Facebook post #058 (updated in Oct 2025 to merge with former page contents with it largely duplicated).
1938. Alfred Squire (post #057) is 53, a director and shareholder in a successful paper company. A relative once asked if, as his great-grandson, I’d inherited his Rolex (I didn’t). Eighty years later, I thought I could afford a trip to New York to celebrate but I didn’t come close to matching the style of the trip of Alfred and Elsie’s which I’ve since managed to reconstruct. Alfred may have been used to dealing with the American side of the Reeve Angel business but – judging by the ephemera collected – it’s not hard to see that they were thrilled.
Outward
At 15:47 BST on 20 April, the RMS Queen Mary steamed out of Southampton Harbour with Alfred and Elsie onboard. Each day, they selected from the menu, and, on each of the five evenings on board, found a personally printed version with their choices on their table.
Presumably as an aide memoire, they ticked – on the list of cabin passengers – those they met on the voyage. I can’t help noticing that Sir Harry Bellman MBE, chairman of Abbey National Building Society, was ticked. Abbey National were big rivals of C&G and Nationwide whose history I have shared. Air Commander A. T. “Bomber Harris”, was not ticked. Harris may have been busy – it turns out that he was in New York to place the largest foreign order ever placed with an American Aircraft Company – for 200 Lockheed Hudsons.
But my attention was initially drawn to the List by a yellowing newspaper clipping tucked inside. “Samuel Goldwyn and Mary Pickford [“America’s sweetheart”] returned yesterday on the Queen Mary from England, where they formulated plans with Alexander Korda and Douglas Fairbanks for the reorganization of the operating policy of the United Artists Distributing Company of which they and Charlie Chaplin are the owner-producers.” Both were ticked. Chaplin of course, started work on The Great Dictator the following year.
New York
At 05:30 on the 24 April, the ship docked in New York. They didn’t initially stay long, perhaps a night or two to get their land legs back. They did keep a programme from Radio City Music Hall for that week, suggesting they caught the show there.
The running order was first the Music Hall Grand Organ, played by Richard Leibert, then the Music Hall Symphony Orchestra, The Glory of Easter, an annual religious pageant by Anton Rubinstein (music here). Then this Disney cartoon Silly Symphony:
Then, a live Music Hall extravaganza, bringing to life Walt Disney’s beloved characters. Mickey Mouse’s stage debut, apparently. Then this, the 1938 Samuel Goldwyn film starring Gary Cooper, The Adventures of Marco Polo:
New York Central System
The next day, they caught the train. In fact, Alfred and Elsie would have quite literally walked the red carpet, a concept which originated with the “Century”, the train of tycoons. This was the flagship operation of the NYC, the luxurious first-class Twentieth Century Limited, operated on a crack 16-hour schedule between New York’s Grand Central Terminal and Chicago’s LaSalle Street Station (It’s 700 miles, and these days takes about 23 hours). It was one of America’s premiere passenger services (1902-1967), and the subject of pop culture lore (e.g. North by Northwest). In early 1938, the locomotive would have been Commodore Vanderbilt or similar. Later in the year, a streamlined art deco version took over. There is a film from the very early 1950s about the railroad here.
Chicago
Alfred and Elsie stayed at the Drake Hotel for perhaps a week (although I have found some conflicting snippets, so there is a bit of guesswork). They also visited the Cape Cod Room at the Drake, a seafood restaurant famous enough to issue its own postcards (of which they kept several). And they saw the sites.
On 1 May, they watched a Broadway preview at the Grand Opera House, Chicago, of the Cole Porter musical “You Never Know“. The cast featured Clifton Webb, Lupe Vélez, Libby Holman, Toby Wing (later replaced by June Havoc), and Rex O’Malley. It may have been considered a flop but there is a 2001 recording (17 short tracks) made available in March 2020. Let’s Not Talk About Love is mainly about misbehaving, but mentions Nazis, and Sammy Goldwyn. ‘At Long Last Love’ from the show got to #3 in the charts.
They paid their bill at the Drake on Monday 2 May, the night after the show, and headed back to New York.
