0:00Herman Landau:
This is Herman Landau. I'm interviewing Lewis Conn, L-E-W-I-S C-O-N-N, at his
home on August the 15th, 1977. Now Lewis, what can you tell me about your
family, and how they got to Louisville, and so on?
Lewis Conn:
Well, my grandfather, who was Morris Cohen, died before my father was married.
So I never knew him. And he came from somewhere in Russia, and I'm not sure
where in Russia he came from. My father was one of 11 children, and my father
was born in Louisville. And as far as I know, most of the other 10 children were
also born in Louisville. My father was, however, one of the younger members of
the family.
Herman Landau:
Was your mother a Louisvillian?
Lewis Conn:
My mother was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And her family lived in Tuscaloosa,
and in Nashville, and she came to Louisville to what was then known as the Old
Normal School down on Upper Broadway.
Herman Landau:
On Broadway.
Lewis Conn:
And she came to study under a Miss [Stagy 00:01:23] to be a kindergarten
teacher. And she taught kindergarten for one year, met my father, got married,
and that was the end of her teaching career.
Lewis Conn:
She- my mother's family was largely Hungarian Jewish in background. Her mother
was born in Detroit. And I really have very little background about my
grandmother's antecedents except that I know that she came from Detroit. And my
maternal grandfather, whose name was Victor Freidman, he came to this country by
himself from Hungary when he was 12 years old. Lived in the East for awhile, and
settled in Alabama. Irene has been part of the family for something like 37
years, and she knows a few stories-
Irene:
Well that is what I was going to say. Aren't you more interested in the
Louisville aspect of this family?
Herman Landau:
Yeah, we're really interested in-
Lewis Conn:
You want to keep it to Louisville.
Herman Landau:
Yeah.
Lewis Conn:
Okay.
Herman Landau:
We can get too afar field otherwise.
Lewis Conn:
Okay. Okay. My father was taken out of school after one year at Manual. One of
his big memories was that he was a schoolmate of Fontaine Fox at Manual, the
cartoonist. And put to work in his father's tailor shop. And this was M. Cohen
and Sons, and it was at Third and Market, catty-corner to where the Levi
Brothers is. And he spent his life as a merchant tailor.
Lewis Conn:
He did well financially, I think, during World War II, and shortly after that.
And at one point he branched out from the family business and set up his own
store on Fourth Street about where [Bix 00:03:37] is, as I remember now. It was
called Knox Tailor Shop, K-N-O-X. And he became a specialist in making uniforms
for Fort Knox officers. And that was a good period. And after the war, and at
the beginning of the depression, and that pretty much marked the end of made to
order clothing.
Lewis Conn:
And my father was not a strong business man. I'm not sure how intimate you want
to get in all of this. I'm not sure how relevant it is, but in any case, he was
not a successful business man. And the family was never desperately poor during
the depression. We were comfortable, but...
Herman Landau:
Did you grow up in that same neighborhood, that you always lived out there on
Third Street, near the monument?
Lewis Conn:
No, I was born in Ouerbacker Court. You've probably got a lot on your tape
already about Ouerbacker Court.
Irene:
It seems like every Jew in Louisville was born or lived in Ouerbacker Court.
Lewis Conn:
Well, the [Gladders 00:04:59] lived next door for awhile, and then the [Slungs
00:05:02] lived next door. And I was a little kid, I'd want to stay there.
Herman Landau:
Yeah, the Schulman family was there.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah. And Rabbi Gittleman was down the block.
Herman Landau:
Rabbi Gittleman.
Lewis Conn:
... was down the block. I lived there till I was 11 years old. And the Kleins
were across the street. We were in the corner house, they were- on the second
floor, and they were in the corner house on the second floor. This may fill up
your tape unnecessarily, but-
Herman Landau:
Which Kleins are these?
Lewis Conn:
This was Jimmy and Eddie. Jimmy's dead now. Eddie, I've lost touch with. Harry Klein.
Herman Landau:
You mean People's Industrial? That Klein?
