Tag / purdue

by Mary James

34. Fancy Fliers, Cossack Choirs, and Balmy Tigers, Singapore, Feb 3 – 7, 1938

The After-the-Trip Letter

Singapore...magic name...it can be anything you want it to be. Will you have pineapple and rubber plantations and factories, a new modern airport whose administration building is second to none in the world....

Side note: The fancy Kallang Airport was born in 1937 and Amelia Earhart had swooped by there shortly after its debut. Her fateful flight was just a month or so later.

Remember who also flew planes? Helen. Purportedly, Helen and Amelia lived in the same dorm room (not at the same time) at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, where Helen received her Bachelor’s (1920-24) and Master’s (1931) in Physical Education. Amelia lived in the room in 1919-20 and Helen in 1931, says my sleuthing.

Another coincidence is that they both taught at Purdue, in the same year (1936), and they used the same airfield, but apparently never met. I’m pretty sure Helen only taught one summer semester at Purdue, but still. Here are some snippets from a newspaper story about Helen: “First woman on the Purdue faculty to fly solo from Purdue field … Miss Skinner is one of the most popular pilots among the male flyers … Capt. L. I. Aretz, port operations manager, forecasts a bright future for her in aviation.”

And guess who also knew Aretz, Miss Amelia. There’s a whole movie about it.

I talk about the fun parallels in a previous post.

Since I don’t have any pictures from Helen’s time in Singapore, here is the newspaper clipping about her from Purdue in 1936.

Helen, being cooler than most of us, The Lafayette Journal, 1936, Purdue U.

And now we transition back to Singapore and February of 1938…. 

...American movies cantor in "Ali Baba Goes to Town', to be specific...the Don Cossack Russian Choir was there, too....good ice-cream (for the first time since New Orleans)...a wish for a fortune to spend on Chinese silks and linens, magnificent hand work at iniquitously low prices....tea at the Raffles Hotel, and swimming at the Singapore Club and dinner afterward at the home of friends.....

Side note: Ali Baba Goes to Town (that link is the trailer and I suggest a look see) is a 1937 musical comedy with Tony Martin, featuring lily white Arabian Sultans and, not surprisingly, blackface. Hollywood certainly did its best at exporting American-branded racism to theaters around the world.

Sadly, two people were killed in a flying carpet incident during the making of the film.

The Don Cossack Russian Choir were exiled Cossacks who started a choir in an interment camp in Turkey. They performed over 10,000 times. By 1938, they’d been at it for 15 years. Here’s more of their music and it’s quite lovely.

...and a strange night of "blackout" during British manoeuvres, when every light in the city was out, and all night long we watched the fingers of fifteen searchlights make patterns across the sky, pointing at squadrons of planes as they flew high overhead, trying to evade the anti-aircraft batteries. War seemed very near, and the demonstration was too realistic for comfort.

Side note: The British colonial government’s Air Raids and Bombardments Precautions Sub-committee in Singapore had started doing test air raid blackouts in 1936. In 1941, Singapore was indeed hit by the Japanese and eventually fell to their army in 1942.

Like the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese left when they surrendered, but unlike the Dutch, the British came back and stuck around Singapore for a few more decades. Singapore would become fully independent in 1965 after a few years as one with Malaysia.

The Day-to-Day Journal 

Helen’s day to day journal from the same time period as the letter above adds context and quite of a Helen-style detail (costs, weights, conversions, measurements, timelines, routes, schedules, distances….). She has detail for everything EXCEPT the juicy stuff with Shag.

Here is most of it, with a sprinkle of commentary:

Thru. Feb. 3: 

Woke at 3:00 am. when the anchor went out, lights of Singapore all around. Up at 6:30 harbor full of British battleships. Pilot came on just before 7 a.m. 

White ships on green water against pink clouds in a gray sky. 

Money changers, vendors of all kinds on deck before breakfast. 

