Document text
STATE
NAME OF WORKER
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
Forms to be Filled gut for_Fach Interview
FORMA
Circumstances of Interview
NEW YORK
Marion Charles Hatch
862 First Avenue, Now York
October 18, 1938
FOLK STUFF STORIES TOLD BY MRS. J. BENNETT
1. Date and time of interview
October 13, 1938 EVENING.
2. Place of interview
Residence of informant.
3. Name and address of informant
Mrs. J. Bennett
862 First Ave.
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
No one. I became acquainted with informant as a result of
living in the same house with her.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
I interviewed Yrs. Bennett in the kitchen of her three-room apartment
on the second floor, facing Fiist Avenue. She had a wood fire crackling
in the stove as she feels chin quickly. She keeps her apartment scrupulously
clean, but with a faint note o' disarray issuing from the fact of her
rheumatism, which prevents her moving about easily.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the saiber to which the material refers.)
FORM E
Personal History of Informant
STATE NEW YORK
NAME OF WORKER .farion Charles Hatch
ADDRESS 862 First Avenue, New York
DATE October 18, 1938
SUBJECT FOLK STUFF STORIES TOLD BY MRS. J. BENNETT
1. Ancestry
Irish
2. Place and date of birth
Ireland. About 73 years of age.
3. Family
litiidaw of an American
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
4. Places lived in, with dates
Ireland during early childhood
England until about 25 years of age
Since then in America
5. Education, with dates
She was educated in a Catholic school in England, reaching
what -would be the equivalent of high school. She studied
Latin and has read Dickens and Shakespeare.
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
She has been a carpet sewer since living in America. She
worked for most of the big department stores, such as iianamakerts, where sales
were often conditioned on changes being made in carpets to fit odd rooms, firer
7. Special skills and interests places, etc.
Being crippled she enjoys reading and listening to the radio.
8. Community and religious activities
Catholic
9. Description of informant
Although a woman of 73 years, she still has beauty, represented in eyes that still
retain a deep blue sparkle, even features, excellent forehead. She has few wrinkles
10.
Eachelipi,atipaatinred.sufillkwervitirip has been successful mainly in compressing her
cheeks and stedLing something of the form of the
mouth and chin. Pictures on the wall show her
strikingly beautiful in youth.
STATE
NEW YORK
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
NANE OF WORKER MARION CHARLES HATCH
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
862 First Avenue, New York
October 18, 1938
FOLK STUFF STORIES TOLD BY MRS. J. BENNETT
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
I had asked Mrs. Bennett previously to tell me some stories so when I entered she
said: "I have a little story all fixed up." She handed me a piece of paper with
a story written in pencil. The original I attach to the end of this document.
What she had written on the paper was as follows:
"My mother and I cdlled on an acquaintance one evening. The husband of the lady
was violinist. He wanted to entertain us with some classic music. He started with
Cavalleria Rusticana. In the middle of it his wife jumped up, pulled up her skirts
and did a step dance, and said: "Oh, give us 'Johnnie get your gun, get your gun."
I read the story and laughed and then the interview procedded as follows:
My mother and I were so mortified. He was so mortified, but we didn't dare
laugh. But on the way home we screamed with laughter. Didn't dare laugh. She
did two or three steps. I wished I could do it but I can't. (Mrs. Bennett, 73
and crippled with rheumatism, gets up and tries to imitate the dance). We never
went there again. You know Catalleria Rusticana? He started with such pathos,
you know. So serious about it. Hal ha/ ha l (Laughs loud and musically).
Joy sister and I. My mother was expecting a baby and my sister and I were sent, what
shall we say, nurse, nurse. She was a very cross old woman. They always are.
The midwife. They don't have any midwives any more.. 'iihat happened to them?
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They used to do quite some business around here, at one time, yessir: Yidwives
and the doctors never got paid. They were called for and they were promised the
money but they never got paid. They just came, they saw, they conquered. (Stops
to interpose some remarks on Mrs* Slavic, the deaf janitor) (I was in there last
night and he gave her a long conversation in his own language, you know, and at the
end she looked up and she said, Iiimmmm!'
He just said, '0, go to hell'. Back to he took it on the run, of course,
when we were sent for that cranky old midwife. She being older than I, what shall
I say, she saw the importance of making haste. I was tired of rtnaning and I asked
her what we were running for. And she said, "Oh, mother's going to hava a baby and
Mrs. Tutor is bringing it". Sure, put her name in; she was over seventy then and
just
like
that. I laughed in the night.
she's probably dead and buried by now. She hasn't anything to worry about if she's
gone to the right place. If not, she will have plenty to worry about. So I was
tired of running. -I said, "If that's the case I'm not going to run any more. We
don't want any more babies. Hal hal You know I never told my mother that. We
never discussed having babies. Isn't that funny? Having a hard time, or anything
of the kind.
