A 'Swenglish' journey through family photos, notes and postcards
from the early 20th century.

2022-07-02

Skyscrapers of Manhattan (1936) - Sepia Saturday 628

In the previous post, Gerda and her employers, the Bernadotte family (Folke and Estelle with their sons Folke Jr, 5 years old, and baby Bertil*, 5 months) were about to leave Nice on the French Riviera after about a month's stay there in the spring of 1936, following the tragic death of the oldest son Gustaf in February (back in Sweden).

* Readers following this blog from week to week may be raising an eyebrow here, thinking: "Hey, I can't recall a baby mentioned in the previous post?" Don't worry. There's nothing wrong with your memory - it's I who somehow managed to get birth dates mixed up, thinking that it wasn't until 1936 that he was born. But Bertil Oscar was born 6 October 1935. So when the Bernadottes' oldest son tragically died in February 1936, the family also included a 4 months old  baby. (I've now made amends, and have also added the fact into the two previous posts.)

And once I had added baby Bertil to the pictures in my head, my thoughts also went to a photo in Gerda's album that could be of him, from the journey down to Nice. The background looks like a some kind of veranda with most of the summer furniture put away. I think it's Gerda to the right; and the woman to the left I suppose may be a nanny.  (I have no real concept of how many servants the family usually brought along on their journeys, but it seems likely that while the children were small, they would have had a nanny employed as well.)


Having introduced Bertil into the picture (whether it's really him in the picture or not), let's move on!

According to postcards in the previous post, on March 18, 1936, the Bernadottes (with children and servants) departed from Nice with a ship (possibly called Côte d'Azur) that by a southern route would take them to New York in just 5 days. So they would have arrived there around March 23; which gives them around six weeks in the U.S. before travelling back to Sweden again (according to postcards below, on May 5). They probably spent most of that time with Estelle's parents in Pleasantville N.Y.  And as so often, it seems Gerda didn't find much time to write to her brother back in Sweden until it was nearly time to leave again...

M.007.03 - Empire State Building at Night


"At night New York is a fairyland - a new universe of millions of glittering suns and stars. The picture shows the Empire State Building, highest in the world, with its great mooring mast for dirigibles* illuminated."
* About the "mooring mast for dirigibles" on the Empire State Building, see my recent post for Sepia Saturday 625 (where I had a daytime image of the same building).



To: Herr Gustav Samuelson, Storegården, Fristad, Sweden
From: Gerda (New York, April 28, 1936)

Käre bror! Om tisdag den 5 maj reser vi hem igen, är nog i Stockholm den 15 tänker jag. Fick brev från Emma och Ester för ett par dagar sedan, de hälsade från dig. Här är vackert väder nu. Kära hälsningar, Gerda.

Dear brother, On Tuesday May 5 we go back home again, will probably be in Stockholm by the 15th. I received a letter from Emma and Ester * a couple of days ago, they sent greetings from you. We have nice weather here now. Love, Gerda

* Emma and Ester were Gerda's and Gustaf's older sisters. 


M.008.01 - Empire State Building and Midtown New York


THE SKYSCRAPERS OF MIDTOWN MANHATTAN
"At the left the Empire State Building, the tallest in the world; at the right the Chrysler Building, second tallest; the Chanin and Lincoln buildings among the other skyscrapers."





To: Herr Gustav Samuelson, Storegården, Fristad
From: Gerda ( Pleasantville, May 5, 1936

Vi är nu färdiga att resa hem. Får se vem som kommer först, kortet eller jag. Tack för brev i dag. Den 14 eller 15 hoppas vi vara hemma. K. hälsningar, Gerda

We are now ready to go home. Remains to be seen who comes first - the card or me. Thanks for your letter today. We hope to be home on the 14th or 15th. Love, Gerda.

- - -

"We weren't born into this world to
be happy, 
but to make others happy."
- Folke Bernadotte -

- - -

Linking to Sepia Saturday 628


"Three kids captured forever in front of a wall. One holds a magnificent long bow, one holds a silver arrow with flights made from the finest eagle feathers, the third is King Richard, the Lionheart. They have their futures ahead of them - and they have their imaginations. Kids and imagination are the themes for Sepia Saturday 628." 

"Tre pojkar fångade för evigt framför en vägg. En håller i en magnifik långbåge, en håller i en silverpil med örnfjädrar, den tredje är kung Rickard Lejonhjärta. Framtiden ligger framför dem, och de har sin fantasi. Barn och fantasi är temat för Sepia Saturday 628."


I föregående blogginlägg var Gerda och hennes arbetsgivare, familjen Bernadotte (Folke och Estelle, och deras två söner, Folke Jr, 5 år, och little Bertil, 5 mån)*, i mars 1936, just på väg att lämna Nice på franska rivieran, efter ungefär en månads vistelse där. De hade rest ner dit från Sverige i februari, inte långt efter att äldste sonen Gustaf avlidit i sviterna efter en svår öroninflammation.

* Någon uppmärksam läsare som följer den här bloggen i samma takt som den publiceras kanske höjer ett ögonbryn här och tänker: "Inte kommer jag ihåg att det nämndes en baby i familjen vid den här tidpunkten?" Det är i så fall inget fel på ditt minne - det var jag som blandat ihop datum och fått för mig att det var först 1936 som Bertil föddes. Men det var 6 oktober 1935. Så när äldste sonen Gustaf dog, innefattade familjen alltså även en 4 månader gammal baby. (Jag har nu ändrat detta även i de två föregående blogginläggen.)

