Esther Halperin, July 17th, 2012

Interview with Esther Halperin, July 17th, 2012

GAIL EISENBERG: Actually, while we're talking-

SUSAN CLEMENS-BRUDER: Today is July 17th, interview with Esther Halperin -- and 2012. Attending are Gail Eisenberg and Susan Clemens-Bruder. So I'd like to take you sort of back. We like to put people into their own family context. So first of all, what is your full name? When were you born and where have you lived in your life?

ESTHER HALPERIN: Okay, my full name is Esther Waitz Helperin.

SC: And can you spell Waitz?

EH: W-A-I-T-Z. I was born August 17th, 1925 at 9th and Liberty Street above my 00:01:00parent's bakery, and I've only lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania all my life.

SC: And so can you talk a little bit-- putting yourself back into your family history? Can you talk about your family as far back as you know, both sides of your family, where they came from, what their education was and where they worked if you know it?

EH: All right. Both parents came from Poland. They lived in Warsaw and also in Lodz, Poland. My father was a baker and my mother, they were married in Poland. And they had a bakery with a retail shop in Warsaw. They both came from very large families. My mother and father left Poland and came to New York City.

GE: About when?

EH: Let's see, about 1912. My father worked in a very large bakery in New York, and he didn't like being an employee. I think he made seven dollars a week. He said that he wasn't going to work for seven dollars a week because he made more than that when he left Poland. So he bought a bakery in Long Island, and he built it up, and he sold it and moved to Connecticut. And then he bought another bakery there, built it up and sold that. And then he moved to Allentown. He 00:03:00always followed where bakeries were being sold and where he thought they had a good potential. And he bought a bakery at 9th and Liberty, called Long's Bakery, which I think is still there. I was the last of five children. I had two sisters and two brothers who were older than I.

SC: What were your parents' full names?

EH: My father's name was Abraham Waitz. My mother's name was Shaindel Sadie Waitz. My father, I don't know what kind of education they, he had, but he could read and write English, and read and write Hebrew, and he was a very successful business man for a foreigner who came here with, you know, not a lot of money.

GE: How old were your parents when they came, when they came here?

EH: When they came here, my mother was pregnant with my oldest brother. He was born-- he was conceived in Europe and born here. And when they arrived in New York, he was born in December and I think they arrived in September. So shortly thereafter. My mother told me that she hired a melamed. You know what a melamed is? A melamed is the Hebrew word for teacher, because in her family, they only educated the boys, but she wanted an education. So when she went to work, she hired a melamed to teach her how to read and write. So she was literate. They came here and I remember it-- Oh, after Allentown, my father sold the place at 00:05:009th and Liberty and built a place at 2nd and-- on 2nd Street. No. On Front Street near- built a bakery there. And he really prospered there because I think it was during the Depression and people couldn't afford much more than bread. So bread, you know, was a big seller in the food industry. However, my mother didn't like the area down there.

SC: And was that part of the community?

EH: Yes, there was a big Jewish community on Front and 2nd Street -- 2nd Street was really the heart of the Jewish community. 2nd and Tilghman, 2nd and Allen. And there were a lot of pool halls down there. And my brother was about 15, 16, and my mother didn't like him hanging around the pool halls. So she urged my 00:06:00father to find another bakery. So he moved to Fullerton -- I was about five years old -- and built a really big bakery. And they had a lot of trucks and trucks would go out and sell door to door, bread, door to door, like they were milkmen. There were also bakers that sold. And they sold to a lot of mom-and-pop grocery stores. There were no big markets then. I-- from the time I was five, I lived in Fullerton, which is- I don't know if you know where that is. It's a suburb of Allentown, it's north of Allentown. It was out in the country. We were the only Jewish family in that whole community. But my mother was happy. The element was very definitely all Pennsylvania Dutch. And if you came from 00:07:00anywhere but Allentown or Fullerton, you were an outsider. You were a foreigner.

GE: Were you considered foreigners or the fact that you were from Allentown...?

EH: No. If you weren't Pennsylvania Dutch, you-

GE: Were a foreigner, okay, that's what I thought.