To Chinese and Buddhist temples, thru Malay villages, Singapore Swimming Club, airport (mud flats filled in, one of most beautiful airports in the world, very modernistic) saw a few planes, but none in the air.  

To a pineapple canning factory (Sin Heng & Co.) still celebrating Chinese New Year, it was not in operation. Cut and slice, wash, add sugar, cook, can, label, ship. Very clean, white tile tables.  

Goodyear Rubber Co., 2 young men from Akron, Ohio — showed us around. Rubber sheets weighed, sorted, graded, repacked, pressed (bound with steel straps) into space not to exceed 5 cu. Ft.

Side note: Later in life, Helen would be involved in an industry that relied on rubber, and would be back in this part of the world, but you have to read on to find out more.

Dropped me at the ship, lunched, Shag's watch changed. Beastly hot. Steak dinner for 50 ¢ (Sing.) at Café de Luxe (with the case of Javanese carbine, silver, batik in the window).

White ships on green water against pink clouds in a gray sky

Fri. Feb 4: 

To botanical gardens, fed the monkeys. Past the Eng. & Chinese homes in the best residential section. 

Into the grounds of the Chinese whose "Tiger Balm" has made him enormously wealthy. The most unique gardens - pools and gardens, pagodas and houses and people in miniature, exquisitely done. 

Stop at a rubber plantation, saw the latex oozing and the process involved before it goes to the shippers. 

Into Jahore over the quite new causeway. Saw Sultan's Palace (his Scotch wife divorced him 2 mo. ago.) At the Mosque to hear the Muezzin's call to prayer. Watched the parades of the police, the soldiers. No women worship in a Mosque. Took some movies which I shall probably never see.

Side note: Singapore: exquisite gardens, oozing latex…

The Tiger Balm guy’s was known as The Tiger Balm King. And his gardens are called the Tiger Balm Gardens. His name means tiger, hence the product name. His story is most definitely worth a look see.

Sultan Ibrahim of Johor (not the Hollywood Sultan), would soon head to Europe to help with his gout and also, since he happened to be in the region, meet with Hitler and Mussolini. He also got briefly detained on suspicion of being a spy.

Shag and I took a rickshaw ride, then sat on the jetty until midnight. At 2 a.m. the generators were shut down, a great silence came over the ship. The city lights went out. Blackout for war maneuvers, Plane roared thru the sky pursued by searchlights. Eight fingers of light making patterns on the black page of night. Signal lights flashed — I caught on in time to get ._._. (end of message). Wandered all over the ship from one vantage point to another until 5:30 a.m.

Side note: I want a picture of those two cuties on a rickshaw!! I just asked an AI thing to create one and it would not. It could have looked like this and how perfect for their ongoing meetcute.

Sat. Feb. 5: 

Hot! Struggled up after 2 1/2 sleep, shave legs, get bathing bag from trunk which was behind the last box in the store room. Kept the gang waiting while I dressed. 

Uptown with our driver to Adelphi Hotel, Mrs. Reed picked me up at 10:00 a.m. with her Dick (8) and David (4) and 2 girl children of a Methodist Missionary to the Singapore Swimming Club. A breeze, salt water just the right temp, felt marvelous. To the Reed home, no windows, open on all sides with shutters instead of glass. Closed only to keep out rain (rain 360 days a year), everything mildews, cloth, floors, cloisonne even. She lived 11 yr., he 16, in China. Both speak the language fluently, loved China. Three yrs. Dick has been twice around the world, at 8.

Side note: The Reeds might be with the YCWA or another athletic organization. I suspect Helen was job prospecting at some of these ports. She had not planned on getting distracted by a certain Mr. Shag.

Had a ma mee for lunch, a hybrid Chinese dish — noodles, chopped cooked egg, prawns, crab meat, nuts, raisins, soy sauce, very delicious. American cake, good coffee, Eskimo pie!, Pomolo, mangustein.

Side note: Very adventurous with food, that Helen. Some people in the family (me) are not. I envy that.

