My mother left money in an account which was meant for me to inherit at the age of 21. I do not know how this came about. My father had to use a lawyer to petition the Surrogate Court to release money before I was 21 years old. Being it was for my education money was released for one year. The court was petitioned several more times before I was of age for the remainder of the money to be given to me directly. I was allowed a stipend for tuition, books, some lab fees, and living expenses of $35 a month.
As the fall semester began in August, I decided to go to Berkeley early in the summer with the intention of getting a summer job. Inasmuch as the All American Bus Lines fare for the trip to San Francisco was less than it was with the Greyhound Bus Line, my father bought a ticket , from New York City to San Francisco for $39.50. The fare that was paid also included a meal ticket. When my father purchased the ticket he was not informed of two things; one was that the All American Bus Line used different bus lines at various connecting points and the other thing was that the places the bus stopped for meals could be aptly entitled Greasy Dan’s or Ptomaine Joe’s. In other words, the rest stops were at unseemly places, and that is an understatement. But I was young. It was my father and Norman who saw me off late in the afternoon, on a day in July, 1937, from the bus terminal which I believe was on West 42nd Street in Manhattan. The bus trip still has a nightmarish quality about it today. I did not sleep very much the first night. The bus on this night, and the buses on subsequent nights, made rest stops every two hours, or so. Just before midnight the next day, I was informed by the bus driver that I was to get off the bus in Gary, Indiana and that another bus would pick me up after midnight for the next leg of the trip to St. Louis. I got off the bus with my suitcase at a corner of some intersection and I stood under a street lamp waiting for a bus. I suspect I was scared. Well, a bus finally came along and I continued on the trip. My major memory of this bus was that the heater could not be turned off and along with the outside heat, the ride was very uncomfortable. Sometime, in the late afternoon we arrived in St. Louis. This time the bus stopped at some terminal. I then waited for the next bus, and I discovered that I was going from St. Louis to Dallas, Texas. From here on, I do not remember sleeping much, and when I did, it was fitful. I also lost track of the days. The next leg of the trip was from Dallas to El Paso. In El Paso there was another change to a bus that took me to Albuquerque, then to Tucson and from there a bus took me to Phoenix. Finally we arrived in Los Angeles early one morning. I was absolutely exhausted. The next bus to San Francisco was to leave late at night. I sat in the bus terminal staring at a clock and I tried to stay awake. I had cash with me in a money belt of some kind and looking where the terminal was situated, I was afraid if I slept on a bench I would awaken without any money. After what seemed to be an eternity I boarded the bus to San Francisco. My only memory of the trip was that I fell asleep before the bus pulled out of the terminal. It was the next day at about noon that the bus stopped in front of some cheap hotel and that was the end of this trip. I walked into the hotel, registered for a room and I suspect that I paid for at least the first night. When I finally awakened, it was the next day. Whether I got up between the rime I entered to room and fell onto the bed and my awakening the next day, I do not know. It took me several days to recover from this trip. About the only thing I did was to find how to transport myself to Berkeley.
This may be an appropriate time to sum up some long dormant feelings that may have existed before leaving New York City for Berkeley. Of course on this date of writing I am looking back over 65 years. The teen ager who stepped into a bus to leave familiar surroundings, family and friends behind was a skinny kid who may have tipped the scales at 120 pounds and who was about 5’ 8” in height. The kid wore glasses with thick lenses and had a case of acne that was at times embarrassing. But more to the point, I left an unhappy existence that seemed to come about after my mother died suddenly. The marriage of my father and Mary was disturbing. When I lived with them I found that their life was wrapped up in the store. Of course there were some warm moments at times, but my overall lasting impression was that I was a nuisance to their existence. I seemed to be free to go anywhere or do anything without comment. There seemed to be no interest in my school work, my aspirations, my friends, and other activities. However, I must say, that I too, may have been at fault. I just could not adjust to living with Uncle Max and Aunt Fanny and perhaps that nay have ended up being better than living with father and Mary. As I mentioned previously, I was told at sometime that uncle Max wanted to adopt me. At least I remember Uncle Max prodding me about my school work and he tried to get me to study harder when I lived on the farm. Perhaps, if I had been adopted I would have disciplined me enough to change some aspects of my life. But all that cannot be relived.
In 1937, the way to go to Berkeley was on a ferry to Oakland. The ferry left from the foot of Market Street in San Francisco. It was a train that transported me the rest of the way.
Finally, I was in Berkeley, my home-to-be for the next four years.
The campus of the University of California is situated on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay, directly opposite the Golden Gate. At the time I attended the University, the grounds comprises more than five hundred acres, rising in gentle slopes to the Berkeley hills. From almost every part of the campus there is a magnificent view of the Bay area. The western end of the campus was on Oxford Street. University Avenue, a major street, extends from Oxford Street to the Bay. Parallel to Oxford Street, and to the west, was the major street Shattuck Avenue. At the time I attended the University, the tracks for the large red trains that ran from the ferry area in Oakland were on Shattuck Avenue. The southern part of the campus was bounded by Bancroft Way, which ran from Oxford Street in an west-east direction to end at the International House, a residence for foreign and some American students. Walking on Bancroft Way from Oxford Street, I passed the athletic stadium, Edwards Field and the Gymnasium. Telegraph Avenue, another major street, which was four long blocks from Oxford Street crossed Bancroft Way at my time. Now Telegraph Avenue ends at Bancroft Way. At my time, there was a short segment of Telegraph Avenue to the north of Bancroft Way, which ended at Sather Gate, a renowned entry to the campus. The north side of the campus was bounded by Hearst Avenue. Some landmarks on the campus included the Sather Tower, a campanile, the Greek Theatre, and Memorial Stadium, which was used mainly for the fall football games. Looking toward the Berkeley hills there was a large concrete C which could be seen from all parts of the campus. As the University colors are blue and gold the C was coated with gold paint. There were many, many coats of paint on this concrete C as football rivals often sneaked up on the hill to coat the C with the colors of their University. Traditionally, it was the task of the sophomore class to guard the concrete C before a football game with a particular rival.
I suspect that I was able to find a boarding house from a list obtained at the University. I walked along Telegraph Avenue in a southerly direction for four blocks to Dwight Way, turned left and walked in an easterly direction to College Avenue. I entered a white two story frame house with an attic on College Avenue. An elderly, tall, gaunt lady who owned this boarding house offered me an attic room and three meals a day, except for supper on Sunday night, for thirty dollars ($30.00) a month. Meals would not be available until the beginning of the semester about the middle of August. However, I could rent the room until the beginning of the semester. I went back to San Francisco to pick up my suitcase. My memory of the attic room is that of a sloping ceiling, a bed on the right when I entered the room, a table on the left wall to serve as a desk, a dresser and probably a closet which I do not remember. There was one bathroom off the hall and it would serve I believe occupants of three other attic rooms.
After moving into my attic room, I believe that I had four weeks left before registration. I found a grocery for purchasing some food. I walked around on the campus quite often. There was a University office to help students find part-time employment. I was disappointed as this office could not place me in some kind of employment. What I did find out was that when the semester started and I was a registered student, the National Youth Administration, a U.S. Government program, could finance employment in a part-time job; I applied.
