1950 in Lincoln, Nebraska

The tiny little package is from KODACK. It is addressed to Rose Marie Smith. 4308 No. 61st Street. Lincoln, NE. The Date is July 27th 1950. 12PM. Postage stamp, Chicago, IL. Contents: Cine-Kodak KODACHROME 8 mm film.

You see Rose Marie Smith was my mom’s name at that time. And I was born seven years later. This film treasure was re-found on August 27, 2017, 67 years ago from the postmark. Let’s just say this item has not found it’s way into fiction just quite yet. The first thing I want to do is look up the address in google maps. I resist and decide to take film of the outer protective covering and custom envelope that this little find is in.

I then googled the date and Lincoln, NE location instead. Newspapers Publishers Extra.com came up. Ahhhh....A copy of the Lincoln Star online for that date. Something warm and familiar about the masthead I started reading in about 1967.

The forecast was partly cloudy for that late-July day in 1950. Occasional thundershowers likely.. Low tonight near 63, high Friday near 88 on the upper left corner of the front page. Notice use of the word “near”. We are much more precise today where the paper might write 88/63, like it's going to be a fact

The headline that July day was about the Korean War, “YANKEES BRACE FOR HUGE RED ASSAULT." This could almost be the headline today considering the behavior of "The Little Rocket Man." It's the only Trump nickname that actually seems to fit...a little. 

Hey, times were good in Lincoln in 1950. Six 10 oz bottles of coca cola was twenty-five cents. Loaf of bread 16c. In 1950, there were two leagues in baseball. The Detroit Tigers had the best record in either league on that hot July day, but would soon lose the AL to the Yankees who would win in 4 straight from the Phillies in the 1950 World Series, behind Joe DiMaggio and his $100k per year salary, and Casey Stengel, who was in the twilight of his 59 plus years in baseball, as Manager. Hall of famer DiMaggio batted .301 that year at the age of 35! played in 139 games out of 154 total. And, for the first time, on July 3, Casey asks Joe to play first base. A sign that Joe may be slowing down. His last year in baseball would be the following year. Three years later Joe would elope to San Francisco City Hall and marry, well you know who, Marilyn Monroe. The Lincoln Star also reports that day the Dow Jones 30 Industrials is at 266.34. Today the Dow is over 20,000.

But for now, back to the little box.

The house on 61st street is in Havelock, annexed to Lincoln in 1930 against the will of Havelock. A town since 1893, the Havelock people wanted their independence. The Burlington Northern was the ultimate arbitrator and made it happen. I think about the strong sense of independence both my mom, Rose Marie Smith, my half sister Nancy Smith had, and I wonder if it comes from those formative years in Havelock in some weird way.

The home was about a half block from the main drag, of course, named, Havelock Avenue. In 1950, it was all at your fingertips in Havelock. Havelock was a little town of about 2,000 people. It had all the prerequisites of the best of the day: classic small downtown form, movie theater, the glorious Joyo Theater, at least as my mom would describe it. The cost to go the movies was about 37 cents in 1950. That was the national average and I’m pretty sure Havelock has a lower cost of living than the average. There was a barber shop right next door to the Joyo according to the accounts and the infamous Arnold's Tavern was across the street. Arnold's is still there. It opened in 1945 and I'm thinking about going there for the first time in September.

My sister lived on 61st with my Mom and Grandmother, her name also Rose Marie. A few months earlier, in March, Nancy Marie celebrated her second birthday (picture). It was a cold day that Tuesday, March 7, BLIZZARD HITS MOST OF STATE, The Lincoln Star shouted.

Anyway, it appears the birthday girl received a slide as a gift, which was set up inside the home, probably because of the blizzard. Nancy, perched at the top, holding on, confident but perhaps not quite expressing it completely.

Front of the Cornhusker Hotel's Christmas Program - 1950

Later that year, December 17 to be exact, the family would be attending the Cornhusker Hotel's 18th Annual Christmas Party for employees and families. Yep, somehow, someway, through providence, this one page program and film has made it’s way to me in 2017.

It describes the series of events for the evening, including opening greetings by the resident director of the hotel and a performance of “The Merry Christmas Elf” with over 35 people performing and named in the program, including Santa himself! 1950…wow, a performance like this for an employee Christmas party!

My mom worked at the Intercom Club inside the Cornhusker. She would have been 27 years old on this day in 1950. We heard The Intercom Club stories when we got older. Possibly, the fist woman bartender in Lincoln, she says, and the unique mix of politicians, personalities and business people at the club for lunch and happy hour. The Intercom didn't open till 1954 as a club for both the military and civilians because the Lincoln Air Base did not have an official officers club. So my mom must of worked in the coffee shop until then. I vaguely remember her telling me this. The Intercom thrived until 1968 when it merged with the new Nebraska Club in the new building across the street on the 20th floor, the top floor in that office building, moving from the basement of the Cornhusker which would be demolished 10 years later in seven seconds with timed implosions. This demolition leaves the history of that Lincoln landmark etched into the memory of the lucky few...like me, who can now tell this story. And, by the way, one of my first jobs was bussing dishes at the Nebraska Club. Yep, this is pretty much full circle for me.

But there is more. After my mother Rose passed, we assembled a group of family and friends in 2016 to share memories and stories of Rose. And where did we have this fine get together...? Where else, but the Cornhusker Hotel. Rebuilt in the same spot.