The one where the family celebrates the Fourth of July.
Listen to the episode
Join hosts Merav and Batya as they delve into all things All-of-a-Kind Family. Today we talk about being Jewish and American, seeing the family at play after a few hard chapters, childhood crushes, 4th of July celebrations in the city, family estrangement, civic infrastructure, non-traditional families, Ella’s first heartbreak, emotional overwhelm, and the “message” books of our childhoods.
Our chapter in summary
The girls spend a thrilling fourth of July with Charlie and their parents, featuring potato kugel, firetrucks, firecrackers, and even Roman candles. Charlie opens up to the family about his childhood, but while Ella is supposed to be asleep, she overhears the private details of Charlie’s quarrel with his parents and his ongoing search for his sweetheart. Ella’s weeping alerts Mama and Papa and they comfort her. Ella doesn’t confess her secret crush, but goes to bed crying again, heartbroken.
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Show Notes:
Straw hats for men
Made of woven straw and often accentuated with a jaunty ribbon or feathers these stiff brimmed hats were part of summer fashion in Venice, where they are still worn by gondoliers. They made their way into late nineteenth and early twentieth century fashion. Immortalized in pastoral sequences in many films, including the Jolly Holiday sequence in Mary Poppins (1964) where Bert dances and sings with several penguins.
Putting oil on a burn
Do not do this! Putting a lubricant on a burn traps heat. Run cold water over a burn and then apply ice. Treating a burn with oil was 18th and 19th century kitchen wisdom, but it’s a terrible plan. Think about what happens when you add oil to a hot pan. That’s not an effect you want on your skin.
Roman candles and other explosives
An early boom in firecrackers is attributed to China where gunpowder packed bamboo made an early version of our explosive pastime. Firecrackers also had a Renaissance in 1500s Italy, where the Roman candle was invented. Because they have a tendency to malfunction, Roman candles are currently banned in several states, including NY.
Japan also has a fireworks related tradition that will be familiar to heavy metal concert fans. Take a look at the explosive power of Tezutsu Hanabi. Henny would have loved it.
Horse-drawn fire engines
Yes, they used to bring horses to fires. From 1894 through 1922 — which brought the first use of motorized fire trucks in New York City — the horse drawn fire carriages pulled the crew of fire fighters to the site of the incident.
Fire hydrants were first established in the 1880s, and fire infrastructure was critical with the packed tenement buildings full of young families with children, and often multiple generations crammed into the living space.
The horses along with the iconic firehouse Dalmatian dogs were considered part of the fire crew, and were sometimes among the firefighting casualties in the early days of high-rise buildings. Notable in this period is the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911, just a year before All-of-a-Kind Family is set. Many of those killed are immigrant women between 14-21 years old who were locked in a sweatshop and unable to leave during the fire.
July 4th bonfires melting tar in the streets
Papa’s concerns are not unfounded, in a world of horse drawn fire-engines, keeping the roads in good repair is critical. A bonfire burns almost ten times hotter than the boiling point of modern asphalt, which can react to a really hot day or really cold days in winter. Here’s a love letter to the Belgian Blocks or cobblestones that made up those streets in the 1910s.
Potato kugel aka Charlie’s favorite dish, “potato pudding”
Light and delicious like an enormous latke, or dense and full of sweetness, potato kugel comes in a lot of textures and varieties: with onions, with flour, or heavily peppered, or even with other kinds of potatoes — every kind of potato kugel is valid! There are so many kinds of kugel, including Hoffman family favorite three cheese noodle with cornflake crumbs on and Batya’s frequent bake, the sweet butternut squash kugel!
Emotional overwhelm and how to deal with it
At various points in this chapter, someone becomes overwhelmed by the amount of noise, sensation and sensory input that they are experiencing. The chapter outlines a few coping mechanisms, like self-isolating from loud noises, finding a friend to reassure you, and specifying what’s bothering you out loud.
A window into Charlie’s past
Charlie gets a few flashbacks in this chapter and we also get to see him being vulnerable with the family. Papa retells Charlie’s revelations to Mama and Ella overhears that Charlie is looking for his missing sweetheart. We learn that Charlie comes from a wealthy society family and that he was expected to marry well, and he is now out of touch with his family because he wanted to choose his own life partner.
Instead Charlie has lucked into a chosen family. It may not replace what he’s lost, but it’s giving him hope.
Other references in this episode:
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The musical Hair. The Cat in the Hat (1957) by Dr. Seuss. Beloved books for teens and tweens by Judy Blume and Paula Danziger. And yes, there is All-of-a-Kind Family fan fiction.