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What if a last-minute change in travel plans sealed the fate of your loved ones on one of history's greatest tragedies? Join us as we welcome Robin Schafer, who shares the awe-inspiring yet heart-wrenching tale of her great-granduncle, Isidor Strauss, and his wife, Ida. As co-owner of Macy's and a titan of his time, Isidore's legacy is far-reaching. Listen as Robin recounts the compelling story of how this power couple ended up on the ill-fated Titanic and the profound love that led Ida to choose to remain by Isidore's side instead of securing a lifeboat.
The narrative doesn't stop there. We journey through interconnected family histories, including the Jewish-German connections of the early 20th century, spotlighting Otto Frank and Nathan Strauss. Robin also shares delightful anecdotes about her cousin, Natalie Schafer, famously known for her role on "Gilligan's Island," and reflects on the family's long-standing philanthropic efforts, from supporting Holocaust survivors to sponsoring the New York Philharmonic's free concerts. This episode paints a rich tapestry of personal and historical narratives, demonstrating how past events shape legacies and inspire future generations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
hello everyone and welcome back to episode two,
season three of a better life,with the abbreviated version gs,
it's george's mia for themoment.
I hope everybody's doing well.
I have to thank everyone forthe great response to season
three's first episode regardingthe assassination attempt on
(00:33):
Donald Trump and other relatedstories.
I am blown away by the responseand the response has triggered
some other episodes that aregoing to be done.
Dom will be back.
We're going to do a singleepisode regarding the Kennedy
assassination and then we'regoing to do a single episode
regarding the Robert Kennedyassassination, which to me at
(00:55):
this point is much moreinteresting.
But today we have a specialguest, robin Schaefer.
Say hello, robin.
Hi have a special guest, robinschaefer.
Say hello, robin, hi.
So robin is, believe it or not,and I've had a lot of people
talking in passing.
So one day I was at one of theclubs I belong to and they were
watching a night to rememberhaving to do with the titanic,
(01:18):
and I said in passing I have afriend that's a direct
descendant from one of thepeople on the titanic and
they're like who?
And I'm like, oh, isadorastrauss.
And then they all flipped outbecause the story is so
compelling.
And so robin is.
Is, isadora strauss is yourgreatfather's brother, so your
(01:45):
great-uncle, so I know that yourgreat-grandfather was Secretary
of Labor under Taft, rightthat's correct.
So the family was deep in a lotof these things.
Not only, they also ownedMacy's for a long time before
they started, or actually duringthe time that they started,
abraham and Strauss.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Actually Isidore and Nathan Strauss owned Macy's
together.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And they originally came in through the China
department.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They came in through textiles, as it turns out.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I thought it was China.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, I can't be right all the time as Robin
knows, as it turns out, macy'swas originally several, many
different stores, almost like astrip mall type situation, and
when they came in they hadtextiles, and then they made it
into the big department storethat it is now and owned it for
almost 100 years, and Nathancontinued to own it after
Isadora's death.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And who came in and bought it?
Was it Federated that came inand bought it, or you don't know
?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure either.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I'm not sure either.
I'm not sure it doesn't reallymatter, for our purposes,
whatever.
So, Isadora at the time was oneof the wealthiest people in the
world.
Right, he was one of the tightgroup of New Yorkers and others.
He was born in Bavaria.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
He was born in Otterberg.
Otterberg, right, that'scorrect and he and his family
came over actually during theCivil War and there are a lot of
stories about the family fromTalbot in Georgia and from their
letters from Georgia where theywrite about a lot of the deaths
and a lot of the Civil Warsites that they saw.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
They were involved in the Confederate side of the war
, strangely enough, correct.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yes, and did he go to the military academy before the
war?
Strangely enough, correct yes,and he'd go to the military
academy before the war started?
I think he did, or it wasaccepted, and then, when the war
started, of course he had towithdraw, and then, shortly
after the war, they moved to NewYork.
Correct, and they were hugephilanthropists as well as
bankers and involved in a lot ofpolitical stations as well.
(03:43):
Like I said, Secretary of Laborfor Taft, your direct
grandfather was Correct, or yourgreat-grandfather.
Great-grandfather.
So that's a little bit of thebackground.
I don't know how it became thatthey came onto the Titanic.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So, as it turns out, they were supposed to not be on
the Titanic.
They were actually supposed to.
They were Isidore, and Ida, hiswife of many years, were
vacationing in London and theywere supposed to be on a
different ship.
But they decided that ship hadan issue with I'm not really
quite sure what, and so theydecided to take the Titanic, and
it was an impromptu thing.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, not a good decision.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Not a good decision In hindsight.
No.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
They both died like many others.
That's correct.
They both died like many other.
That's correct.
One of the great conspiracytheories has to do with the
Federal Reserve Bank.
I don't know if you're familiarwith that one at all, but we'll
get to that or whatever.
So there's a lot of tales aboutthem and how they stuck with
each other and she could havegotten a life raft and he a
lifeboat, even though thereweren't enough.
That's correct.
(04:40):
It's possible he could havebeen saved as well.
That's correct.
But they wouldn't leave eachother.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So basically what happened was she gave her fur
coat to her maid.
Her maid got onto one of thelife rafts and she stood by
Isidore and said we've beentogether for 40 years, I'm not
leaving you now.
And they died together on thebow of the ship.
His body was recovered, as wellas his wedding ring, and he's
buried in Fairlawn, and hers wasnot recovered.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Fairlawn, new Jersey, wow.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
No, Woodlawn, sorry.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Woodlawn, Woodlawn sorry.
