Eighty years ago one of our favorite radio programs was the Chesterfield Radio Show, featuring the Glenn Miller orchestra. Faced with the challenge of squeezing as much music as possible into fifteen minutes, they regularly played medleys of four songs following the “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue” format, appropriated from an old wedding gift tradition.
Sure enough, I recently was able to find a legitimate example of this on YouTube, with Glenn announcing each selection before it was played. “Something Old: Melancholy Baby”; “Something New: Johnny Desmond with Moon Love”; “Something Borrowed (from our old friend Benny Goodman): Stomping at the Savoy”; and “Something Blue: Blue Moon”. There was a time when I adopted this format for columns combining four different topics, a practice I will exercise in this column.
Something Old: The United States Census Bureau is required to restrict public access to its information for seventy-two years. Consequently April 1, 2022, was a red-letter day for us amateur historians, as the 1950 Census became available to us. Dana Spriggs downloaded the entire file for Bridgeville, printed it out, and has mailed it to the Bridgeville Area Historical Society, where it will be added to their collection of old census reports.
This collection is a valuable resource for all of us, although many of the older reports are barely legible. Dana, thoughtfully, sent me copies of the four pages of the 1950 report that cover Lafayette Street, where our family was comfortably ensconced in those days. We show up on page 15, between the (Holland) Russells and (George) Goldbachs.
My father is identified as a civil engineer employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad; my mother, as a homemaker; and my twelve-year-old brother, as a “news boy”. All one can learn about me is that I am eighteen years old, that I performed no work the previous week, and that I was not looking for work that week. Actually I was away at college when the census-taker called.
Something New: How about two (Woodville’s new log cabin and the Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Bridgeville) for the price of one? We recently toured the new log cabin, constructed using two hundred-year-old timbers left-over from last year’s barn raising. It is an excellent addition to the Woodville Experience, complementing the other historic buildings in the complex and illustrating the way local settlers lived in the eighteenth century. Take advantage of a sunny Spring Sunday afternoon, turn back the calendar, and visit Woodville!
And, check out “publicartbridgeville.wordpress.com”, Public Art Bridgeville’s website. The exhibition of eight outdoor sculptures will be in place beginning May 1, 2022, and will run through March 1, 2023. Sponsors of specific pieces and donors of exhibition sites are identified on the website. Major support is from the Bridgeville Borough, the Bridgeville Parking Authority, and the Bridgeville Park District. This is a unique occurrence for our community; thanks to Bitsy and Guy Bellaver for making it happen.
Something Borrowed: A month ago at one of our BHS Brunches, Russ Kovach brought in a World War II scrapbook that Tom Grossi had loaned him. I, in turn, borrowed it and have enjoyed perusing it. According to Tom, this is a family heirloom that was kept during the War. It is filled with newspaper clippings from 1943, primarily from the Pittsburgh Press.
I have carefully scanned each of the pages so they can be added to the Bridgeville Area History Center collection of scrapbooks. Old scrapbooks have a double value – in addition to providing a record of times past, they also tell us something about the person who compiled the scrapbook. The selectivity of the scrapbook keeper in deciding which items should be retained is itself historical.
The clippings about the war are focused on the battles in North Africa and in the Solomon Islands, both of which were subjects of books I have recently read. It is interesting to compare the way these topics were reported in newspapers when they occurred, with the way scholars describe them decades later. The combination of censorship and propaganda effectively diluted the horror of what was actually happening.
Page 65 of the scrapbook includes the famous over-the-shoulder poster of Betty Grable that became the iconic World War II pin-up picture. Dressed in a comely one-piece bathing suit, she is shown from the back, featuring her “Million Dollar Legs”. Turns out this pose was necessary to hide the fact that she was visibly pregnant at the time.
Something Blue: The news that Dolores Kovach McGrogan had died produced the usual emotions in me – sadness that she is no longer with us and gratitude that she had been blessed with such a long, happy life. Dolly was a vital part of our BHS Class of 1949, as had been her husband Jack. Their high school romance blossomed into a marriage that eventually produced four children, eight grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.
Although she had suffered from ill health in recent years, Dolly was perpetually positive and a tower of strength to her family. This is not surprising – that is the kind of person she was in high school. Cheerful, vivacious, and popular, Dolly was loved by all of us.
Jack was one of the founders of our BHS Brunch Club, always eager to renew his lifelong friendship with Lou Kwasniewski. He had a long career with Universal Cyclops Steel and the United Steelworkers as a staff representative. We lost him in 2011.
At this point in the Miller radio show, announcer Paul Douglas would suggest that the listeners “light up a Chesterfield” and remember to tune in again “same time, tomorrow night”. I will be satisfied if you promise to check your emails next Thursday for another episode of “Water Under the Bridge”.