To while away the time before registration, I went to the Greek Theatre on campus when I saw an ad or an announcement on a bulletin board that extras were being sought for a play. Frankly, all I remember is that the play had some ancient Greek motif and it was played in current clothing styles. I do not know what I wore, but one evening I appeared on stage with a mob of extras. I did meet some students during rehearsals and it was nice being active even for a short period of time. I remember the experience but not the details.
I had several personal economic lessons once I was away from home and on my own. While growing up I always wanted things that were not obtainable because my father’s finances were far from bottomless. He always told me that first bills had to be paid on time and that he would not buy anything that he could not afford. It is in my adult life that I find I have this trait from my father; I will not buy anything that I cannot afford and up to this day I like to pay all bills on time. Perhaps I learned this lesson well when I arrived in Berkeley. I was on a limited budget of thirty-five dollars (($35.00) a month and fifteen dollars a month (($15.00) when I worked; I had to be aware of how much I could spend for anything. Perhaps, it was buying a typewriter that taught me a lesson. I thought that a college student should have a typewriter. Advertisements for Remington portable typewriters claimed that one could buy one for only ten cents a day. Well, I fell for this. By the time The company got through with me I owed about eighty-five dollars (($85). The statement listed the cost of the typewriter, interest, and carrying charges. I suspect there were other charges. So it turned out that I had to pay at least three dollars a month for over two years. This hurt, but I had a typewriter. At the time of graduation I became a life member of the University Alumni Association and this ended up as a debt to be paid out in time. Considering that a life membership was sixty dollars ($60.00) this was a good buy. There were two times that a debt occurred that was paid out over time; those debts were mortgages. Generally, over my lifetime purchases were within my means and bills were paid on time.
Freshman Year atthe University of California at Berkeley
The fall semester of an academic year began toward the end of August and ended about the middle of December. I believe a semester lasted about 15-16 weeks. After a midyear vacation, the winter semester began about the middle of January and ended about the middle of May. Finally, in August of 1937, I registered as a student. Although my memory of the University incidental fee is that it was twenty-six dollars ($26.00) a semester, my present old copy of the 1939-1940 General Catalog has the incidental fee as twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents ($27.50). As I was not a resident of California, I also paid an additional out-of-state tuition fee of seventy-five dollars a semester. I paid a fourteen dollar ($14,00) laboratory fee for chemistry and a four dollar ($4.00) laboratory fee for zoology. The above fees were also paid at registration for the second semester of my freshman year. There was also an optional additional fee of ten dollars ($10.00) a year for membership in the Associated Students of the University (A.S.U.C.). The membership card entitled me to a subscription to the student newspaper, the Daily Californian; privilege of admission free or at reduced rates to athletic contests; one year’s membership in the Henry Morse Stephens Memorial Student Union; and participation in all student affairs, including athletics and student-body and class activities.
I had much time to peruse the course catalog and I projected a curriculum for four years. I sent Norman a copy of this curriculum and he sent back a comment of how good it seemed to be. Norman matriculated at Columbia University as a chemistry major. At registration I declared myself to be a biochemistry major. After registering for the fall semester I was sent to an advisor in the biochemistry department, Dr. Frank W. Allen, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry. My dream curriculum crashed. Among the courses I was assigned to take during my freshman year were General Chemistry 1A, and 1B (Qualitative Analysis), General Zoology 1A and 1B, Mathematics 11A and 11B(Analytic Geometry and Calculus), French C and D (Intermediate French) to meet a language requirement, and Military Science and Tactics 41A and 41B (Basic Coast Artillery Training).
Before registration, I had to take an exam termed Subject A. It was an English test, and I passed with flying colors; after all, I did well in the New York State English Regents Exam. Because there were groups from which it was compulsory to select one course from each, I did not take an English course during my time in Berkeley as math and English were in one group of compulsory courses, and I only had to select one from each group. I had to take two years of ROTC because that was compulsory being that the University of California at Berkeley was a land-grant institution (whatever that meant). I was given a uniform and placed in a Coast Artillery Unit. I just had to provide a clean white shirt and black tie.
When the semester began I was placed on a stipend of $15 per month from the U.S. government program, the National Youth Administration (NYA). I was sent to the Physiology Department where Dr. Israel L. Chaikoff, assigned me to a graduate student of his. The last name of the student was Gibbs and I do not remember the first name. I had to work 20 hours a month, I believe. My duties consisted of preparing various solutions for the graduate student. The research being done with Dr. IL Chaikoff had to do with intermediate lipid metabolism and radioactive phosphorus was being used as a tracer. Other graduate students working for the Ph.D. with Dr. Chaikoff included George Changus, and Isadore Perlman. I met George Changus many years later to find that he left Berkeley to go to medical school and he was a pathologist in a Chicago hospital. Isadore Perlman eventually worked with Glenn Seaborg in his plutonium group and had a stint as the head of the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley.
At the beginning of my first semester there was some kind of orientation session of the freshmen class and there were glowing talks about participating in sports and extracurricular activities. Being that I was active with extracurricular activities in high school I thought that I could do same at the University. So I tried to join the staff of the campus humor magazine, the Pelican. After all I had experience from the Ameteur Scientist. I found myself ignored and quit after a while. I tried for the fencing team and there I was out of my class. I signed up for learning how to swim and after a few sessions in which my bad coordination had me trying to pull in oxygen while my head was underwater and expel whatever when my head turned to be above the water. So I also quit that. As I managed to eke out enough money the first year to purchase a student ticket to attend sports events, I attended a number of sports events. The Cal football team went to the Rose Bowl when I was a freshman and they beat Alabama 13-7. During the orientation session the story of wrong-way Roy Riegels was told. This was in the year 1929 when Cal met Georgia Tech in the Rose Bowl and Riegels, on the Cal team, intercepted a pass or picked up a fumble and ran 90 plus yards in the wrong direction Georgia Tech won the game. After my freshman year, I attended several football ganes during the rest of my time at Berkeley
when I was given a ticket which a fellow student could not use. I attended track meets and in particular baseball games. The Cal baseball team was also very good during my freshman year. Sam Chapman who was the right halfback and punter on the Cal football team was a star outfielder on the baseball team Chapman after graduation joined the National League Philadelphia team directly and did well.
I did not have good study habits. I just thought that the courses would be simple for me; they were not. I always had problems with languages and French was no different at the University.; I struggled with French for two years in high school and the third year at the college level was even more difficult. In retrospect, I can now understand my struggles with French as in my old catalog of courses, I found that French C had a prerequisite of three years of high school French. I do not know qhy I was accepted in French C as I did not meet the required level to participate in this course; no wonder I had a struggle with the material. Chemistry was not as simple as it seemed when I was in high school. Unfortunately, I did not attend all lectures and I missed a good thing as Dr. Hildebrand was an excellent teacher. The qualitative analysis part in the lab work was difficult for me as I had no previous experience in a lab. The lab work in zoology was difficult for me as I had no inate talent for the disection of a frog and a shark during the second semester of the course. Although I always had an interest in math, I had my difficulties here. And finally, ROTC, the Reserve Officers Training Corp had classes in the study of military science and tactics beside learning how to march army style. A textbook was required and I did not have the money to purchase one. Of course I could have used the University library but that never dawned on me. I also hated the thought of being in a miltary unit. Being in the Coast Artillery we had actual practice with a 55 or a 155 mm howitzer and an antiaircraft setup. We aimed at a target on top of the Life Sciences building. I was a below average student during my first year at the University.
