ST. BERNARD

When I was a young teenager we got a new neighbor that moved in next door with a large St. Bernard dog. For some unknown reason the dog took a liking to me. We had adjoining yards and when I was in mine the St. Bernard would join me. If I was standing he would rush to me and stand on his two back feet, put his front paws on my chest and slobber all over me. Now I should tell you I was not very tall nor weighed very much in those early years. In fact I am sure the St. Bernard weighed as much as me and was just as tall.

 

 

This happened without fail whenever I ventured out back to my yard. It was amusing and I kind of enjoyed having so much affection showered on me even if it was only an animal. Despite his size he was a very gentle animal that you could trust with your youngest child. I can understand in some societies that St. Bernard’ are used as rescue dogs. Their disposition lends itself for that kind of work

 

One day I was heading to a wedding and got dressed in my best go to church Sunday suit. My brother was waiting for me in his car at the curb. I descended the stairs when I heard the very loud clopping of feet. I looked over and you guessed it my friend the St Bernard had spotted me. It was about 30 feet to the car. Could I make it? I ran as fast as I could but to no avail. Up on his back feet he went and then two muddy paws on my recently dry cleaned suit.

I am sure there is a lesson to be learned here but I don’t know what it is. Despite that incident I really truly loved that dog.

BLINSTRUBS REVISITED

BLINSTRUBS

 In the 1950‘s Blinstrubs was the premier nightclub In Boston and it was located on West Broadway at D street right in South Boston. It was in its heyday one of the largest clubs in America.

 

The Blinstrub brothers never purchased fire insurance for their Nightclub. Instead they hired a night watchman to watch over the premises. Unfortunately the night of the fire in 1968 the watchman was sound asleep. When he awoke the club was too far gone to prevent its complete destruction. By this time more entertainment clubs in Boston had opened and Blinstrubs popularity was waning. They never rebuilt the Nightclub. Many celebrity entertainers performed at Blinstrubs but the one that Stanley loved the most was Patti Page. How do I know? Read on.

 

After Blinstrubs burned, Stanley Blinstrub opened a small cafeteria style restaurant near the site of his old Nightclub. Several doors away  was the Odenweller Plumbing and Supply business. Frank Odenweller was my downstairs neighbor. Although there was a big age difference between us, we became very close. When Frank was at his West Broadway business during lunch he would eat at the cafeteria. He and Stanley became very good friends.

 

 

 

Several times I met Frank and that is where we went for lunch. Stanley would join us and I got a great deal of enjoyment listening to him reminisce about the Acts the Nightclub booked over the years. It was Frank that got my brother his bartender job at Blinstrubs. When I would sneak in my brother had the waitresses seat me in the "Inner Circle" where I saw the acts close up. It was my brother who told me how Stanley gushed in the presence of Patti Page.

WEST FIFTH ST. REVISITED

It is funny as you get older you have trouble remembering what happened yesterday but events that occurred 75 years ago during your youth remain vivid in your mind. I grew up in a wonderful neighborhood on West Fifth St. near the corner of Dorchester St. I remember distinctly the sound of the old electric trolleys (the ones with center doors) clanging their way toward Andrew Station or the other way to City Point.

Often the sounds of the Rag man on his horse drawn wagon yelling…”Rags ,rags… bring me you rags.”His horse was so old I often wondered how he had the strength to pull his load up our street. The affection the horse had for his owner and the owner for his horse was a sight to be seen.

The Ice man who drove his truck looking for signs in the window for people needing ice for their “ice boxes”. Not many of our neighbors could afford that new fangled appliance known as a refrigerator. It was not uncommon for the ice man to chop out 50 pounds from his ice block, heft in on his shoulders over a rubberized apron then walk up three flights to deliver his goods. While he was gone we kids would eat the shavings off the back of his truck. How sanitary was that.

The knife and scissor truck that offered to put a sharp edge on your tableware. I still see the sparks flying off the back of his truck while the women on the street got a chance to get caught up in each others’ lives.

The truck I remember most was the one that brought freshly cooked crabs to the street .I think they cost a nickel. I remember devouring them on the last step of our stairs. My mouth is watering thinking of them now.

What I would give to hear those sounds today.

 

BABE RUTH RETOLD 5

Babe Ruth started his baseball career in Boston with the Boston Red Sox and ended his career in Boston with the Boston Braves. His life has been chronicled in hundreds of books and articles. His glory years were with the NY Yankees where old Yankee Stadium was known as the “House that Ruth Built.” His life was filled with wild parties and debauchery and didn’t settle down until his girlfriend and later wife Claire Hodgson took control. He became a family man in 1929 with his new wife and 2 daughters. Dorothy was a biological child and Julia an adopted daughter that was Claire’s child.

