“Those Were the Days My Friend……I Thought They’D Never End!!!!!!

By Sally Sober and Sara Beatrice Sober

This is the story of a little girl born on the Lower East Side, in New York City, of immigrant parents from Austria and Germany. An artistically talented woman who overcame her losses at an early age and developed her talents with her tenacity and determination. How and why she became known as
"Sally". The celebrities and political figures she met and interacted with during the course of her career; her travels abroad with the dazzling experiences and humorous incidents no one else could have experienced.
A fascinating career in the fashion world of 7th Avenue in New York City at the height of its fame. The partnership which developed into a lasting friendship; creating the very successful manufacturing company of women' s one of a kind gowns "Amoureuse Couture"; started on her living room floor with just $2000, and its eventual demise as a result of the garment worker's union.
Experience it all with the exciting, picturesque and emotional overtones that can only be told by Sara Beatrice Sober.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483625898

Book preview

"Those Were the Days

My Friend…

I Thought

They’d Never End!!!!!!

Sara Beatrice Sober

Sally Sober

Copyright © 2013 by Sara Sober.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/27/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Preface

So Let Me Begin…

Yes… . I Was A Little Girl Once!

A Beginning And An End

You’re In The Army Now

Starting Anew… And Again Looking Back

A Career Begins With Henry Rosenfeld

Just The Two Of Us

Roberta Living With Grandma (My Mother)

Be With People And Meet Someone

Men Found Me Attractive

Roberta—Her New Life Starts

Is This Frank?

The Boys And I

Off To Israel For Frederick!

What A Huge Mistake

An Adventure On My Own

A Fresh Start In Florida

Funiculi Funicular

New York New York What A Wonderful Town!

Jacqueline Kennedy In New York

Aunt Sally, What Are You Doing This Weekend?

Roberta—Fulbright Scholar

Mal Or Mawl

My Mink Coat

Amoureuse Couture

Florida… My Home

PREFACE

This began originally as a letter. It was written in parts and at different times. It was started on 2/1/08 and continued into 2013.

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My dearest Great Granddaughters. Great Grandsons, and Grandsons,

You know how much I love you and how precious you are to me—I never write anymore because I cannot see or read what I’m writing, so please bear with me. (I had your Grandma Roberta type this for me).

I wanted to write this letter some time ago but realized we live in different worlds as we are 4 generations apart. But I was there in your generation and remember it well.

Let me tell start by telling you about your ancestors and the way they lived. I can only go back 6 generations, that’s all that I know. Then I will give you a short synopsis of my life before I start an in-depth portrait of the life I have lived.

SO LET ME BEGIN…

You had a Great, Great Grandfather named Wolgang Lind. He was born and lived in Vienna, Austria. He had a wife and 4 children. Three boys and one girl, named Rose Lind. Wolfgang owned a great deal of property in Vienna and had the Polish peasants work on the land. They were good workers and happy they had jobs. This was in the late 19th century. There were no schools to educate the working class so most of them were illiterate. No manufacturing in the 19th century so the people worked the land. Every Saturday night when they were paid, the Polish workers used to go to the beer halls to whoop it up and after they had their vodka they had rough fights and went into the Jewish area and raped the Jewish girls. They did not like the Polish girls who had pale white white skin and yellow hair. Make-up was not used then so the girls looked very pasty—but the Jewish girls had black or brown hair with big brown eyes, so they attacked the Jewish girls.

Wolgang and his wife were worried about their girl who was about 9 or 10 yrs old. Wolfgang heard about a new world far far away where people were working very hard to build a new country—they worked all hours, no time for foolishness, they were working to educate themselves, to survive, and to send money to their relatives back in the old country they had left. These were the immigrants who built up this country. This country was called America and that was the place that Wolfgang wanted to go to find out if all this he heard about America was the truth. In 1898 he boarded the Rotterdam (a ship) and in 30 days he arrived at Ellis Island in New York. He saw our beautiful Statue of Liberty and as he told me, tears rolled down his face, a new world, America with all its freedoms. He lived here learning the ways of America and a new language. He sent a letter to his wife to send their daughter Rose, America was a safe place for a girl to grow up, no beatings, no raping, just people working and getting an education. Her Mother put her daughter, Rose Lind, on a ship to America in 1900. Mother and daughter never, never saw each other again.

