WEBVTT
00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.000
Elaine Weissman: Oh.
00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:09.000
Morris Melman: His sister is married to Bess' brother.
00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:16.000
Weissman: Is that so? Your name is?
00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.000
Melman: Morris Melman. M-E-L-M-A-N.
00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.000
Weissman: And your age?
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.000
Melman: Uh, I'll be 70 next December.
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.000
Weissman: Where were you born?
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:32.000
Melman: Buffalo, New York. But I only went there to get born.
00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.000
Weissman: What was your mother's maiden name?
00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.000
Melman: Lena Isenberg.
00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:44.000
Weissman: Was there any name change when she came to this country?
00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:56.000
Melman: Not to my knowledge, because. In the course of the years, and
particularly in Buffalo or the location, I ran into quite a few Eisenberg.
The only difference was in the spelling.
00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.000
Weissman: How does she spell her name?
00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:06.000
Melman: Her name was spelled I-S-E-N-B-E-R-G. Some spell it E-I-S-E-N.
That was the only differential.
00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.000
Weissman: How many people in your mother's family?
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.000
Melman: There were--she was the only girl. There were four boys.
00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:23.000
Weissman: About how old was she when she came to this country?
00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.000
Melman: My mother was [unintelligble] 11 or 12.
00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:31.000
Weissman: And is her family in New York?
00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:38.000
Melman: To the best of my knowledge since I dropped [??] and they're all
in the Buffalo area.
00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:42.000
Weissman: And what country did they come from?
00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:55.000
Melman: The area of Warsaw, which changed between Poland and Russia
depending upon who won which war. Little town called the Schultz.
00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:58.000
Weissman: What language do you speak?
00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:23.000
Melman: I speak Yiddish. English. I have a smattering of some German
phrases. That's about it. My dad, however, spoke Russian fairly well.
Polish he was very, very good at. And German, he adapted himself to it
very, very good--well.
00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:37.000
Weissman: What was your occupation? You are retired now? Melman: I am
retired. I have been for about a year. Weissman: And you were occupied as?
00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:42.000
Melman: I was occupied as a supermarket operator, which is the
[unintelligble]
00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.000
Weissman: And your religion? Orthodox. Conservative.
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000
Melman: Conservative.
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:59.000
Weissman: As far as politics go, do you remember who your family voted for
in 1921 when Eugene V. Debs was running for president?
00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:15.000
Melman: You're going back a long time. Of course, at that time I didn't
vote, but I have an idea that my dad probably voted Republican at that
time.
00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.000
Weissman: Uh, what business was your dad in?
00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:49.000
Melman: He was a huckster. Until about 1925 when he went into business
with an uncle of mine in Tarentum, PA, and in 1928, December of 1928, he
came to Brookline because the business at that time they saw wasn't big
enough for [unintelligble].
00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:55.000
Weissman: Now. He came in '28. How long have you lived in the Pittsburgh
area?
00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:16.000
Melman: Well, he lived in Pittsburgh at the time, although he had a
business up there. I've lived in Pittsburgh my entire life. As I told you,
I only went to Buffalo to get born. My mother had no relatives here and I
was the first one. So, uh, that was the idea.
00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:21.000
Weissman: Are you active in any organizations for Jewish people?
00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:34.000
Melman: Yes, at the present time, I'm president of the South Hills chapter
of the senior adults affiliated with the JCC.
00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:37.000
Weissman: And, uh, you belong to Beth-El.
00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:50.000
Melman: I belong to Beth-El. And I ran Zionist, and I also am a member of
three other synagogues. For [unintelligble].
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.000
Weissman: Would you like to name them?
00:04:53.000 --> 00:05:05.000
Melman: Yes. Keisha-Torah, Beth Hamedrash Hagodol, and the Charisetic.
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.000
Weissman: Now, your parents were born in Warsaw.
00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:14.000
Melman: In the area of Warsaw. My dad was an orphan at the age of eight.
[unintelligble]
00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:19.000
Weissman: You don't remember any village name or.
