Rose Polsky
Rose Malewitz Polsky was born in New York City in 1906 to Wolf and Jenny Malewitz, immigrants from Russia. Her father had studied in a yeshiva as a boy, was orphaned young, and was raised by relatives before coming to America, where he quickly learned garment designing and became known for his fine work. When Rose was about a year old, her father was recruited by Edward Titche to come to Dallas, and the family, with several children, settled in Texas around 1907 or 1908. They had six children in all, including Fanny, Jack, Henrietta, Stanley, and Rose.
The family first rented on Gould Street, then bought a large home on Cadiz Street in the Cedars, a fine neighborhood where families such as the Marcuses, Rosenfields, and Philipsons lived. Rose recalled her father keeping cows and a horse and surrey, and she attended the Rita Bean Coward school before the family moved to South Boulevard, where she attended Forest Avenue High School alongside Stanley Marcus. Her father worked for Titche before opening his own ladies ready-to-wear store on Elm Street, later moving into handkerchief and fabric manufacturing under the name Maltex Fabrics, and eventually buying a seven-story building on Elm Street that prospered for decades. The family kept kosher, observed the holidays, built a sukkah, and hosted large seders for those without a place to go.
After graduating high school, Rose went to work for wholesale shoe manufacturer Barney Aronoff, staying thirteen years and traveling widely. There she met Morris Polsky, called Jack, who was opening a shoe store in Kilgore during the East Texas oil boom. They married in 1943 and moved to Kilgore, where Rose found the finest ten years of her life among the warm, close Jewish communities of Kilgore, Longview, and Tyler. She was active in Hadassah, once securing a remarkable annual gift of thousands of dollars from a wealthy woman in Marshall who had been a neighbor of Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold. The Polskys later lived in Victoria, Texas, before returning to the Dallas area.
Full Transcript
Today is Thursday, March the 9th, 1989. I'm speaking with Rose Malewitz-Polsky. We're here at the JCC. Also in attendance is Minnie Ross and Sylvia Stein. Would you just tell us your name? I'm Rose Polsky. All right. And your maiden name? Rose Malowitz. And I think you told me you came to Dallas when you were one year old. Where were you born, Rose? New York City. Why did your family come to Dallas? My papa was in a manufacturing business. What kind of manufacturing? Ladies. Buying suits and things. He was a tailor? Or he had a manufacturing. He had a manufacturing. You know, but they were fine.
And Edward Teich, Teich Gellinger, came to that place where he was. And somehow or another, he took a liking to my father. And he asked my father, how long have you been in this country? And he says, well, I've seen that. It must have been about 19... When Mr. Tide spoke to your father? No, it was earlier than that because, see, I came to my 10-year-old before I was 1906. You were born in 1906? Yeah, and I was the year old. So, about 1907, maybe he came back in 1908. So he told my father, oh how do you know I can see my father was raised in Yeshua.
But not so far as being a rabbi, his father died, his mother died. So my father married, my grandfather married his wife's youngest sister. This was in Europe? In Europe. And my father was five years old. So the relatives took care of my father, and my father got older and he had this girlfriend, my mother, and she was gorgeous, he was pretty gorgeous. And he decided they'd get married and they'd been in poor children. Now where were they living? In Europe. In Russia. In Russia In Russia Do you remember what town what city Let see I think those names you know Yeah well that okay It's just interesting.
Lefowitz. What was that? Lefowitz. Lefowitz? Yeah, I don't know whether it's a country town or what it is. Okay, I don't know. But then he came here, and the minute he came here, he immediately enrolled in school. In New York? Yeah, his school and his father was living there. See, so my mother had just one child. She was about six months old, six, seven months old, I guess. And he went to school right away and he picked up a designing. He was good with the hands all he wants. So when Mr. Titech came, he wanted to meet my father because he saw what beautiful work he did.
So he talked to me, they're coming to Dallas, Texas, because my father didn't like the hustle-bustle, and he didn't want to raise his family. At that time, we were, I think, my father was living. They were living in Brownsville, not in New York City, but in Brownsville, further around. and he decided he was going to go. So he bundled up four kids, I was just a baby, and we moved to Dallas, Texas. He had some relative there, the Goldsmiths or somebody, so we knew somebody. Came here and we rented out a full room house just being built on Rule Street was, and Mr. Shackman, Yeah.
Man is, or is like a railroad. We didn't live there, we lived there about six, seven, eight months. On Gould Street. On Gould Street. Now what did you mention, Mr. Shackman? Yeah, Shackman, you know the Shackman name. Yeah. He is, it's the grandfather of Harold. Harold. Was it his house or? His house, he was a building. Oh, he was a builder. Your name was a builder in the Carpenter. Oh, okay. So anyhow, we lived there like quite a year and my father didn't like living there. So he immediately went to the South, but it was in the South Dallas, but it was a nicer neighborhood, didn't it?
You remember where it was? Yeah we bought the Dinkersfield home It was a big house On what street It was on Cadence and Wall Cadence and Wall And how large a house was it How large a house Oh it had a two stories It was a nice house How old were you then Oh, it must have been about two years ago, not that I remember the house. And I think I have a picture in the front of my mother sitting, Mommy nodding, and I think they're gone now, sitting on a swing. And my mother is sitting there. They gave me that picture. And that was that house.