Her Father Wolfgang met her at Ellis Island and they lived together in New York City. Rose Lind (my Mother), was working in a shirtwaist factory with all the other immigrant girls when suddenly she met a very handsome young boy, his name was Aaron Baum, an innocent young man, an immigrant from Germany

Aaron was about 5 or 6 years of age when he wandered away from his home, saw many people boarding a ship. He wandered onto the ship and one month later, he landed at Ellis Island. He was always crying for his Mother on the ship, but she was not there, and the people were providing food for this hungry little boy who slept on the bare wooden decks at night. This was in 1900. He wandered off the ship with the rest of the people but was standing there alone crying. The immigration officers didn’t know what to do with a strange little boy crying—the ship was not due to go back to Germany for a month.

He only spoke German and he was not sure of his full name. He said his first name was Aaron and a lady standing at the pier asked about this crying child. They told her the story, she said she had 3 children; she would take him home so she will have 4, and left her name and address if anyone calls for him. She took him home and said to little Aaron:

Call me Tanta Ethel.

To Aaron, she was always Tanta Ethel. She treated him just as her own 3 children. When he was older, she sent him to work in the garment center and he went to New York Evening High School at night after he completed his day’s work. My dear Father started work at 13 years of age in a factory. He was never sure of his age or that his last name was Baum because he was so young when he came to this country.

When he was about 18 years of age he noticed my Mother working in the same factory. Their eyes caught each other’s often and they stared at each other but did not speak, afraid to lose their jobs. Often they met outside, they started to talk and realized they were fond of each other and respected each other. There was a lot of gossip in the factory; so my Mother left her job so she would not cause Aaron my trouble.

She started working as a house worker in the dining room of wealthy people living on an estate on Long Island. They only hired German girls because the German girls were very respectful and ran clean homes. She set their dining room table with white Damask tablecloths, Bone China dishes, Silver flatware, and Crystal glasses. My Mother loved these beautiful things and said she will have the same and her children will live like that. When she married Aaron, there were custom peddlers going around each Friday selling these beautiful things. She started buying these things paying a little money each week.

They started dating, fell in love and were married. My Mother’s name was Rose Lind; she was born in Austria, in Beitch, a small town just North of Vienna and spoke only German. In the late 1940’s I went to Vienna and took a bus going up the mountain to look for Beitch. When I asked for the city of Beitch, they told me there is no more Beitch; it became a part of Vienna after World War I. The government took over that land and no one knew what happened to my grandmother.

Aaron Baum and Rose Lind Baum got married October 12th. I don’t know the year. They selected Columbus Day, in honor of Columbus who discovered a new land where people live in peace; land of the free; can get an education; practice any religion they want; and have the opportunity to work to support themselves. My Mother and Father were great patriots, and bought the biggest American flag, the size of a huge window. They put the flag out on every legal holiday. My Father taught us to love this country. I remember my Father would say:

Kiss the ground you walk on, you were born in a free country.

*     *     *

When I was a little girl I thought my Father was tied up in this country, but this was a free country. They had 4 children. Sara Beatrice (that’s me) my Father called me Sura Bosha (Surala), my darling brother, Irving, and my sisters Frances and Rosalie. Grandpa Wolfgang Lind was living with us and we were a happy family of 7. Frances, my older sister, was a beautiful child and a beautiful girl right through her entire life. As the first-born she was adored by my Father and he spoiled her with his love and attention. My Father, Aaron Baum, was a kind, gentle man, very loving to his wife and children. My Father never yelled or raised his voice. When he wanted to correct us or teach us the correct behavior, he said:

Come here my child, I want to talk to you.

He would speak to each one of us quietly telling us the difference between right and wrong. At bedtime, he blessed us and gave us each a big hug and kiss. I adored my Father and Mother, still think and talk about them as Momma and Poppa with love in my heart and tears in my eyes.

My parents wanted us to have a cultural education, so Frances was given piano lessons. My parents were poor and worked hard for a living and bought a Sohmer piano for Frances. She took weekly piano lessons and had to practice the piano each day for one hour. That was the law in my parents’ home. She started taking piano lessons at the age of six. My brother Irving played the violin. He took lessons as a young boy. My sister Rosalie became a singer. She took voice lessons for many years and sang professionally for a good part of her adult life.

