Diary of Vilma, The Unconquerable
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Vilma, Vittles and Spade Cooley

11/29/2015

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A music lovin' Vilma
Friday April 18, 1952
Made some fudge for Betty Jo today.

Saturday April 19th 1952
Went to Spade Cooley’s dance tonight with Jim and it is sure lush. He has horrible bad breath, I wish somebody would let him in on the bitter truth. Tonight he told me he loved me and asked me to go steady again. Also I refused his good night kiss again because I cannot stand Halitosis on anybody. I wish he would wise up a little and just give up and go away.

Sunday April 20, 1952
Spent all day with Jim today and got in at 10:15 or so. He hinted around about marrying me tonight. He is sure stuck on me and when it comes time to shaft him he is going to be one hurt guy, I am afraid to say. I refused his good night kiss again tonight. Man, it sure must be love to have him coming back like this…. and for what? If I was him I would’ve given up a long time ago.

Monday April 21, 1952
Got a letter from Betty Jo today. She says she is so sick of candy it is pitiful, and I sent her some fudge on Saturday. She probably hasn’t gotten it yet, so I wrote back to her today and told her to hold her nose and down it real quick and then fast drink water to take away the candy flavor. Hah Hah!

Wednesday April 23, 1952
Went over Virginia’s today and visited for a couple of hours. We’re all going to the beach together Saturday. She is going to marry Floyd, I just found out today. I hope they’re both very happy.

Thursday April 24, 1952
Got an announcement today from Julia. What do you know?  She is now married to a 1st Lieutenant and she was married in Germany. I’m glad for her. She looks so cute in her gown, she is positively a queen anyhow though.

Friday April 25, 1952
Called up Jim today and told him not to come down, as the weather is not so hot. It’s raining and who wants to go to the beach then?

Saturday April 26, 1952
Went to The Stomp tonight and had a real crazy time coming home. Came home with Lorea and Ralph and Floyd. Man that Lorea is sure crazy, she’s cute though, I like her.

Tex came over in the afternoon today while I was in town with Mary Alice. Got in at 10 after 4am this morning, but of course it’s the beginning of Daylight Saving Time so it was only 3am.

Sunday April 27, 1952
Virginia, Jim and Floyd came down tonight to see me. Virginia showed me her engagement ring, man is it sure lush looking. Me and Lorea went to the show tonight and we picked up some guy and he took us to Stan’s Drive In and we had some "vittles". Then we dropped Lorea off and he wanted to take me for a drive. But nothing doing, all I wanted was the food! We sure had a crazy time all of us.

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Who was Spade Cooley?
Beginning in the 1930’s, an outgrowth of American country music which became known as “Country Western Swing”, was a prominent musical force throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and right here in Southern California.

According to Merle Travis, "Western swing is nothing more than a group of talented country boys, unschooled in music, but playing the music they feel, beating a solid two-four rhythm to the harmonies that buzz around their brains. When it escapes in all its musical glory, my friend, you have Western swing."

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ve already become familiar with another big Country Western Swing musical variety show called Cliffie Stone’s Hometown Jamboree. This was Vilma’s favorite Saturday night hang out lovingly referred to as "The Stomp", which played right out of El Monte’s Legion Stadium.

The talented Mr. Spade Cooley entertained a generation from the mid-forties until he spiraled out of control in the late fifties, his being a tale of the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Unfortunately a dark and disturbing one at that. 


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Spade Cooley was an immensely gifted musician that rode Country Western Swing to money and fame. But all the money and fame in the world does not make a happy man. His alcohol laden binges turned him into a raging beast, one day in 1961 that beast tortured and beat his wife to death. Regrettably, he seemed to be unrepentant of his crimes. He made parole a mere eight years later. On one of his final weekends in the big house, he was asked to play a benefit concert for the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Alameda County. He truly gave the performance of his lifetime and even received a standing ovation. He then walked off stage, had a heart attack.... and died.

Here is an amazing tune from Spade Cooley and His Orchestra on an episode of the Three Stooges (years prior to his demise).