Lewis Conn:
I think that's the same Klein, yeah.
Herman Landau:
Eddie died not long ago it seemed to me.
Lewis Conn:
Maybe. And it was pretty largely a Jewish court, although there were gentile
families down at the other end like Billy Arthur. Remember Billy?
Herman Landau:
Yeah. Yeah.
Lewis Conn:
And Dr. Metcalf who used to advertise painless dentistry.
Herman Landau:
Yeah.
Lewis Conn:
Whose daughter is still a friend of ours, Catherine. I stopped by there a few
weeks ago. I was very curious about it. I'd passed by so often because Magnolia
is an entrance to the expressway. And I kept wondering what it would look like
if I went back again. And finally, a few months ago, I was passing by. There's a
woman sitting upstairs on our old porch.
Lewis Conn:
And I got up enough nerve to stop the car, and walk over, and say, "Look, I used
to live here about 50 some odd years ago. Would you mind very much if I came up
to take a look?" She hesitated a long time, for which I don't blame her, and
then said- finally said, "Come on up." And I didn't even recognize the place
because they'd taken a duplex and made a fourplex out of it, walls. And I got it
out of my system.
Lewis Conn:
Anyhow, after 11 years, we moved to the Highlands, that was a step up. And we
lived at 1540 Eastern Parkway, which is at Newburg Road. And we lived there for
a few years, and then moved down to Sherman Place where my parents lived for 25 years.
Herman Landau:
Was that a Jewish neighborhood, Sherman Place?
Lewis Conn:
Pretty much, yeah. I suspect about half the people in Sherman Place were Jewish.
And let me see if I can recall some. Well, Nathan Frankel. I worked for Nathan
Frankel at his drug store-
Herman Landau:
Drug store.
Lewis Conn:
... at Third and Avery which, that's gone now. I got paid 75 cents a shift. And
this was while I was going to U of L. The shift started at six o'clock at night,
and it ended at 11 o'clock at night. And on Sundays, I went to work at one
o'clock, and got off at 11 o'clock at night. And then I got paid a dollar and a
quarter. So I haven't been a fond admirer of Mr. Frankel [laughing 00:08:14].
But I worked there while I was at U of L for three years. And my fourth year, I
became editor of the Cardinal, and got paid $50 a semester. So I quit the drug
store job.
Irene:
Millie lived there.
Lewis Conn:
Millie lived right across the... well sort of catty-cornered across the street.
And the Langs lived directly across the street in that old house.
Herman Landau:
Yeah, you got to get-
Irene:
And Dr. Goodman lived next door.
Herman Landau:
You got to give full names here because-
Lewis Conn:
Okay. This was Mose Lang.
Herman Landau:
Mose Lang, the furniture-
Lewis Conn:
No. I don't know. Mose, as far as I know, didn't do any work for years. His
daughter was Janet Lang.
Herman Landau:
Janet Lang.
Lewis Conn:
And you know Janet.
Herman Landau:
Yeah, I know Janet. She's still around town.
Lewis Conn:
And Irv was his son. And Irv was also, he was ... tall, very ungainly and
awkward guy, and had trouble with social relations, and spend a lot of time
coaching kids games.
Irene:
I think he was mentally deficient.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah, I think he was retarded.
Irene:
Or, retarded.
Lewis Conn:
In Sherman Place itself-
Irene:
Dr. Goodman was [crosstalk 00:09:27].
Lewis Conn:
-well yeah, Doc Goodman was our next door neighbor.
Herman Landau:
Was that the athletic Doc Goodman?
Lewis Conn:
No, this was the physician.
Herman Landau:
Or, is that the physician from Seventh and-
Lewis Conn:
From Seventh and Hill.
Herman Landau:
-Hill. Arthur Goodman-
Lewis Conn:
Arthur Goodman.
Herman Landau:
... was his name.
