Mystery Photo Redux

Email has been flying around 'twixt Paul Zadner and myself;  speculation has abounded; we had a family viewing last night of the Orchard Lake sequence.  The results kept me sort of awake for another night - my thoughts were like ghosts bobbing around my bed.  I woke up this morning knowing who these people are, and knowing the identity of The Woman in the White Knitted Snood.

There are certain facts we must accept:

1.  Eugene, EJZ, was born October 7, 1923.

2.  1941 is the year of EJZ graduation from high school in Orchard Lake, Michigan, and the film sequence is clearly dated by the film director, JPZ.

3.  Julia Mostkowska Zdrojewska, first wife of JPZ, mother of Eugene and Casimir, died in 1943.  My parents told me that she died while my Dad, EJZ, was away in boot camp in Fort Benning, Georgia.

4.  Therefore, the lady in the Orchard Lake clip is not Eleanor.  It is Julia.

Foolish of me not to have figured it out before.  I'll be correcting previous Orchard Lake posts.

Further, Paul Zadner spontaneously mentioned in email that the youth in the Mystery Photo "looks about 15 years old."  That was a very helpful comment, as I had not been able to date the lad.  He just looked familiar.

Well, duh!  The photo was dated 1938.  A lad of fifteen then was born in 1923.  That's my Dad. His freshman year at Orchard Lake must have been academic year 1937-1938; his sophomore year 1938-1939. The moment of this photo could have been either.

The man next to Ludwig is Uncle Frank.  Where is younger brother Casimir?  Off taking a nap or something, or old enough to have snapped the photo? How old was Casimir in 1938?  Somebody please click the "Comment" link and let us know his birth year.

And the lady in the dress with the lace collar is Julia. This is the same lady on the deck of the lake steamer across Lake Michigan, and present at the graduation ceremonies at Orchard Lake in 1941, and the touring that followed, all in the Orchard Lake clip.

The reason Julia is so chummy with The Woman in the White Knitted Snood is because they are sisters.  That is my Dad's "Auntie Ollie."  Right at the end of the clip there is a shot of a card that says "Cast:   Dad - Mom - Ollie.  'Poor Kasio stayed home!' "  It flickers by real fast, so be ready to pause the film.

I have no idea why Kasio stayed home in 1941.  Measles?  Chemistry final?  Hot date?

But I do remember Auntie Ollie, as my Dad always called her.  She and her husband Jim visited us in Marilla, and we went to their lovely, cozy home in Buffalo a couple of times.  So I can attest that in the 1960s Auntie Ollie was just as lively and affectionate as she appears in that film.  She had curly blond hair and a glamorous style.  When she decided to laugh, she would stop everything, hold her cigarette aloft, take a deep breath, and belt out a long, sincere laugh with everything she had.  No wonder her husband so obviously adored such a fun-loving, laugh-loving woman.  I miss her myself.

Whew!  Two Mostkowska sisters recognized for their descendants to know.  Ack!  Were there any others? How will we figure them out?

At any rate, the Mostkowski family appears to have been classically-minded, naming daughters Julia and Olivia.

Juliane Zdrojewski

   (named after Julia)