Life in the 1920s at the Rainbow Hotel

From the A.J. Breitenstein Collection, SC 87

SC 87 The Arthur J. Breitenstein Collection was donated in 1988 by Elinor Dixon. In this collection are various newspaper/newsletter clippings, photos, and pieces pertaining to Mr. Breitenstein’s life and family all contained in one folder.

In 1918, A.J. Breitenstein became the second manager of the Rainbow Hotel. He, his wife, one son, and two daughters lived there for 9 years. Later in her life, A.J.’s daughter Margery wrote down what that time was like for her granddaughter.

The following blog post is reproduced from what Margery wrote and includes the photos she put with her writing.

 Page 1

Following World War I . . . just prior to the 20’s.

I was quite young but do remember the Bond Drives, (Liberty Loan) (Dad was always head of it in our town – people with German names were persecuted so anyone like Dad tried to take a very active part as they could – he was too old and w/family wasn’t called up) the LaLibertes had a dancing school (sisters) and because they had a dachshund their pupils all left, the Germans were reported to cut off the Belgium children’s hands we didn’t clean up our plates, “PA” Hoover would “get us.” Such things do kids remember –

But later, when the “boys” were back and so many of them went sort of haywire, we excused them as being war “casualties” – the ones who took an active part never talked about it but I suppose putting a bayonet thru a living warm body – their Anglo Saxon counterpart – would have more of an impact even than dropping a bomb. “All Quiet on the Western Front” was the war book that came out of this.

So this air and atmosphere (perhaps knowing that we hadn’t made the world safe for democracy after all) brought on the cynical attitude of the “flapper” age and I was then in my middle teens and couldn’t help but absorb some of it.

One interesting thing, Montana had the only woman representative in the Congress, Jeannette Rankin at the time, and she voted not to enter World War I. Her sister was dean of women at MSU when I went, Harriet Rankin Sedman, who later married English Nobility. The brother, Wellington D. Rankin, while old, is still famous in Montana as a practicing attorney and owns most of central Montana ranch lands, etc. My mother wanted me to go to MSC and take domestic science as we had been raised in the hotel and knew absolutely nothing of keeping house or cooking, and my dad always wanted me to go to Dean Stone (who had helped him get started) so the summer of 1924 we took an auto trip to both places, and it was then Dean Sedman gave me the advice to make good grades the first qtr. and establish my scholastic standing – this stood me in good stead, for later on (because we thought we had to break rules to show our independence) many of the kids were “kicked out” of school whereas if they and kept up their grades and weren’t too blatantly breaking rules they were allowed to stay.

P & E (political and economic) Progress was a required 3 qtr. course then (Burley Miller) and the text book had a addenda at the back outlining socialistic practices – later, every one of these were put in under FDR – and of course they are our way of life now. Back then, men made and lost fortunes in a lifetime and then remade them. Purely individual enterprises – and of course now if a young man starting out can assure his security with some large corporation, he is silly not to do it. There is not much place for non-conformity – do you suppose that is why I dislike these large picture windows – do you think they are there so that you and your neighbor can be sure each is doing the same thing in the same uniform way? Of course the real reason I don’t like them is how in hades do you keep them clean?

Page 2

The day before prohibition went in, great parties took place, the next day the hotel bar (names like cocktail lounge etc. not known in those days) was turned into an ice cream parlor and Elinor and I were allowed to go in and order anything we wanted at 3PM each day – sodas were a dime, the most expensive do was 30 cents and we usually got butterscotch sundaes – the ice cream the hotel was noted for – and made with all pure cream, and black walnut was their specialty.

Remember, there were no motels in those days, life was much more formal, nothing casual about eating habits, there was always a steward and when we had lunches we told him how many and what kind of flowers to order, always white tablecloths and finger bowls after each meal, petit fours passed after dinner if one wished them but the wines, etc. were out – the Rainbow was considered perhaps the nicest hotel between Minneapolis and Seattle. Every once in a while the dining room was closed while huge cut glass chandeliers were washed and cleaned, the floors were white marble in those days, the Palm Room – especially right after the war when social life was very, very gay – was scene of dances with full evening garb, – and that was where we had our recitals on the huge grand piano there.

It was considered very “lax” in those days to rise a family in a hotel. My friends were not permitted to just come and visit, one didn’t even walk thru the lobby, thus the reason for so many parties. We children had to eat at 5PM while our folks ate at 7PM.