New York
From 3 May to 7 May, they would (probably) have been at the Commodore Hotel, which was constructed in 1919 as part of “Terminal City,” a complex of palatial hotels and offices connected to Grand Central Terminal Railroad. It suffered the indignity of a makeover by Donald Trump in 1980.
Apart from some scraps from the hotel and an events guide, there is only a single postcard – an aerial view of the Statue of Liberty. Something may have happened to all the others, of course, or perhaps I have the dates wrong. As well as Liberty (Chapter 51.2a), I have been fortunate to see a few notable survivals of the time. And I can be confident that we ate at one place in common – the Grand Central Station restaurant!
Niagara
On 8 May, they spent one night upstate at the Hotel Niagara, Niagara Falls, where Captain Webb met his end in Chapter 50.1d. The bridge familiar to the Captain was the world’s first working railway suspension bridge. It was replaced in 1898 by the Honeymoon Bridge, the largest steel arch bridge in the world. On 27 January, 1938, the bridge collapsed. There is a film of that too. Demolition of what was left of the bridge took place from February to April 1938.
In fact, the couple probably flew over the Falls. We know that Alfred was familiar with planes, and the Douglas DC-3 was making it a practical proposition. (Smithsonian Magazine). Niagara Falls Airport had opened ten years earlier. They probably flew back to New York on 9 May.
New York
It seems likely that they had five nights in Washington before returning for a final night in New York. This might have been at the Waldorf-Astoria – they did at least call in, as Elsie kept a paper serviette! It was behind scaffolding when I was there, and is being refurbished again in 2020 but apparently has conserved its 1930s aura.
Washington DC
Judging from the souvenir postcards, the couple also visited Washington DC (and Mount Vernon and Arlington?). This would have been another DC-3, from Newark Airport.
There is a bill from the William Pitt Tavern, Chatham, New Jersey on 12 May. This was known at least until the 1970s for its reasonably priced home-cooked food. In 1938, it was 85¢!
There are few clues from the last part of the trip – just a couple of collections of souvenir collections of views.
Return
On 18 May, they returned to Southampton on the Normandie, holder of the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing. (the title was regained by Queen Mary later in the year).
Whilst on board the couple attended a Charity Gala Concert compered by the actor Brian Aherne (Oscar-nominated the following year), and featuring Arthur Rubinstein on piano, both of whom were on the passenger list. Scanning through the rest of the passenger list, the name of the actor David Niven jumps out. I found a picture of him waving to fans as he disembarked (pic).
On their first day on board Normandie, Alfred and Elsie may well have heard reports of military concentrations close to Czechoslovak boarder, and fears of an imminent German attack. The next day, Czechoslovakia mobilised military reservists and strengthened its border defences. Britain and France warned Germany that they would come to Czechoslovakia’s aid in the event of an attack.
Whilst on board they attended a Charity Gala Concert compered by the actor Brian Aherne (Oscar-nominated the following year), and featuring Arthur Rubinstein on piano, both of whom were on the passenger list. Scanning through the rest of the passenger list, the name David Niven jumps out – but was it that David Niven? Yes – Getty Images have a picture of him waving to fans as he disembarked. In 1942, he starred in First of the Few (aka Spitfire), a Samuel Goldwyn picture which was enthusiastically endorsed by Churchill.
Aftermath
Britain and France failed to come to Czechoslovakia’s aid when the invasion came, but War, of course, did come. Both ships were interned in New York, and moored up with The Queen Mary’s sister ship, RMS Queen Elizabeth. After a pause, the ships were refitted as troop carriers. Normandie was lost to fire during this process. Through the War, Queens Mary and Elizabeth often travelled out of convoy and without escort with as many as 15,000 men on board.
Alfred and Elsie’s son John joined the army (post 52) and was posted to the South-East Asia Command. He was given command of the Allied Land Forces biological research section in South-East Asia , where he was a Major, and temporary Lieutenant-Colonel. Alfred died at Esher on 16 April 1944.
RMS Queen Mary returned to civilian service and was retired early in my own lifetime. She is still moored in Long Beach, and still has the mural in the restaurant on which a crystal model tracked progress. The same artwork can be seen in the back of the postcard of the restaurant, and is also on the cover of the Squires’ farewell dinner menu.
