- Date: Tuesday, 18 January 1938, 1:30 p.m. (date estimated)
- Written at: New York, New York
- Stationery: Hotel Taft, 7th Ave. at 50th St., New York
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Ruby
- Condition: Complete — 3 pages; envelope not found
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
PAGE 1
Tuesday —
130 P M
Ruby, My Sweetheart:—
Just mailed you a letter & will start another, I have an appointment in the Bowery at 3 o’clock so only have about an hour but I am thinking of you every minute & want you to know it. not only thinking but loving you & want to be home — with you. God Honey if I could only put my arms around you and hold you, when I think of those happy hours I spent with you I cant understand why I went to that hotel when I could of had you in my arms all that other time. Believe me when I get home — Time wont mean a thing to me as long as I can be with you Dear — I love you so much it hurts my heart Dear,
So Sorry to hear about Kee [?] but he was 97 & that was sure a nice write up in the paper. I know
PAGE 2
you feel badly because the way you use to speak of him. God Honey I miss you and these 2 months seem like 100 years — I can see you now how you use to come out of the door & jump in Gob & away we would go — Those dinners in Merced were like Kings banquets with you & my birthday dinner will never be forgotten believe me Dear — I hope someday we can have more time together. It seems like you were made for me and am I happy about it all — You are sweet, beautiful & kind — and I admire your intelligence, you have done more for me than any other girl I have ever known — I have needed you a million times on this trip to ask your advise & know I could be guided by it because it is sound — I love you Dear — You may think it funny but they have a 15 minute mail pick up here in the Hotel day & night — what would Roberta do here — Your letters are all
PAGE 3
timed when they arrive at the desk & they sure give you some service, I am sending you the back of your special mailed Jan 15th to see for yourself what they do with mail here — Honey it is 215 & it takes me about 35 min on the sub so Ill write later — I love you with all my heart, you Darling
Keep the letters coming to the Taft, PLEASE
As Ever
Joe
Notes & context
The date. Joe wrote only “Tuesday — 1:30 PM.” He mentions Ruby’s special-delivery letter “mailed Jan 15th,” so this is no earlier than Tuesday, 18 January 1938, and it fits that day exactly: at noon he had written “Ask Me” on receiving her “most wonderful letter,” ending “Ill mail this now — More tonight,” and this letter opens “Just mailed you a letter & will start another.” A later Tuesday is possible but less likely.
“The back of your special.” The Taft stamped the time on each letter as it reached the front desk, and Joe tore off the back of Ruby’s special-delivery envelope and sent it to her to show how quickly her letters reached him. That enclosure has not been found.
The Bowery and the subway. He had a 3 o’clock appointment in the Bowery, on the Lower East Side, and allowed about 35 minutes on the subway from the Taft at 50th Street.
“My birthday dinner.” Joe turned 40 on 10 November 1937, a few weeks before he left on the trip; he and Ruby celebrated with dinner in Merced.
“Gob.” “Jump in Gob & away we would go” shows that Gob was the name of their car, the same Gob he hoped to take Ruby riding in on 2 January (“Burn Them Up”).
“That hotel.” Joe regrets the time he spent at a hotel when he could have been with Ruby. Which hotel he meant, presumably during his time in or near Planada in the autumn of 1937, is not known.
Kee and Roberta. Kee [?], who had died at 97 with “a nice write up in the paper,” was evidently someone Ruby had been fond of. Roberta was probably someone at the Planada post office, where Ruby was postmaster, which is why Joe wondered what she would make of a mail pickup every 15 minutes. Neither has yet been identified.
The envelope. An envelope was photographed with these pages, but it is postmarked 14 January 1938, before Ruby’s special of the 15th, so it cannot have held this letter and is not shown.
Uncertain readings: “Kee” is how the name appears on the page. Joe writes the figure 1 as a small tick, so “Jan 15th” and “2:15” could be misread as “Jan 5th” and “2:5.”
