1944 - Politics, Movies and Peanuts

1944 was an election year in Santa Fe when partisan politics ruled. Republicans held all city offices and planned to keep them. Santa Fe’s Mayor Manuel Lujan, ran for a second consecutive term opposed by former Governor John Miles (1939-1943), a Democrat, who had just finished a term as the State’s top executive. Ole John Miles, as he was popularly known, found local politics a bit rough. He was forced to take to the newspapers to deny persistent rumors that, if elected, he would fill City Hall with Anglos.

Some city council members – called alderman in 1944 – picked up Republican challengers as well and the incumbent Police Magistrate, Joe Berardinelli, also drew opposition from local blind lawyer Albert Gonzales.

The Democrats’ assigned attack dog for 1944 was District Attorney David Carmody whose accusations against the Republican incumbents included charges of theft of jewelry by the City’s police captain, A.B. Martinez. This accusation arose from claims that city police were slow in returning recovered stolen jewels because the victim was the “son of a Republican.” Carmody went on to claim that the police had allowed juvenile delinquency to run rampant in Santa Fe.

Carmody’s Republican counterpart, sitting councilman Tony Mignardot, called the attack “vicious and untrue”. Mignardot pointed out that juvenile delinquency afflicted the entire nation, not just Santa Fe. Mignardot labeled the theft charge “absolutely untrue” because the supposedly missing jewelry was, in fact, timely returned and that Carmody, as D.A., was well aware of it.

Notwithstanding the attacks, the old council swept back into office, restoring Lujan to the Mayor’s post and the incumbents --Tony Mignardot, Raymond P. Shaya, Frank S. Ortiz, Ben L. Martinez and Dr. Albert S. Lathrop – back to the council. Most of these men were well known small businessmen except “Doc” Lathrop who was probably Santa Fe’s most popular family doctor.

A digression: Dr. Lathrop delivered all the children in my family and he was our family doctor for some years. My early memories are of the old Coronado building across from the Cathedral Park on Palace Avenue, the sharp disinfectant smell, a very pink face and the gleam of rimless glasses. He was efficient, competent and he always spoke kindly to my mother.

What I never knew, until quite recently, was that Dr. Lathrop led an active intellectual life. For years, since 1938, Dr. Albert Lathrop was a member of the Chili Club. This male only club consisted of exactly twelve prominent men of wide-ranging careers – art, law, business, architecture and medicine, to name a few – who met monthly to present a paper and discuss the important issues of the day. In the event of a vacancy, a new member could be added only by a unanimous vote. Interestingly, the club was called AXIS at its inception but became the Chili Club when the U.S. entered the Second World War.

The original club members were Reginald Fisher, Albert S. Lathrop, Raymond Jonson, C.J. Kinsolving, Carl Gilbert, Hugo Zehner, George Bloom, Gordon Martin, Albert Beer, John Gaw Meem, William Strohm and Miguel Otero. The member’s papers addressed lofty topics, such as education, citizenship, economics and foreign policy.

“Doc” Lathrop’s first paper (April 1938) was entitled, “Is State Medicine Necessary.” His last paper (February 1970) was “Fifty Years of Change in the Practice of Medicine.” “Doc” Lathrop’s paper in 1944 was “The Neophyte in Politics.”

The Chili Club met regularly from 1938 until 2004 when the club disbanded and turned over its records, including the collection of papers, to the Museum of New Mexico for safekeeping. Digression concluded.

Among the typical business matters arising before the 1944 City council was a public hearing on the renewal of Jesus Rios’ license to operate his wood yard on the corner of Canyon Road and Camino del Monte Sol. Some of the neighbors had been complaining about the trucks and the noise. But the wood yard had been on that corner about 15 years by 1944 and Mr. Rios was well respected. Both old time Santa Feans and preservationists spoke up in favor of keeping the wood yard and, in the end, the license was renewed.

City Hall also heard a request for funding of the municipal golf course which had overspent its budget by $700. The course had been built by the WPA in the 30’s on land donated by Charles Catron, son of the better known T.B. Catron. The course had been maintained, for the last few years, by Japanese interns from the detention camp. To the amusement of the Council, City Clerk Lawrence Tamme disclosed that, in return, the Japanese interns were allowed to play golf for free. After some discussion, $100 was given to the golf course while the council mulled over the full request.

