We traveled next to Manchuria onboard the Ussuri Maru. I should say Manchukuo, since that was the name given the country [region of northeast China] after the Japanese invaded in 1931.
It was a bitterly cold climate. So cold that in Mukden, Dante told us to wear our street clothes on stage and that included our fur coats. The only heat in the dressing rooms were small clay pots that held a few coals. The show was shortened as much as possible, leaving out some illusions that required a change of clothing. Everyone in the audience was bundled from head to toe in furs and we thought some of the men looked very mean. Al soon learned how mean. He was stationed at the theatre entrance to count the audience as they came in. When he tried to stop people going in without tickets, a very menacing big fellow stepped in front of him and pulled out a gun. Al didn’t argue with him!
The engagement was cut short and Harbin and Hsinking were cancelled owing to a breach of contract by the company managing the tour. We were not really sorry, only that when we were not working we were on half salary. But we were really taking a big risk going north which is why Dante was relieved that the contract was broken. He had heard some disturbing rumors about the unrest near the borders.
Traveling from Mukden to Dairen [now known as Dalian] we were very surprised to be on a very luxurious train. An even more lavish one was the “Asia,” which we passed on the way. It was magnificent, bulletproof and shaped like a torpedo. Our train was steam heated, had a beautiful observation car and the dining car was like a restaurant. There were many Japanese soldiers aboard patrolling the aisles and also in the stations.
We laid off one week in Dairen and spent most of the time sewing and playing Mah Jongg.
The hotel was better here but we always had much difficulty with the language since no one seemed to speak English or would make an effort to understand. We were always better off in other countries because we could speak some Spanish, German, Danish or whatever. But then it was true that in most other countries people would try to speak our language.
So when our little Pekinese dog became very ill, it took quite some time to find a veterinary. The one we found didn’t do anything for the dog and he died.
Even though we had shopped for warm clothing, we were not prepared for the bitter cold, so we had to buy fur coats which were very reasonable in price and felt boots with astracan [Astrakhan] fur around the tops. One night during a show in Mukden, Pop sent one of the boys out to buy a bottle of gin and insisted everyone take a drink to warm up.
There was so much poverty in Manchuria, it was very depressing, many beggars on the streets, Russian and Chinese.
We went next to Peking, China. We wanted to buy another Pekinese dog and expected to find one there. Search as we did, all we could find were Chows.
We celebrated Christmas in Peking and being the first one away from home for a lot of our people, Mom did her best to make it festive. The show had not opened yet on Christmas Eve so we had a big dinner party, everyone getting dressed in evening clothes and exchanged many presents. Mom always made Christmas as festive as possible. And my birthday was never neglected!
Mom carried a trunk full of ornaments and lights, electric cords to decorate trees, and no matter where we were I always remember having a tree.
But Pop usually got drunk and quarreled with someone. This year was better than most, he even gave gifts of money.
Next to Tientsin [Tianjin] traveling on the Shanghai Express. Here Mom became very ill with the flu and bronchitis. The doctor thought at one point that she had diphtheria. Pop had to hire a pianist, a Russian who couldn’t speak or understand English and Pop almost lost his mind trying to get him to coordinate the music properly.
Pop had made a great deal of money in the Orient but was going through one of his “Scrooge” phases saying he had to save money for his old age! We couldn’t understand why he was so worried over the smallest expenditure. Now looking back I can see that he may have been concerned about Mom and having to hire an orchestra conductor was an added expense!
My salary didn’t amount to much, fifteen dollars a week and all expenses paid. Pop was generous more often than not.
One time Myrie and Fina decided that they were not being paid enough and bravely marched over to Dante’s hotel for a confrontation. He gave them the money they wanted, they said, without even a “LOOK.” Anyone who knew him could tell you what one of his “LOOKS” meant. It wasn’t a glare but a very piercing, almost contemptuous gaze, very withering!
Whenever we needed a new prop, something like a lampshade, Pop wouldn’t buy one, he would buy six. It was a logical thing to do because the next time we needed a replacement there was no guarantee we could find what we needed. Even after he retired, his big workshop looked more like a hardware store, well supplied with every kind of gadget.
We traveled next to Shanghai by boat and after we were aboard we noticed that the ship’s crew were all heavily armed. We were told that the ship had been pirated recently. We had to stay in our cabins and the second and third class passengers were locked in their cabins at 6 p.m. until the following morning. The passageways going to the third class were locked with metal doors. The pirates would infiltrate the passengers and take over the ship.
The boat was late arriving and leaving Tientsin because of bad weather and we were afraid we would miss our connection in Shanghai. Pop almost took the train when we stopped at Lsingtoa [now Qingdao; former German-controlled port city of “Tsingtau.”] but received a telegram from the shipping company saying they would hold the boat for us. Which they did.
We had only a few hours in Shanghai while transferring ships. Pop met the captain and they had quite a bit to drink. When they came back to the ship Pop sprained his ankle coming aboard.
While loading our baggage, a coolie was standing on the edge of a hold, a crane hit him and he was killed when he fell down two decks into the hatch.
As we headed into the ocean we ran into chunks of ice and a stormy looking sea. We watched the ice break up as we went through but when we were out about half an hour, we got stuck, it was too shallow and we had to wait for the tide to come in to free us. In spite of such a bad beginning we had a pleasant voyage, on the Leverkusen, a German ship. It was not a regular passenger ship but a freighter which only accommodated thirty passengers. Since the crew were all German it gave our Australian girls a good chance to start learning the language, in anticipation of the European tour.