Images from "Crescendo"

The images below were taken throughout my childhood into my adult life. They are a visual supplement while reading the memoir.

Becky and Al in Corpus Christi

1. Albert F. Broz in full military whites with very young, just-graduated-from-high-school Rebecca, looking like the schoolgirl she is. A very pretty schoolgirl about to go to Hollywood and play movie scores with the big shots.

Becky with parakeet

8. This was on the GM Motorama tour which criss-crossed the country over a period of months. Motorama was a high-tech glorified car show with revolving platforms and live musicians to showcase the newest car models coming on the fall market. The parakeet was a volunteer who managed to land near my mother and she coaxed it onto her fiddle bow for the photograph. The photo shows the sort of costumes she wore and the cheap violin painted gold they made them play to go with their dresses.

Cindy with Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC

10. My mother loved the Pontiac, and loved to dream up excursions for us. The trip to Washington did not include Bamo. Perhaps she had to be a work at Britex Fabrics in Manhattan. She worked there for over a decade cutting fabric for customers and consulting on sewing projects. Britex, as the name suggests, was a British company and sold the finest imported cottons, silks and woolens. Bamo got a discount and brought home some real treasures for my mother to sew into fabulous designer fashions from Vogue patterns.

Becky and fellow violinists in matching gowns with James Melton

11. , Tenor of Metropolitan Opera fame. The pianist is Dick Hankins. When he wasn’t on the road with Melton, he played in exclusive piano bars in Manhattan and had a loyal following.
When Melton had an engagement in Cincinnati, we stayed at a boarding house in Covington KY owned by Del and Ester Roland, who catered to show people. My mother made fun of Ester’s pot pies. I was fascinated by the showgirls bleaching their hair outside in the driveway. One of them wanted me to see how lucky I was to be a natural blond by having me touch her slimy, over-treated hair. It was like cold cooked spinach. At Del and Esters, I woke early to play with Noodle, Dick and Anne’s baby girl. I saw them asleep, the covers thrown off because it was hot and there wasn’t air-conditioning then. They were a beautiful couple.
Interesting story about James Melton: he collected vintage cars; one time he asked my mother to drive a trailer hauling one of his prized cars from New York to Connecticut. Notable about this story is that he trusted her with his cars at a time when women were considered terrible drivers and some women didn’t drive at all. He knew competence when he saw it, apparently. My mother loved to be behind the wheel where she was boss. Full stop.

Cindy with frend walking Schnopsie in Queens

12. When I was in fifth grade, my mother took a 6-month engagement with James Melton in Hartford, CT, Joe said he would take Schnopsie to stay on a farm in Huntington, Long Island. I never dreamed I’d never see her again. Even back then, “taking the dog out to the country” was a euphemism for putting it to sleep. In Hartford, I learned why prayer in school could be harmful to children.

Becky and Joe in Becky's apt with treasures from travel

19 Becky and Joe in her apartment in Queens, regally surrounded by finery brought back from countries they visited on cruises and from one spectacular around-the-world jaunt by air. Photo shows display cabinet with carved ivory figures from China, brass work from India, a meerschaum pipe from Russia and blown glass from Italy. Also in the cabinet was a large and heavy crystal vase from Czechoslovakia that she carried herself on the plane to protect it. The fine Persian rug from Iran is an Istafan design that was custom made for her.