I essentially was a homesick, lonely and scared kid from New York City. However, it wasn’t very long before I began to meet students with whom I formed friendships during my years in Berkeley. One of the deans who had me on list as an incoming freshman invited me and several others to his home for a small group orientation session. I remember the home being on a Berkeley hillside and I was impressed by the redwood and glass structure. I did meet some fellows that were from San Francisco. One was Phillip Fineman and we were friends for my four years at Berkeley. I did visit him at his home in San Francisco and found his family to be very nice. I do not know the circumstances under which I met Al Lepp. He was a bit older than I and he was a chemist working for a company making vitamins. Al’s uncle was Samuel Lepkovsky, a Professor of Nutrition at Cal. Al lived in an attic room. I visited Al in his room quite a few times and our friendship flourished during my four years at Cal. Another friendship developed with a couple I assumed were married. Their names were Ben and Charlotte and they were quite a bit older than me. . They often had people over at their apartment for dinner and conversation. It was during my junior year that Ben graduated and left Berkeley. It was at that time I found out that Ben and Charlotte were not married. Charlotte moved to a studio apartment and I would visit her once in a while. After graduation she left Berkeley. Ben Ershoff was a graduate student in the Anatomy Department and for a while I had lunches at his apartment where a bunch of students shared the grocery expenses and helped with cooking and clean-up.
Another fellow that I played ping-pong with at the Hillel Foundation House was Harold Silberstein Harold was a bit older than most fressmen and his younger sister Marion (Mickey) Silberstein were both enrolled at Cal. A friendship, which became a lifetime friendship, developed through the years between Mickey and myself
I had problems socially at the boarding house where I was heckled unmercifully by other students living there. It was when a mouse ran up my pants leg while on top of the bed in my attic room that I moved to just a rooming house run by a man. There were four places I used to eat dinners and they were: A Chinese restaurant on Shattuck Avenue where one could have a full dinner for twenty-five cents ($0.25), the Sip and Bite, on Telegraph Avenue near Sather Gate, in which one could get a complete minute (minute meaning small) steak dinner for thirty-five cents ($0.35), the Varsity, on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way, in which a meal was about fifty cents ($0.50), and a restaurant on Bancroft Way, called Drake’s (I think) where on a Saturday one could have a buffet lunch for seventy-five cents ($0.75).
The first semester of my freshman year at Cal ended the middle of December and there was then a month of freedom before the beginning of the next semester. Some classmate and I decided to hitchhike to Los Angeles sometime late in December of 1937. Cal was going to the Rose Bowl. We wanted to see the annual Rose Parade in Pasedena and perhaps find a way to get into the Rose Bowl for the game. Hitchhiking was no problem in 1937 and we arrived in Los Angeles rather quickly. I think we got a room at a YMCA, but I am not sure. In the Reader’s Digest I had read, a Los Angeles restaurant was identified which would not charge a patron for a meal if the patron did not like the food. One morning I went to this restaurant, had breakfast, and I then told the cashier that the food was terrible. Alas, I was told pay-up. I mentioned the article I had read about the restaurant and this caused some discussion. I escaped by agreeing to pay part of the bill. For some reason I left the Los Angeles General Post Office as a forwarding address. Several days before the Rose Bowl game I checked at the post office and I found a letter which stated that my father was coming to see me in Berkeley. He would arrive several days before the new year. I then started to hitchhike back to Berkeley. This time it was not as easy as it was coming south. I got a ride to Bakersfield with a lady. Much before arriving in Bakersfiekd a fog set in and it was difficult to see the road. Therefore the driving was slow. We arrived in Bakersfield late at night. I probably continued my trip by train. On the arrival of my father I was stunned by a hug and a kiss; this is to be remembered because of the seeming lack of affection in the past. We actually talked and there seemed to an interest in my college work. My father spent some days wandering around in San Francisco. I think he may have had a room in my rooming house for the week that he was visiting me.
I had to vacate my room during the spring semester as the owner of the rooming house I was living in sold the place. Where I lived after vacating my room is confused. I know that I had a short stint on an affordable nice room in a small house which was quite a distance from the campus. I know that the address of this house was 2622 Regent Street, Berkeley as I still have a letter with this address from the American Institute, dated May 11, 1938. Incidentally, in this letter from Frances Flanagan I was notified that my application to become an Associate member of the Institute was accepted; it is a mystery to me now why I applied for the membership in a New York organization since I could get no membership benefits being that I was in California. The landlady had a son living with her. Tom was working as an Oakland bus driver. While living on Regebt Street, I heard on the radio the Orson Welles War of the Worlds play.. Being in California the program was broadcast late in the afternoon or maybe early evening. As the time was three hours earlier on the west coast than the east coast, I was puzzled when I heard news reports of panic in New Jersey because of the Mercury Theater production. Some people actually thought that there was an invasion of their area by Martians. This house also was sold and I made a deal with lady who was the new owner to have dinner with the other roomers in return for my cleaning up after dinner; this meant washing dishes, pots and pans and I suspect other chores.
This house also was sold and I believe that I had a deal with lady who was the new owner to have dinner with the other roomers in return for my cleaning up after dinner; this meant washing dishes, pots and pans and I suspect other chores.
During the summer the University conducted two sessions of six weeks each, the Intersession and the Summer Session. I decided to continue my studies through the summer of 1938. The courses which I took during the Intersession were session were Chemistry S5 (Quantitative Analysis) and Elementary German SA (A beginners’ Course). All the six week courses were actually one semester course, therefore about the 16 weeks of a semester were concentrated into six week sessions. Quantitative analysis was given by Merle Randall, of fame as the co-author of a classic textbook, Thermoddynamics by Gilbert N. Lewis and Merle Randall. It was at the first lecture that we heard about the three laws of thermodynamics and in subsequent lectures it became apparent that quantitative analysis was not a strong point with Dr. Randall. In the lab we actually dissolved a dime (probably illegal) and analyzed it: I think the dime had 90 per cent of silver. Coping with German was difficult. When I tried to read aloud from a German text, the instructor told me that I was trying to talk Yiddish, and he probably was right. During the Summer Session I took Elements of Economics S1A and Organic Chemistry S8. I cut many of the economics course lectures as attendance was not compulsory and the lectures were boring. At Cal, one could buy FyBate notes for five cents a lecture. Usually, the notes were compiled in popular courses by graduate students. So, I filled in missed economics lecture notes with FyBate notes. The organic chemistry course used the textbook written by the course instructor, Professor Charles Porter. The title of the textbook was Carbon Compounds. One regret is that I did not take the organic chemistry laboratory course because the laboratory fee was twenty-seven dollar ($27.00); if only I had realized the problems I would have later, I could probably have found a way to raise the lab fee.