Oh, my grandparents were buriedthere too.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
He's buried in Woodlawn.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Wow, they have a mausoleum there, right.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I forget the other name.
It's another family name.
I didn't recognize it at all,but I know that they have a
mausoleum there, as mostprominent people did during that
time period, right.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
There's also a park in Upper Manhattan as well,
strauss Park that's dedicated tothem, and there's quite a lot
of memorabilia, certainlythrough the Strauss Historical
Society.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
There's a plaque in the New York Public Library and
I think there's a Strauss Hallin Harvard.
And one other thing is skippingmy mind, but there's many
things that aren't probablyknown from their philanthropy
efforts.
I also know that you showed mesome time ago, like a newsletter
(06:03):
, that I forget who put For theStrauss Historical Society
correct.
And that was a very compellingdocument.
It had great pictures, hadgreat stories that all these
people sit around talking aboutsomething that happened hundreds
of years ago and coming fromsomebody who collects
phonographs from 100 years ago,it was compelling.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Right, and actually Nathan brought pasteurized milk
to Natanya.
They named Natanya after himbecause he brought pasteurized
milk there and changed a lot ofthe milk in New York City as
well, in terms of pasteurizedmilk and saving lives.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Wow, pasteurized milk is a big thing.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It, is it changed?
Everything Pasteurized milk isa big thing, it is.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
It changed everything , one of the great inventions
for lack of a better word inup-and-coming water, sanitary
milk.
Even today, when I was in my20s, I lived in Vermont and I
had dairies all around me andthere was always such an issue
with what the status of the milkthat would go back into the big
(07:04):
tank.
Pasteurization fixed all that.
So what else do you want totell us?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So also.
They started concerts in thepark hundreds of years ago
through the Philharmonic andthat was then disbanded and then
picked up again by my father,who now sponsors the concerts in
the park for all of the citypeople, for anybody who wants to
come.
It's in every borough in thecity during the summer, usually
in the middle of July.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I know she constantly tries to drag me to these
things, but I don't go.
Even though I want to go, I sayno anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Next year.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Because that's what I do, right.
You'll find, if you ask her, Isay no more than yes to
everything she asks me.
Unless she needs something,then I go, but beyond that I say
no.
I know that your dad is alsothe chairman emeritus of the New
York Philharmonic.
So he's deeply involved in whatgoes on in the Philharmonic and
(08:00):
keeping on that family traditionfrom many years ago.
When you think about the turnof the century and you think
about the New York Philharmonic,you think of things like
Carnegie Hall.
When it was built, people saidthat it was so far away, no one
would go Guess what.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yes, he's carrying on the philanthropic bug that the
family has carried throughoutmany generations, which has been
very helpful for all of us, andwe're all very committed to it.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So tell me something you're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So I help out.
I go to the White PlainsHospital.
I'm very involved there.
I've been sponsoring a familyfrom Mexico.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Oh, I remember you told me about that.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And it's just when you have, when you're very
fortunate.
It's so important to give backin so many ways.
I gave a whole bunch offurniture to a person who was
moving into our first apartment.
Today she came and picked up abunch of furniture.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
All that crap you had in your basement.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
All that stuff I had in my garage Garage.
It's just so important.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
But you have to understand her crap in her
basement is better than thestuff I have in my living room.
So tell me more.
What else do you want to sayabout Isadora and that time
period?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
The Strausses were very involved in politics time
period, or the Strausses werevery involved in politics, I
think that Grover Cleveland.
They had a cabinet position onGrover Cleveland's cabinet.
There's a letter from, I guess,my great grandfather to that
effect.
One was an ambassador to Turkey, always involved in politics as
well as, like I said,philanthropy.
(09:31):
In fact, the townhouse on UpperEast Side that was recently
owned by Michael Cohen, jeffreyKatzenberg, I don't know one of
those people was the Straussfamily house.
It was 9 East 71st Street,which used to belong to Jeffrey
Epstein.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Strangely enough, I've seen pictures of it.
It is a beautiful townhouse, sothe Strauss house was purchased
, yes, by Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
No longer, however.
It is now owned by MichaelDaffy, former Goldman Sachs
executive.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Oh, another pauper out there in that homestead.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, he paid $51 million for the townhouse.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
How much?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
$51 million.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, it's right there, it's an exquisite part of
New York City.
My boss used to say whoimmigrated?
Brian O'Dwyer, who immigratedfrom Ireland, his family?
He used to say when mygrandfather and my grandmother
came here, they both lived onFifth Avenue.
One was the butler and theother one was the cook.
You say that all the time forreaction.
(10:35):
And it was true, absolutely.
But that's how people got aheadin the world.
And yet his uncle was the mayorand his father was city council
president in New York.
Typical American story, muchlike yours.
Here they are and got out ofGermany at a good time because
anti-Semitism at the time wasalways on the rise in Germany.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
And one of the relatives I'm going to have to
remember who that was but wasthe roommate of Otto Frank and
Frank's father Right, and OttoFrank wrote to him and tried to
get his family out and hecouldn't.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Strauss could not do it and couldn't help him.
And then Otto Frank came to theStates by himself and remarried
and had more children.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Wow, that's pretty interesting.
It's amazing there's a huge andI know you're knee deep in it
German Jewish connection whereeven today that those families
are very tight, right yeah, itwas Nathan's stress.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So yes, so Nathan was your direct great tight right
yeah it was Nathan's stress.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So yes, so Nathan was your direct great-grandfather,
right?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No, oscar was, oh, oscar was.
He was another great-uncle,great-uncle.
So he was good friends withOtto Frank.