00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:22.000
Melman: Yes. Neshelks. That was the area.
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.000
Weissman: How do you spell that?
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:30.000
Melman: As close as we can make it N-E-S-H-E-L-S-K
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:41.000
Weissman: And what port of entry did your parents come into this country?
Melman: New York. Weissman: When they came, did they plan on staying here?
00:05:41.000 --> 00:06:27.000
Melman: My father, I'm sure, planned on staying. Because he was an orphan.
He was ripe for induction into the army, which most Jews at the time
abhorred--wanted, no part of which is a reason he emigrated. My mother, on
the other hand, came with her family and as historians no doubt are aware,
there was quite a wave of immigration at the time, which was right before
the turn of the century. And I'm sure they did not intend to go back.
00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:36.000
Weissman: And you say dad was a huckster? Melman: Yes. And he came here in
'28-- Melman: He came to Brookline. Weissman: Yeah.
00:06:36.000 --> 00:08:59.000
Melman: He bought out an existing business, produce business, which is
what he was familiar with, which had a few side groceries. A few groceries
on the side. Actually, that building is only two doors away from here,
however. Things were going fairly well for him and he saw after a few
months that--the demands were--he saw an opportunity. So he purchased this
lot, which was empty and built the building which now stands that this
building was opened in April of 1930. Unfortunately, we were heading into a
depression then. And, uh. The trouble was that it took us quite a while to
recognize that fact. But I believe my dad was a pretty good business man.
The proof was there. At any rate, I didn't go with him. I only helped him
then when I had time off my other things, which I was doing because
actually in I shortly thereafter I went into the wholesale produce business
myself. However, as I pointed out before, we were heading into a depression
of people whose credit had always been good just suddenly stopped paying
and the result is that a year later I was sadder, a little wiser perhaps.
So with time hanging on my hands and the necessity of going to the produce
yards every day to see if I could scrounge a few bucks here and there from
some of the deadbeats, as we call them, who were unfortunately, they were
victims of circumstances. My dad says to me, Well, Morris, why don't you
come with me for a while? You have to go down there every day. You'll try
it. So as much as I had no attachments, I was unmarried. Uh, I figured it
was well, let's give it a whirl. I knew at the time that I didn't want to
go into the retail business. Although I had been a bookkeeper and a
salesman in a tire battery concern for well over three years.
00:08:59.000 --> 00:10:55.000
Melman: And I know when I left them, they were most unhappy to have me go.
But that's the way it happened. At any rate, here I am and we've got a
produce business with a little bit of groceries. And there was a brother of
mine also here, another brother, and associated with us, the younger one
was going to school, public school. Another one was going to college. He
was a famous member of the family, Tut Melman. He saw that he wanted no
part of this. He wanted the schooling. So we gradually expanded our grocery
business and even expanded--put a meat department in in about 1935. But,
uh, we had the progress. You had to lift yourself by your own bootstraps.
The result is that many people knew there was a depression, but actually
our family did not know that there was a depression as other people saw it,
because many of them couldn't find out how to get their next meal. We never
had that problem. We had people coming into the store and asking for a bone
or something like that. And I remember at the time wondering why my dad
could never say no to that. For that matter, he extended credit to some
people who I knew that he knew were never going to pay him. It's so
proven-- history has proven that many of them did pay here. Some few, of
course, did not. That's the but basically, I believe people are honest. And
as he always said to me, Morris, I can walk down the street and I don't
have to go on the other side of the street because I see somebody coming.
They have to [??]
00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:00.000
Weissman: Did your mother ever work outside of the home?
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:57.000
Melman: No, she never worked outside of that home. She did assist in this
store on Saturdays. That was in a depression because it was an advantage
then to have a family because there were two years or 75% of the business
of the weekly business was done on Saturday. The question then of how to
get help of type to handle that business required a lot of ingenuity. You
know, all your family, all the help they could give you was most important.