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Vittles at Stan’s Drive In

Peanut Butter & Jelly, Apple Pie & Ice Cream, Laverne & Shirley, Cars & Drive-In’s. You can’t have one without the other!

As we've seen, the 1950’s was one of the most innovative times for American car production. The manufacturing capitals of Detroit and Los Angeles switched from pre-war cookie cutter styles reflective of the limited metal rationing of WWII, to full blown state of the art designs and concepts.  It’s safe to say that America was in the midst of a love affair with its cars. Naturally of course this created the need for all sorts of fun car related activities.

You practically wanted to do everything in your car. So when you wanted to go get some food (or “vittles “as Vilma would say), why bother to get out of your vehicle?


Stan’s was only one of hundreds of Drive-In Restaurants that had sprung up all around the country. It was classic comfort food served right up at your car window. They had several locations in SoCal, including Los Angeles and El Monte, which was right on the corner of Valley and Garvey.

To attract travelers passing by, Drive-In’s were typically located in heavily trafficked areas. By nightfall the glowing neon lights and mid-century architecture, often reminiscent of the space age, transformed them into beacons which summoned you in.

As a small child growing up in El Monte in the 1970’s, I was fortunate enough to remember the big A & W Root Beer Drive In stand which used to be located on the corner of Peck and Lower Azusa Road. My father used to pack us kids up in his classic 1958 Oldsmobile (with no seat belts), roll into an open spot and order us kids the best hamburgers, fries and root beer floats on God’s green earth. A simple effortless meal to feed his clan, and what a treat it was to eat in the car with Daddy! It was magical even in the 1970’s. Long may Stan’s and A & W live on in our memories!

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The A & W in El Monte
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A Diary of Vilma Thanksgiving

11/26/2015

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It's Thanksgiving!
As we’re giving thanks to God on this bountiful life he has provided for us, and chowing down like these fine Clifton’s Cafeteria patrons, I just wanted to pause and say a heartfelt thank YOU to all who follow this blog. Your support and readership is appreciated!

It all started a little over 6 months ago with the desire to share my mother’s story of her young single life: her faith, temptations, fiercely independent sassy side, and not to mention her time working at the historic Clifton’s Cafeteria as a Camera Girl. Of course all told through her own writing, along with hundreds of her vintage pictures.

It's been such a joy to share these diaries with all of you, and it's been wonderful connecting with old and new friends. I'm grateful to have you along for the journey to the past!

A Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

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Movie Nights with Vilma

11/22/2015

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Vilma and Jim...the poor lovesick fella
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Wednesday April 9, 1952
Went to Confession today.

Holy Thursday April 10, 1952
Went to Holy Communion today.

Good Friday April 11, 1952
Stayed in Church with our Dear Lord the three hours of His Passion from 12:00 to 3:00pm

Saturday April 12, 1952
Went to Long Beach with Jim, Virginia and Floyd today. I like Virginia, she’s pretty cute. Then went over Virginia’s house tonight and played Rummy. Mary Alice came over today, she looks double fine with a tan since she just got back from Balboa for the week. Got another letter from Betty Jo, says she misses me terrible.

Easter Sunday April 13, 1952
Jim went with me to Easter Mass and received Holy Communion with me today. Then after Mass we went over to his house in L.A. for me to meet his mother and father, and I had supper with the whole family. Man we had a feast, it was turkey and all the trimmings. Everything was just so delicious and everybody was so nice. It made me feel real, real good. Jim has a 17 year-old sister and we got to be buddy-buddies and she is double fine. His father is sure built and is as strong as an ox. Then afterwards we cleaned up the dishes and stayed a little while and talked, then Jim took me to see Singin' in the Rain and it was double fine.

I’m afraid Jim has it bad for me. He asked me to go steady with him tonight, but I evaded him by telling him that Mom doesn’t want me to go steady with anybody, I’m too young (to die). Also, he asked to kiss me good night and I wouldn’t do it. I am so mean though! He is a doggone nice guy, but his teeth are dirty and I never kiss guys that have dirty teeth. I wish he would just drop me so he won’t get hurt.