It was in the organic chemistry lecture course that every morning a student came in late causing a stir as he pushed his way to sit at the far end of my row. One morning I came in and found that this student was sitting next to where I usually sat. I do not know who began the
conversation, but it turned out that this student said he was from New York City. Being a New Yorker, our conversation continued over coffee and donuts after the lecture. The students name was Bert (actually Bertram) Schoenberg. During this summer our friendship flourished. Bert moved into an adjoining room in my latest rooming house, was on Regent Street. Bert was quite a few years older than I. His story of his of his past could almost be fictional. His father owned hotels in Miami Beach and Bert spent time in Florida and in New York City with his mother who had an apartment on Central Park West. Bert had a new red convertible car and he was living on two hundred dollars ($200) a month, which meant to me he was rich. Bert’s father wanted him to go to medical school. Bert was a premed at the University of Chicago for two years and as I understood it a rated tennis player. He switched to Northwestern University and got a degree in music. His father kept supporting him as he spent several years in Boston studying to become a concert piano player. In 1937, Bert met his father in Los Angeles and he was told to go back to school to become a physician or his support would cease. Bert enrolled at UCLA as a premed and he came to Berkeley for the summer to continue his studies. Bert told me that he would not touch a tennis racket anymore nor would he play the piano; he apparently had a psychological problem as he seemed to be angry about his father’s demand, yet he would not go out on his own
As a boxing fan, I was interested in hearing on the radio the second heavyweight fight between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. In their first fight, Joe louis lost the fight and heavyweight championship. After I turned the radio on to the station carrying a description of the fight, I walked into Bert’s room for a moment and when I came back into my room the fight was over. Joe Louis had knocked out Max Schmelling during the first round.
At the end of the summer of 1938, Bert rented an apartment for himself. I left the Regent Street house. I had another what I thought at first was a good deal. This time my room was high up in the Berkeley hills north of the campus. There was a very long walk to get to the house and then there was a climb up a long set of outdoor concrete steps. The room was nice and I did not have to pay any rent as I was the caretaker. I had to do some cleaning and watch out for the water heater and the furnace in cold weather. Although the set-up was good for me, I did not live there for very long as the walk to and from the campus was time consuming and at times the cleaning part was unpleasant. This was another situation which did not work out well and I moved again sometime during the 1938-1939 school year. I ended up in a rooming house on Bancroft Way across from the athletic stadium. The landlady was the one with the son Tom and who sold the Regent Street house. At one time, Tom invited me to accompany him to a Catholic Church mass one Sunday morning and he apologized to me for a collection plate which was passed around twice. I never did get to invite him to attend any Jewish services anywhere. My main connection to the Jewish students was at the house funded by the Hillel Foundation. My next move was to the Chi Pi Sigma fraternity house.
I registered for the following courses in August, 1938. The military science and tactics course Basic Coast Artillery Training 42a (Second Year), Elementary German B, Elements of Economics 1B, General Physics Lectures 2A, Physical Chemistry 110 (Lectures), and Biochemistry 105A (The Chemistry of of the Proteins). I was granted an exemption for the fourth semester of the compulsory military science and tactics course and the reason for this exemption escapes me now. This was a heavy load of courses for one who still had not realized that one had to develop enough will power to spend much time learning the presented material; of course this is hindsight. Because I did not apply myself to the necessary studies, I barely got through the the military science and tactic part of ROTC, economics and German. The physics instructor was Luis W. Alvarez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics. Dr. Alvarez was on the chase bomber airplane when the first atomic bomb was dropped in Japan in 1945 and he eventually was a Nobel Prize winner in physics. The one semester course of physical chemistry used the textbook Physical Chemistry by Getman and Daniels. The protein chemistry course was taught bt David M. Greenberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry. During this semester a protein chemistry text by David Greenberg was published; I am not sure that I bought the textbook, probably not. I did not register for any of the laboratory courses associated with the science lecture courses due to the lack of money for the laboratory fees.
For the recess at the end of the year I went to New York City by Greyhound bus. It took four days of continuous travel. The route took us through Donner Pass, through Reno, Salt Lake City, Laramie, Wyoming, and finally Chicago. Then it was Chicago to New York City, There were many visits with friends and relatives. Then it was a long ride back to Berkeley.
At the end of the fall semester I had enough credits to enter the third year or junior year. I did well in my science courses but so good in the other courses so I was down grade points which gave me below a C average. On my return, at registration for the 1939 winter semester I was notified to see the Vice President and Provost of the University Monroe E. Deutsch. There was a problem in that I did not have a C average, however, I was told that because I had come such a long way and that I was doing well in science, I would be permitted to go on. A Junior Certificate was granted , in the lower division of the College of Letters and Science, freshman and sophomores were required to elect courses from a number of groups to broaden knowledge in fields other than the projected major field and the Junior Certificate indicated that the requirements of the lower division were met. Once the Junior Certificate was granted the student could concentrate on studies in an elected major subject
I had to appear before the University Medical Examiners when I registered as a student in August 1937. I had and passed a medical and physical examination. Student health care was provided on the campus at the Ernest V. Cowell Memorial Hospital. After registration for the spring 1939 semester I suddenly began to spike fevers in the afternoons and the cause was not found. This prompted me to drop out to return to New York City. I had a horrible ride to Chicago. There was an ad in which a car was being driven from Berkeley to Chicago and for a relatively small stipend I could be included for the ride. It turned out that there were three of us in the back seat and three crammed in the front seat. In Reno the driver stopped at place of ill repute (which was legal), and four of the men went in for a while. The car was driven day and night and I think we got to Chicago in about 48 to 60 hours. I went by bus from Chicago to New York City. A stint at the Columbia University Physicians and Surgeons Presbyterian Hospital did not provide an answer to why I was spiking fevers. Eventually that spring the fever spiking stopped. Until August of 1939, I did not do much. It was during the summer that I spent much time at the New York World Fair in Flushing. I suspect that this interval of being home and that there seemed no apparent reason for my hanging around, was disturbing, to say the least, to Mary and my father.
I returned to Berkeley during August, 1939 for the fall semester. I may have gone to Chicago by train this time. It was on this trip, or on the trip to the west coast in 1940, that I went to someone’s house in Evanston. I had dinner with my host and I just remember a young pretty daughter. I believe that my father arranged this meeting with a relative or friend; I just do not know. It might be possible that the person I visited was a cousin on my paternal or maternal grandmother’s side of the family or just someone my father had known at some time or other.. I wish I knew and at this time I cannot find any evidence of this visit. Anyway, my host drove me to tje Union Pacific train station in Chicago. This time I traveled on the Union Pacific all-coach train labeled the Challenger. An advertisement claimed that the cost of eating in the Dining Car was $0.99 a day and this was so. I believe it was in the summer of 1940 that one of the dining car waiters was a medical student who knew me. The train trip included stops in Omaha, Laramie, Salt Lake City, before the ride terminated in Oakland. Not many people traveled on this train between Chicago and Oakland. In my use of this train several times before graduation, I usually had four seats to myself; I had my seat and the next to it and then one could turn the set of two seats in front of me to face me. I could stretch out at night and get some good sleep. How I traveled between Chicago and New York City is a complete mystery to me at this time. I used the Challenger during the summer of 1940 and for my last trip from Berkeley in July, 1941.
Now that I was in the upper division I registered to take the following courses during the fall and winter semesters. Fall Semester: General and Comparative Physiology 100A, Physiology 103 (Physiology of the Reflex Arc), Physiology 104A (Physiology of the Endocrines Lecture Part), Mammalian Physiology 110A, and Biochemistry and Pharmacology of Medicinal Compounds 109; Winter Semester: Mammalian Physiology 110B, Biochemistry 103 (Lectures Only) and Biochemistry 104 (Laboratory Only), The Biochemistry of Enzyme Action and Biological Oxidations 195B, and Advanced Organic Chemistry 102B.