Every evening after dinner the family would go into the living room. My parents sat down on the living room sofa with me and were entertained by the rest of the children. Frances would play the piano, Irving the violin and Rosalie used to sing all the famous opera arias. The music would seep outside; the windows were never closed, because there was no air conditioning. We would hear the applause from outside, the neighbors would gather outside to hear us singing and dancing.

We had a victorola with records with a great big horn on top. My Father had all the Enrico Caruso opera recordings and my Father played Caruso (the famous Italian tenor) arias every night. My Father had a beautiful voice, learned to sing the Italian arias and would accompany Caruso. I remember standing on a chair and looking down the big horn and wondering how that man got down into the big horn and was able to sing. My Mother and Father loved music, loved the opera, and loved waltzing to the Strauss music.

I, your Great Grandmother never was able to participate in any of the musical lessons. I was an ill child with a heart murmur and my parents watched over me very carefully to make sure I was well taken care of. I developed a love and talent for art; was always sketching and painting as a child. This early talent was probably responsible for my talented abilities in home décor and designing in the garment industry later in my adult life.

My Mother, Rose Baum was a very smart woman, very ambitious and wanted the best for her husband and children. She didn’t want her children to grow up as other children who had immigrant parents. My Mother wanted her children to grow up with elegance and dignity. This was in the 1920’s after World War I. The Russians and Italians started coming to this country as well as others from the Eastern European countries where they did not permit education for their people.

My Mother decided first she had to take her husband out of factory work in the garment center. At that time the union organizers were beating up the people who worked in the factories. If the workers went to work, they called them scabs and beat them with bats. One day my Mother stood in front of the door and told my Father he could not go to work. When my Father told her he had to, he had 7 people to feed, she told him she did not want a dead husband; they were killing the men in the factory. She told him, they would find another way. She asked the landlord who came to collect the rent each week to give her husband a job so he could go to work each day all dressed up in a suit, shirt and tie. My Father as a young man was very very handsome.

The landlord said there were no jobs in his office but the New York Life Insurance Company was looking for insurance agents. My Mother discussed it with my Father who said he knew nothing about insurance. She engaged a man who came every night for one year and taught my Father all about the different kinds of insurance as well as to help him lose his German accent. When he applied for the job at the New York Life Insurance Co., he was hired immediately. That was in the year 1922.

He loved his work, he loved meeting these highly educated and wealthy men and he became one of them. My parents were invited to all the formal events, they spoke and dressed elegantly and danced the Johan Strauss waltzes beautifully because they were of German descent. They were a sight to behold. My Mother had so many beautiful evening gowns with long white kid gloves (up above the elbows), my Father in his tails and tuxedo; they went out every Saturday night in formal attire. These balls were held to raise money for the poor immigrants who were just coming to America and had no jobs and no place to live.

We the children would go along, as there were no such things as a babysitter. Momma would make us beautiful lace party dresses. At these big beautiful ballrooms they had a large sleeping room with many cots so the guests could have their children resting or sleeping on the cots while these beautiful banquets were in progress. But I would stand at the door peeking out to watch Momma and Poppa grandly waltzing, to big time bands. Oh, what a beautiful childhood I had. What a happy little girl I was.

Poppa did very well as an insurance agent. In the 30’s he became the 14th largest insurance agent in the United States. He was honored with a banquet and he was the toastmaster at all the banquets. He spoke beautifully and received much applause; he was awarded a huge watch fob of pure gold with a huge diamond in the center. It was engraved to Aaron Baum, the 14th insurance man in the United States. He was so proud of it. He wore it each day on his gold chain attached to his gold watch. The chain went across his vest attached to his gold pocket watch with the fob and huge diamond dangling from his chain. This watch was left to me in my Father’s will when he died. I wore it attached to my gold bracelet, but it was all stolen when I was robbed when I lived in New York City on 86th Street ½ block away from beautiful Central Park. I lived in a townhouse for 22 years that originally belonged to Adam Gimbel, I was robbed in that apartment 4 times. I loved the apartment in an elegant 4-story townhouse built in 1903. I moved out in 1984. I had it declared a landmark therefore it could never be demolished.

Wolfgang, who was my Grandpa, said he must go back to Vienna to bring Grandma here. But in 1914 World War I broke out and no passenger ships could sail on the Atlantic Ocean. The Ocean was full of German submarines and sinking all passenger ships. The Rotterdam was also sunk and my Grandpa could not go back to Europe to find his wife until after the war. After the war in 1919, he left for Austria, spent a year searching for his wife and no one knew what happened to her. His land was confiscated by the government. He came back to America in 1921 to live with all of us until he died.