Heavy rain as we reached town, took me to Tang's on Middle Valley Road, one-price Chinese store, beautiful things, but I'd spent too much money. She dropped me in High St., found H.D. in the café with Chief who had rescued her when she'd almost fainted (touch of the sun, no doubt). 

Back to the ship for 4 p.m. sailing, to find we'd sail at noon tomorrow. Our crew from Shanghai under the domination of the Bos'n, a petty racketeer (the Shanghai agent takes all the 1st mo. wages, the Bos'n $9 (Shanghai) a month, asst. Bos'n another tong. One group would not work for the other. Some wanted to go home, so in the end all went at 5 p.m., under police escort to jail. 

Will be repatriated in a couple of days and sent back to Shanghai. Shag & I walked and talked until 11:30.

Side note: I cannot find anything on this corrupt Bos’n (ie Boatswain, ie guy in charge of boat things), but I did find this extra cool video of Singapore from 1938. It features just about everything she mentions above, except what the flip she talked about with Shag.

Sat. Sun. Feb 6: 

A new crew, Cantonese from Singapore, came to inspect the boat early this a.m. 

To the ship for noon sailing. Under way at 2:30, very narrow entrance to the wharf, rammed against the jetty as we were towed out, small dent in ship's side. In the harbor the bos'n let the boom down on a sailor, cut off the ends of two fingers, gashed his face, chest - a gory sight. Put him off in the pilot boat not a very auspicious start.

Side note: My goodness if that happened in front of me my journal would be filled with screams in all caps, but no, for Helen it’s another list: 2 missing fingers, 1 gashed face, 1 gory chest. I’m envious again, as I can’t even watch someone administer a shot on the television without getting woozy.

Visited Shag until 9. Early turned in, very poohed. Heavy rain every day in Singapore, showers 2-4 p.m. often. Keeps air fresh, grass green, but not very healthy, disturbs metabolism, women go flabby very young.

Side note: Remember that Helen has a Master’s in Physical Education so she was no dope when it came to women’s health and fitness. But is this ‘young women go flabby in rainy places’ sounds fishy. So is she right? Yes, but it’s not just women. Everyone gets an equal chance at going flabby quite young in rainy humid places, says Scientific American.

And there we shall end for now.

Next up: War and Peace (literally and figuratively). Stay tuned for that! (And also eventually, why Helen was back in these parts decades later, and how it involved rubber.)

Shag and I took a rickshaw ride, then sat on the jetty until midnight. At 2 a.m. the generators were shut down, a great silence came over the ship. The city lights went out. Blackout for war maneuvers, Plane roared thru the sky pursued by searchlights.

by Mary James

11. Aviatrix, Sir/Madam, and The Ninety-Nine’s

In the last post, we established that Helen was way more foot loose and fancy free than her outward persona would indicate. My husband commented about the cruise post and how strange it must have been, in 1934, to meet a single, 31 year-old woman, traveling alone, who flew planes, wants to know all about boat engines and navigation, knows all about sports, has an M.A. from Columbia, is wearing slacks, and may or my not be perched on a railing of a freight boat, highball in hand — not to mention she is funny, flirty, and one sweet patootie to boot (that meant pretty back then, and I say that it is true, objectively, as an impartial Great Niece). Here she is:

Helen Skinner, circa 1934, Gulf Port College, looking good and hiding her cray cray side

Below are some additional flight artifacts from the 1930s.

Beep Beep, Aviatrix on Board!

I swear I posted this one already, but now I can’t find it. Helen taught Physical Education in summers at Purdue University in Indiana, and luckily they had an airfield (perhaps that is why she taught there Amelia Earhart also taught at Purdue at the same time, but it seems not in the summers. Helen logged many air hours there and got a nice shout out and photo in the Lafayette Journal.

High flying Helen, featured in the Lafayette Journal (which still exists)

Note it says she was the FIRST WOMAN on the Purdue faculty to fly solo from the airfield. And that she is popular (among the male flyers, heh). The Capt L.I. Aretz, who is mentioned in the snippet, has lots of press with Earhart. Not that it’s a competition or anything, but still, Helen was first to fly solo from their airfield and not anyone else.

