When AHF met Eleanor R

Reading some old documents yesterday, I came across an exchange between my late father and his Aunt J (whence came my own J). They wrote mostly in German, 20 years after 11-year-old Albert had escaped from Germany. The following snippet was news to me:

"Nothing new here. Eleanor Roosevelt gave a speech here last night; and I had the honour of sitting next to her for half an hour and talking to her. As a 17-year-old student in Chicago, I had the same honour! Funny, isn't it? But the woman herself is really wonderful and fabulous. She gave a long speech about Israel, praised it very much, and urged the Jews of the city to buy Israel Bonds. The newspaper had a picture of the head table, with about 12 people (including me) and Mrs Roosevelt. I sent it to Mutti. I was only there to give the closing prayer after the meeting, but I took the opportunity to talk to Mrs Roosevelt."

According to the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader archive, Mrs Roosevelt was speaking at an Israel Bonds Chanukah dinner at the JCC (4th December 1958). I couldn't find the picture though. And according to her printed journal (the blog of her era), that visit was most memorable for the inconvenience of the weather:

I know she travelled extensively and met loads of people. I still think it's cool that one of them was my father.

Naughty Shirley Temple!

You may think that butter wouldn't melt in little miss Shirley Temple's mouth, but according to her obituary in the Times:

"In 1935 she was taken by her parents to Washington to meet President Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor. The President invited the Temples to a barbecue at the Roosevelt home in Hyde Park, New York, where Eleanor, bending over a grill, proved too much of a temptation for the impish child star. Temple unleashed a pebble from the catapult she carried in her lace purse and hit the First Lady smartly on the rear."