Shary recalls being pushed in her perambulator by Alice, as she accompanied her mother on her protest activities. She remembers sitting in the stroller, with contraband leaflets buried around her--to avoid potential trouble with the police.
Blanche Udren Fischberg, b. New York City, June, 27,1927; d. Boston, MA, February 15, 1966
Married Bruce Fischberg, December 7, 1953
Children: Beth Fischberg, October 29, 1955
Eve Fischberg, December 15, 1957
Jane Fischberg, August 15, 1960
Daniel Fischberg, March 5, 1962
Sharon Udren Chaiklin, b. New York City, March 6, 1934
Married Harris Chaiklin, June 5, 1955
Children: Seth Chaiklin, February 22, 1956
Matthew Chaiklin, December 24, 1957
Martha Chaiklin, August 9, 1960
Nina Chaiklin, March 19, 1962
Blanche graduated from The High School of Music and Art (now known as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts) in 1942.
Blanche's high school graduation picture, age 15
Blanche received her Bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, in 1946. Her majors were epistemology and mathematics.
Blanche's college graduation picture, age 19
Sharon graduated from The Bronx High School of Science in 1951.
Sharon (age 17) and Blanche (age 24) preparing to leave on a boat for Europe, following Sharon's high school graduation in 1951.
Sharon graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1955. Her majors were social work and dance.
Sharon's college graduation picture, age 21
5.00 Dave states that Alice went to work at Steinberg's kosher dairy restaurant in the late 1940's, where she ultimately worked as the office manager. Steinberg's was a beloved fixture on the upper west side of New York, frequented by many people seeking a delicious meal at a modest price.
Shary recalls her mother being particularly excited when Suki Schorer, the ballet dancer, would visit Steinberg's for a meal. Suki Schorer danced with the New York City Ballet from 1959 to 1972. She joined at the invitation of George Balanchine, becoming a principal dancer in 1968. She remains a beloved master teacher of ballet.
Suki Schorer as Dewdrop in the New York City Ballet production of The Nutcracker, 1969
Dave notes that Alice's "other activities petered out" at this time. He references the rise in "McCarthyism" in the late 1940's; Senator Joseph McCarthy (in the Senate from 1948-1957)alleged that numerous communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, the film industry, the universities and elsewhere.
Documents obtained from the United Parents file in the Archives of the City of New York indicate that Alice was a Manhattan borough Vice-President with United Parents in 1938. Although Alice ran for the U.S. House of Representatives on the Communist Party ticket in 1936, prior to or contemporaneously with her involvement with United Parents, by 1941 she was no longer associated with United Parents and the United Parents group actively disavowed Alice's connection with the group, specifically because of her association with the Communist Party.
The Special Committee on Un-American Activities (which later evolved into the House Committee on Un-American Activities, popularly known as HUAC) was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having fascist or communist ties. Alice is listed as a person of interest in the proceedings of the HUAC Investigation of Communist activities in the New York City area from 1953 (https://archive.org/details/investigationofc0555unit/page/1412/mode/2up?q=alice+udren).
5.31 Dave states that Alice was active in civic affairs through Shary's junior high years, serving on the New York State Women's commission in 1946-47. Shary recalls that Alice was active in the Manhattan borough Parent-Teacher Association.
6.16 Alice had little time to devote to any other interests, although Dave remembers enjoying attending plays and concerts together.
Shary recalls regularly attending concerts at Lewisohn Stadium, of the City College of New York. Built in 1915, many concerts and other cultural events were hosted there from 1918 until 1966. The entry fee was only 25 cents, which allowed New Yorkers of modest means to enjoy great performances. Shary remembers seeing "Peter and the Wolf" at Lewisohn when she was eight or nine years old, as well as seeing ballet performed there. She often went ahead of her parents to wait in line for entry. Leonard Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic at Lewisohn on numerous occasions, including one concert featuring the great singer Marian Anderson .
Alice played the piano when they were first married--a favorite piece was the Habanera from the opera Carmen .
8.45 Blanche began playing the piano at a young age; Dave recalls a concert of Mozart's music Blanche performed at age seven. Dave remembers constructing something so that she could be lifted up closer to the music to see, since she was so little. He expresses concern that this early emphasis on performance was "too much" and wasn't good for her.
