100 Years Ago Today

One hundred years ago today my father's first cousin Ellen was born. Several years ago, when I visited her in LA, she shared some childhood photos with me, as well as her memories of my father's home in Berlin. I also loved hearing stories about her experiences on Hollywood sets, and remember how thrilled she was when her home was scouted as a location for a Coen Brothers movie.

This is what her family shared about her life in the Cottage Grove Sentinel in 2013:

"As a Jewish girl, Ellen had a scary adolescence under the Nazis. She and her parents barely managed to escape Germany, arriving in New York by ship on Aug. 11, 1939. (Her videotaped memories of Berlin, and of relatives who perished, ar din Steven Spielberg's Shoah project on Holocaust history.)

Ellen went to Reno and then Los Angeles, where she worked at a bank and married Ben Kilston on June 7, 1942. Ben passed away on June 12,1991.

Ellen realised a childhood dream of acting in the movies, meeting Cary Grant, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck and many other famous stars. She eventually got to return to school, earning her A.A. at Santa Monica College. She gave German lessons through Berlitz and was a receptionist. Ellen traveled extensively and loved parties and to sing and dance, with great spirit."