Mom remembers this special birthday party attended by her school friend, Princess Usha Holkar. A note on the back also identifies other friends Patty and Betty Bright, and Mom’s sister, Fran, in the back row sticking out her tongue at the camera. The young woman next to Fran may have been Usha’s governess.
“Party Picture, 1912 N. Spurgeon, Santa Ana, Ca, Front Row L-R Patty Bright,
Kathy Bright, Susie [Brown], Usha, Fran in back sticking out tongue”
“Party Picture” photograph, in Susie (Brown) Freeman Photo Album, ca. 1942, unpaginated;
privately held by Denise Levenick, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Pasadena, Caliifornia, 2010.
Mom loves removing photos from albums, a trait she shares with her own mother, Arline. I think she hopes to find a hidden caption, and if not, she sometimes she adds her own at this later date. All the bits of information help, even if the notes were written at another time, and we are fortunate to several clues to work with. According to the album index sheet, this was “Frances Party,” although Mom remembers it as “her” birthday.
I thought I might be able to use the list of addresses from our Family Home Tour to help date the photograph, however Mom’s and Auntie’s recollections conflict with the address on the back of the photo. Mom remembers playing with Usha when they lived on 20th Street; Frances remembers being in the second grade when the family lived at 1912 North Spurgeon. Fran and Susie both celebrate their birthday in January, but January of which year?
Was it January of 1939 (Fran 8, Susie 6), or January 1940 (Fran 9, Susie 7), or January 1941 (Fran 10, Susie 8). I am not sure of Fran’s age in second grade. Maybe she can answer that question. She was a smart little girl and may have been young for her grade.
I also looked at postmarked letters from these years and found three letters addressed to family members at Spurgeon in December of 1940, six letters addressed to the family at 3rd Street from Sept 1939 through Feb 1940; and 10 letters addressed to 20th Street from October 1938 through June 1939; and 44 letters addressed to No. Broadway from 3 Jan 1941 through June 1944. It may be that a closer at the individual letters will show where the family was receiving mail in January of each year, and help solve this little puzzle.
From Mom’s “Princess Diaries”
Happy Birthday Princess Usha from your friend Susie Brown
It’s the Holiday Season at Princess Usha’s Orange County House
Ah, memory. A tricky thing after many years. Mom and Auntie certainly remember the princess!
Kathy – Here’s the 20th street address: 512 East 20th Santa Ana, but it looks quite overgrown and hard to see.
Perhaps one could enter both addresses into Google Earth and use the Streetview function to look at the houses there in street view. One of the current houses might more resemble the one in the photograph. Using Streetview, I saw a house on Spurgeon Street that looked similar to the one in this photo, but I wasn’t certain. I wish you’d published the 20th street address so we could check that one too!
What an interesting picture (and I read the accompanying story of the Princess). Not everyone played with princesses when they were children!