Oh, I'd love to see that picture. was on it but I think my sister will, I wasn't. I had that one picture but it was a nice house. And Mr. Harrison, A. Harrison Company, had their house on the corner. We were next door. And in our backyard, the adjoining house from the back, Stanley Marcus and his family, his mother and father lived there and the kids and of course on that same block all these people you know the roses fields and the lawn and the orchards and every one of them lived there so it was considered a very fine neighborhood the phillipsons and so i grew up in that that area that area was known as the cedars that's what it's called it was called but all because the cans yes all of them lived there And I remember my father, we had two yards there.
We even had three cows. Next door, my father bought the lot. And he had three cows. And we bought one Jersey and one Flossie. And the other was, I don't know what her name was. I thought, but three cows. The cows were for milk. Who milked the cows? My father. Your father milked the cows? He was working. I remember he bought a horse, his name was Jasper, he was beautiful. He was a surrey with a fringe on top. So the horse pulled the surrey? Oh yeah, everybody went riding. And then we had friends he was a friend of Mr Coplitz I remember that Coplitz he said Well they had one of these carts and they had a driver They were considered very wealthy people at the time And they lived on Canton and Irving a big house gorgeous house But they would come and pick us kids up and take us for a ride This I never forget But anyhow, it was a nice neighborhood.
And I went to that Lena Bean Coward School. Oh, uh-huh. And I remember Fanny Sanjer went there. Everybody went there. You know, it was just a nice, really incredible neighborhood. Do you remember where the school was? Was it? Yeah, it was on Hackard Street, where the, what is it, what is the name of that place? Is it the auditorium? I'll let you wait for yourself. I forgot the name. What is it? The auditorium. the municipal, the city auditorium. Yeah, you know, right in there, that's all that. I can't even remember. I go there now, it's just like this. I can't imagine, you know, because I remember that we went to school there and this old lady was named after her, Rita Pete Coward.
And Fanny Sanger at the time was going to Hockey Day, but her mother yanked her out at Hockey Day. And we went to the school that I wouldn't be visiting. It was really a fine, It was like a society school. We all had a nice bunch of kids for there. We had to run home for lunch and have a sandwich and run back. You know, it was quite close. But anyhow, it was nice people there. Well, I went there until I got raised in high school. I wasn't in high school yet. When I graduated, everybody was moving away. From that area? Yeah. Where were they moving?
South Boulevard. More South. and my father bought one and it was a big two-story house too. And when I entered high school, Stanley Markins was a senior already. I think the other boys had already started going to a private school. I don't see much of it. What high school did you go to? It was like a really society school. I remember on South Boulevard the Lins lived there, the Peter Bars, and the Reinhardts, all of them were just right. Mittenball, everybody was right together. Do you remember the house number? Where? Mittenball? Your house on South Boulevard. Well what block was it in? It was about two blocks from the Temple of Manu.
Two blocks? Yeah, the big house. And do you remember all your neighbors? Could you name? I could go from one end to the other and I knew everybody. Do you remember them? Can you tell me now? Yeah. Okay. How do you remember those names? You'll see. Beginning for Ernie Street, the Oppenheimers, Dr. Davis, There was someone in between, then the, I'll skip a few of our races, I think. Then there was Temple and Angel, and then there was a few people that I didn't know, but there was a railroad track. And then the Disco backs and the Bowers and the I don't know, the Ways and the Beans.
So many up on that side of the street, on this side were the Levi's, Dr. Lefkowitz, and the Sun and Bill's, and the Star, and the Phillips. All those people that were going on up there. I knew everybody. I just knew everybody. I knew their kids. We all went to high school together. The kids talked about the name of Kevin Lesbiewicz, you know, she was a young girl in high school. I mean, she was a head of me. But when I went into high school, Stanley Marcus was a senior, and he was already a big wheel. He loved to talk and get up, you know what I mean?
He was smart, though. He was a smart boy. And then, My folks lived there for quite a while. I graduated high school, you know. But that neighborhood began to deteriorate and everybody began to move. The Tobias lived there too, but then they moved out on Swiss Avenue. I don't think any of them got to Highland Park at that time. I don't think they were out in two years. They wouldn't sell them. I don't know if it's one. We used to call the Silks pocket neighborhood. I remember that. Yeah. And so we decided that my father said, well, it's time to go. We took out my father.
That's when he moved away from South Polar Guard. Now let me ask you, did he work for Mr. Teich all this time? He worked until he decided that he was going to during the First World War I guess you know He was afterwards I think he opened up a lady ready to wear a good fine art Oh, so he opened his own. On Elm Street. And upstairs he had a manufacturing place. What was his store called? I don't know. The retail part. Did you remember the name of it? Yeah, I think it was just W. Malwigs. I don't remember. Okay. I don't remember. But upstairs he had...