The general and comparative physiology course was described as a comparative study, based on the application of physicochemical laws, of the primary function of animals. A general physiology textbook covered some of the material in this lecture course. It was the Chairman of the Physiology Division of the Medical School, Dr. James M.D. Olmsted, Professor of Physiology, who was the instructor of the fascinating physiology of the nervous system course. In the lab we worked with partners and we used cats to demonstrate the actions of the nervous system. Poor cats! We would use ether to put a cat to sleep and we performed such experiments as decapitations and decerebrations to demonstrate the functions of the brain and spinal nerve system. A term paper was required and I did some interesting research to produce a manuscript on visual purple. I got a very good grade on this paper and there was a notation which I can recall as stating that its too bad that my surgical skills were not as good as my writing skills. The instructor of the physiology of endocrines course, Dr. Chaikoff and I renewed our acquaintance. During my freshman year when I was placed by the NYA in Dr. Chaikoff’s laboratory, I often had converstaions with Dr. Chaikoff about why I came to California from New York City and my aspirations. I did not take the separate laboratory course, however, imagine my surprise when at the end of the semester I was given an A in the laboratory course. Of course it did not count as I did not register for the course.
In the fall semester of the mammalian physiology course I believe that we used a textbook by an author Starling and during the winter semester we used an early edition of The Physiological Basis of Medical Practice. This comprehensive survey of physiology was also fascinating. Bert also took the winter semester of the mammalian physiology course and I remember to this day that I was at his apartment studying (or cramming) most of the night before the final exam. There was a lot of material to review. I found myself stuck in trying to understand the Eindhoven triangle which had to do with the basis of electrocardiograms. Bert wisely said, forget it, your father will not understand it if you got a D in the course but you told him you knew what the Eindhoven triangle was. There were no questions about this triangle.
The biochemistry and pharmacology of medicinal compounds was a two credit lecture course. It was given by Dr. Chauncey D. Leake, Professor of Pharmacology. Dr. Leake was situated primarily on the medical school premises in San Francisco, so he just arrived in time to give a lecture and he would depart quickly. As the lecture hour began, Dr. Leake would open the door to the lecture room, start lecturing as he took off his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves, kept talking, rolled down his shirt sleeves, donned his jacket, walked toward the room door and just as the bell rang to indicate the end of the lecture hour, Dr. Leake walked out of the door. To consult with Dr. Leake we had to go to San Francisco to see him. There were no exams in this course, only a term paper. I wrote a long paper on the latest finding of the hormone progesterone and I got an A in this course.
It was in January, 1940 that I had a session again with Dr. Monroe Deutsch. Being that I was going to have my 21st birthday on January 22 and that I was essentially self-supporting I inquired whether I could now be considered a resident of California and have an exemption from the seventy-five dollar out-of-state fee. According to Dr. Deutsch I could only be considered as a resident of California after January 22 and because the winter semester began earlier in January I had to pay the out-of-state fee. Dr. Deutsch suggested that I could transfer to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) because the semester there began later in January. Then I would not have to pay the out-of-state fee. I decided to stay in Berkeley and it was during the 1940-1941 session that I no longer paid the out-of-state fee. It was after my 21st birthday that the Surrogate Court of New York released the rest of money left for me in her estate. I suspect tjat what was left was useful to have the next few years.
The first semester for the medical students consisted of gross anatomy, neuroanatomy, and histology. The first year medical students were not seen during the their first semester in the fall as they were too busy in the anatomy lab. It was during the winter semester that the medical students took the physiology and biochemistry survey course, of which parts were taught by different instructors. The students taking the biochemistry survey lab course could be identified easily when some of the experiments consisted of urine analysis. Each student, including myself, had to collect a 24-hour urine specimen, so jugs for this purpose were carried all day while attending classes. The biochemistry of enzyme action and biological oxidations course was given by Dr. David Greenberg. There are no memorable events that occurred in this course, however, it had interesting material. In the advanced organic chemistry course given by Dr. Gerald Branch, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, selected topics included some material about organic chemical reaction mechanisms.
On my return to Berkeley, I found that a German refugee, Gabrielle, whom Bert had known previously, came from New York City to visit him. They decided to get married. Gabrielle was really a beautiful lady. Our friendship continued. Bert and I took some of the same courses during the fall semester. It was during the end of the fall semester while I was studying in the library, Gabrielle came in looking for me. She told me that she may need help; Bert was dieing. We rushed to the apartment where Bert was lying on the bed and gagging. Apparently Bert panicked at taking his final exam in the chemistry department phase rule course so he decided to become ill as this could be an excuse. He took some syrup of ipicac, which is used to induce vomiting, which made him ill enough to go to the campus hospital. The physician who saw him said that there was some intestinal bug going around. The physician made Bert take a dose of paragoric, which is an old medication that used to stop diarrhea and vomiting. Gabrielle called some off-campus physician who advised doing nothing. By the evening Bert was all right and we all went out to dinner. Bert took a delayed phase rule final exam. Before Bert and Gabrielle left for Miami to visit Bert’s father, I was asked to find the grade and send a telegraph to let them know if he passed. Bert got an A. I sent a telegram and signed it paragorically yours. After his marriage Bert went back to playing tennis and playing the piano. I do not know about his tennis playing on the campus, but at a Hillel Sunday dinner Bert was asked to play the piano. The music sheets for some classical piece was put in front of him and his performance was greeted with much applause. I was told later by someone who was a musician that Bert’s performance was superb. Gabrielle was involved with photography while living in New York City and she had a Zeiss Super Ikona B, which took photos that were 2 ½” square. The camera was loaned to me on a number of occasions and I used it quite a bit. I was able to visit the San Francisco World Fair on Treasure Island and I took many pictures there. Also, I had little money to keep up a good wardrobe and I damaged my one good pair of trousers which developed small holes from acid being handled carelessly in the laboratory. Bert and Gabrielle insisted on purchasing a new pair of trousers for me. At the end of the winter semester in May, 1940, Bert graduated with chemistry as his major subject. Both he and Gabrielle left for Chicago. Bert was entering the University of Chicago Graduate School as a biochemistry major. Apparently Bert convinced his father that biochemists were the ones who won Nobel Prizes in medicine so fatherly support for the couple continued.
It was sometime during the fall semester of 1939 that I met Fred Dhyse, who was another student majoring in biochemistry, who invited me to join the fraternity Chi Pi Sigma. Fred was the house manager of this fraternity. This was a fraternity which had a branch in Fresno and another one in Oregon. This fraternity was for chemists and it did not discriminate on the basis of creed, color or religion. Of course the only person of color was the black cook who prepared meals in the fraternity house. The fraternity house was one which was rented and it was located on the south side of the campus. I shared a room with a chemistry major whose first name was Gordon. The room was sparsely furnished; it had two desks facing opposite walls, probably a bookcase and a chest of drawers. There were cots out on a porch on the second floor of this house. After I lived in the fraternity house for one semester there was a move to the north side of the campus and the house was located on the top of a hill. After the move I shared a room with Fred Dhyse. The campus interfraternity organization frowned on this fraternity and it was not admitted for membership. The students majoring in chemistry and biochemistry shared expenses so it was a cooperative venture. I believe we had assigned chores to maintain the fraternity house as we only seemed to have the money for rent and to hire a cook. A son of G.N. Lewis was a member of this fraternity (G.N. Lewis was a renowned chemist and a coauthor of the classical book, Thermodynamics). After graduation I lost all contact with the members of this fraternity with one exception. I did get to see Fred Dhyse at one time when I found out that he was on the staff of the National institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. It was at that I learned that after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Chi Pi Sigma closed shop and the fraternity members all enlisted in the U.S. armed forces. Another tidbit was that the fraternity was in debt, so the closure may well have happened under other circumstances. As far as I know, Chi Pi Sigma no longer exists. The fraternity occasionally had a dance party on a Saturday night and I once invited Mickey to be my partner. Gordon had a car, so he drove to San Francisco to pick up Mickey and he drove us back to make sure she got home safely. Several other couples were packed into the car for pick-ups and returns. Fred Dhyse and I chipped in the money to buy an old Ford sedan for twenty-five dollars ($25.00) I do not think we had the car for more than a week. The brakes failed on the Ford when it was parked outside of our fraternity house on a hillsideand the car rolled down the hill where it was stopped by it crashing into a church. The car then became scrap metal. There was no damage to the church. So, I got very few driving lessons from Fred and our investment was nullified.
