Newspaper Page Text
Albany—TheNineteen Twenties
By ADOLPH ROSENBERG
< Interestingly, much of this material was written by The
Southern Israelite's editor arid publisher on a Delta flight
from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale for the funeral of a relative
and then back. During part of the flight he may even have
passed in the vicinity of air-cover-over-Albany. Perhaps
reflections oj Albany of the twenties are still floating around
in the atmosphere 35,000 feet aloft. Certainly the vibes were
coming fast and furious, the author insists.
Art is long and so too can be
the memory of yesteryears.
They mellow in the haze of in
tervening time — those days and
months which passed, peopled
by boys and girls, and many
older people, much, much older,
living and talking and moving in
an idiom that no longer exists.
Yet they were aH a part of us
and even some of them were us
— and so those years forever ex
ist within us in a way im
perishable, in some cogent terms
within us anonymously. For
none today could look within,
however deep, and dissect or
separate from what we became,
the parts which were and
therefore are no longer.
And in my mind and recall are
vivid reminiscences of Albany of
the 1920’s, sharp and vague at
one and the same time.
That was the decade of my
school days, the formative era as
a transition took place — with
all the fullness of emerging
entendre from boyhood, through
the teen stage and into the open
door of adulthood beyond.
Perhaps no writer will ever
recapitulate those beautiful and
sequestered moments, but in the
Fiftieth Anniversary mood of
The Southern Israelite, the
editor takes time out for the per
sonal privilege of some poignant,
and some even pointless,
recollections.
A few of our readers will ac
tually share the recall and
others perhaps join in the shar
ing, for it is a part of their com
munity records, and in many in
stances a part of their family
history.
A place called Phlemey, un
doubtedly misspelled, where an
nual Jewish community picnics
took place. Usually train cars
were leased to take families
from the Albany station the few
miles to the site, each with
children in tow and laden with
boxes and baskets of edible
goodies. How impatient the
youngsters were to take off
shoes and socks and go wading
in the cooling small stream
while fretful and indulgent
parents hovered nearby.
Then the feast spread across
the remembered limitless tables
. . . this family best known for
cakes, that one for pickles, or
salads, or ingenious sandwiches,
and many sharing the fun and
camaraderie of a communal ex
perience which was the annual
picnic. The name of Sam Brown,
once mayor of Albany and con
gregation president, comes to
mind as the focal arranger of
those annual soirees.
A Jewish holiday called Suc-
cos, when Sabbath school kids
brought baskets of fruits to the
Temple for distribution later to
the sick in hospitals and the
needy. The latter were always
indefinitely in existence and not
too sharp as to who they really
were.
And after the services, dis
tribution to the Sunday School
children of the fruits on theSuc-
cos booth. The luscious fruit
arrived with mysterious
regularity from a place then dis
tantly remote, called Atlanta.
The donor was referred to as
Mrs. Harold Hirsch, in memory
of her father, Sam Brown
himself.
Later, a practice of making
Succos ‘pop calls’ to Jewish
homes, where gracious women
had prepared cooling drinks for
CANDIES. INC.
P.Q. tax 3170
Atay. taarfia 31706
>
U
i
Compliments of
Flint Industrial Service
‘Kex” Dust Control Services
Albany, Georgia
“South Georgia’s Metropolitan Daily"
The Albany Herald
Publishing Company, Inc.
phone 435-4511 P O Box 4S ALBANY. GEORGIA 31702
PUBLISHERS
THE ALBANY HERALD
THE ALBANY SUNDAY HERALD
r
Compliments of
I. Perlis and Sons
South Georgia’s largest chain
of family owned
department stores
1
the kids, and luscious cakes and where lived the Cassels, a
home-made cookies and candies, marvelous family of brothers
Near the Rosenberg home on and sisters who never married,
Broad Street was a lovely house — TURN TO PAGE 14
McKinney Realty and
Insurance Company
407 West Residence Avenue, P. O. Box 1009
Albany, Georgia 31702 • Phone 436-6457 and 436-6179
Appraisals, Insurance, Rentals, Sales, Building
Blaine E. Stover, Broker
John G. Hudgins, Salesman
Keenan Auto Parts Co.
Wholesale Distributors
CAR - TRUCK - TRACTOR PARTS - EQUIPMENT
TOOLS - INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES
HOME OFFICE
Machine Shop (912) 435-1734
| 112 Front St. * Albany, Ga. * (912) 432-6241 |
I
*
I
I
&JL
sorvs
CLOTHES FOR VOUNS WOMEN OF ALL ASES
Albany, Ga.
Downtown & Midtown Mall
Americus, Ga.
Atlanta, Ga.
Perimeter Mall
Camberland Mall
Jasons Wishss You
and the people of Israel peace.
IIAULU—l -UUHM
PAGE 13 - THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE, August 29, 1975