The one where Sarah dusts the front room.
Listen to the episode
Join hosts Merav and Batya as they delve into all things All-of-A-Kind Family. This episode features Merav’s childhood friend Dr. Orit Friedman, talking about Barbie, family keepsakes, authorial choices to paint a rosier version of childhood, books where the adults are useless, and especially Frank Baum’s iconic Oz books.
Our chapter in summary
Mama finds that dusting is one chore that her girls seldom do well or willingly. She comes up with a game to catch their interest: hiding buttons from her sewing box around the front room for her daughters to find as they dust. The reader follows Sarah through the first game, exploring the front room and its furnishings. When each girl has had her turn, Mama changes things up. This formerly hated chore becomes a promise of possible fun.
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Show Notes:
Gamifying chores
“You find the fun, and snap! The job’s a game.” – Mary Poppins (1964)
Take a leaf from Mama’s book of games and find ways to gamify chores you just don’t want to do. Gamifying cleaning can not only make the corners of your house look better, over time it can change your attitude towards cleaning by adding some fun. Check out some suggestions for gamification here.
Martha Graham Dance Company
Sydney Taylor danced with the ensemble of soon-to-be world-famous dancer Martha Graham (1894-1991) for several years, appearing in the ballets Heretic (1929) and Primitive Mysteries (1931). She started in Graham’s ensemble at the behest of her acting teacher Lee Strasberg (1901-1982) and left when she became pregnant with her daughter Jo.
You can see excerpts from Heretic and Primitive Mysteries on YouTube.
Was Mama a Teacher?
Not that we know of, other than of her children. The historical Cecilia “Cilly” Brenner (née Marowitz), Mama in the books, was a nanny in several New York households during her early stint in New York City, before she moved back to Germany and married Morris Brenner, Papa in the books.
Mama’s German accent and excellent bearing served her well during the craze for Germany “fräulein” nannies, but not all the jobs were successful from Mama’s point of view and she wound up working in the garment industry instead.
Dust cloth vs. feather dusters
Sarah is dusting with a cloth. Is this because Mama is too fastidious for a feather duster? We don’t get an answer on the page, but it’s probably a sustainability thing. Cloths can be washed, but using a duster means throwing dust out of the apartment the same way you would clean a carpet. As the residents of a second floor, perhaps Mama doesn’t think this is social. The feather duster was a reasonably recent invention in this period, so it’s possible it’s just not how Mama likes to do things.
China figurines in the period
China figurines were really popular throughout this period. You can read a history of the different kinds of collectable figurines that were part of this craze by clicking this link.
Mama’s figurines are the hollow sort that can be used as a bud vase for a flower or a little bouquet, and extra fragile!
Morris Brenner’s paper art
Morris Brenner, aka the Papa of the All-of-a-Kind Family books was a creative person and an artist in his own right, much like daughter Sarah Brenner, who grew up to be Sydney Taylor. You can see his paper art in more detail in From Sarah to Sydney by June Cummins and Alexandra Dunietz
What is a penny worth in 1912?
In later chapters we see the girls spend their pennies not only to pay back the library, but also on treats, like penny candy (see the show notes for Who Cares If It’s Bedtime?), cookies, half a hot sweet potato, a serving of chickpeas, candied fruit on a stick, and a big dill pickle. Sarah is even saving for a doll , once that library book is paid off.
Pennies add up and an additional penny makes a lot of difference. So Mama occasionally including a penny in the dusting prizes makes for a potential income bump for a daughter who does her dusting well!
The Nome King and the Ornaments from Ozma of Oz/Return to Oz
Similar to Sarah’s hunt for pennies, this sequence from the film Return to Oz (1985) shows Dorothy looking for her friends, who have been cruelly turned into ornaments by the Nome King. Taken from the book Ozma of Oz (1907) by L. Frank Baum.
Monthly wall calendars in the 1910s
There are lots of calendar designs from this era. However, we don’t know if what Sarah sees is a secular wall calendar, or possibly a Jewish calendar, showing the cycles of the moon, and the beginnings and endings of the Hebrew months, as well as the major and minor Jewish holidays. Jewish calendars are often provided by cultural institutions like funeral homes and benevolent organizations as a form of passive advertising in the home.
Mama’s Sewing Box
The sewing box has persisted into the modern era, but sewing boxes had a lot of different tools in the 1900s when sewing machines were still a new technology. Mama’s box has a large collection of buttons, and probably tools for patching and darning.
What Happened to Helen John?
Helen John illustrated the 1951 edition of All-of-a-Kind Family, but by the time More All-of-a-Kind Family comes out, she’s no longer the illustrator, and has been replaced by Mary Stevens. Helen John doesn’t have an internet presence at this time, and we can’t find any photos of her. Does anyone have biographical information? Write in and let us know.
To think that I cropped it from Mulberry Street!
When Merav was designing the website, there was a specific photo of Mulberry street that they felt was evocative of the period. This went through several transformations, due to having to lighten the color in order to be able to see the text against the background in a way that was properly accessible. However, the header has been replaced with Al Benbow‘s terrific logo, but you can see the original banner here, here, and here.
Classic Barbie Dolls
Orit mentions playing with classic Barbie dolls with Merav when they were kids. These are the models that we had when we were kids, in case anyone is curious. We also had a number of the vintage outfits, and vinyl carrying case.
Possibly in imitation of the All-of-a-Kind Family books, the Barbie pictured here was called Sarah. Our other vintage and modern Barbies were called Marla, Rachel, and Susan.
Other books we mentioned
The Oz books by L. Frank Baum, the Inkheart books by Cornelia Funke, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids by Stanley Kiesel, The Puppy Place series, Ten and a Kid by Sadie Rose Weilerstein, The Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, Lettie Lane and Tom Tierney Paper Dolls.