Lewis Conn:
As a matter of fact, when my mother first came to Louisville, she lived with the
Goodman family. She was a boarder, a roomer. And so that friendship persisted
throughout their lives, and he was a very close friend. And his apartment in
Sherman Place and ours were separated by a wall. And on the sun porch, it was
very thin wall so we could communicate between the wall. Let's see who else
lived in the court.
Irene:
Esther [Sachs 00:10:18].
Lewis Conn:
Esther Sachs lived there. Frank Brownstein. Frank Brownstein who was-
Herman Landau:
He sold-
Lewis Conn:
... circulation for the old Herald-Post.
Herman Landau:
He sold advertising for the Courier and the Times of a long time.
Lewis Conn:
Right. He was in our same entrance. Vic Lewis, who worked for Swift Packing. He
was a salesman for Swift. And his daughter Jean has now- has been married for
many years now to Johnny Mayer who's an attorney here. You know Johnny?
Herman Landau:
Yeah. Did he become part of [Fedders 00:10:55] once upon a time? Or-
Lewis Conn:
No, I think that-
Herman Landau:
... Ed Lewis?
Lewis Conn:
No. Vic Lewis sold meats.
Herman Landau:
Yeah.
Irene:
And who was the family, the old woman that we used to go to see, her daughter
lived with her and took care of her?
Lewis Conn:
Oh, this was Daisy Klein who was Nathan Frankel's sister.
Irene:
Oh. Oh. And her mother was-
Lewis Conn:
And her mother lived-
Irene:
To a very old age.
Lewis Conn:
... many, many, many years. Right.
Irene:
And Daisy used to take her of her.
Lewis Conn:
Let's see. Harry [Ziegert 00:11:34] lived there. And Arnold and Kenny grew up there.
Herman Landau:
They're all pharmacists around town now.
Lewis Conn:
Well now, Kenny is a physician, and I think he's an OB. And he's got offices
over here on Klondike Lane next to his uncle's store, Leon Ziegert.
Herman Landau:
Yeah.
Irene:
[And a pharmacy 00:11:57].
Lewis Conn:
And my brother, Dick, he used to work for Harry Ziegert at the... I think he had
a store at Seventh and Oak.
Herman Landau:
Seventh and Oak.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah. And Dick used to work there.
Irene:
They also used to babysit for the boys when they were little.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah. And let's see, who else lived in the Court? Well, my- Alvin Cohen, who
became Alvin Colt, who was my first cousin, he was the son of my father's
youngest brother, Alvin, who died young. He died from a strange disease, which I
think was the same type of disease that Lou Gehrig had. It was very unusual. And
Alvin's mother, my Uncle Alvin's wife was a Letterman, Flora Letterman.
Herman Landau:
Was that the doctor's family? There was a Dr. Letterman around town.
Lewis Conn:
It might've been. If you haven't talked to Ruth Diamond, I understand she's got
all the connections.
Herman Landau:
Well, I'm not making all of these interviews, you know? There's a whole-
Lewis Conn:
Oh I see.
Herman Landau:
-group of people. I'm just doing a few. They're farmed out.
Lewis Conn:
I got you. Okay. And Flora was... are you interested in anecdotes?
Herman Landau:
Yes.
Lewis Conn:
She was a local character. She was a huge woman. Extremely overweight. And she
also was a very jolly person, and managed to talk her way out of any situation
she got into. And she generally managed to get herself into situations. She was
doing volunteer work down at City Hospital, and she was late one day. And she
was charging down Barrett and the Broadway Hill when she got stopped by a cop.
Irene:
She was racing down in a car.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah, she was speeding. She got stopped by a cop, and she said, "Oh officer,
don't stop me now. I'm on my way to the maternity ward." Which she was, in fact.
He says, "Okay lady." And he pulled in front of her. He took her on down to City
Hospital [laughing 00:14:12].
Lewis Conn:
And another time, I remember when my cousin and I were about, oh, 13 years old,
and too young to drive a car, she was stop on Fourth Street at Stewart's to go
and exchange something. But she just left the car parked at the curb right at Stewart's.
Irene:
Right at the entrance.
