Letter Circa Jan. 1919 Standardized Text
This is the “standardized text” version of the Mascot Moskovina documents. This version is presented in an easily readable and searchable format. Punctuation is modernized and inserted where needed for clarity. Abbreviations are spelled out, insertions are incorporated, and crossouts and duplicate words are deleted. First words in sentences have been capitalized; other capitalization issues have not been edited. Moskovina’s spelling is routinely irregular and creative; where it is possible to discern her meaning, spelling has been standardized.
[p. 1]
[letterhead]
HOTEL CARLTON
Telephone 2956-Central
R. LIBERO BADARÓ, 72
S. PAULO
S. Paulo, 3rd de Feb. de 1919
Dear Billie and Nondas,
As you see by the enclosed letter, I again wrote but did not post the letter. I left the Company I spoke to you about and am now working with Sasha Piatov, of whom you may have heard, for he was very well known in the States Orpheum circuit. We opened here the 19th of January and are now booked for Rio de Janeiro after. Then after a few more months in Brazil I will return home, and if all goes very well work in the States so I yet may be able to come and visit you in Chicago. I am very pleased and relieved that at last I am starting out on my way home. Brazil is a beautiful country, only just now is the rainy season and it has been raining steadily all this month. In fact the railway lines to Rio and the port Santos are overflowed and the train cannot run. I am now doing besides classical and character dancing, Ballroom dancing Eccentric, Foxtrot, Waltz and whirlwind dance and am learning Tangos and Moxixes. It is very hard after classical work but now I have been doing it 15 days already with success. I will have to go to the post to post this letter so at last you get some news from me.
[p.] 2/
I am very busy rehearsing and I work very hard all the time. The ballroom work is very hard for me till I get used to it. I left Buenos Aires when that terrible strike was on. Not a store was open and they were shooting in the street. No one dared to leave their homes. Still I was rung around to cancel rehearsals etc. getting ready to leave. I was so afraid troops and policemen everywhere with loaded guns and machine guns in the doorway of the Police Stations. The second day already there was hardly a piece of bread in Buenos Aires, and not a single restaurant open. Those that lived in Boarding houses got a bit to eat but those that ate in restaurant had to go without. Oh it was terrible. Thursday at 12 it started and up till Sunday morning 1500 people had been killed and 5000 wounded in the streets. If a motor car came along they would just grab it and smash it to pieces. We had to leave Sunday morning, so I made arrangements to have my trunks sent on to Rio later as it was impossible to have them taken to the ship. But by greatest luck the strike was called to a halt Sunday morning and a few carts dared out at a terrible risk. So they took some of our baggage and drove to the station, and we had to walk it nearly 22 blocks or more through the worst of the strike quarters. All the windows and streets smashed, the garbage had not been collected for three days and was thrown all over the streets and the odors were fearful, and shops and houses closed. Sometimes we passed a saloon, and if the door opened we saw behind it—the saloon full of drunken men and we guessed that the strike was not finished yet. Well, when we got to the Station and Saw that our small luggage had arrived, Piatov took 4 men with loaded revolvers and rushed back for my trunks,
[p.] 3/
two big ones and one steamer. Well, with the revolver they brought it through but already they were starting again. Well, lucky the train for the boat had not been attacked and we got to the boat safely with luggage and all. But we were the only passengers with all our luggage. The others only had hand luggage and steamer trunks and were in desperation. So we got out of that affair and here now also threatens to be a revolution as the President has just died and here in South America elections always mean bloodshed, especially as there is one party wishing to establish Brazil a monarchy like it was before. So you see I have had quite a bit of excitement. Right on the corner of the street where I lived in Buenos Aries they were shooting and left one guy stretched cold. I will thank the Lord when I return to the States for although South America is slow, they can make things very hot and lively in strikes and revolutions. Well, dearest friends I must close as I have some washing and sewing to be done. Always work work. Well, it is the same with all us poor devils. You can write for a while till I tell you otherwise to the American Consul Rio de Janeiro. I shall be
[p. 4]
very glad to hear how all goes with you, and I do hope before the end of this year that I may be able to see you both again.