He rented the building, see? So he rented... What is that? Have you ever heard of a RCD manufacturer? Yes, yes. They came to Dallas looking for a place. Lester was about 20 years old, his father. It was his father. Yeah. And they wanted to start making house dresses. I knew that my father was a designer and everything. They just said, how about you teaching Lester? And that's where they got their start. Are you ready to go? Are you talking about L'Arche? No, Lester Leaf. Lester Leaf of Marcy Lee, okay. Because I didn't know they made dresses. House dresses sold them for $1.98. And they were beautiful.
They were really beautiful dresses. They would pay about $30, $40. Right, for the same. I think of going out and buying a loaf of bread. My mother used to buy 12. 20 loaves of bread for a dollar. And today I went out and I paid $1.45 for a little snack on the bread. So you know how things are. But anyhow, we moved. My father moved from South Boulevard to Curran Drive. Oh, in University of Cork? No, in Top of Hillcrest. Oh, I'm sorry. He walked there because he was getting older and he wanted to be walking distance. He was very religious, but he was still a business place.
He had his own factories and big buildings, you know. But he had the shul was there, the Tepharatia was there. And he could just walk because he didn't, whatever he was. whatever it was, that's where he was. So anyhow, I've got to back up a little bit. What shul did you go to when you lived in South Dallas? I tell you when I came here as a little kid I got older I can go to school There was a temple a Jewish the sheriff there when that just started a little shul And you know where it was On Jackson Street Yeah. And we used to have to walk from way down.
There was no way in the world to get there except by your feet. You know, and I don't think people had cars then. And of course there was a little lady who would ride with a horse and they'd go, world, you know. But anyhow, as kids, we walked the temple, walked way up there. From where the market, you know where the market and puppet market is? Yeah, yeah. That's where the... And you're talking about from on Tata Street. Yeah. You walked to... I had to walk all that this time. I can just see that walk. Did other people walk with you? Oh, yeah. We walked to the greenbergs and the clans and all of them.
We got it up everybody. It was like a parade. I was just like a parade. But I can't help him because we were having that a little time. Now, are you talking about for the High Holy Days? Or are you talking about every Saturday you would walk? Friday night, I know, we'd walk. You'd walk Friday night? It was Saturday. I don't know what I did on Saturday. Okay, but Friday night you would walk. My father had to score. He had to be in school. Okay. But anyhow, that's when it first started, see. And I don't think there was a Temple Emmanuel, but he was on Irving Street.
Yes. and it was Rabbi Greenberg at that time, he had the temple there. Well, my father at that time was sort of, you know, pretty, he was an Orthodox, so we didn't get to go to the Temple of Mano. And I don't think they really had a Sunday school then, it was so, no. But anyhow, it finally got so that they built the Sheriff Israel in the city parks. Yeah. And of course my father bought a few and he was a fill of the church and he sat up on the thing, you know, and I don't know what it is, he did what it is.
But anyhow. Was he a Gabon? Yeah, a Gabon. What was your father's name? Wolf Malloway's. Wolf Malloway's. But anyhow, I don't know how, then there was another temple. The Temple of Emmanuel, and I was still a girl, see? Temple of Emmanuel had built this beautiful temple on South Polar So that it got a little wall you know So I went over there You mean after you moved to South Boulevard No. At that time, I was still living when going to the temple. I was still... Yeah, yeah. But I only went there just about a year or so, you know. And then... So your father, when you lived on South Boulevard, would walk to Sherrod when it was by City Polar?
Well, one scene when he walked at that, he belonged to Sherrod, but in the meantime, there was another temple, Jewish temple, built on Forest Avenue, and it was called The Good Asylum. So that was pretty close, so he was a member of all of them, so he just went back. He wasn't that. Yeah, yeah, of course. And then they just called him, whatever it was. But they didn't have it. That's how it was. And, gosh, so many things have happened. Now, I'm going to back up. We're going to back up a minute. Your father's name was Wolf Malewitz. What was your mother's first name? Jenny.
And I remember distinctly when they first started Adassa. She was one of the attorney members. And she, they, I think Mrs. Hessenson, Mrs. Zesner, and Mrs. Hoppitz, and Mrs. Sobloski. And they were younger people, and they started that. And I put this on, I'll never forget. Those women worked like dogs. They really did. And I remember they gave a bazaar. You know where they gave that bazaar and they sold chili. My mother, she just put barrels of chili. It was running out of my ears. And you know where they, where the old bus station? The old bus station. Yeah. On Cumber Street. Oh really? Yeah.
That's where they rented. And they sold chili. to anybody. They made a lot of money. That's a good idea. That's what they did. They really worked. Of course my mother later on she kind of slowed down. She just couldn't. But I do remember a lot of things we used to have. A lot of dancing Where? I didn't get to go, but I mean, where were the dances? Well, I remember the first Jewish organization was a, um, where the city park is. They used to call the YMH. YM. H. H. Right. Now I was about 16 years old, so I used to go up there. The God's Jews went up there, and I wasn't involved.
Get to them. But that's where the first Jewish art and faith that I know of was. It was a night they rented some lodge, some club that used to be there. It was a big house? No, it was built like a big building. Okay. White speckle and brown, I'll never forget that. And all the young Jewish children, boys and girls, congregate there. and they had their dances there and the athletic center. But I remember that. Did the shuls have dances? Like in Sheriff Israel, do you remember going there to a dance? They did. I was two young to know. See, because my father was very strict with his parents.