But notables came – the Anaconda Co. and the Montana Power Co. were pretty well one and the same in those days and while Butte was the center of political activity (80,000 people then) when anyone at all in any walk of life was in Gt. Falls, the Rainbow was their headqtrs.

Christmas Card which shows the Palm Room [SC 87]

The Rainbow Hotel [SC 87]

Page 3

About 1920 (few years prior I guess)

“Dick, Elinor, Margery, AJB in our first car, a studebaker” [SC 87]

When we got this car we lived at 1025 3rd Ave. No. in Gt. Falls – we took the neighborhood kids (2 or 3 at a time) and went for a ride each evening--around the block!

The most wonderful bunch of “kids” lived on our block – every evening after dinner we played all kinds of games and the only supervision we had from adults was being called in when the curfew rang at 9. The games were really well organized, without adults around, we learned not to cheat the hard way, we were just not allowed in the games if we did. I can’t help but remember how we kids used to hunt for hours for four leaf clovers in our front yard, if we felt like it. We never had a Scout mtg. to make, we spent one whole summer digging a cave in our back yard. Sat. afternoons we got to go to the Sexton in Gt. Falls and seeing Pearl White in “The Perils of Pauline” for a nickel. We had household duties to do in the mornings, but we had the other hours to do as we wished--going to the natatorium, to the library and such – we didn’t get into mischief, either – the worst thing I can remember doing is --we three kids slept on a big sleeping porch during the summer -- was slipping out the side door to run up to the little store and get a nickel Hershey bar, after Mother thought we were settled down for the night!

Well, this pic will show clothes, car and roads!! At that time – it took all day to go to Helena, over dirt roads, over dangerous passes – perhaps A. J. B’s greatest public contribution was working years and years for good roads in Montana – quite an achievement with the large area and the small population.

It was about this time I remember my 1st political activity. It was the Wilson-Hughes election, A. J. B (his father had fought with the south and he was a democrat) was for Wilson, this, girl was an active Republican (only we didn’t know the names at the time) and we had a FIST FIGHT at school.

 Page 4

1920 – THRU 26

Betty Prentice and unknown man [SC 87]

Betty Prentice (think the pic was taken in the late 20’s) my first friend and roommate when we went to MSU – she was 6 ft., beautiful figure and a marvelous swimmer. The called us “Mutt and Jeff” – (one of the most popular cartoons in those days, also Katzenjammer Kids, Happy Hooligan)

Betty’s grandparents had the brewery in Gt. Falls – when prohibition came in – they certainly had a wonderful cellar. I was served my first wine with dinner there, sherry and I had two glasses and got dizzy, I remember. Betty was oldest of five children and her mother was dead, her dad was a Franklyn dealer and in high school Betty had an elec. Automobile – she and I hit an old lady one day, who just laid down and the car passed over her!! She wasn’t even scratched. This was one of those regular electric glassed in affairs, square and sat up high on four wheels and you ran it with a stick coming from the side, no steering wheel.

One summer (1925 I think) Betty’s dad set up six or seven tents way out from a little town about 30 miles from Gt. Falls and Betty and I chaperoned the younger kids.

The summer of 1926 Prentices moved into a house that had the only tennis court in town (you’ve seen it on the corner near the courthouse there) (this is Gt Falls, of course) We were going with boys who went to the U. of Washington and we played tennis (not me) and bridge all summer. That was the 1st summer I could stay out until 1 AM. All these old books had been left in this place they rented and I remember reading all this ribald English poetry of about the 17th century.

Betty’s cousin – Dit Wadsworth – lived in a big place too, down by Gibson Park – Dit was the niece of the Boston Wadsworth’s (the famous Senator?) and it was she and Betty and Betty’s aunt, Frances Jensen (of the Jensen brewery family) who started Jr. League in Gt. Falls in 1927 – the year I got married and was gone from Gt. Falls forever.

The summer of 1925 Betty and I put on a big affair for the Alpha Nus – we sold hundreds of tickets, it was held at Odeon – we made a couple hundred dollars and had fun, it was a three month project. We young gals were always being asked to sell tickets or seals or stickers for something – Money was very plentiful in those days and until the big crash, followed by the depression when NO ONE had a nickel, people spent freely, the tickets or seals were always a dollar and all we had to do was smile and hold out our hand. On the other hand, we were very restricted – Jeannette Speer was the only one of the bunch who talked her dad into letting her to YNP – it was O U T for the rest of us.