I draw a blank when I think about the end of the semester in May, 1940. I suspect that I went home to New York City. I probably did very little that summer except for visiting family and friends. Again I suspect that my father and Mary were not very happy about my summer of 1940.
I registered for the following courses in August, 1940: Biochemistry 107 (Quantitative Micro-Chemical Analysis), Biochemistry 110 (Advanced Biochemistry), Biochemistry 112 (Proseminar), General Physics Lectures 1C, and Zoology 114 (Heredity and Evolution).
The quantitative micro-chemical analysis course instructor was Paul L. Kirk, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry. . The description of this course was “Methods for estimation of elements or components with particular reference to biological material when small quantities are present or available.” There was no textbook. It was in 1950 the book Quantitative Ultramicroanalysis,” by Paul L. Kirk was published by John Wiley and Sons. So it was the lecture material that had to be learned. When the final examination time came we were allowed to bring in analytical chemistry textbooks for reference, but lecture notes were forbidden. I had no problems with the factual material, but the laboratory was a struggle. I was not very adept at laboratory work as I took very few laboratory courses due to the expense. In this course we were given various biological materials and we had to detect and determine the quantity of some specified substance. The technics for ultramicro analysis demanded very deliberate and careful work at the laboratory bench. After all, we were determining several millionths of a gram of a specified substance in a biological material.
The instructor in the advanced biochemistry course was Edward S. Sundstroem, M.D., Associate Professor of Biochemsitry. Dr. Sundstroem came from Sweden. The laboratory work consisted of blood analysis, respiratory gas analysis, gastric analysis, and other methods which illustrate the normal and abnormal metabolic process of animal life. Correlated lectures on the normal life processes and pathological conditions were presented. The textbook used in this course was Practical Physiological Chemistry, by Hawk and Bergeim, 11th Edition (1937). This 968 page textbook not only served as a laboratory manual of current methods for the analyses of body fluids along with the analytical technics of the times but also as a text of physiological chemistry. The lab exercises came from the textbook and they essentially were clinical laboratory tests. Dr. Sundstroem, on himself, demonstrated the draiwing of blood from an arm vein. I was the one chosen for the demonstration of how to determine basal metabolism. I believe I had to breathe through an oxygem mask and somehow one of the experimenters let water run through the tube catrrying the oxygen. Obviously, I did not drown, but a lasting suspicion was that a prank was the cause. The lectures took place during the late afternoons and Dr. Sundstroem seemed to carry on endlessly. During the long-lasting lectures Dr. Sundstroem smoked cigarettes. He lamented at one lecture that nicotine instead of water was not the basic fluid of life processes. One afternoon, toward the end of the lecture,I suddenly had either a dizzy spell or I felt faint, so I left the classroom. While standing in the hall, Dr. Sundstroem came out of the lecture room and invited me into his office. As Dr. Sundstroem was an M.D., he was prepared to deal with phusical problems. All I remember now, is that he gave me a mixture of some kind which basically was somewwhat diluted lab alcohol. I went back to my room and I sure slept soundly for a while, curing whatever happened.. I had a good lesson in keeping lab notebooks. Dr. Sundstroem, in his office, told me that I was careless with my calculations and if I had payed more attention to what I was doing I would have come away with a good grade in the course. The advanced biochemsitry course usually had a small number of students in it and Dr. Sundstroem often invited each one of us to confer with him in his office. Dr. Sundstroem appeared to be very kind and much interested in each of us and our aspirations. I was told at one session that some experiments performed in his lab on dogs indicated that there was a tie-in between the withstanding of high altitudes (low air pressures) and adrenal gland metabolism. This information remained in my mind for a long time and it played a role during my future army stint.
I have been trying to retrieve from memory without success what occurred in the proseminar course According to the course catalog description of this course was conducted by various biochemistry division faculty members and it essentially covered biochemical literature and newer developments of the subject. The general physics lecture course was given by Leonard B. Loeb, Ph.D., Professor of Physics. Dr. Loeb, as I understood it, was the son of a famed physiologist, Jacques Loeb. The course covered magnetism and electricity. The heredity and evolution course was given by Richard Goldschmidt, Ph.D., M.D., Sc.D., Professor of Zoology. As indicated by the title of the course, the current knowledge of heredity and evolution were presented.
It was about the middle of January of 1941 that I registered for courses the following courses: Anatomy 102 General Human Anatomy), Art 1B (History of Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern Art Stressing Painting), Introduction to Astronomy 1A, Astronomy 2A (Practice in Observing), History 4B (History of Western Europe), and Poultry Husbandry 106 (Principles of Animal Nutrition).
The anatomy course was given by Clara L. Kohls, A.B., M.D., Instructor in Anatomy. Beside lectures, a human cadaver in various stages of dissection was demonstrated each week through the semester and study of prepared microscopic slides of human tissues was the other part of the laboratory course. The art history course was taught by Worth Ryder, Professor of Art. As suggested by the title of the course studies of the history of the periods covered included viewing of paintings to illustrate the art of the times. One memory is that the auditorium where the course was given was filled mainly by young ladies at the freshman level. The astronomy course was given by Russell T. Crawford, Ph.D., Professor of Astronomy and the Chairman of the Department. This course covered the general facts and principles of the science of astronomy, relating primarily to the solar system. The practice in observing course was given by William F. Meyer, Ph.D., Professor of Astronomy. This course was scheduled on a Tuesday from 7:15 to 10:00 p.m. The course was given in the observatory on campus. There was special emphasis on the elementary methods of determining time, latitude, longitude, the study of constellations, and observations of celestial objects. The name of the member of the history department who lectured in the history course escapes me. Beside attending lectures, I had a section meeting each week where a relatively small number of students met with a teaching assistant to discuss the topics presented in the lectures. The principles of animal nutrition was taught by my friend Al Lepps’ uncle Samuel Lepkovsky, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Poultry Husbandry. This corse was essentially another biochemistry of the metabolic process.
It was at the beginning of the fall semester that I started to work on a NYA job. I was assigned to Dr. David Greenberg in the biochemistry division. In turn I was assigned to one of Dr. Greenberg’s graduate students. I determined the chloride contents of various samples. The quantitative chloride method involved a titration and this type of analysis was difficult for me as the glass stopcocks of burettes always had to be lubricated with some greasy substance and somehow I was usually not adept at this particular endeavor. It usually took me two or three tines to get the greasing right so there was no leak of the solution in the burette.