They went to school together.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
And that was after Anne had died right.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
This is actually they were before they went to school
together before, right?
This is actually they werebefore they went to school
together before Right, and thenwhen he was trying to get Anne
and then the whole family out.
Unfortunately, Nathan was notable to do that.
He attended HeidelbergUniversity, which is where they
met.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
That's so interesting what year we think that was
Probably in the turn of thecentury, right.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Heidelberg University was probably 38, maybe Probably
before that, maybe before that.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, because the beer, whatever those things were
called, were around that timeperiod.
Yeah, you look at Nazis comingto power.
You look at the Olympics in the30s.
I don't remember exactly whatyear it was, but the Jesse Owens
bit was all in the 1930s.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So there's a letter from Otto Frank to Nathan from
1941 where he was looking forimmigration and trying to get
out and couldn't.
In 1938, he had filed apetition in Rotterdam to try to
get out but he wasn't able to.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, it's very difficult.
It was very difficult.
I know my grandfather, whowasn't Jewish, fought in World
War I for the CzechoslovakianArmy and then spent a year in a
German prison camp and wasreleased.
But he saw the tide coming, Iguess around the 1920s, and said
(13:18):
I better get the heck out ofhere because they're coming
again.
And I want to say the town hegrew up in in Austria-Hungary or
he lived in basically 70% ofthe town were killed.
Germans kept good records soyou could see when you go
through it.
You see teacher politicians,you see this kind of mass murder
(13:38):
of people.
It didn't really matter if theywere Jewish or not.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
No, certainly not at that point.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
The junta, whatever you want to call it, whatever
name you want to give it toother than genocide.
So it was a very difficult timefor Jews everywhere in the
world.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Absolutely so.
There's a book actually oftheir letters between the two of
them, because they were friendsfor 30 years and at that point
letters was the form ofcommunication.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So I wonder when that works with the time that they
found Anne's diary?
Probably much later the diarywas found.
They probably didn't even knowthat it existed.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
From what I understand, I thought that Otto
Frank had actually taken it topublish it.
I think that was myunderstanding.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I mean that was required reading when I was a
kid.
I don't know if it still is.
Very compelling story.
One of the conspiracy theoriesthat are hanging out there is
quite interesting, and that isright.
So the French did 1950, and theEnglish versions are 1920, 1952
.
So that's much later.
But if anyone out there hasnever read it, it's certainly a
(14:47):
compelling story of a poorlittle girl trying to keep
herself hidden in an attic orbasement.
In an attic, in an attic Fromthe Germans who are going around
hoarding up Jews and killingthem, or at least sending them
to concentration camps, thenkilling them or testing, doing
some kind of medical research,so to speak, all kinds of things
(15:07):
.
There's a lot known about AnneFrank, really, other than her
diary.
It's a compelling story.
Obviously the Titanic, as weall know, had a myriad of the
ultra wealthy, the ship thatwould never be able to sink the
luxury of it, and we've all seenthe pictures.
Some of us have seen the movies.
I've never seen and I'llconfess here, I have never seen
(15:30):
the newest version of titanic.
I have no interest in seeing it, basically.
I think I flipped through thechannels one day and saw the end
and I couldn't figure out whyshe wouldn't let him on the door
and he drowned.
So it always bothered me tothat extent.
But one of the theories about Idon't know I want to
(15:52):
characterize it perfectly One ofthe theories conspiracy
theories about it was that atthe time they were trying to
create the Federal Reserve Bankand that was very controversial
and a lot of people, a lot ofvery wealthy people who
controlled most of the wealthnot only in America but in the
world, were split.
Some people wanted it, somepeople didn't want it and
(16:14):
strangely enough, most of thepeople who didn't want it
happened to be on the Titanicand that's always been of great
controversy and question thatthe people that were against it
happened to be all murderedtogether.
Notice my choice.
They were murdered by whateverhappened.
(16:35):
There were so many things thatcould have changed the course of
events Absolutely.
They could have slowed the boatdown.
It was moving too fast.
They could have been morecareful when they saw the
iceberg.
They could have.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Part of the iceberg.
Unfortunately, the part thatthey saw was above the ground.
And so much of it was below theground that ripped into the hull
of the ship, which preventedthem from doing any things.
But, by the way, about NathanStrauss, you were correct that
they did start with the familychina and glass business and
became they, worked, theyoperated the glassware
department at Macy's and thenbecame so profitable that they
(17:12):
then became partners with RHMacy and of course Abraham and
Strauss as well, which was partof the conglomerate, and then
they took over both completely.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So my first job other than working at the trucking
company I worked my whole lifewhen I was little.
My first job was workingChristmas at Abraham and Strauss
in Paramus and I worked thereagain after I worked at Bonwit
Teller and Charles Jourdan inthe city.
I worked at some time in thehigh fashion shoe section of
Abraham and Strauss for a longtime and they're really based in
(17:43):
Brooklyn, that's really neat,so it's funny.
They never liked me much, it'sinteresting that they had.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
The reason that they brought pasteurization also to
New York was because a lot ofthe wealthy families back then
lived in big houses and hadlivestock, had cows.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And one of their cows died suddenly, and so Nathan
decided to bring Louis Pasteur'sstyle of pasteurizing milk, and
saved many lives by doing that.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So there's many conspiracy theories, and the one
I just told you was interesting.
They also was that there wasthis fire that existed in a coal
bunker that started in Irelandbefore they even got to London,
where they sailed out of, orwherever they sailed out of, and
that the fire was never out andthat contributed to what
happened or contributed to whatsunk.