EH: Okay. But, you know, we got along well with my neighbors. I was the only Jewish kid in grade school as well as high school. But two-- a sister and a brother preceded me so-- but I got along fine. There was no outward anti-Semitism. I had a lot of friends. I, I was never bullied or hassled or-- I was very popular and I fit in very well, although I- late in my teens, [no], early in my teens I started making Jewish friends. But I went to my high school, 00:08:00I went to Whitehall High School and I went to Moravian and I graduated from Moravian. I married my first husband.

GE: Excuse me, Moravian -- did you go to Moravian College?

EH: It was a women's college. It was only a women's college.

SC: You didn't go to the academy, though?

EH: No. The Academy was high school. I went to Whitehall's High School -- public school. But I went to Moravian and graduated my-- as a English and History Major, and with teaching qualifications.

SC: May I stop you here? Do you mind if we turn off the TV?

EH: Oh yeah, not at all.

[cross chatter, irrelevant to interview]

EH: -- too detailed?

SC: No, not at all.

GE: Not at all.

EH: I think it might be boring.

SC: No. The more detail you can give, the better. So let me just take you back for one minute. What was your mother's maiden name? Do you know?

EH: It was Ostrovesky.

SC: Can you spell that?

EH: Yeah. O-S-T-R-O-V-E-S-K-Y.

SC: And her family was from Warsaw?

EH: Her family was from- first from Pinchov which is P-I-N-C-H-O-T. O-V? O-V or O-T. Pinchov. It was this very small shtetl. And then they moved, I think to Lodz, which was a big community, and my mother worked there in a knitting- she told me, in a knitting factory. They made caps- hats, knitted caps. And then she 00:10:00met my father and they married there, and then moved to Warsaw, which was even a bigger community then. Lodz was a textile community.

SC: So it's in your blood a little.

EH: Well, by marriage only. Bakery -- the baking business is our business. Okay so where [was I]?

SC: You graduated from Moravian.

EH: I graduated from Moravian.

GE: And you know what? Actually, I'm sorry. One other question. You said that you started meeting- making some Jewish friends, were they people from the Allentown community?

EH: Yes, I would go into the Jewish Community Center, at 6th and Chew Street. And there were a lot of, you know, teenager groups. And we did a lot of things as groups in those days.

SC: And did you meet your husband there?

EH: Yes, my first husband. His name was Marvin Goldberg. And I, well, I married 00:11:00my junior year in- I married him my junior year in college. And four years later, I had my oldest son, Richard. Richard-

GE: I'm sorry. Your husband, your first husband, what was his first name?

EH: Marvin.

GE: Marvin.

EH: He was also an Allentonian. And Richard lives across the street from me.

SC: Oh, that's nice.

EH: Yeah. Okay, so where are we?

SC: Your first husband, what business was he in?

EH: Um, let's see. He was originally an X-ray technician -- when I married him, he- that's what he was doing in New York. And later, he- I think he worked for 00:12:00his parents for a while. They had a delicatessen in Allentown. All right. So we're now--

GE: So he was working and living in New York City?

EH: When I married, when I married him.

GE: Right, so did you go to New York City?

EH: No, he came back. This little girl didn't want to leave Allentwn! I was pretty sheltered, I must say, after being the youngest of five children.

GE: So he moved back to Allentown, and he worked in his parents' deli.

EH: Yeah, he did that, and I think he also did other jobs. I think maybe in the textile industry. I think he worked for Mishkin for a while. Al Mishkin -- they're cousins by the way. They're first cousins. And let's see, where am I?

SC: Let's see, your oldest son. How many children?

EH: He has four children. He married his college sweetheart and had four children. And he came into, let's see -- do you want to know his statistics? He-- no, not too much.

GE: I don't think he. . .

SC: Yeah. And do you have any other children?

EH: Yes. I subsequently married Bernie Halperin and it was the Halperin family that worked in the textile business. He was in it. He was-- he manufactured, had a clothing factory in Slatington. In the interim, I taught at the Jewish Community Center in the . . . as a nursery school teacher for about seven years, and I did a little teaching for the Jewish Day School, too.

SC: Did your first husband pass away or did you divorce?

EH: We divorced. My second husband passed away.

GE: How long were you married to Marvin Goldberg?

EH: I think about 10 years.

SC: And did you have any other children together?

EH: Just one.

