Chickenhouse Chronicles, European Sojourn, 1937-'38

At Sea,October 1937

My grandmother, Elsie, center. Her daughter, Polly, on the right and my mother, Barbara on board the SS American Farmer

My grandmother's diary continues,

Fri, Oct 1, 1937: Didn't arise until 11:30.

The stewardess brought us a tray. I'm having more coffee than I can use preparatory to going without any on the Continent. The Captain keeps us all howling with screaming tales. He's a wonderfully well versed man. Put us thru school and none of us knew as much as he. Cecil Brown & Mr. Holding keep him talking—and the little O'Dell girl from New Jersey. Barb seems much better. To be actually enjoying herself. She is very fond of Larry Abt. He's done a lot for her. George Burroughs, Cambridge, is being very nice to her—good looking rod she thinks most attractive. The two boys play deck tennis all of the time beautifully. A very punk movie in the evening, "Every Night at Eight."

October 1937, my future mother, Barbara, seventeen years old. relaxing in a deck chair.

Sat, Oct 2, 1937: Another beautiful day at Sea.

Gert Abt & I played shuffle board. I never seem to arise before noon much as I try. But if I don't keep myself up Barb keeps me up at night. Tea on the upper deck every afternoon is much fun. It's amazing how often one can eat and also drink; we went up on the bridge in the afternoon at the Captain's invitation. There the Abts & I had drinks in the bar room. Just as we were lingering along, the steward came down and said that the Captain wished us in his quarters immediately for cocktails. We simply tore into our best things and arrived. Cecil Brown, Mr. Holding, the Abts, myself & Polly; the dinner was great fun—we were all hilarious. Later we danced and danced. Then Hans Van Looy, the funny Swiss boy, pulled Cecil out of bed with a fire hose and we all assembled in our stateroom. Barb, Polly, the Abts, Rod, Jerry, Hans, and then raided the pantry and got out turkey and coffee. Had coffee in the Abts' room at 1 a.m.

Note Cecil Brown's signature.  He will become an early World War Two freelance war correspondent, first in Europe, later transferred to Singapore after the Italian government expels him. Elsie's diaries reveal that she and Brown developed a close friendship over several months while she lived in Brussels. Brown had a long distinguished career. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to radio.

Sun, Oct 3, 1937: Time on this glorious boat is getting too short.

There is so little time to do almost nothing. We passed the Europa this afternoon. The first sight of anything we've seen in ten days. We're do in Plymouth after dinner so we all stayed up to see the first sight of land. We got Cecil Brown to cut in at Bridge—quite an accomplishment as he generally writes every evening. He says he's going to write us all up in some way. I hope he lets us know when and where. We sighted our first glimpse of Ireland about Midnight. Beautiful rocks against a black background and later we commenced to take on pilots. We didn't really go into Plymouth but unloaded cargo for about 1 ½ hours.

SS Europa was a German built ocean liner. She and her sister ship, Bremen were the two most advanced high speed steam turbine ocean vessels of the day. Neither ship played a part in World War Two. Europa remained dockside throughout the war and was captured by the U.S. Army in 1945. She was used to transport U.S. troops home after the war. In 1941 Bremen suffered a severe fire, set by a disgruntled crew member, and was dismantled by the Germans for munitions.

Mon, Oct 4, 1937: Had to arise early and pack.

What a job. If only three women could travel without anything. It was an awful job carting things down to the trunk room. Austin Ashley helped me. His affair with the Boston girl, Willa, is progressing very rapidly. No doubt she'll have an invitation to Cambridge. Deck games with Gert Abt in the aft and drinks in the bar with Larry Abt before dinner. After dinner we all played Contract; Gert, Cecil Brown, Brian, the Englishman and I; Barb and Polly, Larry Abt & Hans Von Looy. Hans is so funny he keeps every one screaming. He speaks in all four languages at once. We all stayed up until all hours, watching us go up the Thames in London and take on four different pilots. Finally when one came on Hans asked him if "he was the piano tuner."

Next story; Landfall, London, and and Richard II at Queen's Theatre