With Love and Kisses
From Your Mascot
[p. 1]
[letterhead]
HOTEL CARLTON
Telephone 2956-Central
R. LIBERO BADARÓ, 72
S. PAULO
S. Paulo, 3rd de Feb. de 1919
Dear Billie and Nondas,
As you see by the enclosed letter, I again wrote but did not post the letter. I left the Company I spoke to you about and am now working with Sasha Piatov, of whom you may have heard, for he was very well known in the States Orpheum circuit. We opened here the 19th of January and are now booked for Rio de Janeiro after. Then after a few more months in Brazil I will return home, and if all goes very well work in the States so I yet may be able to come and visit you in Chicago. I am very pleased and relieved that at last I am starting out on my way home. Brazil is a beautiful country, only just now is the rainy season and it has been raining steadily all this month. In fact the railway lines to Rio and the port Santos are overflowed and the train cannot run. I am now doing besides classical and character dancing, Ballroom dancing Eccentric, Foxtrot, Waltz and whirlwind dance and am learning Tangos and Moxixes. It is very hard after classical work but now I have been doing it 15 days already with success. I will have to go to the post to post this letter so at last you get some news from me.
[p.] 2/
I am very busy rehearsing and I work very hard all the time. The ballroom work is very hard for me till I get used to it. I left Buenos Aires when that terrible strike was on. Not a store was open and they were shooting in the street. No one dared to leave their homes. Still I was rung around to cancel rehearsals etc. getting ready to leave. I was so afraid troops and policemen everywhere with loaded guns and machine guns in the doorway of the Police Stations. The second day already there was hardly a piece of bread in Buenos Aires, and not a single restaurant open. Those that lived in Boarding houses got a bit to eat but those that ate in restaurant had to go without. Oh it was terrible. Thursday at 12 it started and up till Sunday morning 1500 people had been killed and 5000 wounded in the streets. If a motor car came along they would just grab it and smash it to pieces. We had to leave Sunday morning, so I made arrangements to have my trunks sent on to Rio later as it was impossible to have them taken to the ship. But by greatest luck the strike was called to a halt Sunday morning and a few carts dared out at a terrible risk. So they took some of our baggage and drove to the station, and we had to walk it nearly 22 blocks or more through the worst of the strike quarters. All the windows and streets smashed, the garbage had not been collected for three days and was thrown all over the streets and the odors were fearful, and shops and houses closed. Sometimes we passed a saloon, and if the door opened we saw behind it—the saloon full of drunken men and we guessed that the strike was not finished yet. Well, when we got to the Station and Saw that our small luggage had arrived, Piatov took 4 men with loaded revolvers and rushed back for my trunks,
[p.] 3/
two big ones and one steamer. Well, with the revolver they brought it through but already they were starting again. Well, lucky the train for the boat had not been attacked and we got to the boat safely with luggage and all. But we were the only passengers with all our luggage. The others only had hand luggage and steamer trunks and were in desperation. So we got out of that affair and here now also threatens to be a revolution as the President has just died and here in South America elections always mean bloodshed, especially as there is one party wishing to establish Brazil a monarchy like it was before. So you see I have had quite a bit of excitement. Right on the corner of the street where I lived in Buenos Aries they were shooting and left one guy stretched cold. I will thank the Lord when I return to the States for although South America is slow, they can make things very hot and lively in strikes and revolutions. Well, dearest friends I must close as I have some washing and sewing to be done. Always work work. Well, it is the same with all us poor devils. You can write for a while till I tell you otherwise to the American Consul Rio de Janeiro. I shall be
[p. 4]
very glad to hear how all goes with you, and I do hope before the end of this year that I may be able to see you both again.
With Love and Kisses
From Your Mascot
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