I used to keep diaries for several years of my early life. One of them, containing the material below, had been missing for quite a while, but I finally located it. This is a daily journal, the date on the front cover is 1947. It was from the company of Frank D. Richardson, Life Insurance -- Estate Planning, 609 So. Grand Ave., TU 1211 (?), Los Angeles 14, Calif. I have no idea where this book came from; the days are out of sync with the actual dates in 1956. In the 1950s I had relatives in the Los Angeles area, but I think we visited them in 1958, not 1956. There are entries only on some pages.February 2-25, 1956
The month of January is missing, diary starts on February 2, 1956 when I was 6 years old, 7 years old 2 weeks later. Writing is in pencil, printed. There is some minor writing in pen on the first entry. Entries stop on February 25, "1959" is written beside the date February 26, but there is no entry. On February 11, there is a reference "Went to TV." My family didn't have a TV, I used to go to the neighbor's to watch Disneyland. To check that this date was correct, I looked up the TV listings for February 11, 1956 and Disneyland is on that date on local channel CBUT at 5:30 p.m. Note there were only 5 channels available (no cable in those days). On date for February 16 (my birthday), "Thursday" (the correct day) is written.March 14-March 18, 1958
Next entry is Tuesday, March 18 written over "March 12," entry is very short as if abandoned, then there is a full entry on March 14, date is written over March 13, above March 15 entry on next page, "1958" is written with arrows pointing down to entry for March 15. Writing (not printing) is in pen. Last entry here is March 17. Above March 22 (page for March 18-March 21 is missing) "1959" is added, but there is nothing else. Entry for Sunday, March 15 has a reference to watching Zorro and Mighty Mouse on TV. I looked up the TV listings for that day and both of those programs are included. Note there are now 7 TV channels to choose from. (I think we had our ownTV at this point.)May 15-May 24, 1958
Next entry is May 15, no year indicated. Continues to May 24, entries are in in pen, written.July 3, 1958
Next entry is July 3, "1958" is written. Mother, brother and I are going to California on the train for a holiday to visit my aunt and uncle in Sacramento, there are no entries from the trip after this. Writing is in pen and pencil for this entry.September 30, 1958
Next entry is September 30, 1958, which was erased. I used certain techniques to try and reveal what was written, but the results were not that great.November 17-December 29, 1958
Next entry is November 17, "1958" is written beside date. Writing is in pen, a couple of the entries in the following section are in pencil. Someone, not me, wrote jokes in entry for Dec. 21, Dec. 21 and Dec. 22 replace entry for 22, Dec. 23 replaces 27, half is supposed to be for Dec. 27, but that is blank, Dec. 25 and Dec. 26 replaces 28, Dec. 24 and 27 replace Dec. 29, Dec. 28 and 29 replace Dec. 30 (final entry) Large piece of yellowed Scotch tape was on Dec. 26/27 entry, this damaged some of the writing on both sides of the page.At the back of the journal is a "Directory" where there are names of 8 people written (I don't think the first one was written by me) with phone numbers or other information.