(18:36):
One of the other theories isthat these watertight doors that
were going to save the shipwould have saved the ship,
except that the gash in the sidewas so large that it was able
to fill up.
But there is a theory that ifthe doors were actually all open
, that the water level wouldhave pushed the ship down but
(18:58):
not caused it to go up on end.
Break in half, break in halfand sink and sink.
Yeah, so there is that, andthen I brought up the.
There's also a theory that Idon't give much credence to is
that there was a sister shipcalled the Olympic, and they had
switched them out because JPMorgan, of course, owned
everything, and part of that washe wanted to collect the
(19:19):
insurance on the ships, and sohe deliberately sunk it, which,
and part of that was he wantedto collect the insurance on the
ships and so he deliberatelysunk it, which is I wouldn't put
past JP Morgan, but I do.
I don't give much credence tothat.
I actually have more credencethan being the conspiracy
theorist that I am, that theytried to kill everybody because
they didn't want the FederalReserve Bank, because that's
that kind of deep state crapthat goes on in the universe.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And the Britannic also was a sister ship, the
Britannic.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, I'm familiar with that one.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So it's the Olympic, the Britannic and the Titanic.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I guess they put more lifeboats on the other ones
after the beginning, right?
So what goes on today toremember them?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So the Strauss Historical Society has events
all the time.
They have an event at StraussPark every year.
They did a trip down to Talbotin Georgia where they still have
the house that the family livedin.
They're actually going to havea tea at the Strauss house on
71st Street in the next month ortwo.
So the Strauss HistoricalSociety has events, events.
(20:24):
Recently, the StraussHistorical Society has been very
philanthropic as well in termsof creating scholarships for
students who apply for theStrauss Scholarship that are
able to follow their studiesbecause of the money donated by
the Strauss family.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
When I was growing up I met Flora Strauss, who was
Flora Stieglitz strauss, and shehad one of the most beautiful
george o'keefe's in her housebecause her father was offered
stieglitz and that is thephotographer oh, that's right
and he was married to, or atleast lovers with, george'keeffe
(21:01):
for many years, and so that wasa fun family story where I got
to meet her, flora StieglitzStrauss.
She lived in a house which isnow an area called Old Oaks
Country Club.
She lived in a house there andthat was a fun story.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Where is Old Oaks Country Club?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
It's in Purchase New York.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I'm not familiar with it.
I'm just a poor boy from NewJersey.
We don't know about thesecountry clubs and things you
spoke about.
Somebody wrote I want to knowwhat your memory, these memories
, influence your behavior orwhatever you do today.
But you talked about yourphilanthropy and what you do.
I know you're very committed.
What you think she looks likeyou.
Yeah, so my favorite one ofyour relatives and I'm not sure
it's part of the Strauss familyis from Gilligan's Island.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
So Natalie Schaefer, who played Lovie on Gilligan's
Island, was my cousin as well,and I met her at a wedding for
Roger Strauss, his second wife.
She came to a wedding.
I was probably eight or 10years old.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
For those who don't know, that's Mrs Howell.
Lovey is Mrs Howell.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And she was amazing and from the time that I was
eight to probably about 18 or 19, I think she passed away when I
was in college.
We would meet once a year andhave lunch and she lived on Park
Avenue in the first floorapartment.
She had a Chihuahua and we wentto Serendipity for lunch and I
told her that I loved theSundays there and she said very
(22:35):
sarcastically oh, I didn't know,they had Sundays here.
They were open on Sundays.
She was very funny and very dry.
She talked about BarbaraStanwyck as being one of her
closest friends from her time inHollywood.
She was a great lady.
Natalie Schaefer, she was great.
I have a picture of her thatshe sent to me that said Dear
(22:58):
Robin, love from Cousin Nat.
She's great.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I know I saw the picture in your house when I was
helping you fix your televisionand I said wait a minute.
You have an autographed pictureof Mrs Howell on your closet,
and probably our listeners.
That's the thing they're goingto find the most interesting
that you're related to MrsHowell.
Knowing my listeners as I do,yeah, she was a great lady.
(23:30):
What do you impose upon yourdaughters to carry on that
philanthropy interest?
I know your youngest daughtershe's like a 40-year-old genius
and I know that I don't talk toher about anything because she
always knows more than I do.
So I try to keep my commentsdown to a minimum.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Both of my children give back absolutely.
My 12-year-old at the momenthas given her birthday money for
the past couple of years to theASPCA, to other organizations.
She's also given it to Meals onWheels and is very committed to
giving back.
New York Philharmonic in thepark.
It's free concerts in the park.
There's one in every borough.
(24:03):
They do it during one week inJuly.
There's no rain date, so thatif it rains, unfortunately the
concert's canceled.
And it's sponsored by Oscar andDee Dee Schaefer and it's an
amazing event where you go andyou can just listen to the
Philharmonic for hours and thenat the end they have fireworks
(24:24):
and there's food and there'sdrinks that you can purchase.
It's a wonderful event.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I know they do them in the parks all over the city.
Right, they do absolutelyRandall's.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Island, they do in Riverdale.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
And that must be quite a feat, taking everything
apart, moving it in a day andresetting it up.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Absolutely and the Philharmonic are not used to
flying by the seat of theirpants, so it must be no, and
their instruments are insuredfor a lot of money and they have
to move their instruments andtake care of them.
So yeah, it's a big event.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Well, robin, I thank you very much for coming.
I appreciate the insight intothe Titanic and your family, how
it's changed and stayed thesame all at once in the future.
