A Closer Look (Part 70)

Kaunas, Lithuania, November 11, 1939. An operetta cast member has applied her stage makeup.

Here's the original post.

In the Garden

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1957. The husband of my Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, walks in the garden of my Mom's childhood home.

Kremlin Christmas

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, December 1972. My Mom's maternal Aunt Dora sends a Christmas New Year's postcard. We're watching you!

Class Notes (Part 21)

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1934. In this Class Notes entry, another anonymous artist sketched a rose.

Spring Ritual

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, June 1973. Dora tends to the plot where Zigmunta (Dora's Mother), Jadzė (Dora's Sister), and Dora' first husband are buried.

Dora wrote, "Here I didn't know I was being photographed, but I liked this photo more than the other one."

Class Notes (Part 18)

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1934. An anonymous artist contributed to this Class Notes page. I wonder if my Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, drew this still life.

Musical Memory

My Mom has been a lifelong opera and operetta lover. She and Dad occasionally bought season tickets to Chicago's Lyric Opera, and we usually listened to Saturday opera radio broadcasts (but I always preferred ballet). We celebrated New Year's Eve by watching Die Fledermaus on television, and we caught a staging of The Merry Widow in Central City, Colorado.

When Mom was growing up, the three most popular sopranos where Jeanette MacDonald, Marta Eggerth, and Deanna Durbin. Mom collected cards with images of each singer, and she and her friends went to the cinema* to watch the dubbed movies in which the starlets appeared.

In about 1934 or 1935 Marta Eggerth arrived in Kaunas for a concert. The city officials prohibited Eggerth from singing in the opera house because Eggerth specialized in operettas, a musical form, according to authorities, beneath the dignity of the opera house. Eggerth therefore sang at an outdoor theater. My Mom's maternal Aunt Dora took Mom to that concert. Mom recalls Eggerth wore a white gown on stage. When we watched a few Eggerth clips on YouTube, Mom even got a bit misty.

Vienna, Austria, July 1971. This is the Vienna State Opera. It was natural for Dad to photograph this building when we visited Vienna.

*The same cinema at which Dora used to accompany the silent movies.

A Closer Look (Part 35)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1927. This is my Great-Grandmother Zigmunta. Although she married a clever and curious man, Zigmunta remained unhappy. After the war, Zigmunta lived with her daughter, Dora, in the house my Mom's parents had built.

Here's the original post.

Class Notes (Part 3)

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1934. My Mom's Dad wasn't the only adult who sketched in my Mom's memento booklet. Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, wrote, "A remembrance from your aunt. From Aunt Dora."

A Closer Look (Part 2)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1927. The early photos of my Mom's maternal aunt, Dora, in part prompted me to start this blog. Here's a close up of Dora from a family photo.

Summer-Clothes Pose

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, September 9, 1973. Dora and her husband look more relaxed in their lighter gear. Dora wrote: "Looking at my tree-stump legs you'd never recognize what a looker I was once. At least I'm still smiling."

Revisiting Another Image

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1927. Here's my Mom with her Mom, Jadzė. This photo appeared early in the blog's history.

Appearances

Kulautuva, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, January 1, 1971. This is my Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, and her husband.Dora had been a great beauty, and she dressed fashionably. As Dora aged, she continued to underscore appearances and remained alert to flattering clothing.

I find it charming that an older Dora "touched up" some photos she sent to my Mom. In this snapshot, for example, Dora penciled in longer eyelashes. In another, she darkened her eyebrows.

We celebrate Kūčios together.

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 24, 1936. I posted this photo earlier here, but it's the one that comes to mind for me on Christmas Eve. We'll be sharing the Kūčios meal later tonight.

Street-Clothes Pose

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, September 9, 1973. Here's Dora with her second husband. Dora sent several images from this photo shoot, but I thought this one was quirky because of the clothes the couple chose to wear.

Trusted

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, August 2, 1960. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora (center), stands with two more of her tenants in the garden of Mom's childhood home.

A Talented Tenant

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, February 20, 1957. After the second Soviet occupation, my Mom's maternal Aunt Dora continued to live in my Mom's childhood home.

Dora and her husband often took in one or two tenants. Dora wrote on the back of this photo, "This is Sig, our tenant, who takes our photographs and lives in the little bedroom by the stairwell. He works at the television station."

Dora at the Wake

Kaunas, Lithuania, September 19, 1965. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, attends the wake of her first husband. Dora remarried five years later. If you find the custom of funeral photography peculiar, then you may find a different perspective here.

Hat Trick

Lithuania, October 29, 1918. This is Valė, another friend of Ron's family. Compare this hat with the one my Mom's maternal Aunt Dora once wore.

Thanks to my friend Ron for making this photo available to us.

Dora, Dressed for Snow

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, January 6, 1959. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora—you remember Dora—stands in the snowy yard. Dora lived until she died in the home my Mom's Parents built.

On the back of this photo, Dora wrote, "Here I am in the garden. This is how our yard now looks. We really should plant some small trees. I've already planted about five currant bushes. They would be on the left side of where I stand. This year, our trees produced large fruit." It's touching that she writes about planting on the back of a wintery snapshot.