Betty is married to an executive of Foremost Dairies and lives in the east now --- I have lost touch w/her) When I left for soph. yr. at MSU, Betty didn’t go back and said goodbye at the train (train and trunks and overnite stop at the Placer in Helena was always a dance at the Shrine Temple or Montana Club.) and gave me that little monogrammed sterling flask I still have (weren’t we devils?) Later when mother discovered it, she filled it w/castor oil w/out saying anything to me – that is the same flask Helen Halverson and I had a drink out of at the MSU game when Nan was a freshman and you were a sophomore! I can still taste the c.oil.

Algeria Shrine Temple in Helena Montana, a Moorish Revival building. [SC 87]

Algeria Temple – Your grandfather belonged to this Shrine – in the 50’s he received a 50 yr. membership recognition – as he did with Rotary. As I recall the 20’s – there were not the numerous civic organizations, Rotary was main one, we youngsters belonged to DeMolay and Rainbow Girls, there was PTA (an organization my mother frowned on) But in a small town such a Gt Falls and during my hi school years (1920 – 1924) social activities centered for the youth around DeMolay, Rainbow Girls, and private parties – there were several small “ballrooms” (the nice apt. houses had such rooms which one could rent) music ranged from 10 piece orchestras ( I had at my 16th birthday party in 1923) to 2 or 3 pieces – very little social activity connected with church, in the early ‘20’s we would go to the Christian Endeavor (6 PM Sunday) and then across the street to the “Holy Rollers” (frowned on from everyone’s viewpoint)

 Page 5

1922-23 Year of Dempsey-Gibbons fight

“Jack Kearns, Dempsey, Staunton and Roy Ayers, later Gov of Montana” [SC 87]

I was a jr. in high school, we spent the summers at Logging Creek, going there as soon as school was out each year, from the Rainbow Hotel, where lived. We went by train, L.C, was 48 miles from Gr. Falls, it took all day to get there as we went via Big Sandy and Stockett, the coal mining towns. The “natives” at L.C. made mountain dew (this was during prohibition). The D-G fight was a fiasco for the town of Shelby, where it was held. Jack Johnson, the mayor of Shelby, a wealthy man, went broke doing it, and so did Shelby. O. Went and people broke thru the gates to get seats, $100. Seats went for $10, I guess. Jack Dempsey trained at what is known now as Dempsey’s Inn, he lived at the hotel, he took out one Heaney girl and my brother the younger one. The Heaney girls’ father was a wealthy car dealer, and a specially built Cole car was furnished Dempsey. Dad later bought this car ($6000. New price) and when we finished with it the bootleggers used it to run liquor from Canada. Part of this summer I worked on the Gr. Falls Tribune (I was 15) and the story of the Dempsey-Heaney wedding was set up to run on a moment’s notice – however, it did not materialize as Elaine Heaney’s father would not permit.

“THE COLE CAR — DAD AT THE WHEEL!!!” [SC 87]

A.J.B. dressed in glasses and a white collared shirt and tie is seated on a porch and leaning on a rail made form roughly cut logs. [SC 87]

A.J. B. at Logging Creek, he would come out on weekends and stay a couple of hours and go back – he couldn’t stand roughing it! No water except ice cold mountain streams and we would take turns going back into Gt Falls to get a hot bath! Many pack rats, many coyotes.

Page 6

16 yrs. old ---

Margery and unknown girl [SC 87]

Note length of dresses. We were not allowed to go to public dances but each weekend, someone or other would have a private dance –all we did was dance, it seemed. The shimmie, the chicken scratch in those days. At high school we would have dances before the games in the afternoon.

Music I remember especially – Daredenella, 3 o’clock in the Morning and most favorite of all, MY MAN. Fannie Brice in her hey-day.

Lived at the hotel. Gt Falls on the main line for the road shows between Minn. And Spokane. Al Jolson, Schumann Heinck, Sousa, Pavlova, Houdini, among those who stayed there, we saw them all as tickets were complimentary. (for the innkeeper and family!) Al Jolson came several times, he and Cliff Newman (Jesse Newman’s brother) were great friends, Schumann Heink took a liking to my mother, she was there twice, mother would take her a bottle of champagne and then SH would order up a bottle of whiskey take off her corsets and she and Mother would have a highball.

