Behind closed doors…

Chapter 41: 1947 • Larry’s diary (age 13) —

Sep 15  First day of high school was today.
Sep 22  My father finished buying Tibbit’s and will take over in October
Sep 23  A big article was in tonights Democrat and Daily about Dad buying Tibbits
Sep 25  It is Dad’s birthday. Dad is 42
Sep 26  Two girls were hired today so that the new manager will not be short-handed
Sep 27  Got in truck load of freight. Another new girl has been hired making eight in all
Sep 28  Sunday, worked all day today at store trying to clean it up and get out some of the new freight
Sep 30  A new coke machine was put into the school today. It is the latest model

Sonora newspaper: CARL CLEMENS BUYS TIBBITS DRUG STORE
Sale of Tibbits Pharmacy by Lynn Day to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Clemens was consummated this week with Clemens scheduled to take over active management of the business October 4th. Clemens, who came here in July 1943 has served as manager of the local Sprouse Reitz store. Clemens stated he would add a variety line to the cosmetic, stationary and novelty lines already carried by the store, and will sell general merchandise. The store will be known as Clemens’.

After running Sprouse Reitz for four years and as the economy was good, with an inheritance from his dad and a loan from his sister Elizabeth, Dad started his own business. He readied his new store for the upcoming 1948 California Centennial. The country was recovering from the war, gas was available, and tourists were visiting the gold country again. 

He sold records and music not because he was interested in music, but because no other store in Sonora sold them. The record and sheet music bins were to the left. To the right were two soundproof booths for listening to 78s, 33s, and 45s, mostly popular, jazz, and classical. He sold mandolins, guitars, and fiddles along with Golden Books, greeting cards, and Gold Rush painted plates. Inside the store’s glass front door stood the tall three-sided glass candy case. He had yardage goods: bolts of calico, spools of thread, and racks of Simplicity, Butterick, and McCalls. He sold small green turtles (when the shipments arrived it was Betty’s job to throw the dead ones away) and plastic turtle islands, goldfish and glass fish bowls. He carried music boxes, wind-up monkeys, and Madame Alexander dolls.

I still have two of the Little Women dolls. Made of hard composite, with delicate faces, real hair, a waist, hips, and a belly button, the movable heads, arms, and legs are held together by interior rubber bands that haven’t broken in fifty years. Meg is now barefoot. Jo has no socks and only one black Mary Jane on her left foot, dried elastic in the waist of her white pantaloons, and a slight crack running down her forehead. 

Behind closed doors, when Betty and I lived with the Guidicis when our family fell apart, my sister took a long thin artist’s brush and painted Jo’s eyebrows black and lined the outer corners of her eyes, carefully painted her ten tiny finger and toenails red, then cut the doll’s bangs and brown hair off in back into a short bob, like hers. Jo was beautiful, and so was Betty, who looked like Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet.

To be continued…

Catherine Sevenau is a writer, humorist, and storyteller living in Sonoma, California. The stories in this series are excerpts from  Through Any Given Door, a Family Memoir, available at Sevenau.com. Catherine is an author of three books, several volumes of family genealogy, and a longtime Broker/Realtor at CENTURY 21 Epic Wine Country. Csevenau@earthlink.net