I myself married in 1934. At that time, I saw that we had to expand
further. So the another brother of mine, Dave. Previously bought a place at
Mt. Lebanon. And that left me here alone. And that's [unintelligble].
00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.000
Weissman: How many brothers do you have?
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:08.000
Melman: I have three brothers. Two sisters, one and six.
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:21.000
Melman: Second was a school teacher. So happy. Pearl's her name. She
married. My brother-in-law got married to my older sister.
00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:32.000
Melman: Not older. Well, she was about six years younger than I. I have
two sisters.
00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:35.000
Weissman: And then you mentioned a famous brother. Tut?
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:36.000
Melman: Oh yes, Tut. He was--
00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.000
Weissman: T-U?
00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:59.000
Melman: T-U-T. Tut. A well known athletic sports official. Basketball.
Football. Was present in Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. And at one time,
president of the National Intercollegiate Basketball Officials Association.
He's now in the insurance business.
00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:09.000
Weissman: Did anyone else ever share their home with the immediate family?
Boarders? Melman: At any time?Weissman: Relatives from the old country.
00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:25.000
Melman: No, my brother after he was married, Dave was subsequently moved
to Mt. Lebanon. He lived here with his bride, I believe, for about a half
year or so.
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:27.000
Weissman: How many children do you have?
00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:40.000
Melman: I have three. The oldest one is Sam, he's about 40. He lives at
the East [??]. He wanted no part of this business for which I don't blame
him.
00:13:40.000 --> 00:14:16.000
Melman: [unintelligble]
Melman: How can we [unintelligble] In the retail supermarket, as I said,
possible. So I also have two daughters. They both are graduates of [??]. My
son graduated Pitt. Both daughters did a small amount of substitute school
teaching. Neither one of them are doing any of that now.
00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.000
Weissman: Could you tell me something about your education and work
history?
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:56.000
Melman: I only went through high school, [unintelligble] two or three
years. And I took some night school accounting. At Pittsburgh scroller
counts, which I attended about two years. Yes, full two years. In fact, I
even started the third year now that I recollect. But I dropped out because
I found the pressure of working full time and going to school. And I saw no
point that what I was doing and the connection there since I'd already
learned what I wanted to do.
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.000
Weissman: Now, your first job. Was that working for Dad?
00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:42.000
Melman: Yes. My first job was working for my dad, which was on Saturdays,
after school, so forth on the huckster wagon. I do not regret it, although
at the time I believe that I resented it somewhat. But the knowledge which
I learned, particularly in produce of how to meet people, how to handle
people. It just cannot be measured. Since my dad did not huckster in the
ordinary terminal ward because he had his regular customers.
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:47.000
Weissman: How old were you when you first remember working for your
father?
00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.000
Melman: 12 years old.
00:15:51.000 --> 00:16:05.000
Weissman: When did your income first start to support others than
yourself? You earned money. Some people contributed to the home when they
were single.
00:16:05.000 --> 00:18:46.000
Melman: Well. I was my first job was at the Logan Gregg hardware company,
and that was about six months after I was graduated from high school.
That's when I really first started regular, making regular money. My
parents never asked me for any money. However, I made contributions. I
remember I bought my mother an electric sweeper and other things like that.
Uh, my dad was always a good provider, so he needed no help and did not ask
for it. Uh, I remember, however, at the time when he started building this
building, he asked me if I could help him, and I said, Sure, Dad, which I
had some money in a savings account and I was glad to hand him $1,000 at
the time, which was considerable money, I believe, for a young man. Uh,
mid-twenties. However, I do recall that after I left my first job, which I
only spent a half year at, I asked for time off a month to go to CMTC and
they wouldn't give me the time off. So I said, All right then I'll resign.
I gave them a date when I would resign. However, I believe I was the only
Jew in the place. And because I could feel the anti-Semitism and my work
was which I had to do, was done very, very quickly. I was done generally by
noon, the work which was assigned to me and finding I found it difficult to
occupy myself. However, they they didn't wait till the time which I had set
up. They let me go. The closest payday, which was happy. I believe that was
just a method of showing that they they could get along without me.