Also Moose and Bryan (tight Levi's guy from Feb 28) came over tonight while I was gone with Jim. They drove over in a lush, black shiny job.

Monday April 14, 1952
Wrote to Betty Jo today. Went to the show today and saw At Sword’s Point and an Ozzie Nelson picture, both were good. While I was gone, I guess it was Fred Glazo who came over tonight, by the way Mom described the red convertible.

Tuesday April 15, 1952
Started Jim’s argyles today, they are real flawless looking with a grey background, and red and green diamonds with tan stripes. I stayed home tonight but no one came over. I think my company waits at the corner just to see me go out…and then they sneak up and come knocking on the door asking for me!


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Movies Nights with Vilma

Red convertibles, lush black shiny jobs, and a guy you don’t like very much primarily due to bad teeth (but keep dating anyway). Sounds like a perfectly average night for Vilma! And what about those double fine movies?

In the decade following WWII, Americans exuded patriotism and optimism, the country was bouncing back into prosperity and films strived to lift the spirits of a recovering war-weary nation. The Hollywood Studio system dominated by the Big 5 major movie studios of the time, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Warner Brothers, and Fox were churning out movies like no tomorrow.

The best thing was that the whole family could watch any of these fine movies. Once upon a time, movie stars were also enormously multi-talented: they could sing, dance and act! Unlike most of the actors we have today of course.

Movies, Conversations and Cars of the 1950's

Here we can step back and take another peek at the days when a movie with a great story, good music and dancing delighted the soul. Days when you awoke and got dressed in slacks, button down shirts, dresses, gloves, coifed your hair and wore your best hat. You may have rang someone up on the telephone or dropped by someone’s house to visit face to face. Yup, having real conversations, eye contact and maybe staying for dinner was the only way to go!

Since the rationing of metal and steel was no longer necessary, even the cars became more impressive. Reflecting the dynamic dreams of a prospering decade, cars were almost mystical, built of solid metal with dripping chrome, many of which replicated the decade of the Space Race with futuristic designs made to mimic rocket ships!

Now I realize that everything was not “Ozzie and Harriet” over the top wholesomeness, of course there were serious issues even back in the 1950’s. But the world seemed so much less complicated compared to now!

In this generation I sense people are tiring of the shock and awe in today's movies. How much more can we see….and not unsee? We yearn for good family movies! It makes perfect sense then that most of the top grossing movies now in this day and age are, yes, you guessed it: Cartoons.

Now let’s take a closer look at those newest movies that debuted right here in 1952:

First up: Singin' in the Rain

Quite simply, the best musical film ever produced in my humble opinion.
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"This 1952 MGM picture is the musical that consistently ranks among the 10 best movies ever made. It's not only a great song-and-dance piece starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and a sprightly Debbie Reynolds; it's also an affectionately funny insider spoof about the film industry's uneasy transition from silent pictures to "talkies." Kelly plays debonair star Don Lockwood, whose leading lady Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) has a screechy voice hilariously ill-suited to the new technology (and her glamorous screen image).

Among the musical highlights: O'Connor's knockout "Make 'Em Laugh"; the big "Broadway Melody" production number; and, best of all, that charming little title ditty in which Kelly makes movie magic on a drenched set with nothing but a few puddles, a lamppost, and an umbrella."


Be sure to watch the video all the way through for the charming dance with a dummy!

Next: At Swords Point
The swashbuckling adventures of Cornel Wilde and Maureen O'Hara!
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"It's all for one and fun for all as Maureen O'Hara wields a blade as sharp as her wits in this rollicking Technicolor® adventure. With the power-hungry Duc de Lavalle (Robert Douglas) threatening to usurp the throne, the queen (Gladys Cooper) summons the Four Musketeers to come to her aid. But too many years have passed and they're no longer able to heed the call, so their grown children decide to fight for their fathers.”