He thought, come sundown, he got to put his finger on him. How many were in your family? Well, we had four. I was a year old when I came here. And then, let's see, Henrietta was about seven years younger than I. She was born in Dallas. And then we had my brother Stanley. And he was born seven years after she saw it. so of course he grew up in the younger generation because he knew the levi's and all those kids they ran around together and the ships and all they ran around together all the time to get our house and there was a so that's three so there was another two there were two henrietta and stanley and you no my sister fanny oh and then my brother jack and then my sister blue one And then he read his family.
Oh, six. Six. I thought four. It was six Well that your leaf Came and rented that upstairs loft where my father had his ladies rented to wear stores Uh-huh. My father decided it was around where the Ku Klux Klan were coming in at the time. Things weren't so great, you know. Merchandise began to come down. I didn't come too young to work in the stores. Now, about what time are we talking about? talking about like 19... in the early 20s. I was just a teenager. Okay. And so they, my father decided that he would get out of that business because it just wasn't dangerous. It was dangerous.
I remember they put a lot of sand walking, parading down down the street with white sheets, you know. Yeah, I remember that. Now, why do you say that? And even when I went to high school, I remember that there were several Jewish, several Christian girls were sitting back at me, you know. And they would always talk and giggle, you know, and say, is your father? And she'd say yes, you know, talking about it. However, we had a group of girls that were about eight of us, and one of them was a Gentile girl. And she stuck right with us. She was the greatest person ever saw in their life.
Someone said, what do you want to go with those Jews? You know, there's still a little bit of them. And she says, well, they're the greatest people in the world, that's why. Yeah, we can't. I'll never forget that. Yeah, we have a good time. Why did you feel that your father thought it was dangerous to have his store? A Lot of Remarks A Lot of Remarks, well business began to get low, you know, bad. And they didn't, if it was a Jewish store, they didn't patronize it, you know, and then a lot of them would come by. Well, it was the ignorant ones that would probably do it, you know.
They'd come by and look at this door, no, we don't want to go in here, that Rachel worked here, you know. just say those terrible remarks, you know. And my father decided that this was it. Of course, in those days, if a Jew had $10,000, he was a Jewish millionaire. Yeah. You know, the dollar was so... But anyhow he did get out and he took a trip to New York to see his father was still alive Oh I know And he decided that he was going into the manufacturing business So I thought, well, the simplest thing you could do is put a handkerchief in. He decided that he'd make them and put them in envelopes and put them in a slot machine.
One of the ways people could put a nickel in or a dime and get a handkerchief out, you know. She went up to New York and he got a job in one of those places to see how they operate. And he came back and he made his own machine. So he manufactured the handkerchiefs, you see, and then sold them. Then later on he went into the dress, into the, some other, worked up. And then it was in the 30s, right after the stock market, I think it was, Willie Sanford and his mother had two brothers. And Willie was kind of within control, but they wanted him to do something.
So they brought him up to my father and said, What can we do with this boy? What can we do with this boy? So my father says, Well, let him come and work with me. with me would teach it and my father did. Billy was a good boy. He really was a good boy. He was a little hard. Now where was this factory at that time? The factory was upstairs. We had rented that building. All that same month? No, we had moved over there where the bus station is and Melrose Manufacturing covered the pans and then there's three flights of stairs and my father rented that bolt up there.
So that was on Commerce. It was on Commerce Street. And they began to manufacture certain things. And then they went into cotton and printing and they did sell supplies to the different hotels and everything. Made them. What was the name of his company? Maltex Fabrics. Maltex. Maltex Fabrics. I remember Mr. Hager. Hager Pants. I remember when Fannie went to work, my older sister went to work for Mr. Brin I guess it was. And Mr Hager was a salesman good guy and he had pants and he jogged He rented a little place you know I was already yeah I was I was living high I just graduated high school I remember that And Fetish was looking at him, and he couldn't look at him just like that, because he looked like a junior, you know, he couldn't tell the difference.
And that's where this man got started, he had stacks and stacks of pants, and he went into the manufacturing business. And he came up to my father and said, why should I have to go to Kansas City and New York to make the insides of the building that goes into pants? Can you do it? My father said, yes. So for years, my father manufactured all those things that were in it. Those paintings. I see. You want to know, Mr. Saffron and my father bought that building there? Okay. Well, when was it? I think it was one of the men that 1936, my oldest sister had gotten married as a few of the York.
And somebody came to my father and really says, by that time, the wholesale section began to emerge. You know, everybody had offices and things like that. Then they began to manufacture, Lord, put in, make those dresses for $1.98, you know, and there was a, and who else? They're broke now. uh, Sandra, Thiffin, and they all up here. And they had no place to go. There was no buildings around there where they could open up a factory. Oh really? You know. So somebody came to my father and said, say there's a building over here to be brought on Elm Street, across to the courthouse, seven stories.