Lewis Conn:
Those were the days when they had police directing traffic. And this cop came
scrolling over, and he said, "You have to move that car." I said, "We don't
drive. We're too young to drive." And he said, "Well, it has to be moved." And
about that time, Ant Flora came out of Stewart's, and he turned around and
looked at her, and he said, "Well, I might have known it would be you."
[laughing 00:14:50] Used to carry apples and cookies and what not to bribe the
cops wherever she was. She was a memorable character.
Lewis Conn:
Alvin went on to be a theatrical costume designer and set designer in New York.
And has done some very prominent shows, most of which escape me at the moment.
Do you remember some, honey? I think he did Fanny.
Irene:
Oh God. Don't ask me now. He did a lot of recent shows. And he did some recent
spectaculars on television. But I can't remember.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah. So he's built up something of a name for himself. But I've lost touch with
him. Let's see, what else can I tell you about our family?
Herman Landau:
Well, what became of all these others?
Lewis Conn:
I have one cousin-
Irene:
The 11 brothers all died.
Lewis Conn:
I have one cousin living in town, and that's Irv Cohen who lives down in
Pavilion Way, and has worked in the furniture business most of his life, and
currently he's retired or semi-retired. And does some selling down at
Bensinger's. He was the son of my Uncle Meyer. My Uncle Meyer and my father had
a falling out. They didn't get along very well. And for years my father was very
bitter about all-
Irene:
[inaudible 00:16:32].
Lewis Conn:
-this. And there were just no communication between him and Meyer. The other two
brothers, Alvin died young, and Max, who was the patriarch of the family was
really a substitute, authoritarian father had also died.
Lewis Conn:
Max had one child who died young. There was a story about him. His name was
Martin. And Irv, who was known as Sweetie - and probably still is, although he's
over 70- sitting on my grandfather's lap when they were children, running their
fingers through his beard. And one of the kids said, "Gee, look at that
mustache." And the other one said, "Them ain't mustache, them's swiggers." And
that got handed down through the family.
Irene:
All of the brothers, there were 11 children, and they're all dead.
Lewis Conn:
There were seven girls and four boys.
Irene:
The brothers died young. And the girls lived-
Lewis Conn:
Now, one sister-
Irene:
[crosstalk 00:17:51]
Lewis Conn:
One sister, Jenny, married Lloyd [Shapinsky 00:17:56] who was a brother to
Mildred's father. And Mildred always claimed kinship with me because of this.
They had several children, most of whom will settle throughout the South.
Memphis, principally. Celia Lightman was Jenny and Louis Shapinsky's daughter.
She introduced my mother to my father. And they're in Memphis. And M.A. Lightman
Sr. has been dead for a number of years. M.A. Jr. is a cousin, a second cousin,
and he runs the family enterprises in Memphis which consist of movies, and
shopping centers, and whatnot. They've done pretty well.
Herman Landau:
Yeah, I've heard of them.
Lewis Conn:
Let's see. Two of my father's sisters, married brothers named Wolfe in
Cincinnati. Although none of them is left. They're all dead now, I think. One
married a portrait painter, Ellis Silvette. I think he was Meyer Silvette, and
he went under the name of Ellis Silvette. And he was quite a fine portrait
painter. He did the official portrait of Robert E. Lee from photographs. It
hangs in the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia. And he had four children, and were
all very talented. And I think two of them became portrait painters. One of them
became a scientist. But my father's family wasn't very, very close. My mother's
family was.
Irene:
Well, when Alvin's mother, Annie who remained here in Louisville.
Lewis Conn:
Right. Annie married Abe Rothstein, and they had one son Alvin, who died a few
years ago. He married Ray [Matz 00:20:18], and they had one daughter who married
a very wealthy guy in Atlanta, [Shep Ladder 00:00:20:27] who is now passed on.
And again, we've had no direct contact, but Irene heard that she inherited $34
million, and has since remarried, and is enjoying life.
