps the
confusion about what kind of strip it actually was (secret agent or private eye)
contributed to this. By the next year, Hammett and Raymond had both left the strip.

Sunday, January 21, 1934

Mother and I went to Sunday School and church. Helped get dinner. Went over to Betty’s. Ollie was over at Mrs. Raifert’s. Went over and played pinochle.

Herman Perry (middle), a cofounder of Atlanta Citizens Trust Bank,
discusses business with two patrons.

January 21, 1934: Because of its sound operation, Atlanta Citizens Trust Bank
became the first African American–owned bank to become a member of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation. In 1948 Citizens Trust became the first African American–owned bank
to join the Federal Reserve Bank.








Saturday, January 20, 1934

Slept kind of late. I went outside and played with Betty. In the p.m. I went up to Pauline’s. Played a little there.

Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975)

Born in Noblesville, Indiana, Stout was an American writer known for
his detective fiction - particularly for his Nero Wolfe character, who
debuted in 1934 in Stouts novel Fer-de-Lance. Stout went on to write
37 Nero Wolfe novels with the last, Death Times Three, being
published posthumously. He also published 40 novellas starring
Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin. Again, the final novella,
Assault on a Brownstone, was published after hid death.

The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century
at  Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was
nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century.

Friday, January 19, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. In the p.m. Ruth R and I went up to Central Jr. High and saw Graduation. I took my Gym test – 22 of 50.

Popeye in Sock-A-Bye Baby
Released January 19, 1934

Popeye will destroy the whole city in order to keep
everything and everyone silent so that baby Billy can sleep.

Thursday, January 18, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Walked home with Ruth Ray. Took Latin and English test. Ollie was over. R and N and I saw “Seth Parker.”

Way Back Home is based on characters created for the NBC radio show Seth Parker
Directed by William Seiter; written by Jane Murfin
Starring Phillips Lord, Frank Albertson and Bette Davis
Run time: 81 minutes

Plot Summary:

A decade earlier, Jonesport, Maine preacher Seth Parker and his wife offered shelter to
runaway Robbie Turner, who as an infant was abandoned by his sadistic, alcoholic father
 Rufe. Mary Lucy Duffy, who has been banished from her home by her father for fraternizing
with farm hand David Clark, is living with the Parkers as well, and her romance with David
attracts the attention of the local gosspis. Years earlier, David's mother Rose had run off with a
stranger, and when she and her illegitimate infant son returned to Jonesport, they were
shunned by the townspeople.

Mary Lucy and David plan to elope to Bangor, but Seth encourages them to stay by offering
 to pay for a proper wedding. Rufe breaks into the Parker home to kidnap Robbie and attacks Mary
Lucy when she tries to protect the boy. Seth pursues Rufe and Robbie and manages to intercept
 them before they board a train. Because Seth is not Robbie's legal guardian, the boy is placed
in an orphanage, where he awaits a decision about his future. Meanwhile, Seth lectures the
townspeople on the subject of tolerance and implores them to accept Rose and her newlywed
son and his bride. Robbie returns to Jonesport, having been legally entrusted to the care of the Parkers.

Wednesday, January 17, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Had my History and Expression examinations today. I got out at noon. Walked home with Ruth Ray.

Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973)

Birth Name: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno  
Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso

Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer; one of the 
greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century; widely known for co-founding
the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of
collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore.

Picasso's etching The Feast from Lysistrata was published on January 17, 1934.

Tuesday, January 16, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. We met Lucille Flerharty again. Tomorrow is our examinations. Didn’t have any night work.

On January 16, 1934, five prisoners, including Raymond Hamilton (who was serving sentences
totaling more than 200 years), were liberated from the Eastham State Prison Farm at Waldo,
Texas by Clyde Barrow, accompanied by Bonnie Parker. Two guards were shot by the escaping
prisoners with automatic pistols, which had been previously concealed in a ditch by Barrow.
As the prisoners ran, Barrow covered their retreat with bursts of machine-gun fire. Among
the escapees was Henry Methvin of Louisiana whose father, Ivan Methvin, helped arrange
Bonnie and Clyde's deaths in 1934 at the hands of a posse headed by Texas lawman Frank Hamer.

