Notes from a Composer

My mother Catherine spent two weeks in New York with us in February. Her birthday was celebrated during her visit. And one birthday present was a puzzle of the New York Times front page of the day she was born.

Let’s look even closer, here is the date at the top of the page. February 11, 1937.

My mother turned 87.

Here she is at the swanky restaurant overlooking Columbus Circle where we celebrated her birthday, blowing out the candle the waiter presented along with complimentary petit fours while singing “Happy Birthday”.

Next to Mom is her girlhood friend Sheila. They’ve known each other since elementary school. Sheila was the one who gave Mom the New York Times front page puzzle.

The 500 piece puzzle wasn’t necessarily easy to put together. But we managed to finish it before Mom’s visit concluded. Allowing us to sandwich it between two pieces of cardboard for safe travel in Mom’s suitcase to Berlin.

So what was the big news on February 11, 1937?

Well, some of the best known parts of 1930s history are referenced, like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The Spanish Civil War, the Dust Bowl and the Nazis.

The main headline and articles on the left side are all about FDR’s effort to reform the Supreme Court, nowadays often referred to as the court packing scheme. But even a passing glance at these articles suggests the whole court reform effort was more complicated than just the effort to add more justices to the court. This day’s paper has the president wrangling with Congress about whether to split different components of the reform effort into separate bills or not, while also discussing how various state legislatures are responding to the effort. Interestingly I found no use of the term “court packing” anywhere on the page.

Meanwhile the secondary headlines on the right side both pertain to the Mid-West. An automobile-strike is averted in Detroit. The article emphasizes just how fatigued Michigan’s Governor Murphy was by the negotiations.

Below that bold face headline is an article regarding efforts to mitigate the devastation brought on by the massive droughts the Great Plains suffered in the 1930s, what we commonly now refer to the as the Dust Bowl.