Don's other life (1944)

ONE HAM’S FAMILY . . . “We got up bright and early to how-dy do yah.” Don had the boys in mind when he put this thought into the second line of his "First Call to Breakfast.” The boys are always the first ones up in the morning. It is not uncommon to hear Tommy and Donny arguing at 5:30 a. m., whether to take a bath or a shower. Bobby, age 33^2, is custodian of Don’s shaving and dressing mood. He keeps talking to him while he shaves and always appears at the Breakfast table well-lathered and liberally sprinkled with shaving lotion. All of us try to contribute something to Don’s early morning mood. While he’s eating breakfast, I tell him of some silly dream I had. My favorite is the night I was frightened by a queer noise. Quickly turning on the light, I discovered a pair of man’s legs sticking out from beneatli the bed. But, it wasn’t a burglar, it was Don . . . he’d heard the noise first. We usually breakfast together, but the morning this photograph was taken Don was on a bond tour. Clockwise we are Donny, Bobby, Kay and Tommy enjoying that wellknown breakfast cereal. Donny has a new story almost every morning. He particularly likes the one about the little moron who stood on the street corner with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other . . . undecided whether to cut across the street or shoot up the alley. Tommy’s conversation is usually a matter of dollars, more than sense. He always needs money for something important like a baseball mitt. Every morning Bobby inquires, "Is that a new tie you’re wearing. Daddy?” One morning Bobby was making a whirring noise and Don said "Bob — you’re a big airplane.” Bob thought it over and said "Dad, you’re a big silly man.” By the time Don is ready to sprint for the train, he’s a complete wreck but laughing at the top of his voice. And that’s the way one ham’s family primes your Breakfast Club "messer of ceremonies”.