Dear Sir Madam:

The below letter is fun if you look closely. Do that. You’ll see it is a template. There is preprinted text with salutations and addresses and such (the preprinted text is darker — look at the numbers after ‘license No.” for instance). Then look at the salutation and see the XXX typed over the word ‘Sir’ and ‘Madam’ is typed in after it. The 1930s was an era of Sirs doing official things that needed letterhead. So it made sense then that Sir was built into the template. But not for long! Here comes Madam Helen, swooping in after a perfect wing over! The letter uses both Miss and Madam, as seems appropriate for the time, since Ms. wasn’t around just yet.

(I just looked up the Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss. history and it is a hoot. Google about it AFTER you are done with this post.)

Letter containing Helen’s Pilot License and ID, from the Department of Commerce, 1936

Now I am looking up details about the letter:

J. Carroll Cone, who penned it, or at least dictated it, was a bigwig in aviation and became an assistant director for the Air Commerce Bureau under FDR and others. Robert R. Reining was Chief of the Bureau of Air Commerce Registration. He’s named several times in a journal article from the The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery alongside picture of Amelia Earhart.

The enclosed license and ID are shown back in this post.

The address the letter was sent to in Arlington, New Jersey, was not Helen’s, but her parents, as Helen was a bit nomadic, especially in the summers, and this was August.

Ninety-Nine’s

The next artifact is the card in the image below. The Ninety Nine’s are female pilots, named after the number of charter members who first were licensed. Helen was not part of that original group and I can’t find the membership history outside of the charter members, but for what it’s worth, the group was started in 1929 and Helen got her license in 1934. I have in my possession one Ninety Nine’s membership club, good from September 1936 to September 1937:

Membership Card for the Ninety-Nine’s, Sept 1936 – Sept 1937

That is business card sized and would have been tricky to roll into a typewriter, but whomever typed it was skilled. Dorothy George, who signed it, is mentioned in this newsletter about the Ninety-Nine’s from 1938, which is all festive for Thanksgiving.

Then in 1939, Helen received an invite from a Miss Jacqueline Cochran (who at the time was busy setting airspeed records — I suspect she might not have actually penned the invite) — to a buffet in honor of Bettie Gillies (this is when Bettie became president of the club, when she was a wee 31 years old). I don’t know if Helen attended the event, because by that point her life had taken a loopdeloop and she was living in Western Canada, was married, and fiddling with motorcycles and cars.

The invite mentions the Graybar Building. That is still there and very art deco looking. And Michel’s on 53rd Street was fancy and formal looking.

A room full of female pilots in the 1930s musta been something to behold.

I keep finding more things! Like a personalized barometer, tickets to the 1932 Olympics, and a syrupy letter from Helen’s soon to be brother-in-law (my grandfather, who I have been told was not a bit syrupy). But those will wait until the next post, as I don’t want to extend the title of this one more. Until soon!

by Mary James

8. Amelia Earhart Coincidences

Helen told friends that she’d lived in a dorm once inhabited by Amelia Earhart. I Googled about this. Amelia Earhart, who was six years older than Helen, attended Columbia University in 1919-1920. Helen was first at Columbia in 1920-1924 and then again in 1931. So it would have occurred in 1921-1924 or in 1931.

Another coincidence is that they both taught at Purdue in the same year — Earhart from 1935 to her disappearance in 1937, and Helen in 1936. Helen flew planes at Purdue 29 times in 1936 between June and July. And Amelia was uber famous by then. It is possible though that they weren’t there at the exact same time — Helen might have just been there for a summer semester and maybe Earhart didn’t stay for the summers.

Here is Helen at Purdue in 1936:

The back says, Helen, Purdue, Lafayette.
“Purdue University, Aerodrome” It was likely 1936.

Next up: Leaving familiar shores.