Category: Learn History Through Fiction

The life of San Diego’s tuna canners in the 1920s and 1930s was grueling. Primarily Italian and Portuguese immigrants, they worked long days with one short break at rates as low as 33 cents an hour. Each cannery had a wharf jutting out into the sea where boats would unload their haul. Because there was no telling when a fresh load would arrive, workers had to be “on call” 24 hours a day. Read more about how the tuna industry exploited its workers in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Hailstones damage vehicles, aircraft, buildings, crops, and livestock. Roofs take the worst hit. A direct hit on the head (a rare event) can cause a concussion. Hailstones cover the ground and can knock out electricity. The storms can also create flash floods, down trees, and cause mud slides. They typically last 5-10 minutes, just long enough to wreak havoc. Read about a destructive Kansas hailstorm 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

British music halls were popular in WWI but declined before WWII as the prevalence of radios, gramophones, and the cinema grew. Bawdy songs did manage to survive, although many singers refrained from cursing on stage. They preferred double entendres or leaving out the last word of a poem such as “When roses are red they’re ready for plucking; when girls are sixteen they’re ready for _,” then chiding audiences for their dirty minds. Sentimental favorites also lived on, including “Nellie Dean,” a heartbroken singer’s recollection of dreaming by the old mill stream with his long-lost love. Read more about music history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

When firemen arrived at the site of the tragic 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire, the steel exit doors were locked, a common management practice to prevent unauthorized breaks and theft by workers. After the locks were finally broken, responders still could not enter the factory floor. The doors opened inward but the frantic employees were pushing them outward. In the end, it took half an hour to put out the fire, but by then it was too late for the 146 victims. Read more about the fire and one survivor in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Judy Garland was among the cast and crew of The Wizard of Oz who accused the Munchkins of wild behavior, including drunken orgies. Her third husband, Sidney Luft, even said they molested her when she was 16. “Dirty little 40-year-old men put their hands under her dress.” One evening actor David Niven reportedly walked by the Culver Hotel where police were staging a raid. He was told that the Munchkins, who’d been accused of disturbing the peace, were resisting arrest and their hands were two small for cuffs. Nine officers soon emerged, carrying pillow cases filled with writhing bodies. None of these claims have been substantiated. While the little people were not all model citizens, most were hardworking actors glad to have a job during the Depression. Read more about the Munchkins and the movie in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

In the 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire that killed 146 people, Engine Companies #72 and #33 and Hook and Ladder Company #20 responded to the late afternoon alarm. The factory occupied floors 8 through 10 of the Asch Building in New York City’s Greenwich Village, but the ladder could not reach beyond the 6th floor and the hoses could not shoot high enough either. Nets held by firemen tore from the weight of the falling bodies, which also fell on the firemen, spooking their horses. Read more about the tragic fire and one survivor in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

During WWII, German Americans were labeled people of “enemy ancestry.” The Alien Registration Act of 1940 required resident aliens aged 14 and older to register with the U.S. Government “subject to arrest, detention, or internment for the duration of war.” After Pearl Harbor, in December 1941, President Roosevelt expanded restrictions on travel and property ownership. Approximately 11,000 German Americans were interned in camps in rural, isolated areas throughout the U.S. Many were pressured to “repatriate” to Germany where they could be exchanged for American prisoners of war. Read more about a German-American during WWII in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Margaret Hamilton, who played Elvira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz, said children often asked her why she had been so mean to poor Dorothy. On an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, she explained that she was only playing a role and showed how make-up transformed her from a nice lady (a former kindergarten teacher, in fact) into the nasty warty and green-faced witch. Read more about the movie and Margaret Hamilton in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

In WW II, mail was vital to maintain morale in the armed forces. But mail was bulky and took up precious space on cargo ships. So the U.S. Government instituted V-Mail, converted to Microfilm, which limited letters to one page. Correspondents, especially sweethearts, invented acronyms to save space, much like today’s social media users. Some, popular before the war, are still familiar today: SWAK (Sealed With a Kiss). Others were chaste or uplifting: OOLAAKOEW (Oceans Of Love And A Kiss On Every Wave). However, a few were downright raunchy. To bypass censors, creative acronyms borrowed from geography: NORWICH (kNickers Off Ready When I Come Home) and CHINA (Come Home I’m Naked Already). The best could work both ways: EGYPT (Ever Give You Pleasant Thoughts OR Eager to Grab Your Pretty T**s). Read more about the U.S. Navy during WW II in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

(A Hollywood romance in honor of Valentines Day) Sidney Luft (1915-2005) was a Hollywood producer and impresario. Of German-Russian-Jewish descent, he started out as an amateur boxer and barroom brawler, nicknamed “One Punch Luft.” He is perhaps best known as the husband of Judy Garland (1952-1965), responsible for orchestrating her comeback in the 1950s and 1960s, notably in A Star is Born. Luft was married once before and twice after Garland. They had two children, Lorna and Joey. Read more about Hollywood and movie history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).