Wednesday, June 7, 1933

Didn't have to go to school today. Aunt Katie and Uncle Laten came by and took Mother and I to town. Had our hair fixed.

Nelly Don Handy Dandy Apron

Designed and manufactured by The Donnelly Garment Company in Kansas City, Missouri,
the apron was patented around 1925. Millions were sold and the production of the Handy
Dandy helped keep the factory open through the Depression. A seamstress never had to
remove the apron from the machine while stitching. The wholesale cost was $6.50 a dozen.

Ellen Quinlan Donnelly Reed (Nell Donnelly) designed a simple pink gingham frock in 1916,
and sold 18 dozen of them to Peck's Dry Goods Company in Kansas City. That was the
beginning of her Nelly Don brand, a brand that sold 75 million dresses from 1916 to 1978,
making it the largest dress manufacturer of the 20th Century. Nell Donnelly Reed died in 1991.


 


 

Tuesday, June 6, 1933

Today in English we finished "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare. Luckily, we do not have any test on it.

The world's first drive-in movie opens in Camden, New Jersey, on June 6, 1933
(Note: This is the reverse side of the movie screen)

The concept was developed by Richard Hollingshead Jr., who experimented with various
projection and sound techniques in the driveway of his house. Using a 1928 Kodak
projector mounted on the hood of his car and aimed at a screen pinned to some trees,
 Hollingshead worked out the spacing logistics to make sure that all cars had an
unobstructed view of the screen. He received a patent for his idea in May 1933 and opened
his first drive-in theater only three weeks later. They quickly fanned out across the country.

Monday, June 5, 1933

This starts the lasat week of school. In English we've got just one act of Caesar, and in Civics we've got to finish City Government.

John Lazia (born John Lazzio) AKA "Brother John" - 1896-1934
An American organized crime figure in Kansas City, Missouri

Grown wealthy from his bootlegging and gambling operations, Lazia had strong ties to the
Pendergast machine, which convinced the police department to turn a blind eye to his criminal
activities. But in June of 1933, Lazia's position came under fire when a series of events challenged
control of his leadership. First was the Mary McElroy kidnapping (see June 4, 1933 entry). The
kidnapping was a blow to Lazia's pride and he felt it undermined his importance to Pendergast.
Things were not about to get better. A local gang leader, Vernon Miller, asked Lazia to supply him
several gunmen to free two bank robbers who were being transported by train through Kansas City
... continued on June 17, 1933.
 

Sunday, June 4, 1933

Went to Sunday School and church. It looked like it was going to rain this a.m., but it didn't. Went out and played.

Shirley Temple in "Polly Tix in Washington"
Comedy short written and directed by Charles Lamont
Released June 4, 1933

The 11-minute film stars Temple as Polly Tix, Butler and Smith as politicians,
Gloria Ann Mack as The Little Sister, and Philip Hurlic as Dynamite. Shirley Temple Black
describes the plot in her autobiography: "I was a strumpet on the payroll of the Nipple Trust
and Anti-Castor Oil Lobby. Mine was the task of seducing a newly arrived bumpkin senator."
Temple wore black lace panties and bra designed by her mother, and, as her biographer
Anne Edwards summarizes, "Jack Hays's intentions were obvious. The Baby Burlesks
were meant to titillate male matinee audiences" The script required Temple to take a ride
in an ostrich-drawn cart but the frightened bird bolted and Temple came close to being killed

Saturday, June 3, 1933

Daddy and Uncle Laten went fishing at the Lake of the Woods. Gweyn was over. I went out and played with Pauline and Betty.

Mary McElroy (1907 - 1940)

Mary McElroy, daughter of Kansas City city manager and member of the Pendergast political
machine Henry McElroy, was kidnapped on May 27, 1933 from her Kansas City home. She
was released after 34 hours of captivity, following payment of a $30,000 ransom, but she never
fully recovered from the emotional turmoil caused by the publicity and the ensuing trial. 

Three of the four accomplices were quickly arrested, one of them on June 3, 1933.

Walter McGee was sentenced to death, the first time in the United States that such

a harsh penalty had ever been exacted for a kidnapping.  George McGee, the younger

brother of Walter, received a life sentence.  Clarence Click, owner of the property where

Mary McElroy was held captive, was sentenced to eight years.  After Walter McGee's

appeals reached Supreme Court, the sentence of death was upheld. Ironically, it was Mary
and her father who convinced the governor to issue a stay of execution. Eventually
McGee's sentence was commuted to life in prison.

Henry McElroy died in 1939, shortly after he was forced to resign as city manager following the 
downfall of Tom Pendergast. Mary never managed to adjust to life without her father and
and continued to feel pressure from members of the media who were eager to capitalize on
stories of her kidnapping and the plummeting political legacy of her father. The pressures ultimately
became too much for her, and on January 20, 1940, Mary McElroy committed suicide.



Friday, June 1, 1933

Doris Anderson and I went to the Fashion Show. They also had a picture show and a few other things.

Frank Monroe Hawks (1897 - 1938) in the Texaco Eaglet
WWI vet - record-breaking aviator - billed as "the fastest airman in the world"

On June 2, 1933, Hawks set the west-to-east transcontinental airspeed record in
"Texaco Sky Chief", flying from Los Angeles to Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn,
New York, in 13 hours, 26 minutes, and 15 seconds at an average speed of 181 mph.

After years of record-setting flights, Hawks died in 1938 flying a Gwinn Aircar
which crashed in East Aurora, New York.





Thursday, June 1, 1933

I took most of my books home. It sure is hot. I stayed after school with Eilean and helped Miss Gilmore.

Erle Stanley Gardner (1889 - 1970)
An American lawyer and prolific author of detective stories, Gardener was best known for the
Perry Mason series. He also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning,
Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr.
Dead Man's Diamonds: Go Get 'Em Garver Novelette (Dime Detective) was published on June 1, 1933.
His first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, was published by Pocket Books in 1933.