Sunday, December 31, 1933

I got a bad cold so we didn't go to church. Uncle Laten was by. We all went over to Raiferts' as it was New Year's.

Blue Moon - December 31, 1933

The term Blue Moon usually refers to the second full moon in any given month.
It's a rare event.  Since 1900, this has only happened five times...on New Year's Eve 1933,
1952, 1971, 1990, and 2009.  The next time we'll see a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve will be in 2028.


Happy New Year! May 2012 be your best year ever!

Saturday, December 30, 1933

I got some things down at the new grocery store. Went over to Gweyn's. Went to Lindsays' with Mrs. Raifert.

A split Heath candy bar
Shaped as a thin hard slab with a milk chocolate coating, the toffee originally
contained sugar, butter, and almonds, and was a small squarish bar weighing 1 ounce.

In 1913, L.S. Heath, a schoolteacher, bought a confectionary shop in Robinson,
Illinois, as a likely business opportunity for his oldest sons, Bayard Heath and
Everett Heath. The brothers opened a combination candy store, ice cream parlor, and
manufacturing operation there in 1914.

With the success of the business, the elder Heath became interested in ice cream, and
opened a small dairy factory in 1915. His sons worked on expanding their confectionery
business. At some point they reportedly acquired a toffee recipe, via a traveling salesman,
 from a Greek confectioner in another part of the state. In 1928, they began marketing it locally
 as "Heath English Toffee", proclaiming it "America’s Finest".

In 1931, when Bayard and Everett were persuaded by their father to sell the confectionery and
 work at his dairy, they brought their candy-making equipment with them, and established a
retail business there. The Heaths came up with the interesting marketing idea of including their
toffee on the order form taken around by the Heath dairy trucks, so that one could order
Heath bars to be delivered along with one’s milk and cottage cheese.

The Heath bar grew in popularity nationally during the Depression, despite its one-ounce
 size and the five-cent price, equal to larger bars. It was made by hand until 1942, when
the U.S. Army ordered $175,000 worth of candy bars. Hershey now markets the candy bar.



Friday, December 29, 1933

I cleaned up the house. Baked a marble cake. Mother made doughnuts. I played with Betty.

Sons of the Desert
Starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
Directed by William A. Seiter
Released on December 29, 1933

 Sons of the Desert is regarded as one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest films. In the
United Kingdom the film was originally released under the title Fraternally Yours.

Plot Summary:

Lodge members Laurel and Hardy take a solemn oath to attend the 80th-annual Sons of the Desert
Convention (read: annual binge) in Chicago. That is, Ollie takes the oath, but Stanley balks. When
asked why, Stanley answers that he's afraid his wife won't let him go. Ollie is appalled: "Every man
must be king in his own castle." But when Ollie meekly brings up the subject of the convention with
his wife Lollie (Mae Busch), she soon dethrones the "king." Lollie wants to take a vacation in the
mountains, and is dead-set against her husband going around "with a pack of hooligans."

 But Ollie is determined to attend the convention, and to that end cooks up a scheme with Stanley.
Ollie will pretend to be deathly ill; Stan will fix it so the doctor will prescribe a trip to Honolulu.
Knowing that his wife can't stand going on sea voyages, Ollie will request that Stan accompany
 him to Hawaii--then, both men will sneak off to Chicago. A few hitches notwithstanding (Stan
hires a veterinarian instead of a doctor, explaining that he didn't think the man's religion would make
 any difference), the boys go to the convention, where they cut up royally with practical joker
Charley Chase.

Alas, the Honolulu-bound boat on which Stan and Ollie are supposed to be travelling is sunk in a
typhoon. While the grief-stricken wives are at the steamship company attempting to find out if
their husbands survived the sea disaster, Stan and Ollie arrive home, wearing leis and carrying
pineapples as "evidence" of their Honolulu vacation. When the boys find out about the shipwreck,
they desperately try to escape to a hotel, but the wives arrive home prematurely, forcing Stan and Ollie
 to camp out in the attic. It looks as though the boys might just get away with their new plan of coming
home at the same time that the rescue boats arrive....until Lollie Hardy and Betty Laurel
(Dorothy Christie), attending a picture show, are treated to the spectacle of their husbands
cavorting merrily before the newsreel cameras covering the Sons of the Desert conclave in Chicago.

The film's final ten minutes are priceless--especially the bit about "ship-hiking."

Thursday, December 28, 1933

Mother and I went downtown. I had my hair set. We got some kettles. Mrs. Raifert came over. Played pinochle.

Jacob L. Loose
Founder of Loose-Wiles Biscuit

Jacob Loose was a young Pennsylvania transplant to Chetopa, Kansas. He opened his first

 dry goods store there in the 1870s. Twenty-five years later, he was baking mogul of Kansas City's

enormous Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company . Cookies and soda crackers enabled Jacob and Ella

 Loose to live well. And they gave generously.

The Loose's philanthropy is legendary. Jacob's name evokes lovely Loose Park . Mrs. Loose

 gave the 80-acre green space to the city in 1923 in her husband's memory. Ella Loose herself

 was famous for her 30-year tradition of Thanksgiving "shoe parties." Until the 1940s, Mrs. Loose

 gave an annual party for the children at the Gillis Orphans' Home. Each child received a brand new pair

of shoes plus a dollar bill for spending money!

The Loose's splendid 1909 mansion still stands on the southeast corner of Walnut and Armour

 Boulevard. Jacob Loose died at age 73 on September 18, 1923. Ella Loose outlived him almost a

quarter of a century, expiring on September 26, 1945. Their charitable trusts, combined

with those of his brother Joseph and family, ultimately formed the basis for Kansas City's largest

 charitable organization, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts.

 

Wednesday, December 27, 1933

Mother washed, then I did the ironing. I went over to Sweyn's. Popped corn at home. Got 2 magazines.

Released: December 26, 1933
Reviewed by the New York Times: December 27, 1933

Queen Christina is a Pre-Code Hollywood feature film loosely based on the life of
17th century Queen Christina of Sweden, produced in 1933, directed by Rouben
Mamoulian, starring Swedish-born actress Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith and Lewis Stone.
It was billed as Garbo's return to cinema after an eighteen-month hiatus. The film was written by
H. M. Harwood and Salka Viertel, with dialogue by S.N. Behrman, based on a story by Salka
Viertel and Margaret P. Levino.

In this historical fiction account, Queen Christina of Sweden falls in love during her reign but
 has to deal with the political realities of her society. In real life, Christina's main reason for
abdication was her conversion to Catholicism.

Tuesday, December 26, 1933

Don't have to go to school this week. I straightened up the house. Daddy and I played dominoes. He beat.

Current Nissan Logo

December 26, 1933 - Nissan Motor Company is organized in Tokyo, Japan

The name 'Nissan' originated during the 1930s as an abbreviation used on the Tokyo stock market
 for Nippon Sangyo. This company was the famous Nissan "Zaibatsu" (combine) which included
Tobata Casting and Hitachi. In 1930 Nissan purchased controlling shares in DAT Motors. At this
time Nissan controlled foundries and auto parts businesses, but did not enter automobile
 manufacturing until 1933, when it merged Tobata Casting's automobile parts department with
DAT Motors. In 1934, Nissan separated the expanded automobile parts division of Tobata
 Casting and incorporated it as a new subsidiary, which was named Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Monday, December 25, 1933

Mother and Daddy came over for dinner. Had chicken, gravy, dressing, cranberries, slaw, cake, pie, candy, etc. I got a box of stationery, a pen, beads. Didn't stay with Mrs. Raifert.

1933 Christmas Seal


MERRY CHRISTMAS!