Blanche, age four, with her first piano teacher, Lev Terdgamon [sp?], March, 1932
Alice also enjoyed playing popular dance music. Shary remembers that the family especially enjoyed when Alice played the Black Bottom (popular in the late 1920's) , and they would cut the rug!
PERRY BRADFORD AND HIS GANG Original Black Bottom Dance, Okeh Records, 1926
11.15 In the summer of 1945, when Blanche was eighteen, The Kenyon Review published a lengthy response Blanche wrote regarding a review of the English translation of Road to the Ocean (Leonid Leonov, 1944) that had appeared in the journal earlier that year. The level of sophistication of her analysis is remarkable, particularly for an eighteen-year-old writer.
16.30 Dave mentions a book that he has recently read, A Man Called Intrepid: The Incredible True Story of the Master Spy Who Helped Win WWII. This book, an account of the life and times of William Stephenson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stephenson), had been a best-seller when it was published the previous year (1976). Dave goes into extensive detail about the contents of the book and how the course of history can be altered by the "strength, courage and brilliance of mind" of a single person.
26.46 When asked his personal philosophy, Dave states that it is "a question of survival and not-survival...the more you try to draw a blueprint for yourself, the more you will be disappointed...[one must] hold on and live from day to day".
33.10 Shary asks, "What would you have done [that you didn't do in your life]?". Dave replies, "I don't know--something cultural--teaching, writing, something of that sort...".
38.00 Shary asks, "What makes you think that your life isn't interesting?". Dave responds, "I feel that I never attained anything that I really wanted". He goes on to acknowledge, "I had a daughter like you--that's an achievement in itself...and four lovely grandchildren here -[Shary's four children]-and four in another area [Blanche's four children--Blanche had died eleven years before this recording was made]...I feel disappointed in my personal achievement...but I value what I have most dearly."
Alice and Dave, early 1960's
Dave with Nina, Matthew and Martha Chaiklin, 1963
Dave with Daniel Fischberg, Nina Chaiklin, Martha Chaiklin and Jane Fischberg, 1964
Dave with Beth Fischberg, Eve Fischberg, Seth Chaiklin and Matthew Chaiklin, 1961
Dave singing to Noah Staley, his first great-grandchild (son of Eve Fischberg and Steven Staley), 1988
.10 Influences on David as a teen--other kids he played sports with
1.30 Traveling with basketball team as an adult; members of the team, including Louis Mosconi (who later formed a famous vaudeville dance team with his brother Charles).
David describes playing basketball in a cage--from the turn of the century until the 1930s, basketball was played in a cage to protect the players from aggressive fans and to keep the ball with the players when it went out of bounds. Hence, the old-fashioned slang term "cagers" to refer to basketball players.
Dave also talks about encountering antisemitism from the fans. He states that about half of the members of the team were Jewish. During the first decades of the 20th century, basketball was extremely popular among recent Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Jewish players dominated professional/semi-professional basketball at this time.
Image: The Sphas (South Philadelphia Hebrew Association) basketball team, ca. 1928. The Sphas were the dominant team in professional basketball through the 1920s and early 1930s. Note the Hebrew lettering on their shirts. Found on: https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/sphas/
Dave describes two memorable games, a basketball game with a particularly antisemitic fan section in Tyrone, PA, in which he was injured; a baseball game (Dave played both semi-pro basketball and semi-pro baseball) played for a Jewish agricultural colony in northern New Jersey (most of the agricultural colonies were in southern NJ) .
In the latter part of the 19th century, Eastern European Jews fleeing pogroms escaped to the United States; many lived in slums in New York. Several charities promoted training immigrants in agricultural skills and supporting Jewish Agricultural Societies in various places around the US to offer a better life to these immigrants. The earliest and most successful of these were located in southern New Jersey. The Alliance colony was the first Jewish agricultural society formed in the US, in 1882.