Cox stopped at the hotel when campaigning, believe Harding was there.

During the Teapot Dome scandals and the expose by “Walsh and Wheeler—the muckrakers form Montana” my dad was subpoenaed to appear in Washington, D.C. at the trial or committee hearings -- some of the persons involved had registered at the hotel at certain times, or some such things. Dad could tell real good stories about his various experiences.

At this time, we were entering into the era of the flapper (with a vengeance) I was smoking Violet Milos and Melachrino Cigarettes – but at that time, that was the extent of flaunting any standards – money was very free and easy, oil had been struck up at Kevin, all those oilmen lived at the hotel, and they really lived high. Parties were a real social gesture, always favors, printed invitations many times, flowers, corsages for everyone, seven course dinners. My interest in politics economics nil at this stage, I guess. Prohibition was in but ever one had a “private cellar”.

As you wanted to go to Paris, most of us set our sights for Greenwich Village.

Margery in Bathing Suit [SC 87]

(Thought I’d throw in the bathing suit for good measure – isn’t it a honey?)

The boy I went with had a Maxwell car and I learned to drive that pretty well.

Page 7

1923 – 1924 – etc.

John Taylor [SC 87]

John Taylor, who, with his wife, were employed by the hotel, checked coats at dances, etc. My first real Negro friends. Note the cars in the background – pic taken in back of the Rainbow. After one of the big functions in the Palm Room we kids would slip down early Sunday A.M. and feel under all the cushions in the chairs, we would find more change that had slipped out of pockets. However, the Taylors function was to clean up the Palm Room after of these affairs and when Dad found out what we were doing, he put a stop to it, the Taylors were entitled to it.

There weren’t many negroes in Gt. Falls – but we went back to Iowa every summer on the train and always colored porters and waiters, so we had seen them.

However, in those days in Gt. Falls, the first Orientals who came to Gt. Falls were put in a barrel and sent over the great falls – it wasn’t until yrs. Later that Gt. Falls had its first “noodle” parlor. The Orientals were numerous in Butte, laundries, and the Chinese lottery was a state wide big thing. The Japanese had a few truck gardens out of Gt. Falls – after we moved from the hotel and lived on 5th St and 5th Ave. we would drive out and, for one dollar, get enough fresh vegetables to last a family of five for a week.

During the ‘20s when we lived in the hotel, my folks went to NYC once or twice each yr. They would go to shows afternoon and evening. My mother said one of the most thrilling experiences was being taken thru the Waldorf Astoria from top to bottom (I believe this was a reopening) anyway, because they were hotel people they were complimented, of course, at any hotel in the country then.

Gordon Campbell , promotional clipping for Ranchmen’s Gas & Oil Company, Ltd. [SC 87]

Gordon Campbell, who discovered the first big producing well in Kevin – he later went to the pen for using the mails to defraud, an innocent victim of the oil men who formed his company. He lived at the hotel. He was a tremendously wealthy man. Dad had just lost some money in a fox farm venture in Gt. Falls and mother put her food down at his going in on the oil deals, the men who did ended up rich. There were just as many promotional schemes as now, tho.

Page 8

1924 – 1925

Dean A. L. Stone – at this time had made MSU journalism school into one of the outstanding ones in the country.

Dean Stone strove valiantly to imbue his students with ACCURACY – to this day if I make a mistake in spelling a name, I feel as tho I were betraying him.

Just as much as accuracy, he tried to teach his students integrity. And western history. He knew the sources for western stories would be gone fairly soon and the field had not been touched.

At the time I was taking journalism form him (and in 1924-25-26-27 journalism was factual, terse writing, concise, use of the very simplest words and phrases and English and creative writing the opposite) I was getting in more Eng. Courses than journalism.

