ursula cheshire Archives - Page 2 of 14

Paradise Lost, Part 1

Posted on October 30, 2018 by moose5869

If you’re new to Mystery Dancer, welcome! The best place to start is at the beginning and go from there.

The 91st annual Lei Day celebration at Honolulu’s Kapiolani Park, May 1, 2018. (Photo by Yi-Chen Chiang / Shutterstock.com)

This is Part 1 of a three-part post.

MAY 1 OF THIS YEAR MARKED HAWAII’S 91^ST LEI DAY, a celebration of the “aloha spirit.” American poet and journalist Don Blanding proposed this holiday in 1928, the year Ursula lived in Honolulu. The public loved the idea, and May Day was selected as the official date for giving flower necklaces to one another as an expression of friendliness and the joy of living in Hawaii.

On that first Lei Day, throngs crowded to the Bank of Hawaii for a program of Hawaiian music, the crowning of the Lei Queen and her court, and presentation of prizes in a lei contest. According to subsequent news reports, smiles came easily to Honolulu residents on that festive day; nearly everyone—no doubt, including Ursula—wore a lei of some kind, and “throughout the city the spirit of happiness reigned.”

First Lei Day (“Honolulu Star-Bulletin,” May 1, 1928)

Four and a half months later, the entire city would unite again—but this time in shock and horror, as well as sympathy. On the morning of Wednesday, September 19, 1928, Ursula could not have missed the bold, black front-page headlines splashed across the width of The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, respectively: “GILL JAMIESON, 10, KIDNAPED” (sic), and “POSSE SCOURS OAHU FOR KIDNAPPED JAMIESON BOY; SEEK ABDUCTORS.” Continue Reading →

A Bridge to Friendship in Honolulu

Posted on October 16, 2018 by moose5869

If you’re new to Mystery Dancer, welcome! The best place to start is at the beginning and go from there.

AS URSULA AND ELIZABETH settled into Honolulu life, they began to socialize with other young women who lived and worked in the city—both newcomers like themselves, as well as at least one longtime Honolulu resident who was a “frequent flyer” in the local newspapers’ “Society” pages.

Bridge parties that Ursula attended featured in Honolulu newspapers’ “Society” pages

On the evening of July 12, 1928, Ursula and Elizabeth traveled several blocks from their apartment to visit the home of their new friends Betty Schlarb, Marie Harbor and Anita Osberg for a bridge party. The trio had decorated their two-bedroom Haulani Court cottage—one of a group of 14 rental properties right on Waikiki Beach—in a color scheme of orange and green for the occasion. The hosts and their 18 guests, all women, vied for game prizes reserved for the highest scorers.

Originally from Washington State, Betty, Marie and Anita had sailed from Seattle to Honolulu in mid-April of that year. It’s not clear if Betty and Marie, who were Beta Phi Alpha sorority sisters at the University of Washington, knew Anita beforehand or had become friends with her on the cruise ship.

Continue Reading →

A Visitor from San Francisco

Posted on October 9, 2018 by moose5869

If you’re new to Mystery Dancer, welcome! The best place to start is at the beginning and go from there.

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT CREATING AND SHARING “Mystery Dancer,” but one of my favorite aspects is the detective work. My husband is amazed by my research skills, and tells me I should work for the NSA. It’s true, I love watching a picture take shape and sharpen as I discover and connect the “dots,” but I think I’ll focus on Ursula for now.

While researching her time in Hawaii, I came across a curious if confusing news item in the July 15, 1928 Honolulu Advertiser.

Was this news brief from the July 15, 1928 “Honolulu Advertiser” correct?

Continue Reading →

A Hawaiian Romance

Posted on September 25, 2018 by moose5869

At some point during her Hawaiian adventures, Ursula met a young man named Samuel B. Riddick. I don’t know how they met, but I like to think it was at the Buick car dealership, where he worked as a salesman. It’s possible that Ursula’s friend Elizabeth bought her Buick sedan or had it serviced there, and perhaps Ursula accompanied her, catching Samuel’s eye.

Samuel B. Riddick worked for a time in his early twenties as a Buick salesman

And why wouldn’t she? She was a beautiful, stylish, vivacious and confident young woman of independent means who was intelligent and well traveled – from Europe to the Grand Canyon. A couple of future news articles (to be revealed in a later post) would mention that they had met and had a romance in Hawaii around this time. Continue Reading →

Ursula’s Hawaiian Adventure Continues

Posted on September 18, 2018 by moose5869

Illustration of a female surfer in a 1923 issue of “Judge”—five years before Ursula visited (and possibly surfed in) Hawaii

Beyond enjoying live music and dancing at her luxury hotel and checking out the waterfront activities on Waikiki beach, Ursula would have ventured further afield to experience more of Oahu, her host island.

She might have walked down the street from her hotel to the Sutherland Oriental Shop in the new Waikiki business district to find her mother a special gift, like silk embroidery, handkerchiefs or a kimono. Or perhaps she stopped at the new restaurant nearby—Barbecue Inn—to try their toasted barbecued sandwiches, frogs legs, and Japanese tea. Continue Reading →