Grandfather Harvey- Hollywood High School Printing Instructor 1928-1941

(SKH NOTE-  Below blog updated 6.10.2010 See additional entries bottom paragraphs.)

FROM PRINTER TO POOKA

Hollywood, California

Thanks to some old fashioned gumshoe sleuthing by my brother, Kelvin and his wife, Angel, (with perhaps a little unseen help from “Harvey” the invisible rabbit and pooka extraordinaire) we now have some new information and photos to add to the Grandfather Harvey story. (Charles Eugene Harvey, 1879-1949, was my mother’s father)  For those unfamiliar with the story I recommend you check out my original blog on my grandfather Charles Harvey, “A Death in the Family: There’s Mischief Afoot?”  Found here.  

Hollywood High claims over 500 “celebrity student” to name just a few:

Vicent Bugliosi, Carol Burnett, Lon Chaney Jr., Judy Garland, Laurence Fishburne, Tamar Hodel, Stephen Kay, Carole Lombard, Ricky Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jason Robards, Alexis Smith, Lana Turner, and Fay Wray.

Kelvin and Angel went to Hollywood High School last week and were able to obtain some Xerox copies from the Year Books which showed our grandfather, Charles Harvey was employed and taught printing to students from 1928-1941. This was an exciting family discovery, since previous to this discovery, no family photograph of grandfather were known to exist.

Hollywood High School Men’s Faculty- 1928

Charles Harvey in Hollywood High School Year Books 1930s 1940s

HARVEY & HARVEY- FROM PRINTER TO POOKA

Reprinted below is an excerpted anecdote (The Harvey Story) from “A Death in the Family- There’s Mischief Afoot”, as originally blogged by me one-year ago in June, 2009. (I have also made some corrected Author Note changes in bold.)

…

In physical appearance, I favor my mother’s side of the family.  The Harvey’s (U.K.) and the Boyles (Cork County, Ireland) from whom I also inherited my thirsty Irish genes.

From my boyhood, I remember my grandfather, Charles Eugene Harvey as a bear of a man, with snow white hair and a big smile, but that’s about all.

Mostly, I remember my mother’s stories about him. Her father was born in Pittsburg, PA. He was one of six brothers, four of whom worked in the coal mines. Mother would frequently retell us three sons the story of how at the turn of the century, these six brothers, all over six-feet tall, would walk into a bar-room, order “sarsaparilla” (a non-alcoholic precursor to “Root Beer”) and look around the room just daring anyone make a snide remark or  snicker. Tough, coalminers all.

(Author Note-  6.6.2010- As seen in these newly discovered photographs, while grandfather does appear “burly” he cannot be much more than about 5-8 in height, so he was either “the runt of family” or the six-foot stature was my childhood misrembrance of my mother’s original description.)

Mother was born in 1906, in New York’s Central Park West. Three-years later, the family moved west to Los Angeles. Grandfather, got a job with the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper as a linotype operator, where he worked until retirement. His second career began after his divorce from grandmother, when he started teaching printing at Hollywood High School. 

(Author Note- 6.6.2010- With the new documentation we can now further correct the record. We now know that grandfather Harvey was employed as a Hollywood High School printing instructor from 1928 until at least 1941, so his job at the Los Angeles Examiner was either a partime second-job during the Depression years or he worked two jobs.)

At age 62 (?) he washed his hands of the printer’s ink, and in semi-retirement, donned the uniform of a doorman, complete with gold buttons and epaulets, at one of  Hollywood’s fancy hotels. 

Mother had a tremendous love for her father. She spoke proudly of the chess-playing atheist who was a voracious reader, a liberal, a thinker and a scholar.  She affectionately described him as a lover of people and life.  

My favorite anecdote about grandfather was the story mother told us about when he was a hotel doorman in Hollywood.  At the hotel he met a woman, who was staying as a long-term guest.  Everyday grandfather would be there to open the door for her as she came and went. The woman was a writer, and being kindred spirits–naturally, they became friends.

One day, she checked out of the hotel and returned to the East. During her stay at the hotel, she had written a play. In November, 1944, it premiered on Broadway. It was a smash hit and ran for nearly five-years. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945. The name of the playwright? Mary Chase. Her play? HARVEY. Based on her friendship and affection for grandfather, the friendly hotel doorman, she honored him by naming her pooka, the invisible 6-6″ rabbit, after him! 

Hollywood High School campus in 1920s and 1930s

UPDATE TO CURRENT BLOG  6.10.10

I.   After receiving the above information on my grandfather I did a little research and located and ordered the Hollywood High School “Crimson and White” booklet which was an informational brochure made by the student body and printed at the school printing press.  I found a booklet printed in 1923-24 and upon receiving it, much to my surprise discovered that grandfather Harvey was teaching printing in 1923! This means he was on faculty at the high school campus for more than 20-years! I have also included a scan of the loyalty song from 1923. Do you think it has changed any? See photos below:

                                 Grandfather Harvey Printing Instructor at Hollywood High 1923

 

 

 

 

1923 Hollywood High School “Loyalty Song”

 

Seen in photo below are, “Harvey Hunters”, brother Kelvin (11 months yournger than I) and his wife, Angel, 20 something?

 

 

 

 

The below e-mail comment was received today from “D.E”, a highly respected local L.A. researcher/historian. Thanks much for the kind words and encouragement- “D”.

D.E., Los Angeles