1939 ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN DETAILED 5 YEAR DIARY OF A YOUNG, MOVIE LOVING JEWISH TEENAGER FROM THE BRONX NEW YORK, GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL, STARTING COLLEGE AND LIVING A FAST-PACED, VIGOROUS LIFE

On offer is a detailed and intriguing document, the five-year diary of a young Jewish teenager passionate with theater, movies, and art. The diary starts in the beginning of 1939 and continuing to the end of 1943. Beginning when he is a high school sophomore, the diary traces the life of [ ] as he graduates high school and begins college at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York. For the most part, every day of the five-year diary is filled in, with the exception of the first half of 1940. The entries for 1940 start up around May, and from then on, almost every day has an entry filled in. The diary does an exceptional job of elucidating the life of a teenage boy growing up in the early 1940s. He sees lots and lots of movies, goes to concerts and plays, and he studies and groans about school, teachers, his parents, and his friends. He also makes frequent trips to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. Most days include at least one title of a movie that he has seen. Many entries look like these: “Went to Fordham and saw The Gay Sisters and Spy Ship. The Gay Sisters was swell. Just what I needed. Did some German homework.”; “Yom Kippur. Went to Fordham and saw Dive Bomber. Very beautiful in technicolor. Bessie and her sisters were here when I came home. Midterm tomorrow.”; “Went to Museum of Non-Objective Art with Chells and heard a faculty lecture by John Lennhower. Marvelous afternoon. Went shopping. Bought tickets for Rosalind.” He comments little on things going on in the world around him, but for a document of the quotidian and everyday life of a Jewish kid during WW2 America, this diary is of exceptional value. The book also contains some memoranda at the end of the it, with lists of presents received and given, birthdays, and a “canary record” which documents the death (or escape) of four canary birds owned by the author. In addition to the diary, there is also contained numerous ephemeral items, including five pay stubs from movies, plays, and the 1940 New York World’s Fair, newspaper clippings and a program from the July 1939 concert of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, a newspaper clipping of a picture containing Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in the musical “New Moon,” and a newspaper clipping of a picture from “Pride and Prejudice” being performed at Radio City Music Hall in August 1940.; Manuscript; 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, BRONX, BROOKLYN, QUEENS, MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, JEWISH, TEENAGER, NEW YORK CITY YOUTH, HIGH SCHOOL, HIGHSCHOOL, COLLEGE, FORDHAM, FILMS, CINEMA, MOVIES, DIARY, RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, EPHEMERA, PLAYS, THEATER, 5 YEAR DIARY, NEW YORK, AMERICANA, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, AMERICANA, ANTIQUITÉ, CONTRAT, VÉLIN, DOCUMENT, MANUSCRIT, PAPIER ANTIKE, BRIEF, PERGAMENT, DOKUMENT, MANUSKRIPT, PAPIER OGGETTO D'ANTIQUARIATO, ATTO, VELINA, DOCUMENTO, MANOSCRITTO, CARTA ANTIGÜEDAD, HECHO, VITELA, DOCUMENTO, MANUSCRITO, PAPEL