Page 144 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Courtship

could sit in a soft chair with a box of chocolates at hand and read a
spicy novel, and dream and dream.
In the beginning of this century, when my love for Fannie was
blossoming and unfurled itself as unpoetic and undramatic, wages
were very low and living conditions substandard. The comforts and
pleasures we know today were not required and not wanted, because
we did not know of their existence—except for the rich and those
who came in contact with the upper class. And all the customs we
have today in regard to courting a girl, like taking her out for a ride
and going to a movie, did not then exist. Theaters were not located
on every corner as the movies are today, and plays did not change
every day as the movies do. A show ran for a month or six weeks
straight in a playhouse, and one could not take a girl twice to the
same thing, or go to any cheap shows like vaudeville—although they
were to a certain extent better than many of today’s pictures. Besides,
a man of my class of worker who earned three dollars a day—and
nothing in the slack season—could not very well spend too much on
shows.
In the village of Pelcovizna flowers did not grow and candy stores
did not exist, so I never thought of buying that dear girl a bouquet of
flowers or a box of candy. I was a greenhorn in the country and a
greenhorn in courting. Only once did I take her out to a theater, and
later I treated her to the Metropolitan Opera, to see Madame
Butterfly with Caruso and Geraldine Farrar. Not being very
businesslike, I did not buy tickets in advance, and when we got there,
the place was all sold out. New York has many music lovers,
especially the Jewish and Italian youth. I was embarrassed, so I had to
pay a scalper the exorbitant price of five dollars for two tickets which
originally sold for a dollar apiece—and that was for standing in the
gallery behind the seats and a brass bar. It was her first time in the
opera and she did not mind standing for three hours up there near
the ceiling. She heard Caruso, and that was something to remember. I
used to go sometimes to the Hammerstein Opera for Saturday
matinees, and hear the greatest artists of the day singing, for one
dollar a ticket; now I had a good case to prove I was a great follower
of opera, since I had paid the scalper’s price for tickets. That was my
compensation for the financial stress the occasion put on me.
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