Tuesday, October 31, 1933

Today was Hallowe'en. This evening Beatrice and Virginia and their brother and Bernice and I went Hallowe'ening.

Leningrad, Russia - October 31, 1933

In response to advances in German rocketry, the Soviet Government merges GIRD (Jet Propulsion
Research Group) with GDL (Gas Dynamics Laboratory) in Leningrad. The merger creates the RNII
(Jet Propulsion Research Institute), headed up by the military engineer Ivan Kleimenov. This group
 contains a number of people who are are enthusiastic proponents of space travel, including Valentine
 Glushko. Sergey Korolyov becomes the Deputy Chief of the institute, where he will lead the development
 of cruise missiles and of a manned rocket-powered glider. 

Monday, October 30, 1933

Daddy took me to school this morning. We had a substitute in History today. Walked home with Ruth.

Mary Astor
Birth Name: Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke
(3 May 1906 - 25 September 1987)

Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in "The Maltese Falcon"
 with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the
silent movies of the early 1920s. She eventually made a successful transition to talkies,
but almost saw her career destroyed due to public scandal in the mid-1930s. She was sued for
 support by her parents and was later branded an adulterous wife by her ex-husband during
 a custody fight over her daughter. Overcoming these stumbling blocks in her private life,
 Astor went on to even greater success on the screen, eventually winning the Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Sandra Kovak in "The Great Lie."

Sunday, October 29, 1933

Mother and I went to Sunday School and church. We went out east and rode around a lake in the afternoon.

Lake Lotawana

Lake Lotawana was developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s
in eastern Jackson County by Milton Thompson. Legend has it
that Jesse James and the Quantrill's Raiders used to hide out in the
area where Lake Lotawana was later developed. In fact, the tale goes
on to say that Jesse James actually had a cabin on the lake ... though
no one has ever been able to confirm said cabin's location.

Today, the City of Lake Lotawana is home to over 2,000 residents.

Saturday, October 28, 1933

Got Mrs. Raifert some meat. Cut my hand. Went over to Helen's. Had a swell time. Traded dresses with Helen. They brought us home.

Jesse Clyde Nichols, better known as J.C. Nichols (August 23, 1880 - February 16, 1950),

Nichols was a prominent developer of commercial and residential real estate in Kansas City.
He was born in Olathe, Kansas, attended the University of Kansas and Harvard University.
His developments include the Country Club Plaza, the first suburban shopping center in the
United States and the Country Club District, the largest contiguous master-planned community
in the United States.

He called his method "planning for permanence," for his objective was to "develop whole
residential neighborhoods that would attract an element of people who desired a better way
 of life, a nicer place to live and would be willing to work in order to keep it better." Nichols
invented the percentage lease, where rents are on based tenants' gross receipts. The
percentage lease is now a standard practice in commercial leasing across the United States.

Nichols relied on restrictive covenants to control the uses of the lands in the neighborhoods
he developed. Most of the covenants restricted the lands to residential uses, and contained other
features such as setback and free space requirements. However, homes in the Country Club District
 were restricted with covenants that prohibited African Americans and Jews from owning or
 occupying the homes, unless they were servants. Nichols did not invent the practice, but he
used it to effectively bar ethnic minorities from living in his properties during the first half of the
 century. His restrictive covenant model was later adopted by the federal government to help
implement similar policies in other regions of the United States. Ultimately, the 1948 Supreme
Court decision Shelley v. Kraemer made such covenants unenforceable.

Friday, October 27, 1933

We have been having a substitute in English all this week. I went swimming and swam 40 lengths.

1933 - Gene Autry
Birth name: Orvon Grover Autry
(September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998)

"The Singing Cowboy" signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1929.
After singing everything from "hillbilly music" to blues, he finally had a hit
with "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine," in a duet Jimmy Long, and which Autry
and Long co-wrote. Autry also sang the classic Ray Whitley hit "Back in the Saddle
Again," as well as many Christmas holiday songs, including "Santa Claus Is Coming to 
Town," his own composition "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Frosty the Snowman," and his
biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Altogether, Autry made 640 recordings.
He also appeared in 94 films and 91 episodes of "The Gene Autry Show" television series.

Thursday, October 26, 1933

Daddy took me to school today. It was raining. I walked home with Ruth. I got my nightstand.

Raymond-Green Furniture Co.
1017 E. 12th Street
Kansas City, MO

Actual text of classified ad for Raymond-Green: "Only 5 doors from Troost. Big dressers $8.
 A bed, spring and mattress, $7.20. 6 foot extension tables, $2.50. Dictate your own terms.
Raymond-Green Furniture Co. 1017 East 12th."

The store moved to a downtown location at 1312 Grand in 1928. But with sales in 1933 dropping
 to approximately half of those in 1931 and the end of the depression not yet in sight, it was just a
matter of time until the store was forced to close. It did so in early 1934.

Wednesday, October 25, 1933

I went swimming today at school. Went to the tables at Study Hall. Walked home with Ruth Ray.

Eliot Ness
April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957

Ness joined the U.S. Treasury Department in 1927, working with the 300-strong Bureau of
Prohibition in his hometown of Chicago. Following the election of President Herbert Hoover,
the Treasury Department was specifically charged with bringing down gangster Al Capone.
Ness was chosen to head the operations under the Volstead Act, targeting the illegal breweries
and supply routes of Capone. In order to accomplish this he created a team of unbribable agents
nicknamed "The Untouchables."

Following the repeal of Prohibition, Ness was assigned as an alcohol tax agent in the
"Moonshine Mountains" of southern Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee (1933-1935). He then
 served as Director of Public Safety in Cleveland (1935–41), and during World War II
as Director of the Division of Social Protection of the Federal Security Agency in
Washington, D.C. (1941–45).

Ness died at his Cleveland home of a heart attack. "The Untouchables", the
book he co-wrote with Oscar Fraley, was published a month after his death.