Monday, January 15, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Ruth Ray and I waited for Nadine and Pauline and walked home with them.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948)
AKA "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat"
American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935
Elected to play in the first All Star Game and hit the first home run in the game's history
One of the first five players elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame

A mainstay in the New York Yankees' lineup that won seven pennants and four World Series
titles during his tenure with the team, Ruth had become noticeably overweight by the end of
the 1933 season. On January 15, 1934, he signed a one-year contract for $35,000, which meant
he took a $17,000 pay cut.  By the end of the 1934 season, Ruth had reached a personal milestone 
of 700 home runs and was about ready to retire. His heart was set on managing the Yankees, and
he made no secret of it. Instead, he played another year - this time for the Boston Braves. At the
end of the season he retired with 714 home runs to his credit.

Sunday, January 14, 1934

Went to Sunday School and church. Daddy is still pretty sick. Had the doctor. Ollie was over. Played pinochle. She ate supper here.

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967)

Tracy decided on acting as a career while a student at Ripon College. He studied acting in
 New York and appeared in a number of Broadway plays, finally achieving success in the 1930
hit "The Last Mile." Director John Ford was impressed by his performance and cast him in
"Up the River" with Humphrey Bogart. Fox Film Corporation signed him to a long term contract,
but after five years of mostly undistinguished films, he joined the most prestigious movie
studio of the time, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His career flourished with MGM and he became one of
 their most valuable stars, guaranteeing him top billing in all his pictures from 1940 onwards. In 1942
 he appeared with Katharine Hepburn in the romantic comedy "Woman of the Year," beginning a
 partnership that lasted the remainder of Tracy's life. The duo made nine pictures together and
had a long romantic relationship, although Tracy remained legally married to his wife Louise
until he died. Tracy worked regularly into the 1960s, starring in 75 movies total. His reputation was
high, as he was considered by his peers as one of the screen's greatest actors. His final film,
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" was completed 17 days before his death in June 1967.

Saturday, January 13, 1934

Aunt Kate’s were over. Went down to magazine shop. Got a magazine. Got some shoe polish. Polished my shoes.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
Nicknames: First Lady of Cinema, Kate, The Great Kate


After graduating from Bryn Mawr, Hepburn began getting small roles in plays on Broadway
and elsewhere. She always attracted attention in these parts, especially for her role in "Art
and Mrs. Bottle" (1931); then, she finally broke into stardom when she took the starring role
of the Amazon princess Antiope in "A Warrior's Husband" (1932). The inevitable film offers
 followed, and after making a few screen tests, she was cast in "A Bill of Divorcement" (1932),
 opposite John Barrymore. The film was a hit, and after agreeing to her salary demands,
RKO signed her to a contract. She made five films between 1932 and 1934. For her third,
"Morning Glory" (1933) she won her first Academy Award. Her fourth, "Little Women" (1933)
 was the most successful picture of its day.

But stories were beginning to leak out of her haughty behavior off- screen and her refusal
to play the Hollywood Game, always wearing slacks and no makeup, never posing for pictures
or giving interviews. Audiences were shocked at her unconventional behavior instead of applauding
 it, and so when she returned to Broadway in 1934 to star in "The Lake", the critics panned her
and the audiences, who at first bought up tickets, soon deserted her.

When she returned to Hollywood, things didn't get much better. From the period 1935-1938, she had
only two hits: "Alice Adams" (1935), which brought her her second Oscar nomination, and
"Stage Door" (1937). The many flops included "Break of Hearts" (1935), "Sylvia Scarlett" (1935),
"Mary of Scotland" (1936), "Quality Street" (1937) and the now- classic "Bringing Up Baby" (1938).

With so many flops, she came to be labeled "box-office poison." She decided to go back to
Broadway to star in "The Philadelphia Story" (1938), and was rewarded with a smash. She quickly
bought the film rights, and so was able to negotiate her way back to Hollywood on her own terms,
including her choice of director and co-stars. The film version of "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)
 was a box-office hit, and Hepburn, who won her third Oscar nomination for the film, was bankable
 again. For her next film, "Woman of the Year" (1942), she was paired with Spencer Tracy, and
the chemistry between them lasted for eight more films, spanning the course of 25 years, and a
romance that lasted that long off-screen. (She received her fourth Oscar nomination for the film.) Their
films included the very successful "Adam's Rib" (1949), "Pat and Mike" (1952), "Desk Set" (1957), and
their final pairing in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).



Friday, January 12, 1934

Walked with Pauline to school. I went swimming. Mrs. Raifert came over. Played pinochle. Mr. Mitchell came over.

King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) of Siam

After a military coup challenged King Prajadhipok's (Rama VII) suspension of the
constitution in 1933, and the failure of a counter-revolution in support of the royal
government, the king departed on January 12, 1934, for a visit to Europe and did
 not return. The execution of the counter-revolutionary leaders led to King Prajadhipok's
 abdication in March 1935, in favor of his ten-year old nephew, Ananda Mahidol.
 The country was ruled by a Council of Regency, headed by Prince Aditya Dibabha.

