steveb leatherworks: the blather

Geez, where to begin with this set of classic shots from the family vault…..?

I don’t have all the particulars, damn I wish I did – this is one of those instances where I grew up with these pics -they were of Mickey (mom) and Max (grandpa) during the days of their performing the “act”  during WWII – but I never really had the presence of mind to drill down to the nitty gritty and extract the full details from either of them. I am not sure my sister has the granular specifics either (if you do – chime in on the comments). I know this version of the Act was a USO “for the troops” version and it toured throughout the European, Pacific and Asian theaters… albeit in different versions, garb and flavor. In Europe they had skates, in the Pacific – they were in grass skirts.  Sensible, no? I will spare you the grass skirts.

Seriously, I couldn’t make this shit up folks, it is waay to good – ya have to agree..!

The gist of this Act was that Max, the “goofy bird” tried woo’ing  Mickey the “pretty bird” with all sorts of wacky/zany/crazy antics.  A little weird, remember this is a father/daughter act – not that anyone cared or new for that matter….They both had special reeds in their mouths that allowed them to trill like birds and make all sorts of wild and expressive sounds. Max demo’d this for me in the basement of his house when i was, like 5 years old. it blew my mind – he really turned into a bird in front of my eyes – between the jumping around and the noise he made …wow….a great memory …just me and him.

Anyway, this team toured throughout the war and entertained, teased and amused a vast number of soldiers with their shenanigans. I’d pay a buck to see a movie of this stuff, it must have been precious – goofy and cute. A perfect distraction in a simple, brutal drawn out, beat the crap out of you kind of war. Thinking on the life these two led, I feel sad for Molle, Max’s wife. She was left back in the States, a displaced Australian in a new, alien country  that was in the middle of a war – with her only family off entertaining the troops and doing exciting things in exotic places. Her life must have sucked while her husband an daughter blazed trails out and about in the wild blue yonder.  I see it in some of the pics, she was left alone and she was lonely.  I am not going to scan these images, I am going to let those ghosts lie in a happy place. Years later – Molle was the best Grandmother a kid could ever want, but looking back at these images, man..it musta been tough.

But then, i think people in general (feel free to disagree, I am open to opinions here…)- were tougher back in those days and had what I could only characterize as….”true grit”. They dealt with it…no support groups, no drugs to ease the way, no “by the step” programs, no forums to share your “feelings & thinkings”, no newsgroups, no access to information. Life was a different game.  You lifted your chin, solidered on… and you didnt talk about it. Doesn’t sound so romantic or fun to me, sounds tough.