I have proof of a Time Traveler!

Last night I came across this wonderful circa 1916 photograph of my Grandma Evelyn with some friends. (Leaning on chair with glasses on her head)

Too bad the girl in front of her was too absorbed in texting to look at the photographer.

And just who was she texting, anyway?!
Texting would not be invented for another 96 years.
Just sayin.

Twins

In 1925, giving birth to twins was quite a novelty. Grandma Evelyn had no idea there were two babies on the way until she had given birth to one and the doctor declared that there was another coming!
We are fortunate to have these wonderful photographs of the fraternal twins, Margaret & Maurice, from their early days in Cleveland Heights. (I just love the cars!)
That's "Sister" in the curls.
The great tragedy was that the twins would lose their father to cancer only 5 years later.
The last photograph was taken shortly before William died.

An Exciting Beach Find!

Lida & Maurice Weidenthal at Euclid Beach July 1911

In the early 1900’s my great grandfather Maurice and his beloved wife Lida spent many of their summer days on the shores of Lake Erie. (Guess the love for Lake Erie and the beach goes way back in my family!) We have pictures of them at Euclid Beach, where there was a popular amusement park and bathing beach. Gotta love those bathing costumes!

Maurice with two unidentified friends and Annie Firth, an aunt, Euclid Beach 1911

Grandfather William's sister Babette Weidenthal Newman, kneeling back row left, with friends - Euclid Beach, 1911

We don't know if the Weidenthals knew what they were going to see at the beach that August day in 1911, but we have pictures of my grandfather with the famous Atwood Biplane, which landed there for a short time.

William Weidenthal posing with Atwood's famous Biplane  - August 1911 Collection:Weidenthal Family

By then, Harry Nelson Atwood, (1884-1967) a student of the Wright brothers, had become one of America's most celebrated aviators.  An exhibition flyer, he stunned New Yorkers with his daredevil flight among Manhattan's skyscrapers and thrilled the country when he landed his biplane on the South Lawn of the White House.

Harry N. Atwood in flight over the south lawn of the White House in a Wright Model B biplane, July 14,1911 (Smithsonian Institution)

Atwood's 1911 record-setting  flights from Boston to Washington and from St. Louis to New York (1265 miles) August 14 to 25, 1911 brought him international fame.  According to newspaper reports of the time, Atwood landed his Wright biplane on Euclid Beach, in Cleveland, Ohio, on Thursday, August 17th, during his cross-country flight from St. Louis to New York City.

Atwood's Biplane 2 minutes after landing at Euclid Beach  Collection:Weidenthal Family

Flying in from Sandusky, Ohio, he first landed at Edgewater Park, in Cleveland, by mistake, but took off, right away, for Euclid Beach, which was his scheduled stop. Immediately after landing on Euclid Beach, around 5:00 p.m., his manager, Leo Stevens, was served with a claim, by the Standard Oil Company, for an unpaid oil and gasoline bill, which resulted in his biplane being held by the police. However, Atwood was able to fly his biplane out of Cleveland, the next day, at 4:03 p.m., after a bond was given for the claim. Though his intended stop was Erie, Pennsylvania, he decided to land, in a cornfield, near Swanville, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Erie, due to approaching darkness and a loose brace on his biplane.

The noted aviator, was the guest of honor at a dinner in New York, and on the occasion his eloquent reply to a toast on aviation terminated neatly with these words:

"The aeroplane has come at last, but it was a long time coming. We can imagine Necessity, the mother of invention, looking up at a sky all criss-crossed with flying machines, and then saying, with a shake of her old head and with a contented smile: "'Of all my family, the aeroplane has been the hardest to raise.'"

Click here for the NYTimes article about the St Louis-New York flight

Click here to see The Cleveland Memory Project where there are more photos of the Atwood Biplane at Euclid Beach.

Cleveland Nostalgia

Hey Clevelanders....a friend sent me these images this morning...recognize any of your old haunts?

Royal Castle. Our favorite one was on the corner of Cedar and Lee in Cleveland Heights.

(No idea where this particular store was located, but it's not the Cedar Lee store.)

Severance Center Mall. Did they EVER have water in that fountain?
I worked at Jean Nicole summer of 1977.

Rapid Transit

Mawby's . The BEST burgers with onions.

Center Mayfield Movie Theater . Always a bargain

Ghoulardi

Bob's Big Boy . This statue terrified me.

The May Company bell at Warrensville and Cedar

The Alcazar . It's still beautiful. Sometimes my NY grandparents stayed there when they came to visit.

Euclid Beach Park front gate

Ghoulardi

Manners Big Boy

Captain Frank's on the Lake

Davis Bakery, Fisher Foods  back in the day

SToNZ • Finding Stuff at the Beach since 1964

What did my little almost 4-year-old self find that chilly September day at the beach in 1964? I have no idea...but I had BIG plans for it, my friends. Big plans. (And a really really big beach bag.)