It was the old Tennyson bank. The old Tennyson bank? Yep. And it's got seven stores that's on a corner and it can be bought for a song. And it was a song. So my father says, how much will it take? Oh, not very much. $30,000. Listen to this, $30,000. So he really got the money. Yeah, and they went up to Emil Conkley, that was his lawyer. He went up there and talked to Emil. And I said, you're crazy. You're crazy. You know what you're going to have to do? He said, well, people come in here. They got no place to go. Why can't I buy that building and rent those lofts?
Fix them up a little bit. So he didn't pay attention because everybody thought he was crazy. He bought it. They bought that building. Paid $5,000 now. Well, hey, $5,000, man. I was a pretty good-sized girl then. Yeah. And the first one they were, the first floor was Mr. The Mayor of the County, Folsom. Well, they were in electrical, wholesale electrical business, and they had lamps and all kinds of gorgeous. Bolesome? Bolesome. Yeah. Oh, his, I guess his father or his family. It must have been his father because he's still alive. Yeah. So he was Bobby, but he rented the first, that building was 100 by 200, seven stories high in the basement.
Everybody thought my father had lost his mind, but he sure rented that place. They fixed it up. The bar, the money, the money. And they fixed it up, little by little. Success. Oh, of course, you know what they did to the Build My Father as the time went on. They had the building, what do you call it, the air condition. They had the sprinkler system. He put in the air conditioning. It could make pretty good rest. You have the sprinkler system. Put in a freight elevator. But look how many years. That building paid for itself so many times. How long did he own that? Well, let's see, my father died in 1956.
It was sold, I guess, in 1960. Oh my. See, I was living out of town already and I wasn't to take care of it. But I mean when he bought it in the late 30s, he held on to it. He bought it around 35 36 But that building was a great building And of course Mr Mundus came and bought the building but he just stole it from my sister and I because we could didn know anything about it My husband-he was a merchant, you know. What do you know about real estate in Dallas? So Mr. Mumbus bought the building? Oh yeah. And sold it. He wanted to pay us cash, But we wouldn't take the cash.
We said no, we want a 10 year payout. The interest is what we were interested in. Well, I don't think he stayed there very long. I really don't know. But the time began to get, you know, deteriorated already. people moved out in the country. It was hard to park their cars. And they decided that the manufacturers were going out. Right. Times changed. Times changed. But at the beginning, was it mostly people in the fashion industry who, oh yeah, who rented? It was a manufactured building. It was a nice building. How long did your father manufacture your handkerchiefs? How long did he continue doing that? Not too long because, you know, as things got, he grew right with the industry, you know.
Whatever paid, you know. He made house dresses too, but he didn't. He used to get merchandise. He couldn't see $1.98 and stuff, you know. But, Leslie, he found himself a rich man in Thailand, Texas, you know. And it came across. Mr. Leif went with Mr. Wadle. That's right. And they were partners. And it was Mr. Wadle from Tyler? Yeah. I see. Mr. Leif from Tyler. And Lester had gotten his training with my father. Was Lester a Dallasside? New York. He was from New York. Yep. But he was young when he came here. About 20. 21. He wasn't married. His father was pretty nice. He went ahead by the fair park.
He went ahead where the fair park is. He rented a store there. Everybody thought he was crazy. That's when the, what do you call it, like neighborhood shopping He did well there Be surprised And people forget And as you go on you know they have the shopping malls and they got a district You can live that long How did he meet Mr Wadle do you know I don't know. I have no idea. Now, Cluster was a very good looking man and Wadell probably came to Dallas from Tyler, which is about 100 miles. Yeah, 100 miles, but I lived in Gildedale. And yeah, 100 miles, and everybody came to Dallas, you know, from London and Tyler.
I'm going to ask you, you went to Forest. Did you graduate Forest? Did you have any further education? No. Did you go to work then? I went to work. Where did you work? I worked for Barney Aronoff. He had the wholesale shoe manufacturer. I never worked a day in my life. I took, things were pretty rough then. My father couldn't have those four of them. I had to immediately have to go to college. I worked with I stand a chance. You know, so I went to work for Barnham. Never had a job. I never knew. I didn't take shorthand typing in high school because I figured that I was, I better do, learn something.
So I took that out in high school and I graduated in the summer. It was in August. The girl, they hadn't working for him. The whole thing had a lot of office help, you know, but it was a big three-story wholesale, big business. Oh, yeah. And she asked me would I take her place for two weeks? Oh, uh-huh. And I said, well, I couldn't think about that stuff. I said, well, she was a friend. The family said, go on, you'll be all right. You'll be just fine. So I took her job for two weeks, and she went up to Mayo's, and she discovered that she had cancer.
So she never came back and I stayed there 13 years. I really enjoyed it. And I really, I met so many wonderful men from the East, you know. I knew, somehow or another, I couldn't see these kids. I wasn't, you know, I was making my money as they were. And I liked to travel, you know. And it was or was first discovered in East Texas I think it was Spindletop At that time we didn't have 17 men on the road, but we had about 8 men traveling that had the lines that went all over. And he brings in some fella and tells him he wants to open up a shoe store.
