Detroit – 1946-49
Growing up in Chicago I
was always a big reader and my family provided me with a variety of books. One
afternoon when I was about nine and plopped down on the living room floor
reading Tom Sawyer, Eileen, casually said, "We're related to him, you know." I
was startled and asked, "We're related to Tom Sawyer?" She said, "No, we're
related to Mark Twain and his real name is Samuel Clemens." I'm sorry to say
that this made no impression on me at all. I would have been far more impressed
had we been related to Tom Sawyer!
Several time each year we visited our bachelor uncle, Ira Clemens Lucia, in
Detroit. One of the things I remember vividly about these visits is the Detroit
Police on horseback. I loved horses and had never seen policemen on horseback
before. But Uncle Ira was not the most exciting person I'd ever met. So I was
particularly happy the times we went to
Detroit and met Aunt Clara and Uncle Jacques. As a child I didn't
know that she was Mark Twain's daughter or that she wasn't really my aunt. I
only knew that she was a nice lady who treated me very kindly.
The first
time I met Clara was in her hotel room in Detroit. Eileen, Russell, and I had
traveled there from
Chicago,
picked up Uncle Ira, and then gone to their hotel. We were planning to go out to
dinner with Clara and Jacques but Clara said we couldn't go out to eat because
it was too cold and Eileen hadn't brought a proper coat for me.
She asked me what my
favorite color was and I said "blue." She took my hand and said, "Then we'll
just have to find you a blue coat." Eileen looked like she was going with us and
Clara told her it would just be us this time. So we went to one of the shops
downstairs in their hotel and I saw the white rabbit fur coat the minute we
entered the store.
She put it on me and it fit perfectly. I was intrigued with the muff because I'd
never seen a muff. But she insisted that we find a blue coat too. So I tried on
both a blue and a red coat and she told me I could have whichever one I wanted.
But I had already made up my mind the minute I saw the rabbit fur coat with the
muff. She asked the saleslady to take the tags off it so I could wear it. We
went back upstairs to join the others and then we all took a taxi to the
restaurant and it was pretty fancy -- fancier than the restaurants my family
went to in Chicago.
There was some discussion over what I wanted to order (spaghetti) and Eileen
said she was afraid I would mess up my dress. Clara said let the girl have
spaghetti if she wants it so I got the spaghetti. I was beginning to like Clara!
During dinner I dropped my fork on the floor and when I started to pick it up.
Clara said, "No dear, let the servant pick it up." Eileen said, “Don’t you mean
the waiter?" We all laughed at this.
What Russ, Ira, and Jacques talked about, I have no idea. At some point Jacques
got up and left the table and Clara said he was just going out for a smoke. But
Russ was sitting right there smoking so as young as I was, I though this was
odd.
I was sitting between Eileen and Clara and Clara asked Eileen, right over me,
how I was doing in school, if I had enough school clothes (yes but we're still
looking for some boots) did I have any friends in the neighborhood yet (makes me
think this must have been right after we moved to Portage Park) and had she
found a good doctor for me. Eileen answered all these questions in a matter of
fact way but I got the impression there was some tension there. Clara told me
that I had to follow good habits every day to grow up strong. To this Eileen
said, "And how is Nina?" Clara ignored this question.
On another trip to
Detroit,
Clara took us to the Detroit Symphony. When we got there, everyone surrounded
her; she was like a star. Someone asked her if she would be in her box and she
said no, we are sitting on the floor. I thought, "Oh great, like a picnic." I
thought we would literally be sitting on the floor. Where we sat was on the
first row to the right. Clara asked me if I had ever been to a symphony and I
told her yes because Russell owned a nightclub with his brother and there was a
band there. I thought it was the same thing. When the music started I realized
that I was very wrong!
During intermission we weren't able to leave our seats because she was again
surrounded. Someone asked her who I was (she was holding my hand) and she said,
"This is my little friend, Susie from Chicago." Several people asked her how
Nina was and once she said, "Oh, I believe my darling girl is in New York at the
moment." We left before the concert was over, sneaking down the side aisle
because she didn't want to get caught up in the frenzy again.
We went to what looked like a small bistro and we all crowded into a large booth
in the front. I don't remember what I had to eat but this time there was no
spaghetti dispute. Even there several people came over and said hello to her.
Eileen asked her if this happened all the time and she said, "Yes, and that's
why we don't go very often." This statement made me very dejected as I had just
had the most wonderful time and now I thought we would never go to the symphony
again.
We were getting around
Detroit by cab and we dropped Clara and Jacques off at their hotel. She asked me
if I had enjoyed the symphony. I told her how much I loved it and told her it
was the best night of my life. She said, "Well then, we'll have to do it again,"
so I was once more elated.
After they got out and going back to Ira's apartment Eileen said,
"Well, I'll never do THAT again!" So my mood was on the bottom of the barrel
again. I had fallen in love with Clara, but I loved Eileen too and knew that she
could be temperamental. I so wanted to see Clara and go to the symphony again
but didn’t know if we ever would.
We got back to Ira's, said
goodnight to him, got into our car and that's all I remember about the trip. We
never stayed in Detroit
no matter how late it was. We always drove back to
Chicago
and I'm sure I slept all the way. In fact Eileen and Russ were famous for
staying out half the night and always kept a pillow and blanket in the back seat
for me.
Eileen's father was one of Uncle Ira's brothers, Charles Lucia, a musician and
(I was told) a sometimes member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra when Clara's
first husband, Ossip Gabrilowitsch was the director. I have many reasons to
believe that Eileen knew Clara when Eileen was a child and was greatly
influenced by her. Clara was much older than Eileen and their relationship was
affectionate but at times contentious.
Eileen didn't want her
parenting skills questioned and Clara was not afraid to give her opinion as
evidenced by this exchange: Clara asked me if I was taking piano lessons and I
told her yes. She asked me what I had learned and I proudly told her I could
play "Ole' Black Joe." She looked directly at Eileen and said, "She needs
another piano teacher!"
Over the years I came to
understand better why Clara took a keen interest in me and why she continued to
play a role in my life.