Few council members wanted to spend city money on extravagances like golf courses in the middle of a war; most voiced a preference to spend it on long overdue street repair. The poor condition of the city’s streets had begun to provoke editorials in the local newspaper which issued many an editorial, the most dramatic of which declared that Santa Fe’s pot holes were more like soldiers’ fox holes, large enough to lose children in. The specter of losing their children apparently persuaded the City Council to fix the streets instead of the golf course. But when the street job was let out for bid, only a single bidder appeared and with a price tag well beyond the City’s budget.

While City Hall wrestled with vexing questions, citizens could escape into the fantasy world of the silver screen. Santa Fe boasted two excellent movie houses in 1944. The LensicTheatre, still in operation as a venue for theatrical acts, concerts, plays and the occasional movie, was the grander of the two. The exterior was (and still is) a striking -- some might say garish -- combination of Moorish and Spanish Renaissance architecture, quite unlike any other building on San Francisco Street. The interior featured plush seating, velvet stage curtains and a dark blue ceiling sprinkled with a few tiny lights to simulate a night sky.

The Lensic experience came with premium pricing: for matinees, Rockers and smokers were 60 cents a seat, the main floor and balcony cost 45 cents and children under 12 were admitted for 17 cents. The prices rose for nights, Sundays and holidays: 75 cents for a rocker or smoker seat, main floor 55 cents, balcony 45 cents and kids were 20 cents. The Paris Theatre, just up the street, was generally cheaper. Rockers were always 45 cents, Main and Balcony seating, 35 cents and kids were admitted for just 14 cents.

There was a significant difference between the two theaters which, I suspect, accounted for the pricing. As a general rule, the Lensic showed first run color pictures such as “The Song of Bernadette” (Jennifer Jones, Vincent Price and Linda Darnell as the Virgin Mary) and “Black Swan” (Tyrone Power and Maureen O’Hara). The Lensic was also home to the newest musicals, such as “Thank Your Lucky Stars,” with Eddie Cantor, Humphrey Bogart, Betty Davis, Ann Sheridan and the lovely Dinah Shore.

The Paris Theater, however, specialized in B-movies like “Mystery Broadcast” with the very cute Ruth Terry as a radio detective taking on a real case; “Cowboy Commandos” with Crash Corrigan and the Range Busters who bust a gang of nazi saboteurs and “I Walked with a Zombie,” with Tom Conway and Francis Dee, a movie which cleverly integrated zombies into the basic plot of “Jane Eyre.”

Both theaters held weekend matinees for the younger set. Those matinees usually included a cartoon, a novelty film, a newsreel and an episode of a serial such as “King of the Mounties” with Allan Lane and Peggy Drake, in which evil Axis agents bombed Canada with a mystery aircraft in preparation for invasion. The King of the Mounties took 12 episodes to uncover and foil the plot, but unaccountably failed to explain why anyone would want to invade Canada.

Santa Feans, I suppose, had other concerns, such as who would win the Hinkel’s Department Store Baby Contest and the first prize of a $25 war bond. The winner was 6-month old Mary Louise Ortiz, daughter of Mrs. L. Ortiz of 126 Jefferson Street. Second prize of$10 in war stamps went to baby David Stephenson, 16 months old, son of Captain and Mrs. John E. Stephenson, 232 Hillside. Third prize of $5 in war stamps went to baby Diana Marie Romero, 9 months old, daughter of Corporal and Mrs. Henry Romero, 223 Closson Street. And fourth prize, $3 in war stamps, was won by baby Donald Ortiz, 9 months old, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sabino Ortiz of 625 Don Felix.

Downtown appeared to be lively commercial area. Santa Fe men of distinction visited the DeVargas Barber shop whose motto was “Service, sanitation, satisfaction,” conveniently located at the DeVargas Hotel at 206 Don Gaspar. These gentlemen may well have dropped in at the Plaza Cigar Store, on the Plaza, for a good smoke and a visit with friendly manager Henry Dakos.

The ladies of Santa Fe had more choices in personal grooming. There was the Coronado Beauty shop in the Coronado Building, featuring the latest beauty fad, the “Slenderator,” a gizmo designed to reduce without diet or exercise. The El Fidel Beauty Service, 208 Galisteo, offered Helene Curtis Cold Waves. The La Von Beauty Shoppe, boasted quality work at quality prices at 115½ Don Gaspar. The Unique Beauty Shop, owned and operated by Jewel Fones, at 127 West Palace was a particular favorite as it was just a short walk to the Placita Bon Bon Shop, 131½ East Palace where a bag of chocolate covered peanuts was just 9 cents.