Sometime during the semester Dr. Greenberg asked me if I would be interested in a part-time laboratory job at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco. When I said yes, Dr. Greenberg gave me the name of the laboratory director to see. When I did talk to the clinical laboratory director at the hospital I was informed that there was no vacancy in the general hospital laboratory, but Dr. Meyer Friedman, a young cardiologist, was looking for someone. I arranged to see Dr. Friedman on some afternoon. When I arrived at the hospital I was directed to a very small room in which there was a laboratory bench in back and at the entry there was a desk, a chair, and some kind of box which reminded me of a crate used to ship food. A female technician (Pat something) was doing a titration at the lab bench. Dr. Friedman came into the room and I was asked to sit on the crate. My memory tells me that Dr. Friedman was not a large man, but I would say he seemed rather plump. After being grilled about my status as a biochemistry major, Dr. Friedman produced a number of wooden blocks of differing shapes and colors. The only instruction given to me was to I was told to arrange the blocks. I was also told that I would be notified about a job. After Dr. Friedman walked out of the room. I began playing with the blocks and I finally made a few piles in some orderly arrangement according to shapes and colors. Very soon after I left the hospital, I was asked to return to see Dr. Friedman. When I walked into the same room as before, the technician told me that I did well on the test with the wooden blocks. Dr. Friedman came in and offered me a part-time job of 20 hours a week with a stipend of $55.00 a month. Beside the monetary part, the offer included meals in the staff dining room. Dr. Friedman told me that he was doing hypertension research and that he was interested in particular in the hormone renin which was secreted by the kidney. Irvine Page, of the Cleveland Clinic, had recently isolated and purified renin from pig’s kidneys and this substance was involved in producing hypertension. My major job would be to purify renin. I would also do some.of the same tasks that the technician was now doing. They were doing inulin-Diodrast kidney function tests and I believe it was the inulin which was determined with a starch-iodide titrimetric procedure. A physician, Dr. Arthur Seltzer, a resident, would do the Diodrast determination and I believe that was with a colorimetric procedure. I began working in the afternoons after the final exams for the fall 1940 semester. At first I was involved with the inulin-Diodrast kidney function test samples until a new laboratory building was finished. I attended the ceremonies for the opening of the Harold Brunn Cardiovascular Research Institute and I was impressed with the gathering of noted physician’s to celebrate this event. Not only did I have a new laboratory to work in, but I was told to take care of the Coca-Cola dispenser in the chemistry lab. I had to make sure that the dispenser was stocked and that the empty bottles were returned to the man delivering the Coca-Cola bottles. A bottle of Coca-Cola was five or ten cents; I made some money on the deal by returning empty bottles. Dr. Friedman himself at that time consumed many bottles of Coca-Cola during a day. Also interns and resident physicians came in quite
One did not have to use the ferry anymore to travel between Berkeley and San Francisco as now one could use a train which crossed the San Francisco Bay on the Oakland Bay Bridge. When I registered for my courses for winter 1941 semester, beside selecting courses for intellectual curiosity and some culture, I made sure all classes were before noon, except, of course, except the astronomy observatory course. I decided that living in San Francisco should be easier than in Berkeley, because I spent a lot of time in the research laboratory. I could study in the library in the research laboratory building. I suspect that on Tuesday evenings after attending the observatory course, I would stay at the Chi Pi Sigma fraternity house for this night.
So, In January of 1941 I moved to a small apartment on, I believe, Post Street. There was a very small kitchen with utensils and dishes. I do not remember about refrigeration. There was a small living room in which a bed was folded up into a closet (Murphy bed). There was a small bathroom with a window opening into a ventilation chute. This apartment was completely furnished; I do not remember purchasing towels, sheets or blankets. As a matter of fact I do not remember how my laundry was done not only at this time but in all of my college career and beyond. The cost of the apartment was twenty-seven dollars ($27.00) a month. Sometime before vacating the apartment at the end of June, 1941 I found out that a house of ill-repute was being run in this large apartment house. No wonder I occasionally saw sparsely dressed woman coming in and out of the front door. I was sure naive those days. By eating lunches and dinners in the staff dining room at the hospital, I saved quite a bit of money budgeted for food. I made sure that on most weekends, I would spend time in the lab so that I could eat in the dining room. While dining I did meet quite a few administrative, nursing and medical staff people.
Dr. Friedman used dogs for his hypertension research. When the renal artery blood flow was reduced with a Goldsmith clamp, a hypertensive state occurred. This hypertensive state was thought to occur because of the action of a kidney hormone, renin. I went to some stockyard quite a few times for the purchase each time of about a hundred pounds of pig’s kidneys. At the lab the first step was to cut out the cortex of the kidneys and extract the tissue with ethyl ether. I suspect that I did not use surgical gloves when I handled the kidneys. I remember well the extraction step with ether, for one time I worked in the evening and I nearly fell asleep from the fumes. It was a physician who came into the lab for a Coca-Cola bottle who alerted me to the excessive fumes. According to the procedure in the publication by Irvine Page, there was one step in the purification of renin in which an definite aliquot of glacial acetic acid had to be added. I repeated this step several times on some of the extract solutions and what followede did not correspond to the description in the paper. There there was no precipitate when there should have been one. One night while working late I put the very large Erlenmeyer flask with extract into the refrigerator and left a note “DO NOT USE.” When I came into the lab the next day I was told that Dr. Friedman was so impatient for results that he tried some of the extract on a dog. There apparently was an anaphalactic reponse and the dog died quickly. After that Dr. Friedman waited. Meanwhile I consulted with Dr. Nathan O. Kaplan, who was a post-doctoral student in the Cal biochemistry division, and I learned that if a certain pH (acidity) had to be attained in a purification procedure the extract should be carefully titrated with the acid to be added. Having a pH meter at the lab, I inserted electrodes into the extract solution I had and titrated it with glacial acetic acid. Success came quickly and I ended up with a small vial of a black solution which prsumably contained a concentrate of renin. Dr. Friedman would incubate some of the black solution with serum to attain angiotonin (now, angiotensin). This research project and others of this type, enabled the development of anti=hypertensive medications. My part tome job ended the end of June, 1941.
Over the years, Dr. Friedman had attained a national reputation in hypertension research. He had something to do with the labeling of people as type A and type B personalities. Once in a while we would see Dr. Friedman interviewed in some television progra. So, fifty years later, in 1991, my wife Galla and I planned to travel to the west coast to attend the 50 th reunion of the Class of ’41. In a letter addressed to Dr, Friedman, I reminded him about my work in extracting and purifying renin, and asked if it would be all right if I stopped by to say hello. We in return had a letter with an invitation to join Dr. Friedman at lunch. The Villa Taverna in San Francisco was suggested as the meeting place. Galla suggested that I should pay the bill. We did meet Dr. Friedman. He certained aged since I saw him and now seemed comparitively thin. The menu was extensive and there were no prices. The Villa Taverna is an exclusive club or eating establishment and it turns out that Dr. Friedman has guests there quite often. When we left, we overheard that he was meeting some guests in the evening. Dr. Friedman urged us to try this and that. There were about two hours of conversation and most of it was dominated by Dr. Friedman. He was quite a name dropper, but he earned his distinction. As a matter of fact, Mount Zion Hospital was now a part of the University oif California Medical system and there was an institute named after Dr. Friedman. After we parted Galla looked at me and said something to the effect that Dr. Friedman did not really know who I was as he seemed to mix me up with my successor, Dr. Alex Kaplan. Dr. Kaplan is a clinical chemsist and a former President of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.