SC: Just Richard. And then you taught at . . .

EH: I taught at the Jewish Community Center, and the reason I did that, I didn't go into public schools, was I wanted to have the same holidays off. Ricky was going to the Jewish Day School and I didn't want to leave him with babysitters, and they weren't that available, so I chose some institution where I would have the same holidays off and I could, you know, be with him. So I taught there for seven years, although I was really overqualified, I felt it was important that I raise my child myself.

SC: So when did you meet. . . .?

EH: Oh, I got a Masters too, in the interim. In-- I got a Master of Science in Education from Temple University after oh, I don't know how many years -- Ricky was about six I think, or seven when I, you know, did get my Masters. Okay, now where are we?

SC: Then you met Mr. Halperin?

EH: Yes, we married. And we weren't married very long before he died. Yeah. And I, I was now-- had a 12 year old and a new baby, Jonathan, and I, I didn't see myself-- How do I go back to teaching public school and leaving two children 00:16:00now? So I chose to go up, although I knew not a thing about the garment industry, I said I see other people in this industry with less talent than I have, so maybe I can make it. So I went up with fresh eyes and I, took me a while because, you know, it took me a year to just adjust myself. But I became very successful there. I guess, fresh eyes and I had a lot of obstacles, but I overcame them.

SC: And this was in Slatington with the Halperin family?

EH: Not the Halperin family, they had nothing to do with it. It was my husband's factory. He started that factory with one of the Senderowitzs.

GE: This is Bernie started it.

EH: Bernie. He started that, I don't know what year. I honestly can't remember what year. I have a plaque somewhere.

GE: But is this around 1950? 1950 is around when I assume. is Richard about 60?

EH: Yes.

GE: Okay, so that's around 1950, '51, '52. Right? Around '52. Did Bernie already have the factory?

EH: No, it was around. . . .Jonathan was born in '64, so I took over after. Late '64, early '65.

GE: And how long did the factory already. . . . was it-?

EH: It was there a long time, over twenty years probably.

GE: Oh so he and Senderowitz . . .

EH: He had been married before.

GE: Right. So he and Senderowitz were already in this business for twenty years.

EH: No, Senderowitz left the business, and it was my husband's. He bought- they were partners, I think my husband bought him out, and then it was only... But the original name was Halsen, in which was Halperin and Senderowitz.

SC: And where was that factory located?

EH: In Slatington.

SC: It was in Slatington.

EH: Yeah. When I took over, there were about 85 people working there. Well it was a pretty daunting -- it was pretty daunting to even think about running it. But I learned fast and my sheltered life was far from sheltered.

GE: And Esther, this is around 1965. right?

EH: Right.

GE: So just to make sure that I understand correctly: So Bernie and one of the Senderowitzs, they started the factory maybe 20 years earlier. But in the meantime, Bernie . . . Senderowitz left, and Bernie-

EH: Bernie married.

GE: Bernie had bought him out.

EH: He had a marriage which was dissolved.

GE: Right. And it was just maybe- how many years do you think he was in it himself? Just the last few years?

EH: That I can't tell you. I have no idea when they parted.

GE: Okay, so this is around 1965, you found yourself being a widow, two children, and you decided to take over, go into the business.

EH: Right, right.

GE: Okay, great. And there were about eighty-five workers.

EH: Then, right.

SC: And what did they produce?

EH: Well they- the factory produced ladie's slacks, shorts, skirts and bathing suits. We were non-union -- he tried very hard to keep away from the union. Most of the plants in Allentown were unionized, but I soon found that I couldn't get 00:20:00big contracts from non-union places, so I decided it was best if I would unionize because, unless you were a union factory, then ILGWU -- you couldn't get the big runs on styles. So I walked into Ike Gordon's ILG- I don't know if you ever heard that name.

GE: I know ILGWU.

EH: Right, well he was the head of the union. I walked in and said, "I'd like you to unionize my factory." He almost dropped dead. And he said, "Are you sure, Esther?" I said, "I'm totally sure." "Are you positive?" I said, "I am totally positive." "Well, why?" I said, "Because I need big manufacturers like Bobby 00:21:00Brooks." And oh, I'm trying to think-- Bobby Brooks. I'm trying to think who the other- but really big manufacturers could give me a big lots to sew. So we were just sewing contractors. And the only way you could make any money was if you weren't changing your styles constantly, having to teach the girls new methods. And then I put in a lot of work aids, which most other factories didn't do.