Let's see, when was that? About 33, 34, something like that. I remember. He was from Oklahoma. He managed a store in Oklahoma. I remember he always kept his hat on. I couldn't understand. the cell and said they always called him Miss Rose. Miss Rose, this is Mr. Polsky from Kilgore. He wants to open up a shoe store. In Kilgore? Yeah. So I said, well, let him fill out and give his credentials. Let him give a report to Dunn and Bradstreet. I was already a big shot. I brought the gun in Bradstreet and I want to see how much money he's putting in his business. And he looks at me like that kid.
Because, you know, I was kind of young because I was about 17 and a half when I started there. So, I couldn't get the first place for him. And I said, Mr. Stewart, this guy doesn't want to take you anything. How can you give him shoes on credit when you go in and figure out? Oh, Ms. Rose, you just don't know what's happening in East Texas. The worst territory in Texas was East Texas. They stuck oil there? I said, yeah, but he didn't. But wait a minute, why do you say it was the worst territory? East Texas was just bad. Farming area, it was bad.
People didn't make a lot of money in those days. They struck them, yeah. So, West Texas and South Texas and all of them. Of course, we went into Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arizona, Oklahoma. See, that was good spots, but that was a bad spot. They were going broke left and right, you know. So, I said, you can't give credit. So, he hangs on to my desk and I never forget which that means they broke the hell. We need another one. Pretty soon, the man I worked for came over and I said, do you want to open up a shoe store? He says, where? He says, Kilmore, Texas.
He said, who is he? I told him. He said, what's his name? I told him. So he says, well, does he have a brother living in Lakewater? I mean, how do you know? He said, yeah, I know who he is. So he said, when are you going to meet him? That's the truth. He went to San Francisco, Oklahoma, and met him. My husband comes back to me pretty soon and says, you know something, they have struck all that. It'll be good for at least four or five bills anyway. Four or five bills anyway. So we made an arrangement for him and he opened up a little, I think that's a small, wide place.
in those days, you know, it didn't take much to open up a store. Right. You put some two-by-fours along the wall. The shoe boxes were put in so he'd go and see what was there, you know, and a stool and his old shoes. Right. And a little oil town like that, you know. So he did. He worked. He opened up the store. But I never will forget, I turned them down for credit. Someone had interested my father in an oil woman in Shreveport, Louisiana. So one Sunday we said, oh, we'll pile in the car and go with you to Shreveport, because I knew a lot of people, customers, you know, that I had met, you know.
I said, let's go. So my mother and my sister Fanny and me and Willie Stafford, who's my father already, went up there and picked my father's car. and we drove up to Shreveport. And we passed this little town of Kilroy, Texas. God, you know, you talk about a place that God forgot. Absolutely God forgot. It was just a mud. And somebody told me, you don't know what you're talking about because a horse browned over there one time. And my sisters, I was always going to New York. Every time I got a dollar, I went to New York to have a good time. She says how would you like to live in a place like this And I said God forbid God forbid You know in the Shreveport he didn work out like he wanted and had lots of trouble on his own And I think about ten years later, eight years later, here he comes in.
There's a friend of mine, Faye Lewis. I met her on a Saturday and we were going to the century room, you know, when they used to have the staying and everything. And her husband was a CPA. Was that the place where people would go to? The century room. Was that the Jewish people like to go there? Everybody did. It didn't make any difference. I think things were going to everybody. Was it just a good place to go? Oh, what's a good place to take a date? It didn't cost you really, but you could go to lunch after two and a half and just have the ball.
We got a glass of water for two and a half, but over there... So that was the center room at the Adolphus? At the Adolphus, and we used to go to the Crystal Room at the Baker, too. They had one, too. What was the name of that room? The mural room. Oh, the mural room. Those are the two spots. The Jewish boys used to take their dates. I see. So she says, unless you and I go, it was around tax time, unless you and I go, we'll have lunch and we'll see the show, and then we'll beat Jack, her husband. I'll bring up his office at that time in the Southwestern building.
Southwestern building. Southwestern life? Yeah. Maine and Anchorage Center around that. It was as long as long ago. and we get up there. Who do you think is sitting there? My husband. What was his first name? His name is Morris. Morris. Everybody called him Jack because when he was a kid, he used to sell shoes after high school, you know. And one lady, a friend of a family says, you know, if I didn't know you any better, I'd swear you're a Jack. He didn't look like a Jack. It's a dreamer. He's sitting up there and he looks at me and I'm looking at him. I know I'd seen that face somewhere.
I have a good memory for faces. He says, don't I know who he was? I said, I don't know. I know who he was but he had already been in army He just got out of the service And what time are we talking about That was the second Are we talking about the late 40s No early real early About 40, 40, 41. Oh, okay. And, uh, he was in nothing. That night, we had a date. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, they'd been married just about a year. and beyond what they were going to do. Oh, come on. So I was made. And it was, I never will forget, it was in May that all the soldiers were in town.
So, that was a soldier. He couldn't get a coat. He couldn't go to the show. It was so crowded. Was it the end of before? Oh no, uh-uh. I thought it had a thing still going on. And we finally showed it up. So she says, I know where we can go. And I said, right here we go. She can go to the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome. Do you remember the Hippodrome? No. The Hippodrome was a striptease. Ha! I don't think it was a striptease. Where was it? It was on Elm Street. And the Hippodrome was a brother down there near where Sanka Harris is, you know, but just in between, you know.