Image: Farmer Jacob Greenblatt delivering a load of white Leghorn chickens to be transported to Philadelphia; Alliance, 1918. Found in: https://stockton.edu/alliance-heritage/
8.00 Fighting antisemitic bullies
10.30 Other jobs--hat store delivery boy
11.50 Meeting future wife, Alice Green, in Atlantic City, NJ (ca. 1924?). Dave was around 26 at the time and she was around 18 years old. Dave was working for Publicker's managing an alcohol denaturing plant in Buffalo, NY and Alice was working as a bookkeeper for a real estate group in Philadephia; both were taking a brief holiday in Atlantic City. (For more information about Publicker's, see: http://www.ellenjaye.com/pub_publicker.htm)
Image: The Green family, ca. 1924 (based on hair and clothing styles and the apparent ages of the family members), at around the time that Alice and Dave would have met . They married in Philadelphia in 1926.
Hershl (Tsvi Hersh)/Harry Green (father); b.Ukraine, 1879, d. Philadelphia, PA, 1935
Pietl/Yetta Greece Green (mother); b. Ukraine, 1882; d. New Jersey, 1962
Hershl/Harry and Pietl/Yetta ca. 1900, possibly a wedding picture
Itzik/Ed Green (brother); b.Ukraine, 1904; d. 2000
Pietl/Yetta and Itzik/Ed Green, Ukraine, 1904
Ed Green, early 1920s(?)
Alice Green Udren (self); b. New York, NY, 1906; d. New York, 1967
Anna Green Davidson (sister); b. 1908; d. 1997
Lillian (Lil) Green Snyder (sister); b. 1910; d. 1994
Jules Green (brother); b. 1912; d. 2002
Marsha Green Schneps (sister); b. 1921; d. 2003
15.00 Took train from Buffalo to Philadelphia to visit Alice on weekends
20.00 Any risks taken as a young person? "Can't speak of it".
21.20 "First date"
22.20 Clothing remembered: the overcoat he designed and made.
24.00 Dave left home at 18-19 years old. Visited brother Ben in the fall of 1919 in Parkersburg , West Virginia--Ben had married Catherine Neale in Parkersburg. Catherine's brother was the athlete Greasy Neale--an outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds team that won the 1919 World Series--the series that was marred by the "Black Sox" scandal. The Chicago White Sox had been favored to win the series, but several key players were paid off by New York mobster Arnold Rothstein and his gambling syndicate to throw the series. Dave describes this scandal.
Greasy Neale, 1922
Neale also played professional football and coached several teams in the NFL
29.00 Dave and Alice marry, 1926, Delphi Hotel in Philadelphia. Family and friends had no rice, so they threw raisins at them--a messy business!
Image: Alice's wedding picture, 1926
31.23 Memories of Alice's parents. Harry had been in restaurant business, then had a shoe repair business. He died at the age of 56. Yetta was literate in Yiddish and spoke both English and Yiddish. Dave remembers letters she wrote to Alice in Yiddish, with English words written in Yiddish.
33.30 Memories of Alice's siblings. Dave states that she had three sisters and one brother, but there were two brothers (Ed and Jules)--possibly by the time that Dave met Alice, Ed was no longer living at home and Dave did not include him for that reason. Please refer to the photograph and listing of the Green family above.
Dave speaks of the Green family and Alice's siblings with warmth and affection, saying that they were "good people with good hearts".
36.30 Describing Alice. Dave states that Alice was "a lovely person..very active...". He explains that her energies were devoted to helping others and addressing "broad social problems". He says, "Nothing was too hard for her". He expresses admiration for her ability to speak before crowds and advocate for progressive causes.
Alice was active in the United Parents Association (UPA) in New York from 1938-1941. The UPA was a voice for progress in the public schools in NYC, with concerns that included racial integration of both students and teachers, as well as "academic freedom, peace education (including opposition to military training in the public schools), juvenile delinquency, textbook selection... and teacher salaries."
The file about Alice that was released to me from the NYC archives refers to her work with the UPA ; specifically, the efforts of the UPA to disavow Alice in 1941, when anti-communist efforts became more fervent. In 1953, Alice was listed as a person of interest in the Investigation of Communist Activity in New York, under the auspices of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)
Alice's political activities are further discussed in Side #3
Dave states that the Loew's Theater organization tried to recruit Alice as a spokesperson for their more conservative agenda, but she turned them down.
41.00 Dave describes Alice's support of various worker's strikes and the peace strike; he tells of Alice wheeling baby Shary in a carriage fill with leaflets.