It's changed and stay the sameall at once in the future and
I'll look into these people thathave impressed their lives of
what they did in their finalmoments, which, strangely enough
(25:12):
, is is a little bit of a fromother people that I know that
are German and Jewish.
The how they die is veryimportant to them.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I had a friend.
That friend that hergrandparents died together
because one of them was going todie, so they made sure they
died together.
I'll leave it at that.
And then her parents wereplanning to do the same thing.
To me it's a little creepy, butobviously you're on a boat and
you know what's going down.
I understand that point of view.
To take your own life becausesomeone else that you love is
(25:44):
dying is a little.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
I think it's beautiful.
Actually they were together forsuch a long time and you know
they had a lot of children andthey had a wonderful life and
they made huge strides.
There's a public school namedafter them at 96th Street in the
city.
There's just at one point youjust think that they chose love,
which was really nice.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Reminds me of the Marcy song right that a light,
what is it called?
The light that never goes out,or something like that, where he
says to die by your side issuch a heavenly way to die.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Sounds great.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, so that's where we're going to leave it.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Thank you, Steve.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Thank you, steve.
Thank you so much, robin, forcoming and speaking to us about
your ancestors.
If you have any other questions, please post them when you
click on the link on the podcast.
If you have it on your computer, you just click on it.
You could send me any questionsor anything.
I'll gladly get them answeredfor you.
Or if there's anything else oryou see any topics you want us
to talk about, we'd love to do.
Thank you very much forlistening.
Enjoy the rest of your week,and next week I think we're
(26:51):
going to be in the Kennedyassassination, so hopefully
you're all interested in that.
And that's it for now.
Everybody, have a good day.
hello everyone and welcome back to episode two,
season three of a better life,with the abbreviated version gs,
it's george's mia for themoment.
I hope everybody's doing well.
I have to thank everyone forthe great response to season
three's first episode regardingthe assassination attempt on
(00:33):
Donald Trump and other relatedstories.
I am blown away by the responseand the response has triggered
some other episodes that aregoing to be done.
Dom will be back.
We're going to do a singleepisode regarding the Kennedy
assassination and then we'regoing to do a single episode
regarding the Robert Kennedyassassination, which to me at
(00:55):
this point is much moreinteresting.
But today we have a specialguest, robin Schaefer.
Say hello, robin.
Hi have a special guest, robinschaefer.
Say hello, robin, hi.
So robin is, believe it or not,and I've had a lot of people
talking in passing.
So one day I was at one of theclubs I belong to and they were
watching a night to rememberhaving to do with the titanic,
(01:18):
and I said in passing I have afriend that's a direct
descendant from one of thepeople on the titanic and
they're like who?
And I'm like, oh, isadorastrauss.
And then they all flipped outbecause the story is so
compelling.
And so robin is.
Is, isadora strauss is yourgreatfather's brother, so your
(01:45):
great-uncle, so I know that yourgreat-grandfather was Secretary
of Labor under Taft, rightthat's correct.
So the family was deep in a lotof these things.
Not only, they also ownedMacy's for a long time before
they started, or actually duringthe time that they started,
abraham and Strauss.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Actually Isidore and Nathan Strauss owned Macy's
together.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And they originally came in through the China
department.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They came in through textiles, as it turns out.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I thought it was China.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, I can't be right all the time as Robin
knows, as it turns out, macy'swas originally several, many
different stores, almost like astrip mall type situation, and
when they came in they hadtextiles, and then they made it
into the big department storethat it is now and owned it for
almost 100 years, and Nathancontinued to own it after
Isadora's death.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And who came in and bought it?
Was it Federated that came inand bought it, or you don't know
?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure either.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I'm not sure either.
I'm not sure it doesn't reallymatter, for our purposes,
whatever.
So, Isadora at the time was oneof the wealthiest people in the
world.
Right, he was one of the tightgroup of New Yorkers and others.
He was born in Bavaria.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
He was born in Otterberg.
Otterberg, right, that'scorrect and he and his family
came over actually during theCivil War and there are a lot of
stories about the family fromTalbot in Georgia and from their
letters from Georgia where theywrite about a lot of the deaths
and a lot of the Civil Warsites that they saw.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
They were involved in the Confederate side of the war
, strangely enough, correct.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yes, and did he go to the military academy before the
war?
Strangely enough, correct yes,and he'd go to the military
academy before the war started?
I think he did, or it wasaccepted, and then, when the war
started, of course he had towithdraw, and then, shortly
after the war, they moved to NewYork.
Correct, and they were hugephilanthropists as well as
bankers and involved in a lot ofpolitical stations as well.
(03:43):
Like I said, Secretary of Laborfor Taft, your direct
grandfather was Correct, or yourgreat-grandfather.
Great-grandfather.
So that's a little bit of thebackground.
I don't know how it became thatthey came onto the Titanic.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So, as it turns out, they were supposed to not be on
the Titanic.
They were actually supposed to.
They were Isidore, and Ida, hiswife of many years, were
vacationing in London and theywere supposed to be on a
different ship.
But they decided that ship hadan issue with I'm not really
quite sure what, and so theydecided to take the Titanic, and
it was an impromptu thing.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, not a good decision.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Not a good decision In hindsight.
No.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
They both died like many others.
That's correct.
They both died like many other.
That's correct.
One of the great conspiracytheories has to do with the
Federal Reserve Bank.
I don't know if you're familiarwith that one at all, but we'll
get to that or whatever.
So there's a lot of tales aboutthem and how they stuck with
each other and she could havegotten a life raft and he a
lifeboat, even though thereweren't enough.
That's correct.
(04:40):
It's possible he could havebeen saved as well.