But I said, my God, I said, if my father found out that I went in a place like this, he'd kill me. I wouldn't go. So she said, oh, come on, you're friends with us. So we went. And who do you think me down there. All the Jewish people did everything. It's a truth. It was something on everything. You didn't expect to find that. Well, I've never been to a place like that. I never been. I used to go to Atlantic City if I'd go to DRF. We'd go to Atlantic City. you know, but that was, you know, you'd expect them. It was me, you'd expect them to be the lowest, the lowest places you could go, you know.
Was it really scripting? Oh, yeah. Well, not tonight. Today what you see now they just make it today I mean you have nothing for your imagination here at all But over there that a little bit for imagination There was something else There was something else But we ran and I saw a lot of nice people out here. Flood to my same church. I felt like I'd been in shill or something. Really. So, I don't know. He went to Kilgore and I think he was supposed to go to St. Joe, Missouri to visit his brothers and sisters and he had two weeks. But in three days, he stayed there two or three days and he came back to Dallas.
And we dated all the time he was here. And I went with him about a year and a half. By the way, he was. When did you get married? In 43. I was no child bride, you know, but I didn't want to get married. I was having a good time. I was traveling all over the country having a good time. You know, I was making good money. I just didn't care. So after you married, did you move to Kilgore where you thought you'd never move? Move to Kilgore, Texas. Oh, look to me, my God. Where is she going in there? Well, we moved there. You got a store there already.
And I guess it's there to see the link. But I'll tell you something, Hill-Roy and Long Beach and Tyler, the finest punch of young Jewish people. Oh really? They were just wondering. I'm telling you, you never saw. Everybody was in different business. I don't want all business, a lot of the jewelry business, but there was no animosity. It was like one big happy family. If you had a headache, they had a headache. That's the truth. We had a temple where? Where? In Kilgore. In like a community center. and a rabbi would come to my high house and stay. We finally got sober. I lived there 10 years.
The finest 10 years I ever spent in my life. The finest people I ever met. The most sincere people are there, Jewish people. Of course we moved there, went to Victoria, Texas. Of course we were there quite a number of years. I rolled up to Marshall, Texas. Knocked in her door. What was her name? I can't think of her name. That meant something. You know, many a night, I lay up at night trying to think of this woman because she was so lively. She had a mention, but she was great. She had a colored woman. Lived there with her. The newspapers all over the floor.
She had on a black boiled dress, very plain, I mean so plain that it hurt. And I told her that her name was given to me. I thought maybe she would be interested in something for the Jewish people. I knew that she was a Jew. And I thought maybe you didn't know anything about it, but we're trying to form a chapter here. So I began to tell her a lot of things about it. And she said, well who is the lady that started this? I said her name was Andrea Zoltz. And I said, she is, she is in America. But she went up a division.
That was the best. And she started this chapter. She was born back to New South, because that was a long time ago. And I said, she's done very well, but they need her to get together to do something. Anyway, they have a nice chapter of Dallas, but they don't have anything around here. People get stuck in the country, they just don't know. She said, what's her name? I said, her name was Henry Edward Solis. She said, where did she come from? That name seems to ring a bell. And I said, of course. She came from Baltimore. She said, Henrietta is only from Baltimore? I said, yeah.
She said she was my next door neighbor. We were real good friends. Real good friends So I said well that the lady So she said well what are you trying to do I said well we have a lot of things you want to do I said they have the hospital they have the leukemia they have different things And I said, each one tries to raise the money and still in the scene, but I said, it's been going on for a long time, but not here. I said, but they're in juice all over this country that they don't know because they're stuck in these small towns and there's nobody there, you know.
And so we're trying to form a chapter and raise some money. I don't know how much we can raise, but it's going over there strictly. No one takes anything off the top. It all goes there. She posted her checkbook. Now what do you think she did? She wrote $8,000 for Henry F. Leigh in the hospital. Before I knew it, I'm a man. At least $18,000. My goodness, that's right. What year was this? Do you recall around what time period? Was Israel already a state? Maybe it just started. Around 48? Yeah. Okay. Around that time. Okay. I just wanted to get some time. Yeah, it was around that time because I lived there, you know.
Yeah. And they started to get, when the rabbi came there and began to talk and that's when we started. I must have gotten at least around $18,000. And you know something? Every year, and she'd write 8,000. Instead of giving one big check, she'd give a check for this one, check for this one, check for this one, check for that. Nobody could leave. We sent the money into Dallas and I think that little chapter always was ahead for the number of people who raised more money. We gave a lot of parties. We raised a lot of money. And you can't remember her name. That's too bad.
Oh, gosh. Well, maybe we'll find out. I knew her relative. Well, she was rich. If it comes to you. I'm so good. Yeah, if it comes to you, you got it there. I've been making her name for months now. Okay well we work on it The name was M It began with an M That right But it was something like that But I can still see her Yeah big tall gray hair and I like to borrow a dress It was old men She you know that grew Was she a married woman No she was a single woman She must have made it all She must have had oil She must have had land And all that land you know They sold it and they got the royalty.
