August 1943 - A Letter From Ellen Hall - Part Two

Ellen's letter continues...

Letter - Page 4

"...The only name people recognize here is Hollywood.  Most of the natives don't know where Calif. is (they don't know Hollywood is in Calif.) and a lot of people have never heard of Oregon.  Kids are still fighting the Civil War in school here.

My hubby was sure swell to me today.  After I left he washed the breakfast dishes along with last nights dinner dishes.  He fixed the Nucoa1 for me (butter to high here & too many points).  He defrosted the refrigerator and in general was a very swell husband.

Nucoa Ad from the 1940's

I wish you could be here to see the cotton.  It is just coming out.  They are going to start picking it this next week.  That will be something new for me to see.  Oh by the way, remember Tobacco Road.2  I ride to work over it ever(sic) morning from the New Savanah(sic) highway to Bush Field.  The government has made a wide wide highway out of it.  But the houses along the road are still the same as when the book was written and twice as bad as a person can imagine."

Letter - Page 5

"8/10/43  Am back at the office again.  I got awfully sleepy last night so went to bed.  Last night when Grover got home his legs hurt him so bad that he can hardly walk.  And then this morning his hands were swollen about twice their size.  I'm just afraid that it is arthritis.  The doctor told him when he went into the army that he had hereditary arthritis, but this is the worst attack of it he has had if it is that.  I made him promise to go see a doctor for I'm terribly worried.  

Grover is going to get us a watermelon today.  As much as I dislike the south I must admit their melons beat ours at home a 100 ways.  But that is all I can say about the south that I like.

Grover and I went to see "Action in the North Atlantic"3 when we were in L.A.  I thought it was good too."

Letter - Page 6

"Well, Sis it is time to get back to work.  Write again soon.  I enjoy your letters a lot.  And tell your hubby to write too.

Love,
Grover and Ellen"


1 Nucoa - a brand of Oleo Margarine.  The Dairy lobby was strong at that time and margarine was sold white with coloring to stir in and turn it yellow.
2 Tobacco Road is a 1932 novel by Erskine Caldwell about Georgia sharecroppers. It was dramatized for Broadway by Jack Kirkland in 1933, and ran for a then-astounding eight years (3,182 performances). A 1941 film version, deliberately played mainly for laughs, was directed by John Ford, and the storyline was considerably altered.
3 Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 war film directed by Lloyd Bacon, featuring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as sailors in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II.