Och med baby Bertil nu också inkluderad i "bilderna i mitt eget huvud", så går mina tankar också till ett foto i Gerdas album med en baby som skulle kunna vara Bertil, från resan ner till Nice. Bakgrunden på fotot ser ut att vara någon slags veranda med de flesta sommarmöblerna undanställda. Jag tycker mig känna igen Gerda till höger, och gissar att kvinnan till vänster är barnsköterska eller liknande. (Jag har ingen riktigt uppfattning om hur mycket tjänstefolk utöver Gerda som brukade åtfölja familjen på deras resor, men det verkar troligt att de också skulle ha haft en barnsköterska anställd medan barnen var små.)

Efter att ha introducerat Bertil (vare sig det är han på fotot eller ej), så kan vi gå vidare i texten...

Enligt vykorten i föregående inlägg, så lämnade de Nice den 18 mars 1936 med ett skepp som via en sydlig rutt skulle ta dem till New York på bara fem dagar. Det betyder att de bör ha anlänt dit omkring den 23 mars; vilket i sin tur ger dem cirka sex veckor i USA innan de reste tillbaka till Sverige igen - den 5 maj, enligt vykorten nedan. Antagligen tillbringade de större delen av denna tid hos Estelles föräldrar i Pleasantville. Och som så ofta, verkar det som om Gerda inte fann så mycket tid att skriva till sin bror hemma i Sverige förrän det nästan var dags att åka hem igen...

VYKORT M.007.03 - Empire State Building at Night

Text tryckt på baksidan: "Vid midnatt påminner New York om ett förtrollat sagoland - ett nytt universum med miljoner glittrande solar och stjärnor. Fotot visar Empire State Building, den högsta byggnaden i världen, med sin imponerande mast avsedd för ankring av luftskepp belyst."

(Angående denna mast, se mitt blogginlägg för Sepia Saturday 625.)

Till : Herr Gustav Samuelson, Storegården, Fristad, Sweden
Från: Gerda (New York, April 28, 1936)

Käre bror! Om tisdag den 5 maj reser vi hem igen, är nog i Stockholm den 15 tänker jag. Fick brev från Emma och Ester för ett par dagar sedan, de hälsade från dig. Här är vackert väder nu. Kära hälsningar, Gerda.

* Emma and Ester var Gerdas och Gustafs äldre systrar

VYKORT: M.008.01 - Empire State Building and Midtown New York

Tryckt text på baksidan: "Skyskraporna på Manhattan: Till vänster, Empire State Building, högst i världen. Till höger, Chrysler-byggnaden, näst högst. Chanin- och Lincoln-byggnaderna kan också ses bland de andra skyskraporna."

Till: Herr Gustav Samuelson, Storegården, Fristad
Från: Gerda ( Pleasantville, May 5, 1936

Vi är nu färdiga att resa hem. Får se vem som kommer först, kortet eller jag. Tack för brev i dag. Den 14 eller 15 hoppas vi vara hemma. K. hälsningar, Gerda

- - -

"Vi kom inte till denna världen för att vara
lyckliga, 
utan för att göra andra lyckliga."

- Folke Bernadotte -

- - -




6 comments:

  1. Great to add that baby to the entourage! I'm forever correcting myself on family history...making one assumption based on data from census reports, and then changing it based on another document. But these real people did live their lives day by day, and it's up to us to get just a glimpse into their lives, as best we can through the many vagaries of the years.

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  2. Thanks Barbara. To keep adjusting one's conclusions and guesses according to added facts and possibilities is really the only way forward in any kind of research, isn't it! ;)

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  3. I find myself having made mistakes many times. It can be frustrating, but it often takes looking at something a dozen times before something clicks. With all the traveling Gerda did, it's amazing that she received the letters mailed to her.

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    1. Kathy, I'll never know how many letters and cards got lost on their way, but I agree it's amazing that Gerda and her brother (and some of her other siblings as well) did keep writing to each other throughout the years. (Not sure if that should be 'in spite of' or perhaps 'thanks to' all her travelling!) ... I suppose that's why she did often post a card about a week or so before she was about to change location again, though. When she travelled to USA with the Bernadottes in the 1930s, the 'default' address was probably always with Estelle's parents in Pleasantville.

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  4. I imagine Gerda was impressed by the great changes to the cities she visited on this return trip to New York via the south of France. We take skyscrapers for granted now, but in 1936 New York was the only place to see them.

    I've been meaning to ask about the missing stamps on all of Gerda' postcards. Do you think Gustav had a stamp collection? If he did, I bet it was inspired by his sister's letters and cards from so many distant places.

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    Replies
    1. Mike, with Estelle's parents living in the state of New York I think that in the 1930s the Bernadottes (and Gerda) probably travelled even more frequently between Sweden and New York than the postcards show.
      About the stamps, I do prefer to think that it was Gustav himself who remomed the stamps for a separate stamp collection. I'm not sure, though. I also don't know if my grandmother inherited the album straight from Gustav (in 1952) or via Gerda (in 1973); or when my own father (also a stamp collector) was first introduced to their existence...

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