Summer 1942 - The Accident - Letter From Helen Upton - Part Two

Helen Upton and Margaret Upton Waning - October 1940

Continuing Helen's letter...

"We were supposed to shop to check up on merchandise & displays in the big stores for discussion Friday but it rained & stormed so that one of the other girls & I didn't get a chance to get into any of the stores except Macy's.  So we took a cab up town & had supper in the Rainbow Grill1 on top of the R.C.A. Building.  Very nice & then I left at 11:30.  Coming home was in the Club Car before retiring when Peggy Hopkins Joyce2 came in accompanied by her detective on the way to Canada to sell War Bonds.  She needs one to protect her with those diamonds she wears beautiful & she seems a very nice person.  Also saw a couple of good plays and had supper at the Hotel Algonquin3.  If you want to read an amusing book read "Take a Wayward Inn" it is by Frank Case who owns the hotel4.  Saw Mr & Mrs James Ghason(sp) there - were sitting in the lobby & came into the dining room where we were eating.  Broadway isn't what it used to be - all the lights are out & the taxis drive around with only tiny head lights about 2 in in diameter.  So you can see there is quite a difference in the town.  Took a ferry across the river to the Jersey side past the Normandie5 - looks just like it does in the news reels.

Was in Jamestown for my vacation & Buffalo from there for a few days.  Had a nice time - nothing exciting however - didn't go much of any place - only to a few baseball games & dancing 2 or 3 times.  Visited Mrs Kennedy in Buffalo - was glad to see her again.  Saw a couple of good shows.  I hope you have seen "Mrs Miniver"6 - it is all the publicity says it is.  I also liked "This Above All"7 - also liked the book.  Read "The Sun is My Undoing"8 & Ilka Chases' book "Past Imperfect"9 - both good.  Haven't done much reading as I have been playing golf every chance I can get.  Couldn't play today as I hurt my foot fooling around last Wed at a picnic not seriously but thought it best to stay off of it as much as possible today."  

To Be Continued 

  

1 The Rainbow Room was an upscale restaurant and nightclub on the sixty-fifth floor of the GE Building in Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The Rainbow Room first opened on October 3, 1934, and was originally conceived as a formal supper club, where the elite and influential of New York could gather to socialize over cocktails, dine on fine cuisine, and dance to the strains of legendary big bands on a revolving floor. The Rainbow Room featured a revolving dance floor, a live big band orchestra, and a view of the New York City skyline. (Wikipedia).

2 Peggy Hopkins Joyce (May 26, 1893–June 12, 1957) was an American actress and celebrity, famed as much for her several marriages to wealthy men, colorful divorces, scandalous affairs, her diamonds and generally lavish lifestyle as for her work on stage or screen.  Born Marguerite Upton in Berkley, Virginia, she was known as "Peggy", a traditional nickname for Margaret or Marguerite. "Hopkins" and "Joyce" were the surnames of her second and third husbands, respectively (of six overall).  She owned the Portuguese Diamond, one of the most expensive in the world, that she sold to Harry Winston and which is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (Wikipedia)
3 The Algonquin Hotel is a historic hotel located at 59 West 44th Street in Manhattan (New York, New York). The hotel has been designated as a New York City Historic Landmark.  The 174-room hotel, opened in 1902, was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett. It was originally conceived as a residential hotel but was quickly converted to a traditional lodging establishment. Its first owner-manager, Frank Case (who bought the hotel in 1927), established many of the hotel's traditions. Perhaps its best-known tradition is hosting literary and theatrical notables, most prominently the members of the Algonquin Round Table. (Wikipedia)

4 Further reference to The Algonquin Hotel & Frank Case.
5 SS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built. During World War II, Normandie was seized by the United States authorities at New York and renamed USS Lafayette. In 1942, the liner caught fire while being converted to a troopship, capsized and sank at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal. Although salvaged at great expense, restoration was deemed too costly and she was scrapped in October 1946.
6 Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson in the title role. It was based on the fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, Mrs. Miniver. The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director. (Wikipedia)
7 This Above All (1941) is a novel by Eric Knight. It was adapted into an Academy Award winning movie in 1942. The novel has been adapted to a movie of the same name in 1942 directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Tyrone Power and Joan Fontaine. It won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.
8 By Marguerite Steen, it was best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic.  The massive slave-trade and Bristol shipping saga The Sun Is My Undoing (1941); this was the first part of a trilogy, but the remaining volumes were far less popular. 
9 Ilka Chase (April 8, 1900 – February 15, 1978) was an American actress and novelist. She was in the first Broadway cast of Clare Boothe Luce's play The Women (1938) and subsequently appeared in Neil Simon's Broadway hit Barefoot in the Park.  Her autobiography, Past Imperfect (Vol I) Which said " Those who never fail are those who never try." was published in 1942 and Free Admission (Vol II), published in 1948. She also wrote more than a dozen other books.  Chase died in Mexico City, aged 77. Her epitaph reads: "I've finally gotten to the bottom of things."