However, after I returned from CMTC camp once more, I had the same problem:
how to locate a job. And though my grades were high and I was able to type
and do shorthand and knew bookkeeping and so many other things for that
matter without posing. I was a high honor graduate of high school. I prayed
to the streets of this town once more for another half year before I found
myself another job.
00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.000
Weissman: What was the name of that firm you worked for?
00:18:48.000 --> 00:19:13.000
Melman: Logan Gregg Hardware Company. They are now corpus delicti. And I
started a job with an accounting firm, which I helped for a couple of
months until the season was over. They put me in with a client of theirs
that desperately needed help. So happy that I put that bookkeeping system
in order. And after about three months, I was able to start doing other
things.
00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:17.000
Weissman: Well. Which was your highest paying job?
00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:33.000
Melman: Oh, with the tire battery company by far. Which I made myself so
valuable. I had to. I was making $50 a week at the time, which I think for
a young fellow was considerable money.
00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:38.000
Weissman: Which of your jobs do you consider the worst?
00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:39.000
Melman: In what way?
00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:44.000
Weissman: Well, that you remember. Good jobs. Bad jobs. I mean, either.
00:19:44.000 --> 00:21:02.000
Melman: Well, I had only two jobs and one with the --pardon me I had three
jobs. Uh, the one with the hardware company. It was strictly dead end. And
the one with the accounting company. The accounting firm. I could have made
that account, but I didnt--wasn't too particular about details. And the one
with the tire battery company, I made something of that. Which, of course,
was why they disliked intensely my leaving them when I did. Of course, when
I went into the wholesale produce business, I didn't mind the getting up
early, but unfortunately times of depression were not good times. And so
and likewise this. I disliked this business which I was in. In fact,
several years after I was married, I discussed it with my wife and she
prevailed upon me to remain. Because I was doing fairly well, because she
saw so many of acquaintances who were just hanging on by the skin of their
teeth, whereas I was not doing.
00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:18.000
Weissman: So your income started to support your wife, I guess, when you
were married? Melman: Oh, yes, yes. Weissman: At that point. Now, your
parents reasons for coming to the Pittsburgh area. You can tell me where
they came originally and--
00:21:18.000 --> 00:22:02.000
Melman: Well, my dad came to Pittsburgh by way of Buffalo. Cause for some
reason or other, I think around the mid-century things had turned a little
rough. I believe they found out things were a little better economically in
the Pittsburgh area than they were in Buffalo, where he was at the time.
Uh, my dad was acquainted with my mother's family. And, uh, so, uh, it was
a long distance romance, him being here in Pittsburgh. And so, of course,
he dragged her down to Pittsburgh from Buffalo.
00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:04.000
Weissman: Where in Pittsburgh?
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:17.000
Melman: The old Hill District at the time, which was around Clark Street
and Logan Street in that area where the synagogues were. And most of the
Jews of the period were.
00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:22.000
Weissman: Did he have any problems moving into the Pittsburgh area?
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:51.000
Melman: Not to my knowledge. Not to my knowledge. In fact, their home in
the Hill up at Webster Avenue--2152 Webster Avenue. He purchased that along
with an uncle of my mother's, and they lived together in that home for
about 20 years before we moved to Brookline.
00:22:51.000 --> 00:23:02.000
Weissman: What were some of the hardest problems you faced in Pittsburgh
while growing up?
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:35.000
Melman: The hardest problem. I had no trouble with the goyim around here
at the time, or any of the few colored, very, very few colored who lived in
the area. In fact, actually, I did not know that such a thing as
anti-Semitism existed until I started hunting for a job. That is when I
found it out.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:43.000
Weissman: Well, that was my next question. And what did you--anything
specific you could mention?
00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:56.000
Melman: Sure. The fact that I couldn't get a job when I saw people who
were far, far less qualified than I was for that particular job, got the
job.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:30.000
Melman: Which is jobs with large corporations. Uh, small businesses.
