Eugene Zdrojewski at the OSS Language School

My Dad told me that when he was drafted, he told Them that he spoke English, Polish, Latin, and French.  On his way out the door he thought to turn back and say, "Oh yes - I'm an experienced photographer."

Eventually he ended up in the Office of Strategic Services, which sent him to the University of Chicago.  Language experts listened attentively as he spoke English and Polish; they made recordings on each side of a white vinyl 45rpm record.

He kept the record.

Click here for the first track.  It is in English only.

My reaction is that I surely do recognize his voice, but his speech is different from what I always heard.  His speech is closer to Polish.  He is twenty years old, and has attended bilingual grammar school, high school, and college (2 years.)

Click here for Track B.  It is in English at first, then in Polish at the end.

What did those experts think?

Did his English sound too Polish?

Did his Polish sound too American?

Had they judged differently, would they have sent him to Europe?  What would have been his fate then?

As it was, they kept him in Chicago studying Japanese for six months, then sent him over the Hump, to western China.  He jumped out of the airplane, camera in hand, snapping photos of terrain on the way down.

Future posts will delve into the war years.  For now, many thanks to two of Gene's grandsons, Andrew Ehrlich and Peter Ehrlich, for teaching me Audacity and Soundcloud.  Dziękuję, panowie!

Julie

Uncle Stanley and Eugene - closeup

Uncle Stanley, his parents, and his nephew Eugene

Ludwig and Victoria Zdrojewski had six sons; the youngest was Stanley.

Notice the double shadow behind Ludwig, cast by the hefty array of floodlights, set up no doubt by JPZ for this formal family Christmas portrait.

If we zoom in to the mirror on the wall behind them, we see a partial reflected image of the Christmas tree across the room.  Below the mirror, on the mantel, we see one of those little green toy Christmas trees, the bristly kind, with white paint splashed upon it, for snow.  They usually had a little red wooden pot, or disc, as a base.  In front of the tiny tree is one of the Magi, in that reverent pose as he approaches the Infant in the Manger.  So there is a Nativity scene set up on the mantel.

But it isn't always snowing in Buffalo!  Here in the back yard on May Street, important matters are receiving proper attention.  What's Gene using to trim Stanley's hair?  Grass trimmers?  Sheep shears?

Interesting shape of bottle: short and fat, maybe 16 ounces.  Can't read the label.  I'll have to fire up PhotoShop in my spare time.

Na zdrowie!
Julie

Mystery Zdrophotos Contest

Great glory and honor to the one who identifies correctly the five gentlemen pictured below, whom I call for the time being Mr. A, B, C, D, and E.

Mr. A

Studious fellow.  See how his book is propped on a board across the wide arms of his chair?  His bookcase and desk are massive also.  Note the gooseneck lamp and the mid-C20 botanical design of the blotter or whatever it is on the desk.  For the benefit of green youth among the readership, we can mention that the papers in that messy stack include "typescript;" you can see it better upside down.  What is that little merry-go-round gadget sticking up from the desktop? Why have men stopped wearing French cuffs and cufflinks?  Don't they realize how terribly attractive is the style?  Whose office is this and where is it?

Mr. B
Also at work.  Also with strange stuff on his desk.

Mr. C

Mr. D

This man is a lot happier; he's done with work.  Is that beer with the three rings on the label Pabst Blue Ribbon?        
Update:  No - it is Ballantine beer.

Mr. E

Best way to log your entry to this contest is to Comment on the post at the website, which is here; click this!

I'm headed out to the garage to hunt up a prize.

Julie

Genevieve Stroinski

     Our family has lost Genevieve Stroinski, (09/10/21 - 02/25/12.)  To Sharon, she was "Mom,"  to her nieces and nephews, "Aunt Genie" - although usually it was "Uncle Eddie and Aunt Genie."  That's because they never seemed very far apart, either in location or in spirit.  Our hearts go out to Uncle Eddie, and Sharon, and all Genie's family.

What was the year?

What flair!  What style!  Of course.

Genevieve Stroinski was of the last generation to use hatpins.  Well, you never know:  they might come back.

When Ed Stroinski needs to paint a lady, he knows whom she should look like.  Naturally.

To see photos of the whole painting, go to Edward Stroinski, an Early Painting.

1979

I'm going to start baking Russian Tea Cakes regularly, in her honor.

Miłość dla wszystkich - Julie

The Polish Woolly Rhino

     Paul Johnson's 2003 Art: A New History starts off with a chapter on cave paintings.  While describing how high up off the cave floor many of the big paintings were done, he says this:

    "The famous painting of a woolly rhinoceros at Font-de-Gaume, whose accuracy was first disputed but then confirmed when a well-preserved example of this supposedly mythic creature was unearthed in 1907 in a bitumen deposit in Poland, is found high up on a huge cave wall."

     Well! I could not let that rest.  Here are some photos from a 2004 writeup from Kraków entitled Wykopaliska w Staruni  ("Excavations in Starunia.")  (Starunia was a Polish village in 1907; now it is part of Ukraine.)

The proud professors at the coal mine.  Check these guys out!  Imagine their celebrations at the end of the excavatory workday.  Na zdrowie!

                                           

Coleodonta antiquitatus

                                  

Reconstruction done at that time.

                                           

     At the top left of the web article page is a little button for the home page: Zwoje, "The Scrolls, an Internet Cultural Periodical."

     From there I clicked on "The Vanishing Kraków," just for kicks.  And here is an image from that photoessay:

     So - now when we go to Kraków and walk around Grodzka Street and see this, we will understand what we are seeing:  architectural adornment that celebrates an important paleontologic find in Poland in 1907.

     Miłość dla wszystkich - Julie