And who can resist the wholesome escapades of the Ozzie Nelson family?

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So maybe tonight queue up the Netflix and take a trip back to 1952 to watch the magical Singin' in the Rain and the adventurous At Sword’s Point for your family movie night!
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Vilma and the Return of the Dirty Dentist

11/15/2015

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Tuesday April 1, 1952
Jerry McClellan gave me a ride home from work tonight from the P. E. Station. He more or less asked me out and Mary Alice is just dying to go out with him. I have already gone out with him once but it was last year and his kisses were slobbery, but maybe they have improved by this time. Anyway, I don’t care to find out.

I am starting a pair of maroon, grey and dark blue argyles tonight for my brother Bobby, they are really choice.

Wednesday April 2, 1952
Got laid off at work today. I don’t mind one little bit, just think, sitting on my royal behind and getting $25 a week, well that is really living.

Thursday April 3, 1952
Went to the employment agency today and found out I don’t get paid a damn thing. I didn’t make $750 last year and also you have to work in a certain period of time. So I asked them when I get another job and if I get laid off in August, will I then have an income?

Friday April 4, 1952
Went to the dentist today. He says I really have a figure now, but I wear falsies. I’d like to clobber him one, I’m not kidding you. He hugs me and rubs my back and I told him to quit it, you are a married man with two kids, so cut the fooling around. I would very much like to smash him one!

Sunday April 6, 1952
Went to Griffith Park today with Jim and Floyd and his girlfriend Virginia. Tonight went over to Virginia’s to play cards with the guys. Man, I haven’t necked for two weeks and I am dying inside of me. I am particular who I kiss, and I don’t even let Jim put his arm around me.

Monday April 7, 1952
Went to the dentist again today and got a filling. Told him to quit fooling around or else I’d yank out his false teeth and throw them on the floor and stomp on them!

I finished Bobby’s one argyle today.

Tuesday April 8, 1952
Got a letter from Betty Jo today. She says for me to be a real good girl until she can come home and take care of me. Ha! She says the food isn’t so hot, so I made her some brownies tonight and answered her letter.

I bought a $17 bathing suit today (Catalina, dark blue, one piece) and man is it flawless looking. I just love it. I’m going to the beach on Saturday if you didn’t know, and my old bathing suit fits me like a sack.

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The Return of the Dirty Dentist
 
As some of you know, there is nothing more horrible than the pain of a tooth’s nerve exposed and having to be hammered at. It’s a miserable feeling. Well, Vilma was in no mood to have to contend with this creep.

She could have easily been a pushover who wouldn’t have made that much of a fuss, but nooooo…. this is Vilma at her finest! One just has to admire how she is such a strong, confident young 17 year-old who is not afraid to stick it right back to him. She was not putting up with this married man with kids, and in her book that is strikes 1, 2 and 3!  

If you’ll remember a few months back in this post here, poor Vilma had another toothache and we had a glimpse of the same dentist…and he was really quite the pervert there too. It begs the question, was this the only dentist in town? You probably didn’t have much of a choice back in 1952 though. Like the TV show Mad Men, I guess you had to deal with the womanizing Don Drapers of the dental world.

Maybe young women can learn a lesson from Vilma: if it’s not right say something! And for goodness sakes don’t fall for all the attention and mushy compliments! If he is doing this to Vilma, he’s just gotta be doing it to others.

He probably wasn’t a very good dentist anyway, as Vilma even reveals his secret: The dentist wears false teeth!

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All About Betty Jo

11/1/2015

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Sunday March 23, 1952
Betty Jo has quit school. She is leaving Monday for the Maternity home. She is sure looking knocked up and lot of people know about it from Nancy. I haven’t even told Mary Alice.

Monday March 24, 1952
Went shopping tonight and got a darling jacket.

