Monday September 22
Dear Andrew and John,
Shades of Bloomsbury Avenue: the toilet was stopped up Saturday night and it was my fault partly. Mike has long been housebroken and Kathy is for her water burps but whenever we see her standing cross-legged we know it's a more odorous affair. I relieved her of a baseball sized object and tossed it in the bowl and believe it or not it clogged the works. It was late so I couldn't do anything till Sunday morning. On the way from church I dropped up to Richard's-the maintenance man--but he was away and his plunger was locked up. The fellow at the general store didn't know what I was talking about I asked Ann what she thought he used - his foot. Another, fellow at my last hope store said his wife always took care of those things and he didn't have one to sell or borrow. The solution was right next door where Mrs. Baldwin kept one for just such emergencies. The Barbours who lived there before us, she said, were constantly losing their teeth or the children's plastic toys in the darn thing. But it's working fine again as though nothing had happened. Hope I'm not disillusioning you.
On the Television matter again, a surprise. Friday I gave Geipe a call, went out to the Edmondson storehouse and loaded your TV in the back of the car and took it home. It's in perfect condition and Ann gave it a coating of Preen wax just for good measure. Then we carried it up to the third floor but thought we'd try it out before putting it in the store room. It works much better than it did in Catonsville. WAAM comes in picture clear no matter how you fool with the inside aerial. But the best thing of all, you don't have to change the antenna and the sound is wonderful, too. Besides the 3 regular channels there's pictures all over the place but I haven't had a chance to try them to find out what they are. I didn't watch it Friday evening but looked forward to Saturday when Jimmy Durante was on with Margaret Truman, at 8 o'clock. So at 6:30 in walks Aunt Alice, Jeannie and Uncle Lawrence, followed by Annie and Earl Clapsaddle, who didn't come in that new Chevy I told you about because Saturday he traded it in for n Mercury. They gabbed through J. Durante but Aunt A and Uncle L left at nine and the C's at 9:30. So we raced each other up the stairs to see the last part of Show of Shows. Saw the Hamilton Trio and Cid and Imogene in solos and for the finale, Marguerite Piazza singing a ten minute role of the Haben-what's-its-name from Carmen. Swell. Sunday I picked up Aunt Til in Towson at 1:30 and we didn't go upstairs till 8 p.m. The papers last Sunday must have been wrong for Martin and Lewis were on and were great. Their guest was Rosemary Cluny in her new short hairdo but she didn't mess around with them at all. Sang "If you Love Me Half as Much" and that "Botcha Me" thing. We're locking the third floor during the day to keep the kids down and keeping the TV for a special treat. Before all this happened, I had gone down to Johnson Brothers on Thursday afternoon and had a nice talk with Mr. Lucas. He sends hello. Speaking of the Capeheart, which the B's said they could get at 40% discount, he said they won't allow one in the door of the shop. They had some big Magnavox's that were beauts but the prices made me do what I did about your set. And even though your picture is a little smaller than the popular sizes now adays you can't find a better picture than the one we get on your set. So, if it's OK with you both, as Andrew said, we'll take good care of it. And Mr. Lucas said Johnson Brothers has their own service man out in our area, paid by and acting only for Johnson Brothers. They also service Annapolis, Westminster and all points within about fifty miles. I forgot, the one other thing we saw last night--Philco Playhouse, was a good dramatic play called "The Thin Air" with Joan Lorring (remember her) and Scott Forbes. The sets keep getting better and they must have used a dozen. After that I took Aunt Til home and the rest went to bed.
We tried the new food store at Jacksonville Saturday and Ann loves it; a regular supermarket, big, too, and a general store, also, but all on more of a citified plan. It's evidently tied in to a chain that specializes in country stores called the Cloverdale Farm Stores. This one in particular is run by a family of Miles. A nice looking woman about 50 was marking prices and smiled at the kids. She introduced herself as the grandmother and I suppose she meant she was the mother of the three giants behind the meat counter. I bring her into the story because she came out with, "Are you folks by any chance Presbyterians?" And not wishing to get started in a religious scramble, I came back with, "No, were from Catonsville." Every time I think back on it I realize how asinine it sounds. It's only about ten minutes drive from home and in miles I should say not five, compared to Towson's ten and Parkville's nine but no traffic and good roads this way.
In one of your envelopes I'm putting a sample of the mimeo pages they give out in church every Sunday. Arlene and I went to 10 yesterday and were out by 11:10 but Ann got the visiting priest at her Mass from Baltimore and he whizzed through in 30 minutes. I'm also enclosing a map I tried unsuccessfully to mimeo with one of the stencils I had left from National Radiator.
END OF LETTER
Next Posting: September 24, 1952
Copyright 2012 Stephen A Conner
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