I was working in a house another woman was sent to help me and there was live wire.
The electrician was working and he left a live wire exposed. It was on a lamp. And
he was doing something on the lamp. She, being deaf, didn't hear the man say it was
alive. She went to touch it and I stopped her. She would have been shocked, if I
hadn't stopped her from touching it. Going home she wouldn't go dawn the stairs.
She got in the elevator and wanted me to OOMB t00. I wouldn't go in and I shut the
door for her and dawn she went. Hal Hal (laughs loud) She went up and down half a
dozen times. Ha4 Hal She couldn't get it stopped. She looked like wax work.
(Interposes: You never saw Madame Tussaud's in London/ There's a funny thing.
My brother was in Madame Tussaud's and he had a uniform of the English infantry, red
coat, tall, looked fine, six feet, regular scarlet coat, and he was staading there ad-
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miring the waxworks. He had never seen them before. And women started to admire
him. Finally he started to move and a woman got quite a start. She thought the
statue had come to life). So she was clutching the lever. Everybody was shouting
to her. The caretaker was "far -down" from the North of Ireland. The lord knows
where hey are now. That was in J.P. Morgan's house. (They gave lots of work.
They occupied lots of people. So the far-down3 (They were always having something
done over and they treated everybody so nice. One time we were there and she
thought the work wasn't going as well as the thought it should be. She said
she wouldn't have anything to do with any of the work people. She was finished
with the boss and she threw everybody out in the first place. So we thought we
were through. But we asked another man, and he said if our work was satisfactory
just to go back in the morning. Morgan's daughter said, "I thought I told you
I/i through." I took a chance. I said, "But we come from another office". Ad
she said all right, "Then stay at work". And so we kept the job and later she
gave us $5 and laughed about the incident.)
"Take your haan off the haandle" you can't put the accent int. She
kept up to the roof and down to the cellar.- Couldn't stop that elevator. She
went up and down several times. She looked more like a statue than anything
else. Then I went like this to her (gestures) but you can't put that down.
And she judged from that to take her hand off the handle. So finally she took her
hand off the handle and stopped the car. Oh, she was a devil, a devil of a woman.
I wished afterwards she had touched the live mire and got a shock. Ha, ha, ha!
Oh she was horrid in every way, a mean woman, I couldn't describe her really. I
think all deaf people are mean. Suspicious because they can't hear.
(Mrs. Maistrelli comes in. Mrs. M. had lived in the house for twenty years but
had recently moved a block or two away. She was now moving again, this time to
86th Street. She came in to say good-bye. "You're going away now. I won't see
you again. I could cry. (Mrs. Bennett can hardly keep the tears back). "Oh
don't doa that Mrs. Bennett. Donta cry." Mrs. Bennett: "Oh you have no sentiment.
My father made shoes. He could make lady's shoes, gentlemen's running pumps,
a lady's patent slipper. Turned inside out. He was a swell shoemaker. I heard
my father say, telling some stories, he said when he was serving his time he had to.
serve seven years. There AILS seven of them slept in one room. And when one fellow
wanted to go out with his girl the other six had to stay hone. They had only one
good suit between them. Hat hal hal I've heard my father tell that many times.
My mother used to be awfully ashamed and so did we but afterwards it seemed so
ridiculous. And when one went with his girl the others had to stay home. Oh, dear,
dear, dear. What funny things! That's all lifel Them fellows don't care as
long as they are having a good time.
(evertirg to scare) It's a wonder our hearts didn't jump out of place. How
were they kept intaot.
They were apprentices, you know, they weren't full-fledged. They didn't have much
money. You don't get much when you're an apprentice. I guess they feed them,
that's all. I can just see us getting out of bed with one accord. Hal hal hal
The last one's a sissy, hal hat hal The last one would be somebody. Hal
Probably one of the men that worked for my father. Years after my mother told us
but father wouldn't tell us. The men who worked for father knew the leather was
there. Many and many a soldier us kids used to shield. They stay out to see
their girl. They stay over time. If they're caught out in the town without a pass
they take them to the guard house. You know. Many and many a soldier I've seen
hiding. When the provost asked -we'd say they've gone. They would stand in Some
niche, you know, and stand there so they wouldn't be seen.
I went to a bachelor's aPartment and two men, very nice. Oh, I got quite chummy
with them, afterwards they were very nice. I went to ew and my scissors were down
beside me. I'll give you an idea of the scissors. I have some similar. Of course,
it isn't the same as all those years. Youwouldn't imagine haw much callous you can
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get cutting. (She show scissors with a piece of binding to protect the hands). We
hang it on our waist so we don't throw it on the floor afterwards. You can always tell
a person doesn't know haw to work. Haw they rig themselves. How they out the thread.