H. L. Mancken was our guiding light ---

Because I had the only typewriter on my floor at the dorm, I spent several hours copying the only cc. of “The Hatrack”

Cather, Hemingway, dos Passos, Robert Frost, Eugene O’Neill – seems to me a lot of the giants of literature were coming into their own about this time

Later, in 1929 or 28 --- a friend of mine was buyer for Chapple’s, the bookstore in Blgs. When Hemingway and dos Passos had their auto accident and H. was laid up in Blgs (Billings). for quite a while, Georgia would take up books to him every day. Also, she got limited editions and would pass on to read – Pierre Louys “Aphrodite” and a volume of Ben Hecht, especially I remember, beautiful woodcuts, etc. It was the day of people making Xmas cards from woodcuts, linoleum blocks, etc. A relative was Hearst man in Chicago and about this time entered an exhibit in an art display, took a prize and wrote an expose of doing it blindfold – “modern” stuff just coming in. “Time” wrote this up. It was the time of the cheap exchange in France, another friend went over there for a yr., her sister married Lawton Parker, American artist and they had at their villa the “Nude Descending the Staircase” – She told about the Dome – Gertrude Stein – “a rose is a rose is a rose” – E. Hemingway again, being there all the time, how you soon got to recognize the “pansies.”

Christmas card from A.J.B. [SC 87]

(Under pic) The magazines were subscribed to were American Mercury, Scribner’s, Harper’s, the old “Judge” or “Life” I forget which, anyway, it always had John Held cartoons. Later, this relative (who was a Hearst man) went from Chicago to NYC – and sent us the 1st editions of The New Yorker, as I recall that was in about 1930 or so, tho.

Page 9

1925-1926

Two young men looking at a car painted with bright lettering “U of Montana” “Leaping Lena” “EX Convention Estes-Park Colorado” [SC 87]

My brother and I used to double date once in a while at school – this is a gal he was pinned to at one time, she is showing it off – note car and clothes.

The boy I went with at that time was a wonderful pianist. He visited us one Xmas vacation in Gt. Falls and we listened to the radio (earphones only) – I remember “who” was popular – and Oliver could listen to a piece just once or twice and then play it. In those days the orchestras (from school) used to take the trips to the Orient in the summer, play for their transportation, everyone had a teakwood chest or screen, Spanish shawls popular (why Spanish?) anyway it was quite a racket to know someone who had a “sea captain” friend and get this stuff. Oliver was determined not to be a “musical bum” and took law at North Dakota (I think) He is now leading counsel for Weyerhauser Lumber and last I heard had a $10,000 organ in his home --- he was a wonderful bridge player too.

Dick and Oliver [SC 87]

Serenades at the house and on campus were very thrilling—and especially for those of us who had friends who played. Oliver played at campus affairs too and when I would come in (Dick would check to see if I had a date or Oliver would have one of the brothers take me) the orchestra would stop what they were playing and swing into “Margie” which was popular then. You can imagine how very smart I that was.

“Tiger Rag” was one of my favorites – I am trying to recall some of the names of the orchestras that would come – but they slip me. There were a lot of road shows and we usually went – Glenn Hunter (I’m not sure of this name) – think “No, No, Nannette” –etc. No little theatres or foreign films then. The original 10 Commandments I recall was a movie we all took in.

Mah Jong was another oriental item that was brought over from the orient – we didn’t play this at school but in Gt. Falls it was very popular – still I think it is one of the best games known. I still have my mother’s beautiful set – ivory (if not, the best substitute)

Lenita (Bonner) Spotswood [SC 87]

Page 10

1927 - Lindbergh

I remember every detail – the boy I was going with was waiting downtown for news of the flight, he called me at the Theta House and I was the first to know at the house. We all must have been of the age to really thrill at what he and done – can recall few times when I have been so excited. I think it was because L. did this all alone – it was pure triumph of an individual over elements – we young people (I think) were much more individualists in those days without being in any sense “beatniks” – more in our ideas than in our actions. L. was very much a “common” lad – he did it all on his very own – no background of wealth or special advantages, etc.

Later in about 1929, when I worked on the billings Gazette, I learned there were still outstanding bills against Lindbergh in Blgs. He had worked there for some months in some auto shop, had not paid his boarding house, etc. He was putting everything he made into his aviation plans.

It was at this same time in Blgs. that a Dr. Allard did the same thing – he never pd a bill, he put everything into the Home for Crippled Children and was the leading surgeon connected with Shodair Hospital. He bought a car, didn’t pay for it. Everyone in Blgs. loved him and never dunned him.