Lewis Conn:
One sister, Mary, married a man named Marcus Kahn, K-A-H-N. [silence
00:21:02]Junk and variety store down on Jefferson or Market Street, I think. I
remember as a child, his sitting out in front of that store on a straight backed
chair leaned up against the wall waiting for customers to come in. Well,
eventually the family moved to New York, and Marcus settled down on them in an
apartment in New York. And for the rest of his life, he never got off that
block. They got him away from in front of the store, and they got him to New
York, and he settled down on that block.
Lewis Conn:
Marcus had two sons. One of whom, Herbert Kahn, became a very prominent
executive with, what's the big, you have Alabama roots, what's the big coal and
power company-
Herman Landau:
-Tennessee Coal?
Lewis Conn:
-in Alabama?
Herman Landau:
Tennessee Coal and Iron?
Lewis Conn:
It was Tennessee Coal and Iron.
Herman Landau:
Part of the US Steel bureaucrats.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah. And he was an executive. One of my cousins... Another sister married a
Rosenberg in New York. [silence 00:22:31]Again, I'm not sure whether he was
alive. His son has done a lot of television stuff, written for television, and
we used to catch his name on [silence 00:22:45] ...
Irene:
[Chapin 00:22:46] was the Shapinsky who-
Lewis Conn:
No, that's [crosstalk 00:22:48].
Irene:
... did all that Studio One writing. He was a-
Lewis Conn:
No, that's [silence 00:22:53]...
Herman Landau:
Now, was your family active in any community organizations or Jewish life in Louisville.
Lewis Conn:
Not really. [silence 00:23:10] who was over with her local union. And that led
to our courtship, which took place-
Irene:
Wait they're interested in Louisville not in New York [crosstalk 00:23:15].
Lewis Conn:
Well, Herman's a newspaper man, and he can eliminate this if he wants to. But we
conducted our courtship in the cafeteria of the Newspaper Guild, which was in
the same building as her local union. But I did get diverted from what I was
talking about, which is what happened to me after I left Louisville. And that
was part of what happened to me after I left Louisville.
Irene:
Why don't you talk about your experiences during the flood, if you're interested
in them.
Lewis Conn:
No, that has no Jewish roots. I left the Socialist Party, and decided it was
ineffective, and I decided there was a lot more vitality in the capitalist
system than I thought back in the 30s. But I did believe that the trade union
movement could be a force for peaceful and effective change, and went to work
with the Textile Workers Union in New York. And that's where I was when the army
drafted me at the age of 27.
Lewis Conn:
And when I got out of the army, I wasn't really sure whether I wanted to go back
to the trade union movement or not. I thought perhaps I'd want to go into radio.
FM radio was coming on strong at that point. But I was approached by the
president of the Textile Union. Asked if I wanted to go to Danville, Virginia,
where they had a contract with Dan River Mills, with a weak union and a very
difficult situation with management.
Lewis Conn:
So I went to Danville for three years, and they were good and constructive
years. The Jewish community in Danville looked on me with something akin to
horror when I first came there. The idea that a Jew would come in to Danville to
deal with all those cotton mill workers really bothered them.
Irene:
Well it bothered them because they were all the businessman in the community,
and he was a labor organizer. He was a [crosstalk 00:25:29].
Lewis Conn:
As time went on though, it turned out that we developed a very good relationship
with the management to the point where we negotiated the first health insurance
program for any textile workers in the South. We initiated wage patterns
throughout the whole Southern textile industry. And I was something of a local
hero by that point. And it was all right for the Jews in town to talk to me.
Irene:
So then they weren't ashamed of the fact that he [inaudible 00:26:05] be an organizer.
Lewis Conn:
But as a result of my success there, I was appointed state director for the
Textile Union in North Carolina, and moved about 50 miles south of Danville to
Greensboro, and stayed in Greensboro for five years. And during this time there
was a split in the union. There was a political strike called, which was a
disaster. And I became more and more disenchanted.
Lewis Conn:
And at age of 38, felt I was over the hill. That my whole background had been
first in the socialist movement, and then the trade union movement. And I really
didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. And that's when my kid brother
said, "Why don't you come on back to Louisville?" My father was ill, and died
the next year after I did come back.