Thursday, January 11, 1934

Pauline and I walked to school. I had a Latin test. Saw Saw Meg Wynshink at the library. Helen’s was over this p.m.

Green Dot Jazz Club, and less formal and very popular establishment on Jackson
Street in Seattle Washington. This ad is from the Northwest Enterprise newspaper.

One of the nightclubs that flourished during the New Deal period and was characteristic
of the gritty Jackson Street jazz scene was the Green Dot. President Roosevelt’s cash infusions
 put money in everyone’s pockets and the Green Dot was just the place for Jackson Street’s and
 Seattle’s lower-income residents to enjoy jazz music. A barber shop by day and a jazz parlor by night,
the Green Dot took advantage of advertising space in the Northwest Enterprise to get the word out
 during the New Deal boom in jazz’s popularity.

Wednesday, January 10, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline and home. Mrs. Raifert came over. I called Aunt Kate. Daddy is still sick.

Toronto, Canada - January 10, 1934

According to the City of Toronto Archives, the picture shows a "traffic tie up on
 Elizabeth Street south of Dundas with the truck having lost a rear wheel parked on tracks
on Elizabeth Street delaying a Peter Witt streetcar on the Dundas route" on January 10, 1934.

Tuesday, January 9, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline N. I waited for her at school. Daddy is sick in bed.

60-INCH ANTI-AIRCRAFT SEARCHLIGHT

January 9, 1934: Sperry 60-inch anti-aircraft searchlight not so powerful
but similar in almost every other respect to 800,000,000 c.p. lights ordered.

Original Caption by Science Service
^©Official U.S. Army Photograph [source Sperry Gyroscope Company]

Monday, January 8, 1934

Went to school today. I rode the street car. It snowed today. I went out sleigh riding.

Wilbur Underhill, Jr. ((March 16, 1901 – January 6, 1934)
AKA "Mad Dog" or "The Tri-State Terror"

Born in Joplin, Missouri, Underhill was was an American criminal, burglar, bank robber and
Depression-era outlaw. He was one of the most wanted bandits in Oklahoma during the 1920s
 and 30s and co-led a gang with Harvey Bailey that included many fellow Cookson Hills outlaws.

After escaping from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1931 and the Lansing (KS) state prison
in 1933, Underhill was wrongly named as one of the participants in the Kansas City Massacre
(see June 17, 1933). With a special task force that included armored cars in hot pursuit,
Underhill went on a crime spree throughout Oklahoma and Kansas. He applied for a wedding
license under his own name, and as a wedding present for Hazel Jarrett Hudson (sister of the
outlaw Jarrett brothers), Underhill and several other gangsters robbed a bank in Frankfort, Kentucky.

On December 30, 1933, a 24-man strike force including federal agents, state troopers and local police
caught up with Underhill, his wife, and a couple of friends who were staying in a rented cottage in
Shawnee, Oklahoma. The group was led by R.H. Colvin and Frank Smith, the latter a survivor of the
Kansas City Massacre. When called on to surrender, Underhill began firing resulting in the task
 force returning fire. With one friend killed and another wounded, Underhill, barefoot and still
in his underwear, ran from the house attempting to escape. He was hit five times before leaving the
yard but ran for another 16 blocks before breaking into a furniture store and collapsing on
 one of the beds. His wounded friend and his wife were taken into custody and Underhill was
taken to McAlester where he remained, handcuffed in his bed, at the prison hospital until
his death on January 6, 1934. His last words were "Tell the boys I'm coming home"

Sunday, January 7, 1934

Went to Sunday School and church. Daddy took us and brought us. Read the paper. In evening went over to Mrs. Raifert’s. Played cards. Ollie was over.

"On Mongo" - the first Flash Gordon comic strip, published January 7, 1934

Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip
originally drawn by Alex Raymond, which was first published by King
Features on January 7, 1934. The strip, inspired by and created to
compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip,
has since surpassed Buck Rogers for longevity.

Saturday, January 6, 1934

I got up about 11 o’clock. Went to Mary Hampton’s party. We had a taffy pull. Daddy came after me. Formed a club.

