"Those Who Die!" by Frank Eisenberg.
“Those Who Die”, was a poem written by Frank Eisenberg. The deaths of those in the protagonist's life who died fighting in World War II are acknowledged. Those who died included the grocer's son, the baker, the laundry man, the fruit man, the plumber's son, and the newsboy, many of the working class people in his life. The poem also acknowledges the deaths of three schoolboys, a neighbor boy, the rich boy up the street and classmates of his son. The poem ends on a positive note and asks that their sacrifice not be in vain and that "greed, lust and hate”, be conquered and make "Honor rise again."
Frank Eisenberg
Upper Midwest Jewish Artchives: Archives and Special Collections the University of Minnesota Archives.
Box 449, File 15.
Aug 6, 1944
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English.
July 30, 1944 letter to Art from Frank Eisenberg
<p>Frank Eisenberg causally references the war when he tells Art that he picked up an old schoolmate from Talmud Torah, Sammie Kantor. Said, Sammie was recently discharged, had a lispe and planned to attend Miller Vocational. Said Sammie told him a guy he knew, Arthur Goldstein, left for Farragut (where Art is stationed) last Thursday and to look him up.</p>
<p>Later in his letter, Frank said that he warned Art about the sort of fellow he might run up against once he was in the Navy. That a good sock goes a long way and that he wished that Art could take up boxing in the Navy.</p>
<p> Two other things also worth nothing in Frank’s letter. He told Art that he planned to listen to the Philco Hour and suggested that when Art called next week for his birthday, August 6, 1944, that he call <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Collect</span>.</p>
<p>The Philco Hour was a once a week radio show that featured the Philco Orchestra. Here's a YouTube link with the orchestra playing a favorite from, “Connecticut Yankee that musical version of Mark Twain’s story, Thou Swell.” Philco Hour: <a title="The Philco Hour" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NkKD8aUxRs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NkKD8aUxRs</a></p>
<p>A<span style="text-decoration:underline;"> collect call</span> was a telephone call where the calling party called at the called party’s expense. At that time collect calls were only possible as an operator assisted call. A person-to-person call was an operator-assisted call in which the calling party asked to speak to a specific party and not simply to anyone who answered. The caller was not charged for the call unless the requested party was reached. This method was popular when telephone calls were relatively expensive. Station-to-station was a method of placing a telephone call, with or without assistance, in which the calling party agreed to talk to whoever answered the telephone. Wikipedia: <a title="Wikipedia: Definition of Collect Call" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_assistance" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_assistance</a></p>
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Frank Eisenberg
Upper Midwest Jewish Archives; Archives & Special Collections in the University of MInnesota Archives.
Box 449, File 2.
Jul 30, 1940 (sic) Jul 30, 1944
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English
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<strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">The Lost Letter,</span> </strong>a Short Short Story by Frank Eisenberg.
<p>Successful engineer, Clark Russ, has just arrived back in town and just tonight found in his luggage a letter from Mary, lost a decade or more ago, dated August 1922. In the letter Mary had agreed to marry him before he left on his overseas assignment. He mused over the letter and wondered what if...
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<p>Later that night, he received a telegram, which announced the birth of Clark Russ III and asked, "How is grandpa"? It was signed, Mary.</p>
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Frank Eisenberg
Upper Midwest Jewish Artchives: Archives & Special Collections the University of Minnesota Archives.
Box 449 File 17.
unknown
.JPEG
English
Frank Eisenberg standing next to a tree
Those Who Die!
by Frank Eisenberg
The grocer's son is on Saipon;
The baker's now in Rome,
The newsboy we use to have,
Lies buried far from home.
The little laundry man is gone,
He lies there waiting, still,
For the transport that will carry
Him back home from Bougainville.
At Kasserine the plumber's boy,
Picked up a shrapnel bit,
And, in London's robot-bombing hell
Our neighbor's son was hit.
Three school boys lie in Coral Seas,
No More their trampling feet,
Will Echo through the corridors,
Though the enemy retreat.
With what adventures spirit,
Those youngsters joined the fray,
The morning of December 8th,
I'll ne'er forget the day.
At Ansie the fruit man's son
Fell from a sniping Hun,
And many kids my youngster knew
Lie dying in the sun.
The rich kid on the corner
We use to think so swell
Chalked up his fifteenth ___
And died in a fiery hell.
The grocer's a Norwegian,
The finest boy we knew,
The baker was Bohemian,
The newsboy was a Jew.
So rich and poor alike they fall,
A price they're glad to pay
To cleanse the world of tyranny,
And pave a better way.
And shall we fail those boys who die
Their sacrifice in vain?
Let's conquer greed and lust and hate,
And, make Honor rise again.
Frank Eisenberg
Universal Pictures
Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 6, 1944
The Upper Midwest Jewish Archives:Archives and Special Collections of the University of Minnesota Archives.
Box 449, File 5.
circa 1917
206 × 322
Photo of Frank Eisenberg
Those Who Die
The grocer’s son is on Saipon,
The baker’s now in Rome.
The newsboy that we used to have
Lies buried far from home.
The little laundry man is gone,
He lies there waiting, still,
For the transport that will carry him
Back home from Bougainville.
At Kasserine the Plumber’s boy
Picked up a shrapnel bit,
And in London’s robot-bombing hell
Our neighbor’s son was hit.
Three schoolboys lie in Coral Seas,
No more their tramping feet,
Will echo through the corridors
Though the enemy retreat.
With what adventurous spirit
Those youngsters joined the fray,
The morning of December 8th,
I’ve ne’er forget that day.
At Anzie the fruit man’s son
Fell from a sniping Hun,
And many kids my youngster knew
Lie dying in the sun.
That rich kid on the corner
We used to think so swell
Chalked up his fifteenth Zero
And, died in a fiery hell.
The grocer’s a Norwegian,
The finest boy we knew,
The baker was Bohemian,
The newsboy was a Jew.
So rich and poor alike they fall,
A price they’re glad to pay
To cleanse the world of tyranny,
And pave a better way.
And shall we fail those boys who die
Their sacrifice in vain?
Let’s conquer greed and lust and hate,
And make Honor rise again.
Frank Eisenberg
Universal Pictures
Minneapolis, Minn.
August 6, 1944
The Upper Midwest Jewish Archives; Archives & Special Collections in the University of Minnesota Archives.
Box 449, File 10.
.JPEG
English
The Minneapolis Star Journal
The Minneapolis Star Journal (back page). Provided compliments of Donaldson's Department Store.
Upper Midwest Jewish Archives: Archives & Special Collections of the University of Minnesota Archives.
Box 449, Box 7.
The Minneapolis Star Journal
August 1944
newspaper
English