“Mrs. Polk, let us first deal with your husband’s blood, since you, as a woman of great Irish background, condescended to marry a man of Saxon stock…”

Today’s audio installment dates from 22 September 1965. A colorful Eoin ‘Pope’ O’Mahony (center in the photo above – pardon the watermark) interviews Old Granny at 4969 Pershing. O’Mahony’s career as a politician, genealogist, radio commentator, and historian of the Irish diaspora (especially that of the aristocrats) is summarized here. This 30 minute tape contains some interesting details about the Polk and Chambers’ ancestry, and, as a bonus, comments from Grizelda Skinner. The “mellifluous Cork accent” of Pope O’Mahony is evident.

]]> http://www.ourrumpus.com/2012/01/31/old-granny-interview/feed/ 2 http://www.ourrumpus.com/2012/01/27/crushed-red/ http://www.ourrumpus.com/2012/01/27/crushed-red/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:56:58 +0000 Chamberlain http://www.ourrumpus.com/?p=4754 This news just in – Powell and Ralph Kalish will be opening their new Clayton restaurant on February 13th. Described as “fast casual” and occupying an ideal spot at 8007 Maryland Avenue at Meramec, this “Urban Bake and Chop Shop” will be a great new addition to the Clayton culinary scene. Local Restaurateur Chris LaRocca is partnering with Powell and Ralph in this endeavor, with a proposed menu built around chopped salads, stone fired pizzas and fine wines – ideal for both a quick lunch and/or a relaxed dinner – and a perfect venue for the Clayton business clientele. A preliminary website can be accessed here, and Powell has kindly provided some construction photos here. This will be an ideal gathering place for the St Louis Chambers crowd. Here is a photo of the convenient location formerly occupied by Blick Art Supplies

The clan extends its best wishes for a home run to the Kalish men – see you there!

LC

Thus does Uncle Polky begin a series of taped, autobiographical sessions with the Post-Dispatch journalist John Curley in Jan 2000. Ultimately these tapes were distilled into the delightful essay “Uncle Polky – Memories of St Louis” (Wm Julius Polk and John W. Curley, Virginia Publishing Company, 2002). I have been meaning for some time to archive digitally the unedited recordings of these interviews. This post provides below an audio link to the first installment. It is wonderful to hear Polky reflect on his family, his childhood, his days at Barat Hall, and his city. His lucid recollections and wry self-deprecating humor are more accessible here than on the printed page.

 

John Curley and W Julius Polk, Racquet Club, in 2000

 

We owe John Curley a posthumous debt of gratitude for his work in doing these recordings. John died of lung cancer in July 2003. His obituary can be found here.

During the next year I will attempt to archive/post all 14 sessions (recorded Jan – Oct 2000). It seems somehow appropriate to have his voice preserved “in the cloud”. Stay tuned…

LC

A NYT obituary for Amie can be found here.

Now let’s turn to the bright (i.e. yang) side. Here is the recent, official announcement card, complete with specs, for Henry Polk Easthope – a home run photograph of the new clansman, another reveler deep in thought, clearly a first rate product.

Job well done Anne and David! I for one would like to know what wine David selected to celebrate Henry’s arrival….

LC

We had an especially nice Thanksgiving thanks to Aunt Eleanor and her crew of assistants – many thanks to them for putting together a splendid event.

Here we go…

LC

Here is our first glimpse, as well as a snapshot of Aunt Jennie and Uncle Richard Quick recently planting two cherry trees at Moone Athy in memory of Great Aunt Alicia.

 

Newest Newcomer, Handsome Henry Easthope

Jennie and Richard planting Cherry Trees
for Great Aunt Alicia

 

We look forward to meeting Henry soon. Molly Wynn Owen has begun collecting images of Henry’s generation which we’d like to post when we’ve collected them all, so if you have any current snapshots for publication, please send them to Molly or the Chamberlain.

LC

Does this seem far fetched? Not at all. Consider the following post from the Punjapit blog May 2010:

“While it seems incredible to play music to cows, breeder Guo Zhixin actually hires a musician to play music to his dairy cows for one hour every morning, saying beautiful meledies can make his cows produce more milk.”

“Guo, who raises 860 cows on his farm in a village near city Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province, says playing music to cows brings forth one more kilo of milk from every cow, every day, resulting in 700 yuan’s more worth of milk every year, reported chinanews.com on Monday.”

“Guo began offering music sessions for his cows last March, when he learned the idea from a foreign cow magazine.”

We also know that one version of the lyrics of Bessie Smith’s tune Hot time in the Old Town Tonight resulted from Patrick and Catherine O’Leary’s cow kicking over a lantern in her barn resulting in the great Chicago Fire of 1871 (see Wikipedia here). Another Smith, Sarah, of Wilmette Il sings a particularly hot version of this tune…

Hat tip to Emily for her agro-musicological update!

LC

 

Alicia and Aunt Jennie Quick

John, Ralph and Gareth

Molly and Zel at Redbird Game

Alicia and Madeline

Anne and Madeline, Sarah and Alicia

Grandpa Bill with Alicia

Cousin Powell with Molly

Molly and Alicia

Molly, Gareth, and Alicia

Poolside

St Chamberlain of Augusta
St Gregory the Illuminator
Patron Saint of Armenia

 

Here is a 4th of July (morphed to Columbus Day) Kalish family newsletter. Special thanks and best to Manning Kalish who is serving in the US Army in Afghanistan. We’re proud of you and Cal Boy Gatch, who is also serving in the US Marine Corps.

As promised, here is a collection of wedding photos taken by Liza Halcomb

The attendees wish to thank the Parajons and the Skinners for hosting this terrific celebration and the clan at large wishes the very best to Will and Christina.

LC

Last weekend, Will and Christina Skinner were married in an extraordinarily beautiful and fun weekend-long celebration in Princeton NJ. There was a large family turn-out for the event which took place at the beautiful Princeton University chapel. Select photos (thanks to Liza Halcomb) are shown below with many more to follow. Will and Christina are honeymooning in Hawaii at this writing. All our best wishes to the newlyweds!

 

Christina and Will, Wife and Man

The (newly configured!) Skinner Family

 

The magic of the moment proved contagious with Will’s sibling Suzanne succumbing to the entreaties of suitor Stephen Forster, a wonderfully resilient young man who withstood intact the rigors of a full Category 5 family gathering. Stephen and Suzanne hereby announce their engagement!. The usual suspects, final picture below, eagerly await a repeat of last weekend’s spectacular. A warm welcome as well as congratulations to Stephen and all of our very best wishes to Suzanne.

 

On Deck, Stephen and Suzanne (center in melee)

Usual Suspects Locked Down during Skinner Wedding

 

Final (for now) alert. Molly and Gareth Wynn Owen and new clanswoman Alicia will visit the family headwaters in early September, when Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Ralph are hosting a party in St Louis for the Armenian trio. We hope to post photos of that visit for the family at large.

Fanfare!!! Birthday Greetings to Sophie (Florence T Gonzales) Skinner. Note: Not all clanfolk have birthday acknowledgements – only Goddaughters!

Hasta Luego Vaceros,

LC