First Day of the New School Year

Monday, October 3, 1949

40 W. 96th St.
New York City, NY

Dear Art,

Received your letter this morning. I sure enjoyed hearing from you. Gee! It’s wonderful to get mail.

It’s almost 10 o’clock and this is the first time I’ve rested all day. On the first day of school, wouldn’t you think they would let us play around? Well! You should see all the homework they piled on me! I worked for almost three hours tonight. Of course, I am a slow worker.

Traphagen homework assignment by June
that illustrates fabric textures.

Honestly, the work this year is going to be terribly hard. I hope I’m not completely wasting Daddy’s money. Something new to worry about.

Other than that, it was fun seeing all the old classmates from last year again. I haven’t sighted any prospective roommates as yet, but reports are a trifle encouraging. (There was talk...) We seem to have a few prospects.

We don’t have a radio yet and never buy a newspaper, but from what I gather from passing people in the street, the Dodgers and Yankees will play the series. Did you and Joe celebrate?

I see where you say not to study too hard but to get my homework done. Art, I’m no magician. It can’t be both!

Please write soon.

Love,

June

(Tomorrow – life without a car in Southampton.)

© 2010 Lee Price

Saturday Night and Nothing to Do

Saturday, October 1, 1949

20 Cooper St.
Southampton, NY

Dear June,

It sure seems strange. Here it is Saturday night and there’s nothing to do. I hope you're settled all right and found a couple of good roommates. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting two girls to come in with you.

The Southampton movie theater on Hill Street, just a
five block walk from Art's home on Cooper Street.

Went to a football game last night. We lost and then I went home early, believe it or not. I think I’ll go to the movies tonight and try and get home early again. I'm still using my mother’s car and guess I will be for a couple of weeks.

Bruno goes to the city tomorrow to march in the Columbus Day parade. Why don’t you go over to Fifth Avenue tomorrow afternoon? You’ll probably see some of the boys from here marching.

I haven’t seen any mail from you yet but I’m expecting to get some! When you write be sure and tell me your phone number. Don’t study too hard, but be sure and get your homework done before you come home. Remember me to Shirl. I feel as if I know her. So long kid, see you soon,

Love

Art

(On Monday, June's first day of the new school year…)

© 2010 Lee Price

Hands You Love to Touch

Pencil sketch by June Anderson for Traphagen School of Fashion,
circa 1949

Saturday, October 1, 1949

40 W. 96th St.
New York City, NY

Dear Art,

Just looking out of the window – they have double parking on this street. Ever see that? The cars park sideways, but in two rows. I don’t understand it. Suppose someone in the row next to the sidewalk wants to leave? Oh well, it’s not my worry.

The older I become, the more complicated life becomes. Money matters now. I came with a few dollars in my pocket and a check book. I thought, oh well, anybody, or at least somebody, will cash my check. Guess what? They won’t. The banks are closed till Monday, and people now tell me that the bank won’t give me my money until 3 days after I hand over a check. And here I am – with only 4 dollars!

Art, you know those “hands you love to touch” (Lux, isn’t it?)? Well, they could sharpen a knife right now! When I think back on this past month with nothing to do except maybe get ready for a date with you – Ah-h-h-h that’s a wistful sigh... I slaved here all day! We cleaned the entire apartment. I washed the tile in the bathroom while Shirley scrubbed the floor. I scrubbed the tile under the fireplace. We cleaned the woodwork, polished the furniture, and dusted the venetian blinds. But it was worth it.

It’s an awful responsibility for two girls to take on – signing the lease and everything. I called up daddy today and he says not to worry – if we can’t get some roommates we’ll just have to move and lose the money, but it’s alright. I feel somewhat better about it now.

I keep asking Shirl to get up and make me something to eat, but she won’t budge. Looks like I may have to do it myself. Hooray! She finally got up! Two sandwiches apiece, please! I’m hungry tonight.

Art, how is your knee now?  Please, even if it is feeling better, keep doctoring it – after all, I’m hoping to dance the next time we go out.

Maybe I can squeeze out a dollar for a movie tonight.  We have no radio here as yet, so it’s kind of quiet. It doesn’t seem like Saturday night. I’m afraid I’m going to miss you.

All my love,

June

(Tonight – Art’s first letter to June…)

© 2010 Lee Price

Summer of 1949

What followed was simply a wonderful summer that went by too quickly.

June and Art.

Art called the day after the party and they began dating, mainly seeing each other on weekends and talking on the phone on weekdays. They went to parties and movies together. They met each other’s parents and both sets of parents approved. Within their peer group, friends were matching up and breaking up regularly with emotions often running high. But June and Art were practically oblivious to the concerns of others around them, as they basked in the intoxication of young love that summer.

Art continued working at Roulston’s as a grocery clerk. At night, he would sometimes attend art lessons from Elena Partida, a local art teacher. June didn’t do much that summer. She slept late, listened to the radio, read books, talked to her friends, and waited for Art to call.

