Jim Nolan's Blog

John and Mamie

I love this shot of Mamie Moran, my grandfather Paul Nolan's sister. Here she is with my Uncle John at my christening. What style! Click here to see a photo of Mamie as a young woman. She was beautiful then, and beautiful in this picture. 

Pratt & Lambert Paint Volleyball Team, 1930

My grandfather, Paul Nolan, is on the far left. Wish I could make out the design on the jerseys better. It is not the Nike swoosh. Click below to hear my commentary about an illuminating P&L company newsletter from 1946, right after the war.

Click to hear 1946, In Color

Jake Sicherman Debates for J.Y.M.A., June 1916

From a packet of newspaper clippings and photos sent to me by Barbara Sicherman. I've really enjoyed posting the four audio essays with Barbara this week on subjects from Well Read Lives: How Books Inspired a Generation of American Women. Barbara's dad Jake was my grandfather Paul's best friend, in high school and throughout life. Her mother, Esther, was a great friend of my grandmother, Isabelle. Here is an article about Jake debating a J.Y.M.A. team from Rochester at Temple Beth Zion. Thanks for this week, Barbara!

Dickens Day, Buffalo Central High, 1912

Click any page to enlarge.

To me, this presentation on the 100th anniversary of Dickens' birth seems incredibly ambitious. Sketches from David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Pickwick Papers, A Christmas Carol, with a dance or two thrown in. Dickens, who was also a famous actor, would have loved it. My grandfather, Paul Nolan was the stage manager. My friend Barbara Sicherman's dad, Jacob, played Ebenezer Scrooge. A hundred years later, Dickens is still beyond category.

High School Graduation, 100 Years Ago Today

Buffalo Central High graduates. An asterisk indicates each year as a "star" pupil. My grandfather Paul Nolan had two. His best friend Jake Sicherman had one. Of the students who had three stars, all but one were female. But they couldn't vote for nine more years. Note: There's a back page with more names but I didn't include it. Click to enlarge.

1920s Fashion

My grandfather's sister Mamie and her husband Ross Moran. She was a fashion plate and a beauty, and liked to pinch my brother Chris's cheeks. I wish I knew where this photo was taken. It may be somewhere in Canada. Click to enlarge.

Paul Nolan

My grandfather, Paul Nolan, as a young man. He graduated from Central High School in Buffalo in 1912, where he was Class Poet. He went on to work for Pratt & Lambert Paint as a purchasing agent. Here he is on the cover of Purchasing Magazine in 1938.

To me, he looks like a poet in the first picture, and a purchasing agent in the second. Click below to hear my essay about a Pratt & Lambert newsletter from 1946.

Click to hear 1946, In Color

 

Buffalo's Central High School

My grandfather Paul Nolan attended Central High School and graduated in the Class of 1912. It was located at 65 Court Street, and torn down in 1926 to make room for the State Office Building. Paul was the Class Poet, and classmate of George Norman Frederickson. George's grandson Greg wrote to me wondering if George graduated with the class and sure enough he was mentioned in The Calendar, the graduation booklet I've written about. Greg was kind enough to send me a link (page by Chuck LaChiusa) about the history of the school, complete with the above postcard. Thanks, Greg. Who would have imagined that Paul and George's grandsons would be writing each other about Central on-line 99 years after they graduated? I am also friends with another '12 classmate's daughter, Barbara Sicherman. Her father Jake was Paul's lifelong friend. You can find out more about Buffalo history and architecture at this award-winning site: http://buffaloah.com/. For my essay about the class, read Smokey the Talking Dog.

Advice for the Class of 2011 from the Class of 1912

The Buffalo Central High Class of 1912. My grandfather, Paul, is in the top row, sixth from right (or left). His great-grandson, Eddie, graduates from high school today. The story can be found in the Kindle eBook version of Smokey the Talking Dog, here.

Click to hear Jim's To The Class of 2010 from the Class of 1912 

Smokey the Talking Dog in Rose Hill, Ontario

Jim, John, Ned and Paul Nolan, and Smokey the Talking Dog.

This photo was taken in Rose Hill, across Lake Erie from Buffalo. Dad's family used to rent a cottage there every summer, for the whole summer, for about 10 years. The cottage was located between Dominion Road and Garrison Highway, not on the lake. It was owned by Lilly Biden, a friend of Carl Ellmaker. In 1939 there was a polio scare, and since school didn't open until October 15, the family stayed there the whole time, thinking it was fairly isolated and thus safer than the city. Paul went to work by ferry. Isabel would drive him to Ft. Erie, where he'd catch a boat which took him to the foot of Ferry Street in Buffalo. From there he took a bus to Pratt & Lambert on Tonawanda Street. (The P&L buildings are still there, empty now.) He did this so Isabel and the boys had a car to drive to the public beach.

Smokey was a mutt but had some smooth-haired terrier in him. According to Paul he was a "Curbstone Setter."