Grandpa sat at the head of the table at all meals, Sabbath nights and all the holidays, after my Mother, Rose Baum would light the Sabbath candles, my Grandpa would make a prayer, take a sip of the Sabbath wine and pass it around to each of us to say a prayer and have a sip of wine.

My Grandpa always sat at the head of the table—that was the respect we gave him. One night he said to my Mother:

You start dinner without me, I am tired, I must rest.

He went to lie down and we started dinner. When we were half-way through with dinner, Momma said to Poppa:

Go see Grandpa and ask him to join us for dinner.

So Poppa went in to see Grandpa and tell him it was time to come out we were almost finished with dinner. Grandpa said to Poppa:

Go finish dinner my son, I’ll come out later.

My Father became frightened; his father-in-law called him my son.

I’m not your son! (I’m his son-in-law, he is in his 90’s maybe he forgot I’m his son-in-law.) Poppa said:

Grandpa, I’m not your son, I’m your son-in-law.

Grandpa said to Poppa:

You are better than any of my sons. You’ve been kinder to me all the time I’ve been in America and you have given me a home.

Poppa kissed him on his forehead and came out to finish his dinner and told Momma he will be out soon. After dinner Momma went in to see her Father and he was asleep, he was gone. Those were the last words he said to my Father:

You are my son.

They were wonderful words for my Father because he never knew his Mother or his Father.

When my Grandpa died, my Father, Aaron Baum, sat at the head of the table and conducted the dinner Sabbath night and holidays with the same respect as the gentleman from Vienna with dignity, with prayer to God, and a sip of wine.

When my Father had his heart attack, he was confined to bed and he asked his son Irving (your Great Grand Uncle) to service his clients until he recovered. Aaron (your Great Great Grandfather) never recovered and died the first Night of Passover. Your Great Uncle Irving continued with the insurance business and was very successful and made very good friends with his professional and business clients. He and his wife Shirley lived very comfortably and did much traveling. They always gave great dinner parties on holidays, etc. The dinners were fabulous and plush.

*     *     *

Your Great Aunt Frances married Leonard Weiser, who was manager of a stockbroker’s office until the age of 80. He had many friends and many clients and belonged to many clubs. He entertained constantly.

We were 3 girls and 1 boy. I told you about Aunt Frances and Uncle Irving and now about my Sister Rosalie. We were very close as children and even today since we are the only Baums left. Rosalie’s husband was Uncle Herby Williams. He was a school teacher and counselor. He selected the job of helping handicapped students and students who came from poor families. He taught them how to value their education and when they grow up to get good jobs. Not to depend on welfare or government assistance.

Rosalie worked for the school system as a clerk. Their summers had no school, so they took jobs running private camps at hotels. They did not waste their precious time. They had one son Warren, who helped his parents run these camps since he was 13 years old. He was a hard worker at school and had excellent marks. His college education came from scholarships and he became a professor at Michigan State University, therefore he and his wife Judy moved to Ann Arbor, MI.

When the computer industry came into being, Warren learned about computers and started publishing a newsletter on how to buy one and learn to use one. He used Apple software and developed a program for educators and sold the discs to teachers. He is now retired and living very comfortably. They have a daughter, Lisa, a very lovely girl now living in Chicago. She is a registered nurse, she’s married to Fernando, and they had a baby girl, Olivia, in August 2011. There are more cousins that some day I hope you will meet, 3rd and 4th generation proudly I say, all leading successful and happy lives with their families. I wanted you to know the Lind and Baum girls.

We never knew if Baum was the real family name because my Father never really knew his family name. At Ellis Island they asked him what his name was and he said he didn’t know. They asked him where he lived, he said he really didn’t know but outside of his house, there was a big Bohm. Bohm was German for tree. So the immigration officers put down Bohm—but spelled it the American way Baum. That’s how my Father got his last name of Baum. He never had any relatives named Baum. Although two sisters of his came later on and looked for him, they did not have the name Baum.

I was married to Frank Sober your Great Grandfather. Your Great Grandmother’s Husband, your Grandmother’s Father. Frank graduated from New York University pre-med, when he was 16 years of age, with the highest honors in New York City and went to MacGill University in Montreal, Canada. We had many high-class