Summer passes quickly, especially when you’re in love. Fall approached. For June, this meant that it was time to pack for her trip back to New York City – two and a half hours away on the Long Island Rail Road. Shirley Stahl would be her roommate again, but this time, they weren’t sure where they would be living. As the date approached to leave, nothing was definite yet. They made plans to stay at the previous year’s 96th Street apartment, even though it was really too expensive for them to afford without former roomate Jane to help out. They hoped they might find additional roommates to share the expense. If not, they figured they might have to move somewhere cheaper – provided they could get out of the lease.

On Saturday, October 1, June returned to New York City, probably driven there by her mother and father. Monday would be the first day of the new school year at Traphagen School of Fashion.

June and Art had agreed to write letters while they were apart. True to their word, they each wrote letters on Saturday night.

(Tomorrow -- June’s first letter from New York City…)

Countdown:  Correspondence begins tomorrow.

© 2010 Lee Price

An Enchanted Evening for Art, Too

Abandoned charcoal self-portrait of Art.

Art lived in Southampton with his parents. He had served in the Navy from 1945 to 1947, returning home at the age of 21. He was working at Roulston’s, a chain grocery store managed by Rod Pierson, a distant relative. Art was quiet, but enjoyed having a good time with his friends. Joe Cerullo and Bruno Marcincuk were close friends and drinking buddies, and Helen Darby was among the girls they knew in town.

Helen was popular in the local community. A party at her house would be attended by young ladies, as well as the available young men, many of them fresh from the service and just starting to build lives for themselves in the charming resort community.

This particular party was one of many that Art attended around that time, but with one distinct difference. When the song “Some Enchanted Evening” came on, he suddenly noticed the statuesque brunette across the room and their eyes met.

They talked for awhile, and liked each other right from the start.

But this was a party, after all, and each of them talked to other people as well. When it was time to go, June allowed another young man to drive her home that night. She liked Art very much, but the other fellow was interesting, too. As for Art, he was always very slow to anger – he hardly ever got angry at all – but he was distinctly unpleased that someone else was taking June home. Fortunately, he had asked her for her phone number and he called the next day.

(On Friday, more on the summer of 1949…)

Countdown: Correspondence begins in 2 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

June's Enchanted Evening

June and Art met on Memorial Day, May 30, 1949. The song “Some Enchanted Evening” was playing in the background.

Hand-tinted photo of June by the
radio at her Riverhead home.

“Some enchanted evening
When you find your true love,
When you feel her call you
Across a crowded room,
Then fly to her side,
And make her your own...”

While the song was playing, their eyes met across a crowded room.

The song was new but everyone already knew it. It was from South Pacific, the wildly popular Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that had opened on Broadway the previous month. Artists were already rushing to cover it, and 1949 would see versions of it by Ezio Pinza (original Broadway cast recording), Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford, and Al Jolson. They may very well have heard Perry Como’s version, which was released on May 24 and was destined to be the version that placed highest on the charts.

“Once you have found her,
Never let her go!”

June hadn’t planned to attend the party. She was perfectly content to stay at home and listen to the radio with her parents. It was her mother who insisted that she get out of the house and go have some fun.

The occasion was a house party at Helen Darby’s home in Southampton, Long Island. June lived thirty minutes’ drive to the west in Riverhead, and Helen was not a close friend. Helen was more a friend of Jane’s, June’s roommate from New York City during the 1948-49 school year. June was invited because she was a friend of Jane’s.

With pressure from her mother, as well as from Jane and Jane’s friends, June decided to put in an appearance at Helen’s. And at some point in the party, “Some Enchanted Evening” played on either the radio or a phonograph. It was a life-changing moment.

Later that evening, June went home with another fellow.

(On Wednesday, more on that party...)

Countdown:  Correspondence begins in 4 days.

© 2010 Lee Price

The Story of June and Art

We have 180 letters that tell the story of the courtship of June Virginia Anderson and Arthur Werner Price. The story told in these letters begins on October 1, 1949, and – as far as this blog is concerned – ends on Sept. 1, 1951.

From October 1949 through May 1950, June and Art’s love letters fly back and forth between New York City (where June was attending school) and Southampton, Long Island (where Art was working in a grocery store while attending local art classes). We plan to blog these letters real time, minus 61 years.

From June 1950 to August 1951, June and Art’s letter writing significantly decreased. Months go by without a letter. Our plan is to condense these few remaining letters into our three months of June, July, and August, and conclude the blog on September 1, 2011.

We are very fortunate in not only having the letters – which vividly recall a New York City and a Long Island that no longer exist – but also their artwork. And June and Art were very talented artists (see gallery on the right for a sample).

Five days from now, on October 1, we’ll begin blogging the letters real time. But before that, we’ll fill in a little of the unfolding story of June and Art in the summer before the letters began, particularly their first meeting on Memorial Day, May 30, 1949.

(On Monday, Helen Darby’s party on Memorial Day…)

Countdown:  Correspondence begins in 6 days.

© 2010 Lee Price