That's correct.
But they wouldn't leave eachother.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So basically what happened was she gave her fur
coat to her maid.
Her maid got onto one of thelife rafts and she stood by
Isidore and said we've beentogether for 40 years, I'm not
leaving you now.
And they died together on thebow of the ship.
His body was recovered, as wellas his wedding ring, and he's
buried in Fairlawn, and hers wasnot recovered.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Fairlawn, new Jersey, wow.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
No, Woodlawn, sorry.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Woodlawn, Woodlawn sorry.
Oh, my grandparents were buriedthere too.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
He's buried in Woodlawn.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Wow, they have a mausoleum there, right.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I forget the other name.
It's another family name.
I didn't recognize it at all,but I know that they have a
mausoleum there, as mostprominent people did during that
time period, right.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
There's also a park in Upper Manhattan as well,
strauss Park that's dedicated tothem, and there's quite a lot
of memorabilia, certainlythrough the Strauss Historical
Society.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
There's a plaque in the New York Public Library and
I think there's a Strauss Hallin Harvard.
And one other thing is skippingmy mind, but there's many
things that aren't probablyknown from their philanthropy
efforts.
I also know that you showed mesome time ago, like a newsletter
(06:03):
, that I forget who put For theStrauss Historical Society
correct.
And that was a very compellingdocument.
It had great pictures, hadgreat stories that all these
people sit around talking aboutsomething that happened hundreds
of years ago and coming fromsomebody who collects
phonographs from 100 years ago,it was compelling.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Right, and actually Nathan brought pasteurized milk
to Natanya.
They named Natanya after himbecause he brought pasteurized
milk there and changed a lot ofthe milk in New York City as
well, in terms of pasteurizedmilk and saving lives.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Wow, pasteurized milk is a big thing.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It, is it changed?
Everything Pasteurized milk isa big thing, it is.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
It changed everything , one of the great inventions
for lack of a better word inup-and-coming water, sanitary
milk.
Even today, when I was in my20s, I lived in Vermont and I
had dairies all around me andthere was always such an issue
with what the status of the milkthat would go back into the big
(07:04):
tank.
Pasteurization fixed all that.
So what else do you want totell us?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So also.
They started concerts in thepark hundreds of years ago
through the Philharmonic andthat was then disbanded and then
picked up again by my father,who now sponsors the concerts in
the park for all of the citypeople, for anybody who wants to
come.
It's in every borough in thecity during the summer, usually
in the middle of July.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I know she constantly tries to drag me to these
things, but I don't go.
Even though I want to go, I sayno anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Next year.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Because that's what I do, right.
You'll find, if you ask her, Isay no more than yes to
everything she asks me.
Unless she needs something,then I go, but beyond that I say
no.
I know that your dad is alsothe chairman emeritus of the New
York Philharmonic.
So he's deeply involved in whatgoes on in the Philharmonic and
(08:00):
keeping on that family traditionfrom many years ago.
When you think about the turnof the century and you think
about the New York Philharmonic,you think of things like
Carnegie Hall.
When it was built, people saidthat it was so far away, no one
would go Guess what.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yes, he's carrying on the philanthropic bug that the
family has carried throughoutmany generations, which has been
very helpful for all of us, andwe're all very committed to it.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So tell me something you're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So I help out.
I go to the White PlainsHospital.
I'm very involved there.
I've been sponsoring a familyfrom Mexico.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Oh, I remember you told me about that.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And it's just when you have, when you're very
fortunate.
It's so important to give backin so many ways.
I gave a whole bunch offurniture to a person who was
moving into our first apartment.
Today she came and picked up abunch of furniture.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
All that crap you had in your basement.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
All that stuff I had in my garage Garage.
It's just so important.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
But you have to understand her crap in her
basement is better than thestuff I have in my living room.
So tell me more.
What else do you want to sayabout Isadora and that time
period?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
The Strausses were very involved in politics time
period, or the Strausses werevery involved in politics, I
think that Grover Cleveland.
They had a cabinet position onGrover Cleveland's cabinet.
There's a letter from, I guess,my great grandfather to that
effect.
One was an ambassador to Turkey, always involved in politics as
well as, like I said,philanthropy.
(09:31):
In fact, the townhouse on UpperEast Side that was recently
owned by Michael Cohen, jeffreyKatzenberg, I don't know one of
those people was the Straussfamily house.
It was 9 East 71st Street,which used to belong to Jeffrey
Epstein.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Strangely enough, I've seen pictures of it.
It is a beautiful townhouse, sothe Strauss house was purchased
, yes, by Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
No longer, however.
It is now owned by MichaelDaffy, former Goldman Sachs
executive.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Oh, another pauper out there in that homestead.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, he paid $51 million for the townhouse.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
How much?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
$51 million.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, it's right there, it's an exquisite part of
New York City.
My boss used to say whoimmigrated?
Brian O'Dwyer, who immigratedfrom Ireland, his family?
He used to say when mygrandfather and my grandmother
came here, they both lived onFifth Avenue.
One was the butler and theother one was the cook.
You say that all the time forreaction.
(10:35):
And it was true, absolutely.
But that's how people got aheadin the world.
And yet his uncle was the mayorand his father was city council
president in New York.
Typical American story, muchlike yours.
Here they are and got out ofGermany at a good time because
anti-Semitism at the time wasalways on the rise in Germany.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
And one of the relatives I'm going to have to
remember who that was but wasthe roommate of Otto Frank and
Frank's father Right, and OttoFrank wrote to him and tried to
get his family out and hecouldn't.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Strauss could not do it and couldn't help him.
