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« on: April 12, 2010, 07:20:20 PM »
The funny thing about today's Record article is that there WERE no photos - found or otherwise - of this event. What happened was my mother wrote to NBC right after the inoculations and what I found was the NBC reply envelope from the NBC News Film manager.
Inside the envelope were the actual newsreel film strips that showed me before, during, and after. The film strips were very small, skinny, a bit grainy, and not super-sharp. They were REALLY tough to scan. I made some large files and sent them to The Record.
As far as I know, there are no other images around of this event. If my mother hadn't written to NBC or documented the event in her diary, there would be no story (she would have made a great historian).
I always thought we were the first in the US to get the shots. Why else would an NBC News film crew in NYC be sent to cover the event? Unfortunately, the Hackensack Health Department, Holy Trinity, and even the Salk Institute were no help. I was very surprised to be told by the Health Department that their records "didn't go back that far". 55 years doesn't seem "that far" in a city that's over 300 years old.
So today, I went to the Johnson Public Library and looked at some microfiche of The Bergen Evening Record from April 16-23, 1955. I was sure that they would have pictures of the event and a story stating that Holy Trinity was the first in the ? to receive the Salk polio vaccine.
There were mentions of the vaccine on almost every day - how the shipments were delayed and that Bergen County students wouldn't be getting the vaccine until May (how did Holy Trinity slip under the radar and get it when no one else could? Divine Intervention?).
The only enlightening article I found was from April 20, 1955 - the day of the shots and a day before I expected to find pictures and a big writeup that would answer all my questions. Then I remembered...........this was The Bergen EVENING Record. The event happened in the morning and was in that evening's paper.
It was on the front page and said, "BERGEN BEGINS VACCINE SHOTS"........"Holy Trinity Students Start Program Here", but there were no pictures. The BER photo department must have been asleep at the wheel.
The article identified the doctor as the school physician, Howard Rosenbauer, and said that Clyde Newell - the district health officer - was also present (I'm guessing he's the other man in my "during" image).
Hmmm.............wouldn't the Hackensack Health Department have records of him and his whereabouts that day - especially since it was on the front page of the paper?
One other person in that same image was identified to me today. The story's writer, Mike Kelly, got a request this morning from a Thomas Hyer in Fair Lawn, who asked how he could get a copy of that image because the middle nurse was his mother, Dolores "Dody" Hyer.
I sent him a scan.
SO.........I learned today that there are no other pictures of this event (corrections always welcomed) and that - at the very least - Holy Trinity was the first school in Bergen County to get the Salk polio vaccine. I can't help but think that there's a higher "first" involved - one that would attract an NBC news film crew - but that might just be wishful thinking.
Lastly, I have no idea why The Record chose that grumpy-looking shot of me to put in the paper. Their photographer commented on how much he liked the smiley shots, but it's not up to him or me what gets used. He submits all the images he took and someone makes the selection...........someone I must owe money to, I guess.
Images and Documents:
1. The "before" shot. Lined up (in alphabetical order, of course) from left to right are: Geoffrey Devon, Kathleen Higgins, Robert Holden, Robert Leafe, James Lynch. The two Roberts don't look very well.
2. The "during" shot. Mike Kelly says I'm sitting down..............that would make me pretty tall for a second-grader. Only the doctor is seated (he'd better be so his hand is steady). Someone asked me if they made me remove my coonskin cap suddenly and if that created the cowlick. Uh, yeah - that'll work.
3. The "after" shot. The Lollipop Brigade (NOT in alphabetical order - we probably got punished for that). Left to right, we are: Christopher Bonwit, Robert Leafe, Margaret Cassidy, Virginia Thorpe, and The Unknown Inoculatee.
4. My mother's April 20, 1955 diary page. OK - so it's not really a diary page, but it sounded better than "her daily planner page". She also made a notation that it was a classmate's birthday (very thorough, Eunice was). "HUGE" lollipops? See above image.
5. The NBC reply envelope that contained a letter and the newsreel film
6. The NBC letter
7. The newsreel film. The longest strip is 8.75" and the shortest is just over 3.25".
8. The 4/20/55 Bergen Evening Record front-page article about Holy Trinity starting the Bergen County vaccination program that day.
(very thorough, Bob is)
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