Lewis Conn:
And we started the Jefferson Reporter with about $300 in cash between us. Most
of my money had been spent, or tied up in the internal fight in the union. I was
one of two state directors to oppose the president of the union in the internal
fight. Which was a quixotic thing to do, I suppose, because he was the one who
paid me [laughing 00:27:33]. But I'd reached the point where that wasn't too
important. And so that was the beginning of my newspaper career back in
Louisville. I don't know. Do you want to go into a short summary of this?
Herman Landau:
Yeah. Did your newspaper career put you in touch with the Jewish community in
any way?
Lewis Conn:
Oh yeah.
Herman Landau:
Other than getting handouts from them?
Lewis Conn:
[laughing 00:28:07] Well, you mean by handouts, releases?
Herman Landau:
Yeah.
Lewis Conn:
No, I got another very real kind of help. I never would've been able to make it
otherwise. We struggled along for about three or four years, and it was obvious
that we were working for the printer. We were buying our printing across the
river in Indiana, type setting, hot metal, and also press work. And we were just
not making a living. The thing that kept me alive in that period was I began
getting some of the back pay that I left behind in the union. And that tied me
over while we were trying to get the paper underway.
Lewis Conn:
But it became obvious that we were going to have to do something to improve the
newspapers finances. And we were looking at offset. At that point there were no
offset newspapers in Kentucky, and not too many around the country. And we
decided if - my brother and I - that if we could acquire a couple of Varitypers,
and the headliner which were put out by a firm which was a subsidiary of
Addressograph-Multigraph now, I'm not sure they were at the time, that we could
compose our own paper. And while we'd still have to buy our press work, we'd be
able to save -excuse me - money by doing our own composition.
Lewis Conn:
But we had no money and very little credit. And I happened to mention this at a
dinner party one night at Frank Judd's, Arthur Kling was there. And Arthur said,
"Why don't you come down to Kling Company, and tell me what you've got in mind?"
And the next day I went down there. And Arthur and- Arthur went my note at the
bank so that we could borrow enough money to get the first offset newspaper in Kentucky.
Lewis Conn:
And Arthur, I guess felt he wanted a little insurance too. So he took me the
next door, and Manny Lipschitz also co-signed the note. So it was well endorsed,
and on that basis I was able to get a bank loan, which enabled us to start the
first offset newspaper in Kentucky. That was a different kind of handout, and a
very welcome one. Because I never would have been able to swing it by myself.
And I really had no financial contacts, and we had been living pretty much a
hand to mouth existence at that point.
Lewis Conn:
Like a lot of people in this community, I feel a great debt to Arthur for that
along with many other things. And I'd say that that was probably the most
significant help I had from anyone in the Jewish community. Let me back up. Let
me go way back to my college days when I was editor of the Cardinal. And at this point-
Herman Landau:
A rebellious editor.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah, at this point I was rebellious editor, and your brother was my most
consistent letter to the editor writer, if you remember?
Herman Landau:
I remember.
Lewis Conn:
And [laughing 00:31:33] I dug up some of those old papers. I was embarrassed by
some of the stuff that I wrote at the time. But what got me thoroughly in a
sense, because I was a rebel at that time, was that I was summoned to appear
before Charlie Morris, who asked me to come down to his office, and it was more
than an invitation. It was almost a command.
Herman Landau:
He issued commands.
Lewis Conn:
And Charlie Morris told me that I was damaging the Jewish community by my
editorial policy on the Cardinal. And in effect suggested that I ought to stop.
And I walked out of his office absolutely furious. And if anything could've come
along at that point in my life to completely alienate me from organized Jewry,
that was it.
Herman Landau:
What was the gist of his complaint?
Lewis Conn:
Well my editorial policy was a radical policy, and certainly radical as far as
he was concerned.
Herman Landau:
But radical in what way that affected the Jewish community? You weren't
pro-Hitler, for instance.