Taffy Pull Hook

American Taffy Recipe

1/2 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Melt butter; add sugar mixed with cream of tartar. Add remaining
ingredients. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Cook to hard ball stage.
Pour into greased platters. Butter hands and pull from one hand
to another. (Or use a taffy pull hook if you have one.) Soon the
taffy will become white. Pull into thin strips. Lay on greased
surface. When hard, break into bite-size pieces and eat.

YUM!



Friday, January 5, 1934

Daddy took us girls to school. Went swimming. It snowed today a little. Finished my piece “Where There’s A Will There’s A Way.”

January 5, 1934: Both the National and American baseball leagues
decided to use a uniform-size baseball. It was the first time in 33 years
that both leagues used the same size ball.

Thursday, January 4, 1934

Pauline and I rode to school today with her father. We had a test in English. Mr. Nesselroad came after us.

"Ziegfeld Follies of 1934"
Premiered January 4, 1934

Winter Garden Theatre (1/4/1934 - 6/9/1934)

Produced by Mrs. Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.; (Uncredited) produced by Lee Shubert

Music: various

Lyrics: various

Book: various

Total Performances: 182

 

The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on

Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. Inspired by the

Folies Bergeres of Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies were conceived and mounted

by Florenz Ziegfeld, reportedly at the suggestion of his then-wife, the entertainer

Anna Held. The shows' producers were producing titans Klaw & Erlanger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, January 3, 1934

Pauline and I walked to school today. Had swimming. Drew numbers for Expression. I am no. 6. Give them Thursday. Rode home on the streetcar.

Ad from Ladies' Year Book - January 3, 1934

CABINET PUDDING*

6 oz. breadcrumbs.
1 pt. milk.
2 eggs.
1 tablespoon sugar.
Grated lemon rind or nutmeg.
3 oz. currants (optional).
Jam.

Break the bread into a basin (a good use for odd pieces of bread or cake), and pour over
the cold milk.  Stir in the eggs well beaten, sugar, flavouring and currants.  Leave to
stand an hour or so.  Put the jam into a greased basin, and pour in the mixture.  Steam
 gently about 1 1/2 hours.

*Named for any leftover bread or cake in your cabinet (AKA cupboard)

Tuesday, January 2, 1934

I rode to school this a.m. on the street car. Had a lot of lessons this evening. Walked home by myself.

Aftermath of New Year's Day Flood in Los Angeles, California

The 1934 flood disaster in Los Angeles basin was so horrific that Woody Guthrie composed
 a song called “Los Angeles New Year’s Flood” to memorialize the hundred people who were
buried alive, drowned, or never found. Light rain began falling on December 30, 1933, and
 rapidly intensified to a downpour totaling 7.31 inches in 24 hours. This amount of rain qualified as
 the heaviest 24-hour rainfall yet documented (in 1934) by the local US Weather Bureau (rainfall
measurement began in 1877). By midnight on December 31, 1933, the San Gabriel Mountains,
towering above the Los Angeles basin, began to discharge massive debris flows of mud, rocks and
trees down dozens of steep narrow canyons. The debris flows reached the basin floor
 as 20-foot walls of water, burying 200 houses and rendering another 400 uninhabitable. Also
buried were around 800 mostly Model "A" cars in Montrose, La Crescenta and other foothill
communities in the narrow La Canada Valley between the San Gabriel and Verdugo Mountains.
Five people were killed at a New Year’s Eve party in a Montrose home buried by debris flow; ten
bodies were pulled from a debris flow in La Crescenta; and 25 men, women, and children were
drowned at the Red Cross headquarters at the American Legion Hall at Montrose Boulevard and
La Crescenta when a wall of water tore open the building. The destruction was so complete
 that three years after the disaster, 45 persons remained unaccounted for.

Ironically, the Los Angeles Times newspaper delivered a promotional insert on January 2, 1934,
cheerfully describing the beauty of the foothill cities where “olive-canning and berry-raising”
were the chief industries, and some of the most beautiful homes and estates in all Los Angeles were located.

Monday, January 1, 1934

Last nite we went over to Raiferts’s. Had a lunch. Played pinochle. There were nine of us there. Got home at two o’clock a.m.

New Year's Day Black-Eyed Peas

"Remember, black-eyed peas on New Year's Day brings good luck for the entire year!"

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry black-eyed peas
• 2 cups chopped cooked ham
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole tomatoes

Directions

Place black-eyed peas in 8 quart pot. Add enough water to fill pot 3/4 full. Stir in ham and diced

onions, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place tomatoes in a blender or food

processor, and blend until the tomatoes are liquefied. Add tomatoes to pot. Bring all ingredients

 to boil. Cover the pot, and simmer on low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the peas are tender.