GE: Say that again -- a lot of what?

EH: Work aids for the sewing machine operators.

GE: And what does a work aid do, what does it mean?

EH: Well, in other words, I would have on their machines automatic cutters that would cut the thread instead of them picking up a scissors and having to cut it and then- So I pursued that area and I became pretty well-automated throughout 00:22:00the factory because I felt that was the wave of the future. You could only get them to produce more if they were able to produce more. And I was one of the first in the area to do that, to highly-automate the factory.

SC: Did that change your work clientele? Ethnically or-

EH: No. The clientele-

SC: Meaning the operators.

EH: Oh no, they were all the same operators -- or I. . . there was constant turnover in the industry. Yeah, Some would go, some would come back, some would get pregnant, Some would come back. There was a constant turnover. But I am I- I really studied the whole thing and I decided where I could make us- how I could make a success of this. In fact, I produced more out of my factory with X amount 00:23:00of girls than most factories in the area did. And the union came in and they audited my books and stayed and watched the production maybe for three or four days because they thought I was cooking the books because I was, I was producing more than anybody else.

GE: Your productivity was very high.

EH: Yeah. And they thought I- so I opened the books and I said, "stay here and watch, see what I'm doing." And they stayed four days and then they left. But I must admit that probably because I was a novice and didn't do things the way they were always done, that I was successful in this business. So I looked for change and I got it and I really liked what I was doing very, very much. And I 00:24:00did a lot of physical work myself. I had two kids to support and instead of having a lot of middle management, I was top management and lots of times middle management. So I physically worked on the as well as ran the business.

SC: Which historically-

EH: Was not the way it was.

SC: No, but the people who did stay involved in the business and didn't farm out the middle, management jobs really do better because-

GE: Well you're in touch.

SC: You're in touch with everything.

EH: Oh yeah, I saw what the problems were. I managed the finishing department, which was the inspecting, the pressing, the hanging and bagging and the tail end of the- I managed that floor as well as running the business.

SC: So you had your hands on quality control?

EH: I did. Yeah, as well as going up and sort of supervising my supervisor upstairs. I really worked very hard. I walked- worked sometimes 12 hours a day.

SC: Did you have only one shift or did you have more than one shift?

EH: I used to have two shifts, but I soon found it wasn't very productive and I stopped. Then I only did one shift.

SC: Where did you workers come from? Did they come mostly-?

EH: That area -- Slatington, Palmerton, Walnutport. That whole area.

SC: And were they more of, ethnically, Pennsylvania Dutch or Eastern European?

EH: They were a mixture, yeah, they were a mixture. Mostly there were a lot of Welsh in that area and a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch, a lot, and some Slovish or, 00:26:00you know, Polish and Slavic groups. And it wasn't easy. They didn't like having a woman boss in the beginning.

GE: Did that- did that then get better?

EH: Well my mechanic -- the mechanic said he didn't know whether he could work for a woman. So I said, "Give it a try. "

SC: Was he Pennsylvania Dutch? I shouldn't have asked that.

GE: Did the women also give you a hard time or was it more the men?

EH: Well, we only had two men. One was a shipper and one was a mechanic. Then Ricky came into the business and he was the industrial engineer. No, I think women sort of resented it in the beginning, too, because most factories had men 00:27:00as the head of the- But, you know, I made very good friends with them. I was their financier, and you know, when they needed money, I would give them my own money. And sometimes I'd get it back, sometimes I didn't. I had to hear all their stories, but I had a lot of empathy for them. I really felt... Pretty horrible because I felt their work was dehumanizing and I- they sat there like a robot all day long and did the same thing, did the same operation, and it was hard work.

GE: Absolutely.

EH: And I was sensitive to that. And I tried not to be an exploiter. I did everything I could to make life as easy for them -- I air conditioned the place, 00:28:00I put in a system that would clean the air so they weren't breathing all the dust and the lint from- So I did the best to make their workplace comfortable and healthy. I did. And I did empathize with the fact that that was the only way they could make a living. I did.