In the anatomy course, I had to commit to memory facts about the anatomy of a human being. I did not attend many lectures of the art history course and it was the FyBate notes that helped get me through this course. The astronomy lecture course seemed difficult for me. I also had trouble with the observatory course since it rained a lot in the winter so we had to solve navigation problems. The history course was interesting and I did enjoy the discussions of current events. After taking biochemistry course, the animal nutrition course was relatively easy for me. I found that commuting and working 20 hours a week induced problems as I was carrying a full load of courses during my last semester at Cal. At the end of the semester in May, I would up being below a C average deficient by three grade points. I consulted with Dr. Monroe Deutsch and I was told to petition for graduation because my upper two year record was good and that the grade point deficiency I had attained my first two years would be difficult to make up. Also, inasmuch as my student’s exemption from the draft to served in the armed forces would be cancelled, my draft status should be mentioned in the petition. I was quickly notified that I would graduate in May.
No one was coming from New York City to attend my graduation ceremonies. I got my cap and gown free because I promised to become a life member of the alumni association. The down payment was five dollars ($5.00) and I owed fifty-five dollars ($55.00) for the remainder of a life membership. This was paid out in due time. Even though there were thousands graduating and thousands of relatives and friends present I was a lonely guy in the Memorial Stadium for the graduation ceremonies. I had thought of asking Mickey for a date the night of graduation, but I imagined that being with her family was important. I ended up in San Francisco the night of graduation with my friend Phillip Fineman and some others I knew. I think we ate somewhere and
There were occasions when I saw Mickey during the four years at Cal. I went to her home several times. During my last year at Cal, I took a genetics course and it was Mickey, who was also taking this course, was of great assistance to me. I visited Mickey at her home in San Francisco to go over the course content. There is a fleeting memory of walking with Mickey in San Francisco when she informed me that she had been accepted to continue her studies in Medical School. Where and when and why we were walking is a complete blank. Sometime or other, I informed Mickey that my job was ending at the Mount Zion Hospital and that I was returning to New York City. The night before I left for Chicago, I had dinner at Mickey’s house. By this time I did know her parents and I must admit, I have a blank memory of some previous visits. Mickey’s father and Mickey drove me back to the apartment that night. I left the next day for Chicago on The Challenger.
Dr. Friedman suggested that on my way back to New York City I should see a Dr. Louis Katz at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Katz was a cardiologist and he might be interested in my experience with Dr. Friedman. I had contacted Bert and Gabrielle and I was invited to stay with them in their apartment in Chicago. I accepted this invitation.
After arrival in Chicago I made my way to Bert and Gabrielle’s apartment by local transportation. They lived near the University of Chicago. I visited Dr. Louis Katz at the Michael Reese Hospital. He had no position open and I also found that my draft status would be a concern when I looked for a job. Bert and Gabrielle drove me to North Chicago where I visited the Abbott laboratories. I left an application with no hope for a job. Bert and Gabrielle continued the drive into Wisconsin where they bought a lot of cheese. I left Chicago to return to New York City.
I did not expect the reception from my father and Mary when I walked int the store. My father screamed for me to get out. He was not going to support me anymore and stay away. I was in complete shock The only thing I thought of was to get somewhere and that was to go to Norman’s house. When Uncle Joe heard what happened he called my father and I only heard one side of the conversation. All I can say is there was a heated exchange of words. Uncle Joe told me that my father agreed to pay for a room somewhere and some money for subsistence. Somehow, I ended up in a room in someone’s house in Brooklyn. This is now the summer of 1941.
I started to hunt for a job and I was unsuccessful. I tried New York City employment agencies and I filled out many applications. All the applications for work which I completed asked for religion and I put down Jewish. I was told by one personnel man in an employment agency that Jewish chemists were not wanted by major companies. Looking back, it never occurred to me to try hospital laboratories. I found that I was still eligible for a National Youth Administration (NYA) job. I was placed in Warren Sperry’s laboratory at the New York Psychiatric Hospital which was part of the Columbia University Medical complex in upper Manhattan. Warren Sperry and R. Schoenheimer were known for devising a cholesterol determination in blood. I made up gallons of Nessler’s solution for the research projects in the lab. I believe that I also did some analysis using a laboratory constructed photometer. They job did not pay very much and I was on the hunt foir further work. I am surprised that Dr. Sperry did not guide me as he did much later in my career. I certainly did not have the money to enter graduate school for an advanced degree in biochemistry.
In the evenings I began meeting Harold (Chuck) Klein. I would meet him on the campus of Brooklyn College, we would eat dinner together many times and we frequented the cafeteria Dubrow’s in Brooklyn. We would often go over to his girl friend’s house. Chuck and Gloria Dolgoff were eventually married. I got to know Gloria’s parents and I believe a younger brother. Gloria’s father eventually offered me a job in the fall of 1941. Before I accepted this offer, I decided to quit the NYA. job at the end of the summer. I joined with Gordon Levin who was also looking for a job. He did not go to college and he seemed to flit from one job to another. As Gordon had a car, we left New York City together. In Stanford, Connecticut we stopped at American Cyanamid where I applied for a job (little did I know that eventually I would work for the Lederle Laboratories which was part of American Cyanamid). We continued on driving into Connecticut and stopped at a rooming house for the night. There we found in the room we shared Father Coughlin and other anti-semitic literature. We wondered if we would be safe staying there. We did make several stops to apply for jobs. All applications had religion on them. Gordon decided to put down some non-Jewish denomination. I put down Jewish. After leaving Pratt and Whitney in Hartford we headed back to New York. As I was still unemployed I decided to work in Mr. Dolgoff’s ring making shop in Manhattan on West 48th (or close) Street, somewhere near the Radio City complex on Sixth Avenue (now Avenue of the Americas). I had to put two parts of a hard rubber mold together, get hot wax into the mold with some sort centrifuge-like machine, wait for the wax to cool and then open the mold in which there was a wax ring. The trick then was to remove the wax ring form from the half mold without damaging the ring. The mold was very difficult to bend and I sure had sore hands after a days work. The wax rings then were encased with a plaster of Paris mold, the wax was destroyed after the mold hardened, and molten gold was pressured into this mold.
My recollection of where I lived when I worked at the ring making shop is rather hazy. I probably left my room in Brooklyn and moved to the Y.M.H.A. on East 92nd Street. Sometime in the past I had lived in the Y.M.H.A; for a short period of time and this may have occurred when I was home for the spring of 1939 or when I was working for Mr. Dolgoff, Anyway, the relationship with my father and Mary had eased and I was invited to come back to the apartment in Astoria.
Norman had graduated from Columbia University as a chemistry major. He was able to begin his quest for a Ph.D. degree the Columbia University graduate school medical complex in the biochemistry department. I was envious, but I did not have the resources to go to graduate school. However, this came about in the year 1945. It was on the weekend of December 7, 1941 when I was sitting in Uncle Max’s and Aunt Fannie’s kitchen listening to a New York Giant football game on the radio when it was announced that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese. I had no idea of where Pearl Harbor was until I learned from a radio announcer that it was in the Hawaiian Islands. I was so excited that I woke up Uncle Max who was aking a nap. I told him that we were attacked. Next day, I quit my job at the ring making shop and I began to hunt for another job in earnest. I also applied for a U.S. Civil Service job as an ordnance inspector.