A big bull dog came in and sat in front of me, watching me. I was in there by myself,
so terrified. I was in there alone and the big bull dog came in watching me. Was I
soared? I was afraid to pull out my hand to sew. I was afraid to lift out the scissors.
If I lifted up the scissors he'd go for you, I think. So I called out, after a while.,
'Will somebody cone and take this dog away.' I was so frightened, my own voice was
frightened. 'Oh', he says, 'he wouldn't hurt you, he's an awful nice dog. He wouldn't
hurt you.' I was afraid to pull my hand out afraid to cut the thread with the
scissors. "If you don't take him away I'll never do any work," I said.
This one, I don't know whether I should tell you or not. That was a big private house
on Lexington Avenue. The son of the house was a son of a gun. Hal hai I was sitting
on the floor, sewing the carpet. Oh, I could go to the court, but I don't like that. They
would only say I was an adventuress, I had no witnesses. I couldn't prove anything. I
was very plump in those days, today I'm broad, but then I was plump. He sat down beside
me, on his hunkers, and told me I had a wonderful complexion. I paid no attention to his
flattery. Then I saw something. I just got up and ran. I would have thrown those
shears through a window to attract somebody's attention, but the window had shutters and
I couldn't do that. So I ran until I couldn't run any more. I was tired out. Of course,
other people have better stories, but (saroastioally) (imitating a refined prude) "They
wouldn't remember them." Oh, no, no, no "I'd like to see him do that to me. Meld
know better." (She laughs) So he ran after me until I couldn't run any more. I turned
on him and held my shears."If you come a step nearer, I'll push these right through you."
"Well, What happened?" I asked.
Mrs. Bennett answered: Well, it was all over by then. Nothing more.
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Mrs. Slavio, the superintendent, very deaf, knocks at the door:
Mrs. Bennett: Is she back? Don't answer the doori She's a nuisanoel I don't want
her to see you in here. She's so nosey. (Mrs. Slavic pushes in) Oh, was that door
unlocked!
Mrs. Slavic: (Speaks in a loud, uncontrolled voice of deaf person) Look at thisl
(She has copy of the magazine LIFE, opened) Is this awful? It's pictures of a baby.
Haw you get baby. (Mrs. Bennett interposes, right in front of Mrs. Slavic) "Isn't
she stupid? She can't hear anything we say. Or perhaps she can. If she can hear,
she's getting an earfull."
Mrs. Slavids The things they print now. My boy showed this to me. Oh, it's awful,
awful.
Mrs. Bennett: All right, go on home now. (Mrs. Slavid, of course, doesn't hear.)
(Finally, Mrs. Slavic completes her criticism of LIFE, sees that we are busy, and
goes out.)
VT8. Slavic is deaf. So I went in there. She was making bread. She offered
me some of this hot bread. I couldn't eat anything in there. (Ughl gesture of
repugnance) So I said no, I don't want anything. She said, it won't hurt me. I said,
No Nol I don't want any. I know what's good for my system. "Oh,"she says, "I
didnUt know your sister was in the city. You sister isn't here?" Hal hal
Reverting to first story about "Johnny, get your gun": We were laughing so they must
have thought we were drunk; we were taking both sides and the middle. We couldn't
walk straight.
This lady was named Susan. The landlady, the janitor. Her friends didn't like her
name Susan, so she changed her name to Bedsie as a favor to her friends. So when she
had her little boy christened, the priest asked for her name and she told him Bessie.
The priest put it down, "Elizabeth". Well, when that lady cane home she was so
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indignant. "What do you think?" she says, "he put me down 'Elizabeth": I said,
"That is Elizabeth". Of course, she didn't know until she came home and somebody
read it to her because she can't read, you know. You can imagine the fun I have
sometikes with them.
Next door the girl was always crying. She didn't know what she was crying for. I
would tell her, "You're crying there, just crocodile tears." Then later, the mother
would turn on the daughter and say, "Oh you, and your crooked dile tears."
I came down to this room so I'd be able to get down to the street easier. And I've
been here six months and haven't been down once. (laughs) I've got now so I don't
want to go down. I just sit at the window and look down at the world. _It's fun.
Sometimes I have trouble getting my groceries. One day I dropped half a bucket of
ashes down to the street trying to attract some boy's attention. The delicatessen
charges a couple of extra pennies for everything and I have to give the kids a couple
of pennies.
(As I prepared to go:)
(Very politely) Now, I've done you a favor, perhaps you can do me one. Get me
a loaf of Banner whole wheat bread and a quarter pound of butter.
ht4'I
r4
Li