And then Otto Frank came to theStates by himself and remarried
and had more children.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Wow, that's pretty interesting.
It's amazing there's a huge andI know you're knee deep in it
German Jewish connection whereeven today that those families
are very tight, right yeah, itwas Nathan's stress.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So yes, so Nathan was your direct great tight right
yeah it was Nathan's stress.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So yes, so Nathan was your direct great-grandfather,
right?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No, oscar was, oh, oscar was.
He was another great-uncle,great-uncle.
So he was good friends withOtto Frank.
They went to school together.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
And that was after Anne had died right.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
This is actually they were before they went to school
together before, right?
This is actually they werebefore they went to school
together before Right, and thenwhen he was trying to get Anne
and then the whole family out.
Unfortunately, Nathan was notable to do that.
He attended HeidelbergUniversity, which is where they
met.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
That's so interesting what year we think that was
Probably in the turn of thecentury, right.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Heidelberg University was probably 38, maybe Probably
before that, maybe before that.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, because the beer, whatever those things were
called, were around that timeperiod.
Yeah, you look at Nazis comingto power.
You look at the Olympics in the30s.
I don't remember exactly whatyear it was, but the Jesse Owens
bit was all in the 1930s.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So there's a letter from Otto Frank to Nathan from
1941 where he was looking forimmigration and trying to get
out and couldn't.
In 1938, he had filed apetition in Rotterdam to try to
get out but he wasn't able to.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, it's very difficult.
It was very difficult.
I know my grandfather, whowasn't Jewish, fought in World
War I for the CzechoslovakianArmy and then spent a year in a
German prison camp and wasreleased.
But he saw the tide coming, Iguess around the 1920s, and said
(13:18):
I better get the heck out ofhere because they're coming
again.
And I want to say the town hegrew up in in Austria-Hungary or
he lived in basically 70% ofthe town were killed.
Germans kept good records soyou could see when you go
through it.
You see teacher politicians,you see this kind of mass murder
(13:38):
of people.
It didn't really matter if theywere Jewish or not.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
No, certainly not at that point.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
The junta, whatever you want to call it, whatever
name you want to give it toother than genocide.
So it was a very difficult timefor Jews everywhere in the
world.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Absolutely so.
There's a book actually oftheir letters between the two of
them, because they were friendsfor 30 years and at that point
letters was the form ofcommunication.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So I wonder when that works with the time that they
found Anne's diary?
Probably much later the diarywas found.
They probably didn't even knowthat it existed.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
From what I understand, I thought that Otto
Frank had actually taken it topublish it.
I think that was myunderstanding.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I mean that was required reading when I was a
kid.
I don't know if it still is.
Very compelling story.
One of the conspiracy theoriesthat are hanging out there is
quite interesting, and that isright.
So the French did 1950, and theEnglish versions are 1920, 1952
.
So that's much later.
But if anyone out there hasnever read it, it's certainly a
(14:47):
compelling story of a poorlittle girl trying to keep
herself hidden in an attic orbasement.
In an attic, in an attic Fromthe Germans who are going around
hoarding up Jews and killingthem, or at least sending them
to concentration camps, thenkilling them or testing, doing
some kind of medical research,so to speak, all kinds of things
(15:07):
.
There's a lot known about AnneFrank, really, other than her
diary.
It's a compelling story.
Obviously the Titanic, as weall know, had a myriad of the
ultra wealthy, the ship thatwould never be able to sink the
luxury of it, and we've all seenthe pictures.
Some of us have seen the movies.
I've never seen and I'llconfess here, I have never seen
(15:30):
the newest version of titanic.
I have no interest in seeing it, basically.
I think I flipped through thechannels one day and saw the end
and I couldn't figure out whyshe wouldn't let him on the door
and he drowned.
So it always bothered me tothat extent.
But one of the theories about Idon't know I want to
(15:52):
characterize it perfectly One ofthe theories conspiracy
theories about it was that atthe time they were trying to
create the Federal Reserve Bankand that was very controversial
and a lot of people, a lot ofvery wealthy people who
controlled most of the wealthnot only in America but in the
world, were split.
Some people wanted it, somepeople didn't want it and
(16:14):
strangely enough, most of thepeople who didn't want it
happened to be on the Titanicand that's always been of great
controversy and question thatthe people that were against it
happened to be all murderedtogether.
Notice my choice.
They were murdered by whateverhappened.
(16:35):
There were so many things thatcould have changed the course of
events Absolutely.
They could have slowed the boatdown.
It was moving too fast.
They could have been morecareful when they saw the
iceberg.
They could have.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Part of the iceberg.
Unfortunately, the part thatthey saw was above the ground.
And so much of it was below theground that ripped into the hull
of the ship, which preventedthem from doing any things.
But, by the way, about NathanStrauss, you were correct that
they did start with the familychina and glass business and
became they, worked, theyoperated the glassware
department at Macy's and thenbecame so profitable that they
(17:12):
then became partners with RHMacy and of course Abraham and
Strauss as well, which was partof the conglomerate, and then
they took over both completely.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So my first job other than working at the trucking
company I worked my whole lifewhen I was little.
My first job was workingChristmas at Abraham and Strauss
in Paramus and I worked thereagain after I worked at Bonwit
Teller and Charles Jourdan inthe city.
I worked at some time in thehigh fashion shoe section of
Abraham and Strauss for a longtime and they're really based in
(17:43):
Brooklyn, that's really neat,so it's funny.