So, Jessie was like a cake. Yeah, yeah. Oh, gosh, she would have something else. Well, that's quite a story. I'm going to now go back because I want to ask some questions about Jewish life. As you remember it, when you were growing up in Dallas, you talked about the great school you went to and the high school and how you walked to the Jackson Street Shule. I didn't walk very long. Okay. Did you attend Hebrew school? Did you go to Hebrew school? They had a Hebrew school there. Where? At the school? It was on Jackson Street. With a kid, a little kid. Long, long curl, you know.
And I was sitting in the row there. Boys were sitting back there like this. Boys were pulling my hair. Pulling my hair. I was just a heck of that. I wouldn't go. So the boys and girls went to the Hebrew class. Oh yeah, they had a Hebrew class. They started a Hebrew class. Do you remember his name? Weinstein, I think. Mr. Weinstein taught the Hebrew. Yeah. At the Jackson Street School. He still has relatives here. I mean, there's still some descendants of his. I don't know who he was. But I wouldn't go. Okay. My brother went because he had to be bar mitzvah. Of course, Hannah wasn't there.
But we did it on South Boulevard. They had a Hebrew school, so she got out to be a real rabbi. But he could translate it, you know, and everything. That was the Hebrew school on Park Row? Yeah. Okay. But you didn't go to that one? No. Where did your brother go? My brother had a special teacher at that time. He used to come to the house. And I know we'll forget, Mr. Tietje came to my father one day and he said, I giving up the toy department So they had merry with beautiful toys So my father thought well I buy the lot next door to our house which he did Put the cows off the boys taking cows off and he said we make a playground for the kids And he put a merry-go-round with shoes and shoes, and I don't know what all was there.
And we had a merry-go-go, we had a regular- Was this on Katie Street? That was on Katie's and Law. down and still on that deep that I remember. But we had a good time. A lot of time my brother was going to leave our medicine, my oldest, my brother. And the teacher would come and teach him. Then he'd go out and play and we lived in a lot of Christian neighborhood, not too many Jewish. I mean, there were Jews in the Jewish land, you know what I'm talking But anyhow, he'd get through with his Hebrew lesson, and he'd go out and teach little Christian boys.
Same thing. They knew his speech, but he's a homeless person. They did. They did. I'm a kid. I'm a kid. Sure did. We had a teacher come to the house. Did your family celebrate Antigone? any Jewish holidays? Do you remember how you celebrated? Oh, yes. Did you celebrate Purim? Do you remember? Oh, sure. How? Well, did your mother make Homan Tasha? Oh my gosh, yes. Wonderful. She made a hollywood, she made a cookie, you know, that's where I learned from her. I learned from her. And my father, even when we lived on South Rural, We had a sookie. We had a big yard on the back.
So we built a big sookie on the back. And they hung a lot of stuff there. Now my papa was an American. He was a businessman. He was smart. He knew everything. He was well educated. And at that time Rabbi Gold lived on the corner. Do you remember Rabbi Gold? So he always came to our house. He lived on South Florida. On South Florida, where they come from. What's going on? You. So they come home with my father, and they go right to the circuit, you know. He's like from the house to my mama made good bread and everything. His wife picked me up. Did Rabbi Gold have a sukkah?
No. No. They had one in the shul. At the shul. Yeah. But your father. Did other people, did anyone else have a sukkah in the neighborhood? I don't know. I really can't say. Okay. I don't want to make up a story that I don't know. No, that's fine. That's fine. I just wonder if it... Yeah. But oh sure, we... Whatever I know, I learned from home. Where did your father get his Hebrew education? in Europe. He went to the ship of that. That was until he got married. So he was very learning. Did he keep closed on the holidays? Sure he did. And I remember a long time ago when the high holidays came.
Neewon Marcus, Sanger brothers, Sanger, Sanger brothers, Dreyfus, all of them kept one day. They both, but later on, I don't know what happened, but we've got different. What about Passover? What do you remember from Passover? Oh, I'll never forget. We always had beautiful satyrs. Was it just your family? Oh, my father and my father always had people that didn't have a place to go. Strangers or somebody Always had a big saver And do you remember any preparations for Passover Oh Lord What would happen in your house You couldn live She was my mother. I think my father, my mother, boy, you change dishes. And you just almost take the stone and take it apart, you know.
And I was just a rebel. I don't understand why you have to go through all that, you know. But anyhow, they kept it exactly changed in the whole house. We had spring cleaning. Nothing was dirty. We had two girls in the house. But it was the best. Did you keep kosher? Me? Your family. Oh, sure. Where did they get the needs? Who was the kosher muncher? Well, I remember there was a prom, and there was an Abramson. Uh huh. And the golden. Uh huh. Did your mother buy from all of the uh? Well they business. In fact, they're the one that didn't want to go out of business.
They'll go in. You know? Well, Frum was in business a long time. Oh yeah. He was a chef. You know what a chef he is? He went around and he'd kill all the chickens in the houses. In the backyard. In the backyard. And I say to my father, Are you over? What are you talking about? Only their groups.