Tuesday March 25, 1952
Betty Jo came over tonight crying. She says her father calls her a whore and her sister hates her and says she can’t wait for Betty Jo to get the hell out of there. Betty Jo has real awful pains, and oh man she is sure knocked up for being only five months. She says she took a small bottle of aspirin but it didn’t do any good. I told her “You’re a damn fool.” It is this Monday positively, absolutely that she is leaving.

Thursday March 27, 1952
Me and Betty Jo went to The Pike tonight and saw the sideshow. I’ve never seen a sideshow before and it was the kicks. We saw an escape artist Penguin Man, Seal-o, Hula Dancers, a Head Hunter, Pinhead, the Man with Two Faces and others. The man with two faces was gruesome. He took off his plastic face and he had been in an explosion and his face was about ¼ there. All his teeth were sticking out and it was real horrible. It was real good though, the side show.

Sunday March 30, 1952
Stayed with Betty Jo all day and helped her pack. I cried when she said good bye but she didn’t see me. I know damn well she did though. She promised I would be the first one she would write to. Went over and visited Buella tonight.

Monday March 31, 1952
Went over to Betty Jo’s this morning and said good-bye and also kissed her good bye. It is the first time I have ever kissed her and she of course kissed me back. I cried all the way to work on the bus, and dumb me I even couldn’t help myself at work, I started bawling! Man I will sure miss her, no kidding around.


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All about Betty Jo


Throughout these past few months we’ve seen Vilma’s best friend Betty Jo in turmoil. Let's review shall we?
  • We know that Betty Jo lost her mother in 1950 due to a sudden illness and her father has taken to the bottle.
  • She has turned to promiscuity in an attempt to find love and is five months pregnant by her still married bad-boy, loud-mouthed jerk of a boyfriend Dannie (who is in the process of getting a divorce so he can marry her).
  • In the meantime, Betty Jo is still playing the field with another boy named David.
  • Her father calls her a whore, her sister hates her, oh and let’s throw into the mix that she is a compulsive shoplifter.
  • Vilma’s own mother keeps telling her to stay away from Betty Jo as she is a bad influence.
  • Now she has quit school and is finally on her way now to the Maternity home. Whew!

Like Vilma uttered in an earlier diary entry, “she is sure way ahead of me”… but in the worst way possible.  We know that Vilma keenly recognizes the choices Betty Jo has made in her young 17 year old life up to this point, and does not want to end up like her friend. Betty Jo’s life has been a tough one so far, with some things beyond her control, but that should not give her an excuse for those bad choices.

Throughout all of her trials thus far, Vilma has not abandoned Betty Jo and their friendship. Quite the opposite, in Vilma’s usual blunt way of speaking, she gives her a dose of what she needs to hear: “You’re a damn fool”.

The longing of the heart

Something else is stirring in Betty Jo’s heart. A longing for love and acceptance, with a healthy dose of stubbornness. In giving her body away, or even stealing, she thinks it will satisfy the love and fulfillment she craves. When Betty Jo does not find true love, she feels used, abandoned, betrayed and unloved, yet continues the same behaviors thinking that something will change.

The great philosopher G.K. Chesterton once wrote “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting the same results”.  It’s a vicious cycle of emotional turmoil that this poor broken-hearted girl is passing through. But it didn’t have to be that way.

How can Betty Jo recognize true love? It can simply be known by how much the other person is willing to sacrifice themselves for the others good. Do these guys Dannie or David have her best interests at hand? Or are they only there for their own self-gratification? There is only one way to weed out true love, do dare I say those offensive words that this world rejects? Yes, it is Chastity and Virtue.

The surrender to God’s love is always the harder path to take. To reject what the world says is right and good is a tough thing to do, but the inner fulfillment and peace is the prized jewel the world can not offer.

In the greatest of love and romance stories we have heard throughout our lives, they are truly but a mere glimmer of the depths of love God has for us all. God is the faithful pursuer of the heart, always patiently waiting for one to turn, even ever so slightly back to Him. 

What will become of Betty Jo and Dannie? Just keep reading my blog to find out!

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    Miriam Caldwell

    "A daughter's journey into her mother's long forgotten diaries".

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