steveb leatherworks: the blather

You believe in ghosts?  Well I do.  I grew up with them in the pictures that I saw as a kid, in the stories that I heard the adults in my family tell and now, in being the guardian of their memories. Ya see, in my heart of hearts, I am afraid that all of these people, their stories, their faces and their names will be lost if I don’t do something with them. I just cant let them sit in the many albums, file folders and boxes…dead. Seems wrong. So I scan and i write, and I try to remember what i was told or overheard as a kid.

I am going to start sharing some of these interesting captures of people & moments past in pretty hi-rez form, and i invite you all to “right-click”.  Once online, my hope is that these images live-on….  Since we don’t sit around campfires and tell stories anymore to keep memory’s alive, I will do it here from time to time. we’ve all got stories to tell and I will share some of mine here.

As background: my mom, Mickey was an entertainer from her early teens until her early 30’s, born into a vaudevillian family when that was deemed a respectable profession (sorta kinda). Mickey and her dad Max (a recent Dutch immigrant) had what could be characterized as song and dance acts, even though she couldn’t sing or really dance. Her talent was looking good, being funny, not taking herself too seriously  and acting as the foil for Max, her dad…she was the cutie. She worked it. Prior to this My Grandfather had a series of acts with his brother in Holland, Europe, Australia, etc…, they were clowns, they had trained poodles, juggling, tumbling, mime’ing and all kinds of odd-ball stuff, like a bird-call act… I have this influence in my DNA, think’n on it…ha

So during WWII,  Mickey and Max were serving our Country by entertaining the troops with the USO in what was called the “European Theater”. This father/daughter team traveled all over the world with the USO doing their acts for the “boys”. I really do mean they traveled all over. I have a collection of pictures, luggage “stickers” from all over the world…boats, planes, “caravans”, trucks, buses, trains… they did it all. I can only imagine the adventures they had and the things they saw. Luckily both of them had cameras in hand nearly all the time. When I was a kid, Mickey didn’t regale me and my sister of tales of those wartime days, ya had to pry it from her a bit. I think it was a pretty wild and emotional ride, looking at the pictorial evidence. There was no PTSD back then, you just dealt. She lost lots of friends, like guys in the picture below – she had to, the attrition rate was pretty hideous.

Which brings me to the subjects in the pictures below. Mickey could hold her own, she was cute, smart, worldly and seasoned in the ways of hanging out with Soldiers..the “boys”. She loved to party, she smoked, she drank, she could tell jokes, loved to laugh and do things. I could only imagine the boys couldn’t stay away from her… Probably one of the very few attractive women they’d seen in awhile, and a cool one to boot. She had lots of dates, when a date meant a cup of coffee and a talk of home,  and I have lots of pictures with inscriptions on the back from the guys she impressed.

Max was always close by, but Mickey met lots of guys and by the looks of these pictures, many “adopted” her. This pic is of Canadian Airmen, but I’ve got similar shots of American guys guys in Naval dress. Mickey didn’t discriminate, a handsome dude in uniform was a handsome dude in a uniform, no matter what branch of the Allied Service he was in.

What happened to the Canadian guys in that Bomber group?  Did they live through D-Day  – one month past when this photo was taken at a training school for the invasion –  to enjoy old age? Did they even live through the war – they had more than a year to go until the end?  Did they have families?  Have their memories lived on?  After signing the back of this pic for Mickey, did they go out for a few tall-toads?  Did she break any hearts in this group?  Where is the goddamn Time Tunnel when ya need it? I got questions ferchrissakes. Why is it that we only think of these questions when the chance to ask them has passed?

So, take that as a warning, if you have family members who’ve got stories locked away….find the key, before it’s too late…..

Anyway, thanks for indulging me, if your interested in hearing more, let me know.