43.00 Living in "the cockroach house" in the Bronx; Dave expresses gratitude that he had work through the Depression when so many neighbors were on relief. Dave talks about a drugstore that was located under their apartment . The drugstore was owned by two brothers; Dave tells a humorous story about "Louis the dope".
Image: Interior, Whelan's Drugstore, New York City, 1930s (Berenice Abbott, photographer)
This recording was made in Haifa Israel, 3/25/77. David Udren is being interviewed by Sharon Udren Chaiklin (daughter of David) and Valerie Lankford (friend of Sharon's).
David was born in Fastiv/Fastov, a small city of around 11,000 people in the Kiev district, Ukraine--at that time a part of the Russian Empire. He left Fastov with his family in 1904 at around the age of six, and briefly describes their immigration experience in the audio. At the time of their departure, over one-half of the population of Fastov was Jewish. Pogroms afflicted the Jewish population throughout their history and a terrible pogrom in Fastov in 1919 killed half of the Jewish population, an estimated 2000 people.
Notably, Golda Meir (the fourth prime minister of Israel) was born in Fastov in 1898, but her family emigrated to Milwaukee in the United States in 1906. The first images you see on the video are of the market place in Fastov, ca. 1900, as David might have seen it. The second image is of a grain mill built ca. 1905, perhaps just after the Udren family left Fastov. I found both of these images on the website History of Jewish Communities in Ukraine, on this page: https://jewua.org/fastov/.
The contents of this first portion (time on video noted) is as follows:
.28 First memory (age 3-4?)
2.20 Memories of Fastov
4.25 Immigration: train to Frankfort, then to Rotterdam; boat to Liverpool, then to Ellis Island, New York (arrived June 15, 1904); train to Philadelphia.
8.00 Memories of parents, father's opposition to immigration; father's work as a highly skilled tailor; teaching David how to design and tailor an overcoat.
13.13 Extended family--father's sister in Detroit, Mother's sister in Philadelphia; Publickers (sister and brother-in-law's family)
19.45 Early school days; memories of a favorite teacher (Miss Lynch)
21.19 Later school days; playing basketball on school team; quitting school before end of school year every year to get a job for the summer--never received a diploma
23.52 Attending Temple University for classes in book-keeping and accounting, working at night
24.16 Once out of school, playing basketball after work; early jobs; antisemitism limiting job opportunities; working in a coal yard at age 11 or 12.
27.40 Bar mitzvah
28.50 More about parents and siblings:
Abraham Udren (father): b. ca.1863, Ukraine; d. 7/23/46, Philadelphia
Sofie/Sophie Gever Udren (mother): b. ca. 1864, Ukraine; d. 7/17/55, Philadelphia
Benjamin/Ben Udren (brother): b. 5/1/84, Kiev, Ukraine; d. Wood, WV 3/25/66
Ben Udren, Atlantic City, NJ, early 1920s
Rose Udren Siegel (sister): b. 1889, Ukraine; d.1964 (?), New York, NY(?)
Minnie Udren Katz (sister): b. 10/21/91, Ukraine; d. 3/17/67, Philadelphia, PA
Harry Udren (brother): b. 3/10/92, Kiev, Ukraine; d. 12/10/80, Queens, NY
David Udren (self): b. 11/26/98, Ukraine; d. 7/19/94, Columbia, MD
Dave and his first car, early 1920s
Samuel/Sam Udren (brother): b. 12/24/99, Ukraine; d. 11/23/86, Philadelphia, PA
Joseph/Joe Udren (brother): b. 12/25/03, Ukraine; d. 6/?/84, Philadelphia, PA
Dave and Joe in New York, early 1920's
Matilda/Tia Udren Stokes: b. 4/27/07, Philadelphia, PA; d. 7/30/2003, Bradenton, FL
Tia Udren, 1930s
31.0 Memories of mother (Sofie), mother's cooking
33.55 Passover seders
35.20 Relationships with siblings
36.12 Memories of father (Abraham)
Photo of a group of tailors in Warsaw, Poland at a tailor's convention, ca. 1900? Abraham Udren is seated on the far right
Standing (L to R): Dave, Alice, Sam's wife Ann, Sam;
Seated: Joe, Sophie, Joe's wife Clara
At Sophie and Abe's 50th wedding anniversary ca early 1940s (?)
40.50 Cultural influences: music, literature, politics, dance
