- Date: Sunday afternoon, 2 January 1938
- Written at: New York, New York
- Stationery: Hotel Taft, 7th Ave. at 50th St., New York (Room 1446)
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Miss Ruby E. Wilson, 745 Broadway, Planada, California
- Condition: Complete — 3 pages and envelope
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
PAGE 1
Sunday Afternoon
330
My Lover Dear:—
I was in my room reading the paper & the phone rang & here was your special mailed New Years Eve — God Honey what it did for me you cant imagine — I love you so much & Lover you have no idea what a little note like that does for me — You are so cute & sweet and I am so lonesome for you — That I take a new lease on life when I hear from you —
Dear Ill be here at the Taft for about 10 days yet & be sure & write as I leave forwarding addresses and they follow me — So Please write Honey as I love to hear from you Dear — Please write lots — Tell me everything about yourself — I am not so much interested in anyone except you Dear — I can hardly wait until tomorrow for your letter Dear — Sorry Love you had to wait a week for news —
PAGE 2
It was hard to write at Dodies as we had so much to talk about & do — Ill tell you all about it when I get home — about B of Print & Engraving, White House — Congress etc — Rather tell it to you when you are in my arms — even if you go to sleep on me it wont matter — Ill hold you forever Dear —
Dont find anyone else please Dear. if you do it will break my heart — because if I leave P. — some little girl is going along with me.
Honey be sure & listen to Walt Disneys program on the Pepsodent Co at 330 your time every Sunday — it is sure good — I hope I get home in time to have some cold weather so I can keep my Baby warm — at night —
Honey I love you so. It is bad for me. Never in all my life have I loved anyone as I do you. You are beautiful and those big blue eyes I can see them now Lover — God Bless You Dear
Glad you enjoyed the telegrams and I didnt care about Goosy [?] a bit it was you I was thinking about and I dont care for him anyway — Dont write me at Viscovi’s [?] write here at the hotel as they will follow me — and they are very welcome — regardless where I
PAGE 3
get them — when I see your envelopes Honey and I tear them open I thrill all over regardless — and Boy do I eat them up a plenty — Honey write here for 10 days unless I wire differently but Ill try & let you know enough in advance —
Have you been to Merced to eat? I sent them a card — because I know they will get a kick out of it. Wish we could have dinner there tonight together — I am going to mail this & listen to Jack Benny & go to bed. Tomorrow will be another hectic day. But Honey please write me lots as I love you Dearly and want to hear from my blue eyed Sweetheart. You are the only one in the world for me — Lover, and I love you with all my heart Sweetheart — Love and Kisses Dear —
As Ever
Joe
Have you rec’d Pkg yet from Gretchen?
I love you Dear
ENVELOPE, FRONT (POSTMARKED 2 JAN 1938)
Air Mail
Miss Ruby E. Wilson
745 Broadway
Planada, California
Merced County
On the back, under the hotel’s printed notice: “If not delivered in 5 days, return to 3355 Octavia St #101, San Francisco, Calif.”
Envelope, back
Notes & context
The same Sunday as “Burn Them Up.” At 10:45 that morning Joe was disappointed that the special-delivery letter in his mailbox was from J.S.B., and he begged Ruby to “write me a little line.” By 3:30 her own special, mailed New Year’s Eve, had arrived, and this is his reply. The envelope, postmarked New York on 2 January, confirms the date.
The letter is complete. When the site first went up only page 1 was known. Pages 2 and 3 and the envelope have since been found; page 1 ends “a week for news” and page 2 picks up with his visit to Dodie’s.
“If I leave P. — some little girl is going along with me.” He meant it. Joe and Ruby were married six months later, in Kingman, Arizona, on July 5, 1938.
Walt Disney’s program. The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air, sponsored by Pepsodent toothpaste, began on NBC on Sunday, 2 January 1938, so Joe had just heard the very first broadcast when he told Ruby to listen “every Sunday.”
Jack Benny’s show was on NBC on Sunday evenings. Joe planned to mail this letter, listen, and go to bed.
Washington. “B of Print & Engraving” is the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where U.S. paper money is printed. With the White House and Congress, it was part of his sightseeing while he stayed with his sister Dodie.
The return address. The back of the Taft’s envelope warns that hotel envelopes go to the Dead Letter Office if they can’t be delivered, unless the writer gives a return address. Joe gave 3355 Octavia Street, San Francisco, the home of Aunt Larry (see below). The initials on the back flap look like “L.Y.K.” and are not yet explained.
“Have you been to Merced to eat? I sent them a card.” Probably a favourite place of theirs to eat in Merced. Who “them” were is not known.
Uncertain readings: “Goosy” and “Viscovi’s” are how the words appear on the page.
From the family
Recollections shared by Joseph and Ruby’s daughter:
“I don’t think anyone was ever quite so happy to receive a letter as he was!” She enjoyed his references to Walt Disney and Jack Benny (“everything must have been on the radio”) and is amazed at how artistic his handwriting was. The Octavia Street address in San Francisco was Aunt Larry’s.
Gretchen, who sent Ruby the package, was Dodie’s daughter. Her pumpkin pies and her marriage to McCormick’s mail boy are in Gretchen and the Mail Boy.
Halloween in Planada, years later, when Joseph and Ruby had children of their own: “We Treat, No Tricks!”.