Claire was partial to her own daughter and treated her with better clothing and schooling. Lou Gherig’s mother noticed the difference and commented to people about it. It caused a rift between the two players that lasted until Gherig retired after contracting ALS disease. Ruth died from throat cancer in 1948 at the age of 53 just 13 years from leaving baseball. His second wife Claire died in 1976 defending Ruth against slandering references to his life until her death.

 Dorothy married twice and had several children. She died in 1989 at 67. Julia is still alive approaching the age of 100. She is a Red Sox fan and spends half the year in Sun City, Arizona and the other in North Conway, NH.

That is Dorothy on the left and julia on the right.

 

BABE RUTH RETOLD PART 4

The Woodford family had a complete hatred for Babe Ruth which is understandable. After all he had abandoned his wife Helen (Woodford) Ruth and daughter Dorothy to live with his girl friend in New York. After Helen’s untimely death he took Dorothy from them. He didn’t have the decency to wait a respectable time before remarrying. He married Claire Hodgson barely 3 months after burying Helen.

Many in the family felt he had a direct hand in causing Helen’s death even labeling him a murderer. Babe Ruth was a known womanizer, drinker and may have been lacking in moral character, but he was no murderer. Helen died in a fire of smoke inhalation and burns. The Fire Marshal found no evidence of arson and 2 separate Medical Examiners found no evidence of foul play. Think about it. At the time of her death in 1929 Babe Ruth was probably the most well known celebrity of the time. To believe he could get to Helen's apartment in Watertown unnoticed made no sense. There was no gas can or traces of flammable fluid found. What was found were frayed electrical wires which the Fire Marshal believed caused the fire.

Most people who read the newspapers at the time were surprised that Babe Ruth and Helen were still husband and wife. As devout Catholics they felt they could not divorce.

Next post what happened to Dorothy and Julia.

 

BABE RUTH RETOLD PART3

Babe Ruth returned to South Boston in 1929 to attend the wake and funeral of his wife. Helen after years of estrangement from her husband put their daughter Dorothy in a boarding school run by the Catholic Church then proceeded to live with a Dentist in Watertown, Ma. It was there that her life was cut short tragically by a fire that consumed her apartment.

By 1929, Ruth had become quite famous. A crowd of several hundred had gathered at West Fourth St. where Helen was waked at her Woodford family home. Ruth came at midnight hoping to avoid them but to no avail. He was said to have cried uncontrollably at her bier.

The Woodford family protested the release of Dorothy to Ruth. But a judge after hearing evidence that in no way implicated him in Helen’s death discharged her to his care. Dorothy barely remembered her father. She returned to New York with him and within 3 months of Helen’s death, Ruth married his long time companion Claire Hodgson. Eighteen months later he adopted Claire’s daughter Julia has his own and now made his family complete. Picture of Babe Ruth and Claire on his wedding day.

More on the Babe on the next post

 

BABE RUTH RETOLD PART 2

As Babe Ruth became more famous with the NY Yankees he began to enjoy the good life in Manhattan that fame and fortune bring. Having been brought up in poverty he now began spending money with complete abandon. The parties he threw are now part of his legend. Even at his home on the farm in Sudbury Ma. Stories of his shenanigans are retold. Once in a drunken stupor he and his friends allegedly took a piano onto the middle of a frozen pond where it eventually sunk to the bottom.

His absence during the baseball season and his new lifestyle did not sit well with his wife Helen. Eventually she moved to New York to be with her husband but that didn’t change his “Bon Vivant” way of living. The marriage disintegrated and Helen returned to Boston with their daughter Dorothy. Ruth eventually met up with a divorced woman Claire Hodgson who had a daughter named Julie. Claire was a strong willed person who soon “tamed the tiger” of the Babe.

Helen and Ruth never divorced.

As an aside..my father also lived on Silver St. and told me of Babe Ruth living further down the same street. Ironically he worked at Joe’s Spa and in 1945 became part owner. A really small world isn’t it.

More on the Babe on the next Post

BABE RUTH RETOLD

Babe Ruth was the most famous athletic celebrity of his era. When he retired in 1935 he had a lifetime batting average of .342, had 2,783 hits, 2,213 RBI’s, and hit 714 home runs. As a pitcher for the Red Sox he had a win/loss record of 94-46 and an ERA of 2.28. I mention Babe not because of his celebrity status but because of his close ties with South Boston.

When he arrived in Boston to play for the Boston Red Sox he met and fell in love with Helen Woodford of West Fourth St. He moved to Silver St. to be near his girlfriend and within the year they married. As a young married couple they rented an apartment over Joe’ Spa (over the part now known as the Amsterdam Café) and then later to the Eaton Hotel on Emerson St….now luxury apartments.

They adopted a girl named Dorothy (rumor has it that the child was Babe’s born out of wedlock). When he was traded to the NY Yankees for the 1920 season Babe Ruth move his family to a farm in Sudbury Ma.

More on Babe Ruth in the next post.