At school we had had Cather’s “Song of the Lark” and I remember being really impressed with the fact (these three things) that if a person wants something badly enough, he can have it, without a doubt – BUT you have to sacrifice everything for the end you are aiming at – The older I get, the more truth I see in this, but the sad fact is that most of us just think we want things – we really don’t, when the chips are down.

“Scott Leavitt, Congressman, from Montana for many years, and my folks’ dearest friends (Scott & Elsie Leavitt) Lindbergh and Gov Erickson – Helena Montana” [SC 87]

Page 11

1928 – 1929

Lived in Billings and worked on the two papers.

We were connected with the brokerage firm (Boettcher from Denver who later figured in the famous kidnapping case had it.)

Everyone was playing on the market on margin, in those days you had only to put up about 20% I believe, we didn’t have much money – remember in those days you didn’t use credit to the extent you do now – I remember things were high – eggs 75 cents a dozen, a steak $1.00 at the butcher shop, stockings were $2.50 a pair and our clothes were not so many ( not so much cheap mass stuff) but we paid about $35 to $50 per dress and around $100 for coats – much better quality and style than now as cheap stuff just wasn’t made – the mass market had not yet come into the front and the consumer items were more limited. Cars were more on cash, just as in my mother’s day, homes were paid for in cash. I remember we had our first car, furnished by this brokerage firm and just given to us as long as we worked for it – income tax and all that, expense accounts etc. and all that slop wasn’t in effect for the average person. Well, everyone was monied (on paper). The “crash” came awfully quickly – Black Friday, Oct ??, 1929 – when this brokerage firm went under (in about 10 minutes) and I got to the paper next A. M. the paper had the item from the UP out of Helena – I almost lost my job over this but –just because I worked for the paper – people connected with the brokerage house ( they were accused of being bucket shops) didn’t tell me.

I remember several months after the crash a bunch of us were up at Hunters Hot Springs and one of the older fellows who really had money lost in the market was in the crowd. We happened to find a newspaper lining the drawer in a dresser of one of the rooms that had the top limits in the market quotes and we inserted it in the current paper in such a way that you couldn’t tell. You recall in “Only Yesterday” the range of the stocks before and after – this fellow really almost did have a stroke – it was a mean trick.

I remember every event – some very vividly, some only vaguely – in the “Only Yesterday” book. Just think in that decade from 1920 to 1930 (my age 13 – 23) we went from just coming out of the First World War, into as I recall very prosperous times, saw Prohibition (which I can’t help compare to the current legislating of social customs and morals Bobby and Jack are so hepped on, and the utter foolishness of trying to legislate that sort of thing) – come in, we gals were in the first flush of female independence, it was thought to be okay to pursue a “career” but just to work was frowned on, we definitely were not on a par with the men in the working world (female reporters top pay was $25, male, $40 for just the same work)then the depression came and overnight almost no one had a nickel – we young people managed to stay even financially but it was because (I get irritated when they say no jobs now days) we MADE jobs –I sold advertising and earned every nickel with my blood and sweat (this for the Livingston paper and on a straight commission, I worked up some journal stuff and did correspondence for the Gazette at 30 cents an inch) my husband sold life insurance. I realize the setup is different somewhat nowadays but – one of our friends who had a master’s degree in engineering was selling Fuller Brushes and he’d stop in our apt. every a.m. and literally cry; he hated it so—later he was head of Shell Oil in Java. But we HAD to work and of course in Montanan it wasn’t as bad as in the more populous centers—the bank holiday came when there was no money in the bank for your account—we had just sold a large ins. Policy and put the commission in the checking account for only one reason—so we would know what it felt like for a few days to HAVE a few dollars—we owed bills but just wanted that feeling—whoosh, it was gone—however, I am rambling as this was into 1930 by then.

“Top: Livingston 1929. Me and Someone. Bottom: The dog in Livingston” [SC 87]

I am including a pic of me and dog in Livingston so that you can see my washing—I washed by hand and had ice in the icebox and by then elec. refrig. were fairly prevalent. Isn’t my washing, nice and white?

