- Date: Wednesday morning, 15 December 1937
- Written at: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Stationery: Fort Pitt Hotel, Pittsburgh
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Ruby
- Condition: Complete — envelope and 3 pages
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
ENVELOPE
Air Mail →
Miss Ruby E. Wilson
745 Broadway
Planada, Calif
Merced, County
Printed: Fort Pitt Hotel, Pittsburgh. Written lower left: “M. L.” Postmarked Pittsburgh, Pa., Dec 15, 11 AM, 1937. Six-cent winged-globe air mail stamp.
ENVELOPE, BACK
On the flap: [Dit?]
Printed: Notice. Letters mailed in hotel envelopes if not delivered will be sent to the Dead Letter Office unless the writer gives a return address. If not delivered in ___ days return to
In Joe’s hand: 5 [days] — 1760 Euclid #103, Washington, D.C.
PAGE 1
5 o’clock in Planada
Wed A.M. — 8 o’clock
My Lover Dear:—
I put in for an 8 o’clock call & Honey it is still dark so here goes for a few lines. I had the most wonderful dream about you last night Dear — We were loving plenty and of course I had to wake up — I got out of bed and lit the light & had a nice little visit with you. You see Honey you are near and dear to me at all times and I love you so so much. Ill make up for it when I get home. Please dont ever let anything break up our wonderful love. Loving you as I do is the greatest thing in all my life and I want it to go on and on — You my Dear are marvelous beautiful, sweet — loving, cute, smart, clean pretty and everything else — You mean a lot to me Dear and I love you with
PAGE 2
all my heart — You are my Sweetheart —
Had a couple of very nice letters from J.S.B. and I guess he is very well pleased in my trip. I have only reported 4 times to the office but he has only rec’d two. One from Cinn & one here. I guess the broker in Cinna (N. J. Janson) gave me a good send off because you should of heard JSB rave. Made me feel very good. This Jew here. H.M.P. is a wash out. Just a punk kid and doesn’t know what it is all about so I dont like his operation or him — I told the boss the same. I think Ill be here until Friday & then to Dodies — Honey please write me at these brokers offices — they dont mind because they think it is from the plant.
I am telling you Dear being away as I am. God how it makes me love you and I have read your 2 letters over & over — Wish you were here — right now but you are sleeping and I can see you as you are laying there, Beautiful as the morning I saw you at home during Thanksgiving, you dont know what that did to me — The little ribbon on your hair those
PAGE 3 (NUMBERED “2”)
beautiful arms — out from under the covers and then to see you turn over. Boy what a thrill you gave me even tho you were asleep — Honey I hope I dont bore you with all this but I want you to know how I feel — I cant help it — I could tell you about the town and people but it is you I am most interested in because you are my Sweetheart
I am going to shave & clean up a little if it is possible in this damn town — I use 2 shirts a day and you should see my hands Phoory [Phooey?] cant do much but I am getting a bottle as you use. I can see you using it now on your hands — Write more tonight my Lover and I do love you with all my heart You are my Sweetheart Dear
As Ever
Joe
Notes & context
Dating. Joe headed the letter “Wed A.M. 8 o’clock,” with “5 o’clock in Planada” for Ruby’s time. The envelope was postmarked in Pittsburgh at 11 A.M. on 15 December 1937, a Wednesday, so he mailed it within three hours. Two days later, on Friday evening, he wrote again from the same hotel (Snow, Sleet, Smoke and Coal Dust), and then went on to Dodie’s in Washington for Christmas.
The return address. On the back he told the hotel to return the letter, if undelivered after five days, to 1760 Euclid #103, Washington, D.C. That is very likely Dodie and Clair’s apartment, where he was heading next.
J.S.B. Here he is plainly Joe’s employer: Joe sends him reports (“I have only reported 4 times to the office”), J.S.B. writes back pleased with the trip, and Joe tells “the boss” what he thinks of one of the brokers. Joe also asks Ruby to write to him care of the brokers’ offices, where “they think it is from the plant.” Together these suggest J.S.B. ran, or managed sales for, the cannery or packing plant whose fruit Joe was selling in the East through local food brokers. His full name has not yet been found.
The brokers. “N. J. Janson” was the broker in Cincinnati (“Cinna”) who had praised Joe to J.S.B.; it was presumably also the Cincinnati broker who gave him the order for 5,000 cases of sliced peaches (Five Degrees Above in Cincinnati). “H.M.P.” was the Pittsburgh broker. Joe’s description of him includes an antisemitic remark, transcribed here as written because the site reproduces the letters exactly; it reflects attitudes that were common in 1937, not the views of the family or this site.
Thanksgiving. “The morning I saw you at home during Thanksgiving” places Joe in Planada for Thanksgiving, 25 November 1937, before he set out on this trip.
“I use 2 shirts a day.” Pittsburgh’s coal smoke again, as in his Friday letter (“Smog — fog & smoke”). The bottle “as you use” was presumably the hand lotion Ruby used.
Uncertain readings: the underlined word on page 3 looks like “Phoory,” perhaps “Phooey” or a brand name; the broker’s name could be “Janson” or “Jonson”; and the word on the envelope flap is unclear.
From the family
Joseph and Ruby’s daughter:
“This one is rather risqué and even I blushed when I read it.”
“There are more references to JSB but still no clues as to what role he plays in shipping California fruit to the East.”
