This is Part 2 of the letter that started off quite gloomy yesterday.
Now, for some happy items and I won't even connect this to the rest of the slap I wrote.
[Hooray, this part's starting off a little better.]
[slap: a sharply worded or sarcastic rebuke or comment.]
I really enjoy Suzie Dirr, the examiner's wife. Yesterday she, David Wayne and I went to the CBS studio for the Art Linkletter broadcast. The tickets are free and the only trouble is lying about David Wayne's age - he has to be six on those days. It was all just a wonderland to me and I could kick my ___ seat because I didn't do this with you. Suzie and I plan to go to Art Linkletter's show once a week until one of us wins a prize.
[This show was "Art Linkletter's House Party," a daytime variety show that aired on TV from 1952 through 1969.]
After leaving CBS, we went to NBC and got the information for seeing their programs (also free). We could have seen the filming of a Debbie Reynolds special yesterday, but David Wayne had to be 12 years old - we couldn't quite swing that age jump, but Suzie tried. She's a nut - really!
[That Debbie Reynolds special would have been "And Debbie Makes Six," a one-hour music and comedy special that included Bobby Darin (Splish Splash), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Bob Hope (Bob Hope!), Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), Donald O'Connor (Singin' in the Rain), and Nelson Riddle (you've heard his music). Wow. I know Mom would have loved to have seen that. Now I feel bad about not being 12.]
After NBC we got our maps of the stars' homes and drove all over Beverly Hills acting like gawking tourists. We were disappointed - they were not impressive at all. No big, fancy, expensive mansions like we thought we'd see. The home of Danny Thomas was very plain and Edward G. Robinson's home looked like it was falling apart. The only two impressive homes (and they weren't that much) belonged to Morey Amsterdam and Pat Boone.
[Fun fact: Pat Boone briefly lived in Denton starting around 1954, when he was 19 years old (newly wed) and attending what is now the University of North Texas. Supposedly he went to the same church Mom was attending, and she knew him before he became famous. (She would have been 13 years old.)]
In the morning, we are going to NBC again to pick up tickets for "Let's Make a Deal" on Saturday night. Then we are going to take a tour through NBC (David Wayne will be six again) and after that we are taking David Wayne to see "The Jungle Book at Grauman's Chinese Theater. It will be an expensive day, but we are both mad at our husbands so we'll get them where it hurts the most - their pocketbooks! Gene Dirr is just a carbon copy of all the examiners I have met thus far - precise, neat, and a tightwad. Suzie suffered from the same switch I did after marriage (this is just a common complaint from all the examiners' wives) - she got wined and dined constantly during courtship and then on their honeymoon (instead of being starved like me) she had to walk everywhere as Gene didn't want to spend money on gasoline.
[Well, there's a lot going on in that paragraph. I had never heard Mom talk about "the switch" before, nor had I ever heard about her being starved on their honeymoon. But she's right about the tightwad trait among all of the insurance examiners. In fact, she found out the penny pinching continued to some extent past retirement when she started hanging out with Dad's former coworker Ed Kubala years later. She would occasionally go to luncheons with Ed that I think were a monthly gathering of retired examiners in the Austin area, and all the examiners would order water to drink because they didn't want to spend the money on tea or something else. Mom made a point of ordering tea for herself.]
But lack of money won't stop us. We had a wonderful day yesterday - Suzie had one dollar and I had five nickels. (Dave and I have been married about a year longer so you see how fast an examiner's wife's worth deteriorates!)
[It sounds like Mom and Suzie have gotten off to a good start. We should have some interesting adventures coming up.]
By the way, two House Party shows were taped yesterday while we were there and they will be shown November 27 and 28. So tune in if you get a chance, you might see us in the audience.
[That was the Art Linkletter show.]
I'll close for now. It sure was nice talking to you on the phone last night. I had hoped it would make me less depressed, but it didn't help at all. Unloading everything in this letter has helped, though, and I feel better already.
Love,
Linda
P. S. - All of you in Texas forget about us on Christmas. I have bought David Wayne plenty of toys, and Dave and I don't need anything. I don't want any of you going through the Mailing Packages Ordeal. Letters are alright.
[Hey wait a minute, don't deprive me of an awesome Christmas. Maybe they can just send me some money since the panning for gold thing didn't work out as I expected.]
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