Dating, Dancing, and Riding in Cars
A Scrapbook Archive of Teen Culture in the 1930s
1 Week spent with Evelyn.
2 June 4 – June 10 – 1933
3 Sunday nite – June 4 –
4 Went to B. Y. P. U. with
5 Marjorie and Evelyn –
6 Met Howard, Lindsay, Getty
7 Marion, and lots of others. Had
8 a good time.
9 Monday – June 5 –
10 Went to school on the bus –
11 Met oodles and oodles of
12 people. Talked to Howard
13 and Lindsay a long time
14 in the lunch room. Met
15 Dick Blackwell. Had a
16 date with Gettys Mon. night.
17 Marjorie was with Marion –
18 Evelyn was with Lindsay
19 later. Remember – “My Wild
20 Irish Ro-hose” – “I just laughed
21 and laughed.” etc. Too Bad!!
22 I drove that night. We went
23 to york to the seventh grade
24 graduation exercises. got home
25 around 11:30 o’clock.
26 Tuesday – June 6 –
27 Went to school again – Met
28 a lot more people. Had a
a.1.4 B.Y.P.U.: Baptist Young People’s Union. The organization, which was founded in the late 19th century, aimed to promote spirituality in Christian youths by increasing their knowledge of scripture and Baptist doctrine and recruiting them for missionary activities. Local B.Y.P.U. groups typically held weekly social meetings and daily bible readings. It is perhaps important to note that the B.Y.P.U. is the Southern Baptist offshoot of the Northern Baptist Baptist Young People’s Union of America (B.Y.P.U.A.). (Davis)
a.1.19-20 “My Wild Irish Ro-hose”: Jane appears to be referring to the popular song “My Wild Irish Rose.” The song was written by Irish-American songwriter and singer/stage actor Chancellor “Chauncey” Olcott and produced in 1899 for the Broadway musical A Romance of Athlone. The song was then recorded by famous Irish tenor John McCormack, which is likely the version that Jane would have been familiar with. In 1947, "My Wild Irish Rose" became the title of a film musical biopic of Olcott’s rise to fame in the late 19th/early 20th century.
a.1.23 york: A town in South Carolina approximately 20 miles south of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, the town where Jane grew up.
1 real good time. Howard,
2 Dick Blackwell, Anna Bill, and
3 Margaret came to Filbert
4 that afternoon. Went to
5 york to the musical festival
6 that night. Had a real good
7 time. Got home early that
8 night.
9 Wednesday – June 7 –
10 School again – Met some more
11 people. Wednesday night went
12 to the graduation exercises—
13 the class day exercises were
14 that morning. I went (that
15 night) with Howard Carroll
16 and Evelyn with Dick. After
17 the exercises we went to
18 the class party with them.
19 It was given by Craig M
20 Carkle. I had a marvelous
21 time that night. Howard
22 was very nice. We got
23 home rather early— 2:00 a.m.
24 Thursday – June 8 –
25 Stayed at home all morning –
26 That afternoon we went
a.2.3 Filbert: Filbert, South Carolina. This is apparently the small town that Jane is visiting. At this time, Filbert was a township of York County, South Carolina. Filbert is located approximately 40 miles north of York.
a.2.22-23 We got … 2:00 a.m.: Jane is likely being sarcastic here with the underlining of “rather.” 2:00 a.m. is actually quite a bit later than she claims to have gotten home on other nights out.
1 to Black’s swimming
2 pool. I met an old
3 correspondent of my—
4 Helen Black. We had
5 dates that night – Evelyn
6 with Charlie Moss – I, with
7 Howard. Howard came and we
8 went to ride. Charlie did
9 dirty and went camping as Johnny
10 Turner came for Evelyn – “Lind”
11 was with them so we got
12 Irene Smith for him –
13 Remember “stealing peaches” –
14 Howard went to sleep that
15 night. Was I mad? We got
16 home about 11:00 p.m.
17 Friday - June 9 -
18 Stayed home all morning -
19 Went to york that p.m. I
20 high-hatted “Carroll” – That
21 night we were sitting in
22 the yard and a car stopped.
23 who was it? Marion and
24 Howard!! we went to
25 ride. Howard and I made up –
26 He said he was sorry, but
25 how do I know? Got home
27 ‘bout 11:00. They left ‘bout
28 12:00 – Killed a rabbit that nite.
a.3.8 went to ride: refers to going for a ride in an automobile, which was a popular activity for teens at this time. See note "Riding in Cars" in exhibit l.
a.3.10 “Lind”: short for Lindsay, a young man
a.3.20 high-hatted: slang term. To high hat someone is to melodramatically display a lack of interest in him/her, or to ignore him/her in a pompous manner. Jane appears to have “high-hatted” Howard Carroll because he ended their date early, at 11pm.
a.1
exhibit a.
week with evelyn
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a.3
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