Larger businesses. Because I filled out applications, went to the
Pennsylvania State Employment Bureau, which they had at that time in the
old Nixon building. It's far different from what we have today, of course,
but they gave us leads 2 or 3 a day, and I just followed them in the ads
until actually I could feel my tongue hanging out.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:43.000
Weissman: What is the first organization of Jewish people you remember
being organized or existing when you were growing up?
00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:47.000
Melman: Of course my dad's synagogue.
00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.000
Weissman: And that was?
00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:51.000
Melman: The Charisetic
00:24:51.000 --> 00:25:12.000
Melman: Also, the old Irene Kaufman settlement, which became subsequently
the Y and now known as the Y-I-K-C. Which I'm also.
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:28.000
Weissman: And what was your dad's first name? Melman: Israel. Weissman: Do
you remember any important people or organizers of the temple. Melman: Of
the temple? Weissman: That Dad was--
00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:29.000
Melman: Oh you mean the synagogue.
00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:30.000
Weissman: Synagogue.
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:50.000
Melman: Oh, yes. Yes. Father of the members, his name is Darrell Cohn, the
son of Sam Cohn, the umbrella man. Now retired.
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000
Melman: A freedman who was constantly the secretary of the group.
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:58.000
Weissman: What was his occupation?
00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:29.000
Melman: He was in the umbrella business also. I remember a man by the name
of Tuch, T-U-C-H. He was a president of the synagogue. Afternoon. He was in
the originally, I believe, one time owned the junkyard. That was a time of
his death for quite some years of giving the iron and steel business.
Besides many others.
00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:40.000
Weissman: What was the most important organization for Jewish people when
you were growing up?
00:26:40.000 --> 00:27:22.000
Melman: As of course the Zionists were there already. And the B'nai B'rith
was relatively a very small organization here. But I remember it very well
because of the fact that my grandfather in Buffalo was a member of it and
had a plaque at his home proudly attesting to that fact. Otherwise, I can't
say that any of them impressed me too much because I was a very, very young
man.
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:31.000
Weissman: Did the Zionist organization ever make any financial help
available to people?
00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:42.000
Melman: I can't say for that because as I pointed out, my dad was a good
provider. He was one of the givers rather than one of the takers. And so I
can't say that.
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:46.000
Weissman: Do many of your friends belong to these Zionist organizations?
00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:48.000
Melman: Yes. Yes.
00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:58.000
Weissman: Were you ever a local lodge or national officer? Of that group
or another?
00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:34.000
Melman: No, I had. I had very little time to give to these organizations,
or even the retail grocery business,subsequently supermarket. It was very,
very demanding on my time. I was an officer of several grocer's
organizations. Including the voluntary to which I belong, which I was a
secretary and on the court of directors for over 20 some years.
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:37.000
Weissman: What was the name of that group?
00:28:37.000 --> 00:29:09.000
Melman: At the time of its demise it was known as the Associated Grocers
Incorporated of Pittsburgh. Previous to that, it had been the Steel City
Wholesale Grocery Company and some others. I was also president of the
Brookline Businessmen's Association, which in my last year as president, we
reorganized as the Brookline Chamber of Commerce.
00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:15.000
Weissman: And when was your last year with them?
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:34.000
Melman: Well, I was active until with them until the time that I quit
business. But my last term as an officer with them was as time we changed
it to the Chamber of Commerce. And I said, that it's time for somebody else
to take over.
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.000
Weissman: And that was about how long ago?
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:47.000
Melman: Uh, I'll say 50 years ago, probably. Yeah, in that area.
00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:59.000
Weissman: Well, now we come to the Great Depression. That had an effect on
almost everyone. And how was your life affected?
00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:59.000
Melman: Our life was affected in the manner that we just had to dig in and
make something grow where something didn't exist. And it was by sheer
effort alone that that was done. We built a business which had been
primarily a produce business with just a little bit of groceries into an
all around--