Lewis Conn:
No, and far from it. I was a nonconformist, and this is what bothered him. And
some of the editorials dealt with national and international problems a lot more
than they should have really.
Lewis Conn:
And some of them dealt with campus problems. If you remember, there was quite a
red scare on campus back at that time. That was the Ellis Freeman period. And-
Herman Landau:
Yeah. Dr. Reeve.
Lewis Conn:
Right. And so the Cardinal took a very strong editorial stance for academic
freedom, and against the witch hunt the American Legion wanted the launch, and
against the investigation that the trustees did a launch against Ellis Freeman.
And this was all under my editorship. And I think this was what got Charlie
Morris's nose out of joint as much as any other one issue.
Lewis Conn:
But by that time, I wasn't looking to the Jewish community for my salvation. Or
my- all of this made it strange when I came back to Louisville. Because to some
extent, I came back to my hometown as a stranger. Because all of the
associations of my childhood had diminished. I had no really close friends from
my child. Now, one of the friends that I discovered again, and we're very close
friends now, is Lawrence Bloom. Lawrence and I played together as kids. His parents-
Herman Landau:
This the contractor?
Lewis Conn:
Right.
Irene:
That's right.
Lewis Conn:
His parents, who then lived in Louisville and later moved to Lexington, and my
parents were closest friends. Lawrence and I grew up down, he lived on Brook
Street when I lived in Ouerbacker Court, and we were almost as close as brothers
when we played together. We fought together. He was always tougher than I was
too. And our lives separated pretty much after that. He went out of town to
school. I stayed at U of L. We just didn't see each other in that period very much.
Lewis Conn:
However since- in some years after getting back to Louisville, we found that we
were very close friends, and we see a lot of each other. We vacation together,
and it's been a very good relationship. But that's the only one of my childhood
friends, I guess, I could say that about.
Irene:
That you're really close to now.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah.
Herman Landau:
Did you find-
Lewis Conn:
Go ahead.
Herman Landau:
Did you find a change in the structure of Jewish community while you were away?
Lewis Conn:
Well, I was still at some distance from the Jewish community except for the
Jewish Community Center where Irene became very active, and I became very mildly
active. And so most of our contact with the Jewish community, since we didn't go
to a temple or a synagogue, was through the Center. And a large way through
Irene's involvement in heritage theater, and other activities. And so this was a
form of coming home, but it was a form of coming home with people that I didn't
grow up with.
Irene:
I think there's an interesting story that I always tell about when we moved back
to Louisville, we became acquainted with the Judds. And they-
Herman Landau:
Go ahead.
Irene:
That's okay. And Claire invited us to a dinner party, and she said, "Oh, I want
you to meet some people here in Louisville." And so she invited up to this
dinner party hoping to introduce us to these people. And Lewis walks in, and
Selma and Arthur Kling are sitting there, and they throw their arms around each
other, and kiss each other. And Claire Judd says, "You know each other?"
[laughing 00:37:10] It was a kind of a homecoming there, but actually every
place we go Lewis knows somebody from his childhood.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah, I suppose.
Herman Landau:
Well, Louisville is that kind of a town.
Lewis Conn:
Yeah. Or was. It's spread out a little bit since then. I think in the Jewish
community, this is probably true. Well, what bases haven't we touched?
Irene:
The fact that the building that was your grandfather's and your father's has
been torn down to make the new hotel.
Lewis Conn:
No, it's-
Herman Landau:
That's crazy.
Lewis Conn:
Well, they didn't own it anyhow-
Herman Landau:
- that's the Convention Center.
Irene:
-they leased it on a 99 year lease or something-
Lewis Conn:
Yeah. They had it leased for many, many years. As a matter of fact-
Irene:
That's what is Convention Center.
Lewis Conn:
... we were concerned about what was going to happen to that lease after my
father died. He was the last one. And there wasn't anybody paying any rent on it
anymore. There's your bell. So I guess we're getting near the end of that tape.
You can take a break and have some ice cream now.
Herman Landau:
Yeah, well, I think that-