Mark Twain & my great grandfather Maurice Weidenthal

With all of the hullaballoo this week over the publishing of a “sanitized’ version of the Mark Twain classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (in which the offensive “N” word has been replaced by the word “slave” throughout the text….) it brought to mind a rather exciting photograph and letter I came across in a box full of papers a few years back. 

Maurice Weidenthal was born in Hungary in 1856, and came to America in 1870. He held various newspaper jobs in Cleveland, including that of reporter for the Herald (which became the News), drama critic and editorial writer for the Cleveland Press, (for whom my father, also named Maurice worked for more than 30 years) and city editor for the Plain Dealer and for the Cleveland Recorder. In 1906 he became the editor of the Jewish Independent, a position he held until his death on July 21, 1917. 

Among the many things my great grandfather accomplished, he appears to have been the secretary for a dramatic organization called The Davenport Club. One day while sorting through old stuff over at my dad's house, I found a cardboard box at the bottom of a closet filled with his grandfather's memorabilia. Two items that caught my eye were a letter and photograph which appeared to be from the esteemed Mark Twain. (Or should I say, Samuel Clemens) Yeah, I know. Mind blowing.

Hartford March 24

Dear Sir:

I desire to express to you my thanks for the compliment you pay me in proposing to make me a member of the Davenport Club of Cleveland. With my best wishes for the long life & prosperity of the Club, I am
Very Truly Yours,

Samuel L. Clemens

Mr M Weidenthal

•••

Seriously??! Holy smokes!!

After coming across this lovely letter and cabinet card with a photo of a gentlemen who looked so very familiar, I wrote a note to the “Mark Twain Project” at The University of California, where they have an enormous library of the author’s papers. They were happy to learn of my discovery, asked for copies, and responded by sending me a scan of a letter which my great grandfather had sent to Samuel L. Clemens on May 8, 1876:

Davenport Club, City 
Cleveland, O., May 8th 1876 

Sam’l L. Clemens Esq.
Dear Sir 
It gives me great pleasure to notify you, that at a meeting held by the Davenport Club you was unanimously elected honorary member. Hoping that we will prove ourselves worthy of the great honor bestowed upon us by your acceptance of the membership I remain your obdt servant

M. Weidenthal Sec.

P.S. Not wishing to insinuate anything, I would like to tell you that just as a matter of information of course, that the walls of our club room contain such photographs as those of E. L. Davenport, Lawrence Barrett, Charles Sumner[,] Edwin Booth &c.

I think a picture of Mark Twain would be a splendid ornament to our room

Yours &c

M. W.

 •••

The Mark Twain Project Assoc. Editor wrote to me:

Dear Mrs. Saltzman:
We have now had a chance to examine Mark Twain's letter of 24 March 1876 to your great grandfather, Maurice Weidenthal. The following sequence of events is clear to us: Probably around mid-March 1876 your great grandfather first wrote to Mark Twain, informing him that the Davenport Club proposed to elect him a member and asking his consent. It was that letter, which does not survive, that Mark Twain answered on 24 March. Then on 8 May 1876 your grandfather wrote again, informing Mark Twain of his election and suggesting that his picture would be a welcome addition to the club's photo gallery. Mark Twain answered with a letter of 13 May, enclosing two photos, one of which presumably was put on display in the club while the other, a print of a photo taken in 1869, was retained by your great grandfather (the one you now have with Mark Twain's 24 March letter).

Unfortunately we do not have Mark Twain's 13 May 1876 letter to your great grandfather. Perhaps you will yet find it in one of your boxes of memorabilia. We only know that it was sent because we have the Davenport Club's 13 June 1876 reply to it, written by Ira C. Cartwright, your great grandfather's successor as secretary of the club. We can send you a copy of Cartwright's letter if you would like to have it.

We would be happy to have any information you could share with us about your great grandfather. Was he the journalist Maurice Weidenthal (died 1917) who was associated with the Cleveland Plain Dealer and in 1906 became editor of the Jewish Independent? Also, do your family records include any information about the Davenport Club? If a club archive has been preserved somewhere, Mark Twain's 13 May 1876 letter to your great grandfather might be in it, along with the photograph that the club apparently displayed.

As it happens, we are now editing Mark Twain's l876 letters for inclusion in the online edition of his letters that we hope to begin posting in the not to distant future. So the 24 March letter to your great grandfather surfaced at a very opportune moment. Of course, we will credit you as the owner of the original document.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Frank
Associate Editor
Mark Twain Project

•••

You can see the items online in the MTP archives by clicking here and here.

Needless to say, these items no longer reside in a musty cardboard box in my dad’s hall closet. 

Next week maybe I’ll tell you about how we came to have Albert Einstein’s and William Jennings Bryan's signatures.

Thanks for dropping by.

-Susan

Nice cap!

circa 1959
Willy has always had a knack for fashion.

No Monet....

circa 1964
Yeah, I have been making art for a long time...