In light of all the current crises affecting Americans, who would believe that during the fall and winter season the tradition of holding debutante balls still continues in major cities? Yet look how many of us loved immersing in the pageantry of Downton Abbey. The practice of presenting marriageable daughters to eligible young men from…
For decades Cooper Union had been directed by a Ladies Advisory Council, “whose members drove to the monthly meetings in early American Pierce-Arrows.”* In 1931, these prominent matrons decided to modernize the school. They found a new director, Austin Purves, Jr., who convinced the ladies of the value of coeducation – eventually 40% of the…
Whatever happened to the Nightingale-Bamford Class of 1932? Jane and one of her classmates described what they’d been up to for the school’s 1933 Year Book: Five of the sixteen girls entered women’s colleges: two were at Vassar, two at Sweet Briar and one at Sarah Lawrence. Two others were on a European trip with one of their…
To learn more about Jane’s father, Arizona’s favorite humorist in the 1920s, scroll through to earlier posts. Check out the Such Mad Fun Gallery. And see The Laughing Desert: Dick Wick Hall’s Salome Sun. Available on Amazon, this replica of the syndicated 1925-1926 news sheet is packed with stories, poems, humor, hometown philosophy, and engaging illustrations that…
The Hickses were thrilled that Dick Wick Hall, Jr., would attend Randolph’s alma mater, The University of Virginia. Once he was settled in Charlottesville, Jane and her aunt and uncle returned to New York and moved to a new apartment at 1100 Park Avenue near Jane’s new school. At the beginning of October, Jane put on…
Daysie Hall’s will made her sister “Mrs. Randolph Hicks of New York” the custodian of her two children “with full power of attorney to take care of their interests in the way she deems best.” In June 1930 Rose and her 60-year-old husband prepared to become parents for the first time. One thing was clear,…
They were devastated and lay awake for hours night after night listening to the sound of ocean waves breaking less than half a mile away. How could they possibly be orphans? And yet the resilience mustered by 15-year-old Jane Hall and her 18-year-old brother Dick would prove extraordinary. Both were about to leave behind their…
“An American Paper for the American People – The Great Newspaper of the Great Southwest—The Paper for People Who Think.” The Los Angeles Examiner was bold in its claims and, on February 18, 1930, for the Hall family, it was also the paper to read. On the front page of Section Two a short article proclaimed:…
One soggy March Sunday a few years ago, my daughter, Carlyn Maw, and I headed to Manhattan Beach where Jane and her small family lived between 1927 and 1930. First stop, the small cottage in Polliwog Park that is home to the Manhattan Beach Historical Society. Steve Meisenholder, the society’s former president, has spent most of his…
“Mother decided to drive it right home from the store,” Jane recalled in August 1928 when Daysie Hall bought the boxy Six -Cylinder Special. They named the Studebaker “Teresa,” but before Dickie had even seen it, they had an accident on the less-than-perfect roads. Autos still had no turn signals or rearview mirrors, driver’s licenses did not require a road test, and danger…
Redondo Union High School 1928 They seemed an unlikely pair as they climbed the wide steps to Redondo Union High School at the beginning of September 1928. Dick Wick Hall, Jr., a thin, lanky 16-year-old with dark brown curly hair towered over his sturdy younger sister. “Little Jane” was both eager and apprehensive as they passed through…
It was summer 1928 in Manhattan Beach. Thirteen-year-old Jane had just graduated from the eighth grade and remained focused on her goals. She defined herself as a writer. Her work provided a defense against the unbearable loss of a father who was also her mentor. Her stories and fairy tales about animals or other children often have…
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