WOW! I'M BLOWN AWAY...IT'S INCREDIBLE

Remember the portrait of my cousin’s dog Major from my January 1, 2019, blog Anna From the Farm, posted at sharonmarkcohen.com? Now, we get to see that family pet, Major, running at the farm. See Steven’s reaction in #5 below.

When a second attempt to send a home movie, via WeTransfer, to Cousin Steven in Pennsylvania worked, his response was “Wow! I’m blown away…it’s incredible.”

That DVD, sent to me via USPS, from a second cousin I met several times when he lived in Venice Beach, California, pretty much tells the story. The movie shows my father’s first cousins once removed, my second cousins, including Steven’s father, who grew up in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.

Those captured on film are composed of the family of my grandfather’s beloved brother Louis Mark. Granduncle Louis immigrated in the early 1900s from Chudnov, Ukraine (see my blog post at sharonmarkcohen.com, dated May 3, 2022, The Philly Branch from Chudnov).

On my second attempt of transferring the tape Granduncle Louis’s great-grandson Steven wrote to me:

“Okay so this one is different. And yes!! Appears to be Stuckert and Major. And then my father and grandfather dressed up standing near cars and row homes. Wow! I’m blown away..it’s incredible. And my son looks very much like my dad in this film…”

9:00 AM (51 minutes ago) July 12, 2023, after I sent the tape from Cousin Hank via WeTransfer, Steven wrote:

“Now I REALLY want the Stuckert road house! Need to win the lottery. (It’s worth about 700k right now)

Who’s the skinny funny dude who’s in most of the film?

Where in Philly (?) was the row home?”

Next, Steve Saffier <steve@carsmartsradio.com> wrote:

“I uploaded it on youtube. The ONLY people who can view are people with the link below...it is not public and can not be seen by ‘everyone’. It's only 28 minutes however, so not all of it transferred from wetransfer.

“This makes it easier to share: (Note to self: The link is stored for the family in Steven’s page on the family tree)

“Some thoughts:

1. There's some early interior of Stuckert but the rest might be the row home and then a house in California?

2. One of the row homes has the "S" on the screen door (by the way, I still have our metal "S" from northeast Philly). So, Seligsohn?

3. When the men are playing with a small red sports car, that's at Iskenderian in Culver City California...very cool!

4. The drag racing footage is incredible. I'd love to isolate that and post publicly so I can get some input about the race from those who may have been there. But only with your permission.

5. Wild to see film of my grandfather...always with cigarette in hand. And of course, Anna, Dorothy, Dad, and Major. I've only had that portrait of the dog and some grainy black and white photos. It's astounding to see him ‘live’ and moving.

“Just fantastic!

s

--
Steven Saffier
CarSmarts Media
www.CarSmartsMedia.com

267-467-3777”

I sent Elissa (see my blog post Making Connections dated April 23, 2024, and stay tuned for She’s Our Second Cousin, Once Removed coming on July 2, 2024), from my husband’s side of the family, an FYI after telling Steven about her husband’s sideline of photographing antique cars. Maybe someday they’ll do business or refer others.

On July 13, 2023, I sent Justin an email saying,

“Hi Justin,

It's just so exciting to realize you now have ‘live’ pictures of their great-great-great-grandmother, Bluma (My Grandaunt Bluma was married to my Granduncle Louis. Bluma was Steven’s great-grandmother and Justin’s great-great-grandmother) to someday show your children.

Amazing!”

There’s so much nostalgia in the film. Aunt Fannie is seen on the tape with Cousins Anna and Harry in Venice Beach, CA in 1976 at the 50th wedding anniversary of Cousins Jennie (sister of Anna from the farm) and Bennie (Hank’s parents). They were all first cousins.

Anna and Jennie were born in Chudnov, Ukraine, as was my father. So much history. The amazing part was seeing our family history come to life in the at-home movies. Maybe someday they’ll be seen in theaters. That would be incredible.