Zelda outside the Muswell Hill house they moved to from Islington
Zelda with her hero, cousin Bernie
Zelda's Aunt Fay at her marriage to Max. Zelda thought they were the most beautiful couple in the world.
Zelda's Aunt Fay at her marriage to Max. Zelda thought they were the most beautiful couple in the world.
Unlike my other grandfather, Grandpa Brown did not come to England directly from his homeland. From Poland he went to South America to make his fortune. He quickly learned that fortunes are not easily made and by resorting to methods not quite within the law, he was soon in trouble with the authorities. Recognising that discretion is the better part of valour, he fled to England to avoid the consequences.
He was a jolly man, always well dressed and sporting a gold watch and chain draped across his stomach from his waistcoat pockets. On his little finger he wore a gold signet ring. Both the watch and the ring were the spoils of his South American trip.
Upon arriving in England he rented a small sweetshop with living accommodation above in Buxton Street, off Brick Lane, and there my father grew up. When I visited, Grandpa would let me put my chubby little hands into one of the big glass jars to take some sweets - but only when dad wasn't looking.
He had four sons: my dad, Henry, Alex and Alf, and one daughter Fay, married to Max. Alf and Max decided to go into business together and they opened a gramophone and record shop in Upper Street. Being a large shop with lots of rooms above, the Browns all decided to live there. I was ever so pleased, as that meant I could play with my cousin Bernie, son of Alex, who was my hero. He was the spitting image of William of the Richmal Crompton novels that I so enjoyed. We were always together, playing in the alleys, or hanging around the shop listening to records. We would sit on the counter beside Uncle Max by the till, kicking our legs out and clicking our heels against the wood in time to the jazz music we liked so much.
The only memory I have of Grandma Brown was a very fat woman dressed in black, always sitting with a bowl in her lap peeling potatoes. She made chips for Bernie and me whenever we visited her, and a pot of lokshen soup was always on the boil, ready for all comers at any time. I remember once Bernie and I were laughing o much as we drank our soup that he choked and the lokshen came down his nose. Grandma died when we were still very young. We knew little about
her. She had never learned to speak English and had therefore never really communicated with us.
Alex had been a boxer and had a cauliflower ear; Alf had a banjo and played George Formby songs; Fay I thought was the most beautiful woman in the world; and her husband Max, an Austrian Jew, was the most handsome of men. My life revolved around Bernie, but mum was planning a move, unbeknown to me.
Nobody told me why mum moved us to Muswell Hill, but soon after that the Browns all left the gramophone shop, except for Fay and Max. Grandpa married again and went back to running a sweet shop in Jubilee Street in Stepney. The local kids loved being in his shop. He was always playing little jokes on them and would often give them a free sweetie.
Alex and his wife, Ann, moved to Finchley with Bernie and he acquired a gang of boys as friends which put my nose out of joint. But he allowed me in the magic circle occasionally, so long as I played strip poker with them. I always lost.
Then things changed yet again. Alex and Ann took Bernie and his younger brother to live in Australia. I was very sad. The loss of Bernie was like bereavement for me. Then Henry upset the family by marrying a red-haired non-Jewish woman, Evelyn. What a beautiful woman she was, but what a scandal she caused. When Uncle Henry became a “Bevin Boy” during the war and worked down the mines, Evelyn fell in love with Alf, the youngest brother and left Henry. Alf and Evelyn lived happily ever after. Neither dad nor I ever saw Henry again.
Finally it was the war that split us all up. I did not see dad’s family again till peacetime. I took my daughters Sue and Joan to the sweet shop in Jubilee Street when they were very small, which made Grandpa Brown very happy and both the girls were delighted by the visit. Alf and Evelyn moved to Finchley, only a few streets away from my home, so we made contact and kept in touch from then on.