Well, we were all struggling young people, even in the better days—worked very hard for what we had—but lots of fun connected with it. The newspaper crowd and the people I knew were full of talk and ideas, we (and this at school too) were much more unorthodox in our ideas than actions. We were more immersed in Schopenhauer and Spinoza than religion (which was rather unfashionable during the ‘20s—we all thought we were agnostics at that time) Judge Lindsey’s free love ideas were “in”, and we thought the saying “well you would try on a hat before you bought it, wouldn’t you” had some meaning and application. We had innumerable “bull sessions” at school—and—yes we drank later on in Blgs. too—but at school the gang would chip in and buy a pint of peach brandy for $10. and think we were devils—about the only thing it did was loosen our tongues so that we talked all the more. We might have been groping for the way of life but we expressed it all in ideas rather than actions and we weren’t in such a rush to take on responsibilities. Married students of course couldn’t attend college. So there was no question of continuing educations if we decided on marriage. Besides in the ‘20’s boys were married more at 25 or 26 and girls at 23 or 24 and the size of the average family was about 2.3 and that dropped, of course, when the depression came—the poor little babies would have starved if we’d had them then.

“Great Falls 1927” [SC 87]

Note the way women’s dresses were way up, then way down. That is supposed to mean something, I don’t know just what.

Page 12

1928-1929

Group of five young people in front of the Billings Times [SC 87]

The Billings Times crew, Mitch Morris in middle and Ralph Morris at right end were the owners—grand men, both of them, especially Ralph, - Mitch was a devil. My 1st job when we moved to Blgs. —18 dollars a week and I worked from 8 am to 6 pm and then evenings until Thursday, the day the paper came out—Friday, that is. I was just about your age then—this weekly had all the county printing and we did a lot of legal briefs, when the divorce cases (unusual in those days) were too raw, Ralph wouldn’t let me proof read—at night sometimes he would pull down the blinds and try to teach me the Mergenthaler linotype—how I wanted to run one—but not time enough to learn—it was against union rules unless you were apprenticed, to teach anyone. I sold all the advertising, collected all the bills, made up the advertising, wrote or rewrote all the news, swept out, ran the stitcher and binder, etc. (which were all up on a real shaky mezzanine with just a ladder leading up) On the side I would be drawn into other adv. selling projects—fair programs, even the theatre programs in those days—I hated it (the selling) but did quite well and when I went to work for the daily, had to talk fast to keep them from putting me in that dept.

I remember the world series games—the Babcock Theatre showed all the movies on a big screen and everyone watched the series from there. It was about this time I remember Ethel Barrymore came in a play (What would that be—How Green is my Valley”) and she used such vile language on the phone long distance to NYC that the phone co. cut her off. (one fun thing, working on the paper, you get in on all the scuttlebutt) It was at the Babcock I think we saw the first talkie—Al Jolson—or one of the 1sts many Shirley Temple pix, she was the child star.

The other picture is a bunch of us going to Hunter’s Hot Springs—the hot springs resort between Livingston and Blgs—Lil Mains in this pic, also Carl Lundberg. A bunch of us would go up for overnight, everyone did so much talking in those days—we swam, of course, and rode horseback.

PS-In addition to doing the above I was helping Dad put out THE MONTANA MOTORIST (he had started the Montana Auto Ass’n. in Helena) reviewing books from the Caxton Press in Idaho and doing some feature stuff for the Gt. Falls Tribune—The highest pd. newspaper woman at this time in Montana was Emily Stoker, $40. per week—that is what the men made—the women made $25.

Page 13

1929

St. Valentine Day’s Massacre in Chicago

Portrait Charlotte Woolfolk Rowe [SC 87]

Here is Charlotte Woolfolk Rowe, who at the age of about 19 or 20, went to Chicago to study the organ—reason: she was in love, and he was taking law at Ann Arbor (I think).

Phil Rowe (she did marry him) did antics somewhat indicative of what we thought was all out fun at that time—one time he hired a cab to take him to SLC, and thence to Illinois. He was Prof. Rowe’s black sheep son (Phil’s younger brother, Tommie, is now dean of men at U. of Virginia, I believe) Phil was the first one I saw swallow a goldfish (at the Theta house next door to where he lived) and I sort of recall pouring a little something in the goldfish bowl to get the fish tipsy 1st.

Getting back to Charlotte, her domicile in Chicago was within a block or two of the place where the St. Valentine’s Massacre took place, she could hear the shots (or were the machine guns silenced) Anyway, I remember hearing from her shortly after and the letter had a vivid description of it all.

Charlotte was the gal at school who was described as having “body by Fischer”.

Charlotte later was music program director for Earl C. Anthony, one of the first radio broadcasting—.