NEW YEAR'S 1938........TALL, DARK and HANDSOME beckons 1939

"May Hope  always surround you, Hope kindle and rebound you...."-D. Simone

New Year's Eve 1938. A long year behind. Another year, 1939,  beckoning. My parents did not have much money, but they made it count. I heard these stories from my mother, who also kept a journal.

They had friends galore. Loved to spend New Year's  dancing the night away at the Crystal ballroom. It was their one expense, besides my mother's hats and shoes.

My mother kept a household journal ( little black book) from 1938-1942. She wrote about their Christmas and New Year's , always wondering how they were going to pay the 15$ rent. Some months my father did not work, some months my mother did not work. She worked doing laundry, being a seamstress.But they managed to scrimp and save  from other months in order to get by.

Each December, before the New Year, it was time to stock up on coal. $3.00 to fill the basement. 1938 December rent  they could only give $10, groceries 2$. They would have to borrow.

For the New Year's get together with friends, they paid 95 cents for a bottle of whiskey ( for the first footer * see below) 30 cents for ale and 3$ for new drapes , to make the place look fresh for the New Year.

My mother always scrubbed the house every New Year's Eve. Windows, Walls, Doors, floors. All spic and span. Ready for company. Ready  for New Year's Day. The coal she had  delivered she would take a few pieces and place them outside the front door. In a place where no one coming to the house would miss. 

For the first caller (or footer). Tall, Dark and Handsome, she would say. She told ne this over and over every year. When the friends arrived, my mother would send my father round the outside of the house to greet them. He, himself, would pick up the coal and bring in into the house. He would carry a few coins, salt, the whiskey, and bread, or my mother's fruit cake.

My mother would smile. Tall, Dark and Handsome. That was my father. He was first to enter with the friends laughing in tow. First to bring good luck to the home. 1939  would hopefully be a better year.

Old custom that my mother continued for twenty years after his death.  Only no longer was he there to bring in the coal. Tall, dark and handsome.

For those twenty years, my mother would leave out coal and wait for a visitor to come to the door and pick up the coal. She asked the postman one year. He was a good sport.  The duty then lay with the church elder, when he would visit. He was not tall , dark or handsome, but he was most happy to oblige. They would have tea and talk about the old days. My mother would tell him about my Tall, Dark and Handsome father.

Bennet Buggy 1933

Over the years my mother always kept a few pieces of coal on the front step, hidden from view.  One year, she had the chimney repair man bring in the coal. She wouldn't let him in the back door of the house. He had to come all the way around. She was very pleased. I think he thought it was a bit weird. But he went along with it. She made him carry a bottle of whiskey along with everything else. I think he wanted to take the whiskey home. She gave him a fruit cake instead. 

Christmas  in 1938 would see my mother splurging on Christmas gifts for her brothers and sister. They each got $1 each, mailed to them in a Christmas card. A package of hankerchiefs for her mother cost 15 cents, and an apron for her as well. My mother stuffed them into into a small box, with mints and licorice ,to be mailed back to Bethune, Saskatchewan

During  the 30's  my mother always saved enough for a hat for herself for Christmas. She spent a whopping $2.50 . And a new coat for my dad. A huge expense at $27.45. His Christmas present she had been saving for all year. She made sure he wore it when bringing in the coal on New Year's Eve.

He wore that coat to the  New Year's Eve gala at the Crystal. They went every year; 70cents a person, included a big band dance, and full dinner. A new dress, a fur stole, her best earrings and gloves.  And sometimes the new hat she bought for herself. Friends. And dancing. Oh the dancing! Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot.......cha cha cha!

Years later, the dances weren't held any more. My father was gone. And New Year's  loomed. My mother still cleaned, and scrubbed and made a dinner to rival any night. Just for us. Sometimes there would be friends over. Sometimes not. She would turn on the stereo and listen to the music they used to dance to. She would hum along in her tuneless way. And she would write. Like she did in those early days.

From  New Year's 1938: "Paid 10$ down on a new suit, to be ready. June balance will be 29$ . Davey went on the Princess Louise, for work, Not enough  to pay the rent, so broke a 20$ bill and went to  live in house keeping rooms for a few days to wait for his pay.  It took the rest of my 20$. Will be glad when 1939 comes"

One week into New Year 1939 they were waiting for work still. The coal was on the front steps waiting to be brought inside. My dad  brought that coal into the house each New Year's, till he was no more. My mother said she always  saw him as good luck , no matter what their year had been, or was to be.

And the New Year was always new, and the coal was always waiting for Someone to bring good fortune into the house, along with food, flavour, warmth and good cheer, on the arms of  Tall, Dark and Handsome .

Scottish First Footer Tradition: First visitor, usually someone with dark hair,  ( a light haired visitor is said to bring bad luck) to carry coal, a coin, bread and whiskey into the house.

Photographs 1930's family vintage