None of the Browns made it in business like the Ginsberg girls; Dad thought up lots of “get rich quick” plans and for each plan another brother became his partner in crime. None of his plans worked out, and sometimes he sailed close to the edge of the law. Dad tried to beat Woolworths at their own game by opening a 6d store with Uncle Alex – Woolworths won; then he started a Loan Club but there were too few borrowers and those that did would not repay. Next he bought a house in Stamford Hill and let off flats but his tenants would not pay the rent. He even embroiled me into one of his schemes; making me Director of a St. James’ Trust when I was about ten years old, and that was one project that went just over the edge of the law….I had to appear in Court.
He was a jolly man, always well dressed and sporting a gold watch and chain draped across his stomach from his waistcoat pockets. On his little finger he wore a gold signet ring. Both the watch and the ring were the spoils of his South American trip.
Upon arriving in England he rented a small sweetshop with living accommodation above in Buxton Street, off Brick Lane, and there my father grew up. When I visited, Grandpa would let me put my chubby little hands into one of the big glass jars to take some sweets - but only when dad wasn't looking.
He had four sons: my dad, Henry, Alex and Alf, and one daughter Fay, married to Max. Alf and Max decided to go into business together and they opened a gramophone and record shop in Upper Street. Being a large shop with lots of rooms above, the Browns all decided to live there. I was ever so pleased, as that meant I could play with my cousin Bernie, son of Alex, who was my hero. He was the spitting image of William of the Richmal Crompton novels that I so enjoyed. We were always together, playing in the alleys, or hanging around the shop listening to records. We would sit on the counter beside Uncle Max by the till, kicking our legs out and clicking our heels against the wood in time to the jazz music we liked so much.
The only memory I have of Grandma Brown was a very fat woman dressed in black, always sitting with a bowl in her lap peeling potatoes. She made chips for Bernie and me whenever we visited her, and a pot of lokshen soup was always on the boil, ready for all comers at any time. I remember once Bernie and I were laughing o much as we drank our soup that he choked and the lokshen came down his nose. Grandma died when we were still very young. We knew little about
her. She had never learned to speak English and had therefore never really communicated with us.
Alex had been a boxer and had a cauliflower ear; Alf had a banjo and played George Formby songs; Fay I thought was the most beautiful woman in the world; and her husband Max, an Austrian Jew, was the most handsome of men. My life revolved around Bernie, but mum was planning a move, unbeknown to me.
Nobody told me why mum moved us to Muswell Hill, but soon after that the Browns all left the gramophone shop, except for Fay and Max. Grandpa married again and went back to running a sweet shop in Jubilee Street in Stepney. The local kids loved being in his shop. He was always playing little jokes on them and would often give them a free sweetie.
Alex and his wife, Ann, moved to Finchley with Bernie and he acquired a gang of boys as friends which put my nose out of joint. But he allowed me in the magic circle occasionally, so long as I played strip poker with them. I always lost.
Then things changed yet again. Alex and Ann took Bernie and his younger brother to live in Australia. I was very sad. The loss of Bernie was like bereavement for me. Then Henry upset the family by marrying a red-haired non-Jewish woman, Evelyn. What a beautiful woman she was, but what a scandal she caused. When Uncle Henry became a “Bevin Boy” during the war and worked down the mines, Evelyn fell in love with Alf, the youngest brother and left Henry. Alf and Evelyn lived happily ever after. Neither dad nor I ever saw Henry again.
Finally it was the war that split us all up. I did not see dad’s family again till peacetime. I took my daughters Sue and Joan to the sweet shop in Jubilee Street when they were very small, which made Grandpa Brown very happy and both the girls were delighted by the visit. Alf and Evelyn moved to Finchley, only a few streets away from my home, so we made contact and kept in touch from then on.
None of the Browns made it in business like the Ginsberg girls; Dad thought up lots of “get rich quick” plans and for each plan another brother became his partner in crime. None of his plans worked out, and sometimes he sailed close to the edge of the law. Dad tried to beat Woolworths at their own game by opening a 6d store with Uncle Alex – Woolworths won; then he started a Loan Club but there were too few borrowers and those that did would not repay. Next he bought a house in Stamford Hill and let off flats but his tenants would not pay the rent. He even embroiled me into one of his schemes; making me Director of a St. James’ Trust when I was about ten years old, and that was one project that went just over the edge of the law….I had to appear in Court.
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