An "Off the Cuff" Letter Home

In yesterday's post, I told you about my granddad's various jobs as a young pharmacist, one of which was a brief stint at Setchel Drugs Store in La Jolla, California.  When he and my grandmother decided to return home to Kentucky, Granddad sent a rather unique letter home to his father, Gilbert Lee, in La Grange.

Address and Postmark on Disposable Shirt Cuff
From Frank Lewis Lee to His Father, Gilbert Oliver Lee
Postmarked La Jolla, CA, 1908

The letter, you see, was written on a disposable men's shirt cuff.  Wait--a disposable cuff?  Yes, it seems this was sort of a fad during the late nineteenth and very early twentieth centuries.  According to Giles Slade in Made to Break:  Technology and Obsolescence in America, because doing laundry at this time was so labor intensive, clothes were often washed only once a week--sometimes less than that.  Shirt fronts, collars, and cuffs were the parts of the garment that were most visible and most likely to become stained or dirty.  Thus, detachable and sometimes disposable paper shirt parts were an easy, practical way for a gentleman to present a clean, proper appearance.

OK, so it's understandable that my grandfather would use these paper cuffs, but to write a letter on one and send it through the mail?  While this seemed to me a very unusual way to pen a letter, evidently this, too,  was a somewhat common practice back in Granddad's day.  Mark Liberman, in an article titled "The 'off the cuff' Mystery," says that the practice of writing quick, informal notes on paper cuffs was also a fad at the turn of the twentieth century.  This is where we get the phrase "off the cuff."

Letter Written on Disposable Shirt Cuff
From Frank Lewis Lee to His Father, Gilbert Oliver Lee
La Jolla, CA, 1908

The "letter" written on the back of the cuff is really a series of brief notes and jokes from my grandfather to his father.  The upper right corner notes the date and place the letter was written:

La Jolla Calif

Aug 21--1908

The body of the letter is written haphazardly across the cuff in four brief notes:

Dear Dad:

"Bill Baily" is coming home.  ha! ha!

Keep your shirt on until we arrive.

Shy of paper & have not worn a cuff in two years.

Leave here Sat. 29th

via Salt Lake & Chicago.

Due in La Grange about

Sept 3rd or 4th.  Will try

to phone you from Louisville

or write you later & will

possibly wire if we go by

Cincinnati.

The letter reads to me as if it was written by a young man who's happy and excited about coming home.  It is signed simply--F. Lee

One final, fun detail is Granddad's reference to Bill Baily coming home.  Most of you will probably know this is a reference to the old song, "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home."  A little research helped me find out that the song was written in 1902 by ragtime composer Hughie Cannon, and it became popular very quickly.  I remember my mom and my aunt singing this song to me when I was a little girl, and I also remember seeing Pearl Bailey perform it on television many years ago.  You might enjoy listening to this old, scratchy version as it was sung and recorded by Dan W. Quinn on April 23, 1902, in Philadelphia, PA.  Here's the link:  "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home," 1902


Sources:

Giles Slade, Made to Break:  Technology and Obsolescence in America (ebook), Amazon, 2007

Mark Liberman, "The 'off the cuff' Mystery," Idioms, Language and Culture, August 16, 2012

"Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home," Hughie Cannon, 1902; recorded by Dan W. Quinn, April 23, 1902, Philadelphia, PA;  Library of Congress, Jukebox Collection

Fridays With Frank: Frank Lewis Lee Begins a Career

Frank Lewis Lee
1903

In 1896 in La Grange, Kentucky, Frank Lewis Lee got his first paying job.  He worked doing odd jobs at McDowell Drug Store on Main Street, just a short walk from the Lee home.  He made $1.50 per week. Granddad soon worked his way up and became a clerk at the drug store, waiting on customers who came in for medicine or who stopped by the soda fountain for a treat.  He became very interested in both the business and the science involved in running the drug store, and thus began his quest to become a pharmacist and have his own drug store.

Frank L. Lee (standing on right)
In Front of McDowell Drug Store
La Grange, KY, c. 1900

Granddad passed the State Board of Pharmacy exam in 1902, and soon he was working at Penny's Drug Store in Stanford, Kentucky, earning $6 a week.  It was during his time here that he met his future wife and my grandmother, Elizabeth "Bettie" Welch Rochester.  Courting, engagement, and marriage in 1905 was the course for my grandparents.  (Much more about their love and marriage in next week's posts!)  Before they married, however, granddad moved to Middlesboro, Kentucky, and worked as a pharmacist in the H. H. Sprague Drug Store.

Newspaper Ad for Lee's Drug Store
Eminence, KY, 1907

After Frank and Elizabeth married, they began searching for the perfect place to call home.  Their first stop was Eminence, Kentucky, where Granddad opened his own drug store.  Despite a store on the main thoroughfare in downtown Eminence and advertisements in the local newspaper, Granddad sold his store here and the young couple set out for the west coast.

Letter of Recommendation for Frank L. Lee
Written by Pharmacist D. McDowell
La Grange, KY, 1908

Letter of Recommendation for Frank L. Lee
Written by Pharmacist G. L. Penny
Stanford, KY, 1908

             






In January of 1908, my grandparents traveled across the country and settled in La Jolla, California.  Armed with letters of recommendation from his former bosses, Granddad secured a job at Setchell Drug Store in La Jolla.

Frank L. Lee in front of Setchel Drug Store
La Jolla, CA, 1908

The stay in La Jolla , however, was short, and the couple returned to Kentucky in September 1908, settling in Middlesboro.  Granddad went back to work at H. H. Sprague Drug Store, bought the business  in 1910, and thus established Lee's Drug Store.  In 1913, he moved the business to Fountain Square in downtown Middlesboro.  He would own and operate Lee's Drug Store here until 1958 when he sold his interest in the business.

Please visit my blog again in the coming days so I can share with you a very unique letter my granddad wrote to his father to tell him he was coming home from California.  It's priceless!  Also, I'll be sharing some photos and details of my grandparent's courtship and wedding.


The source for some of the dates and details in today's post is the obituary of Frank L. Lee as it appeared in the Middlesboro Daily News, June 11, 1962, p. 1.