They never liked me much, it'sinteresting that they had.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
The reason that they brought pasteurization also to
New York was because a lot ofthe wealthy families back then
lived in big houses and hadlivestock, had cows.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And one of their cows died suddenly, and so Nathan
decided to bring Louis Pasteur'sstyle of pasteurizing milk, and
saved many lives by doing that.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So there's many conspiracy theories, and the one
I just told you was interesting.
They also was that there wasthis fire that existed in a coal
bunker that started in Irelandbefore they even got to London,
where they sailed out of, orwherever they sailed out of, and
that the fire was never out andthat contributed to what
happened or contributed to whatsunk.
(18:36):
One of the other theories isthat these watertight doors that
were going to save the shipwould have saved the ship,
except that the gash in the sidewas so large that it was able
to fill up.
But there is a theory that ifthe doors were actually all open
, that the water level wouldhave pushed the ship down but
(18:58):
not caused it to go up on end.
Break in half, break in halfand sink and sink.
Yeah, so there is that, andthen I brought up the.
There's also a theory that Idon't give much credence to is
that there was a sister shipcalled the Olympic, and they had
switched them out because JPMorgan, of course, owned
everything, and part of that washe wanted to collect the
(19:19):
insurance on the ships, and sohe deliberately sunk it, which,
and part of that was he wantedto collect the insurance on the
ships and so he deliberatelysunk it, which is I wouldn't put
past JP Morgan, but I do.
I don't give much credence tothat.
I actually have more credencethan being the conspiracy
theorist that I am, that theytried to kill everybody because
they didn't want the FederalReserve Bank, because that's
that kind of deep state crapthat goes on in the universe.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And the Britannic also was a sister ship, the
Britannic.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, I'm familiar with that one.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So it's the Olympic, the Britannic and the Titanic.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I guess they put more lifeboats on the other ones
after the beginning, right?
So what goes on today toremember them?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So the Strauss Historical Society has events
all the time.
They have an event at StraussPark every year.
They did a trip down to Talbotin Georgia where they still have
the house that the family livedin.
They're actually going to havea tea at the Strauss house on
71st Street in the next month ortwo.
So the Strauss HistoricalSociety has events, events.
(20:24):
Recently, the StraussHistorical Society has been very
philanthropic as well in termsof creating scholarships for
students who apply for theStrauss Scholarship that are
able to follow their studiesbecause of the money donated by
the Strauss family.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
When I was growing up I met Flora Strauss, who was
Flora Stieglitz strauss, and shehad one of the most beautiful
george o'keefe's in her housebecause her father was offered
stieglitz and that is thephotographer oh, that's right
and he was married to, or atleast lovers with, george'keeffe
(21:01):
for many years, and so that wasa fun family story where I got
to meet her, flora StieglitzStrauss.
She lived in a house which isnow an area called Old Oaks
Country Club.
She lived in a house there andthat was a fun story.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Where is Old Oaks Country Club?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
It's in Purchase New York.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I'm not familiar with it.
I'm just a poor boy from NewJersey.
We don't know about thesecountry clubs and things you
spoke about.
Somebody wrote I want to knowwhat your memory, these memories
, influence your behavior orwhatever you do today.
But you talked about yourphilanthropy and what you do.
I know you're very committed.
What you think she looks likeyou.
Yeah, so my favorite one ofyour relatives and I'm not sure
it's part of the Strauss familyis from Gilligan's Island.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
So Natalie Schaefer, who played Lovie on Gilligan's
Island, was my cousin as well,and I met her at a wedding for
Roger Strauss, his second wife.
She came to a wedding.
I was probably eight or 10years old.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
For those who don't know, that's Mrs Howell.
Lovey is Mrs Howell.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And she was amazing and from the time that I was
eight to probably about 18 or 19, I think she passed away when I
was in college.
We would meet once a year andhave lunch and she lived on Park
Avenue in the first floorapartment.
She had a Chihuahua and we wentto Serendipity for lunch and I
told her that I loved theSundays there and she said very
(22:35):
sarcastically oh, I didn't know,they had Sundays here.
They were open on Sundays.
She was very funny and very dry.
She talked about BarbaraStanwyck as being one of her
closest friends from her time inHollywood.
She was a great lady.
Natalie Schaefer, she was great.
I have a picture of her thatshe sent to me that said Dear
(22:58):
Robin, love from Cousin Nat.
She's great.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I know I saw the picture in your house when I was
helping you fix your televisionand I said wait a minute.
You have an autographed pictureof Mrs Howell on your closet,
and probably our listeners.
That's the thing they're goingto find the most interesting
that you're related to MrsHowell.
Knowing my listeners as I do,yeah, she was a great lady.
(23:30):
What do you impose upon yourdaughters to carry on that
philanthropy interest?
I know your youngest daughtershe's like a 40-year-old genius
and I know that I don't talk toher about anything because she
always knows more than I do.
So I try to keep my commentsdown to a minimum.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Both of my children give back absolutely.
My 12-year-old at the momenthas given her birthday money for
the past couple of years to theASPCA, to other organizations.
She's also given it to Meals onWheels and is very committed to
giving back.
New York Philharmonic in thepark.
It's free concerts in the park.
There's one in every borough.
(24:03):
They do it during one week inJuly.
There's no rain date, so thatif it rains, unfortunately the
concert's canceled.
And it's sponsored by Oscar andDee Dee Schaefer and it's an
amazing event where you go andyou can just listen to the
Philharmonic for hours and thenat the end they have fireworks
(24:24):
and there's food and there'sdrinks that you can purchase.
It's a wonderful event.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I know they do them in the parks all over the city.
Right, they do absolutelyRandall's.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Island, they do in Riverdale.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
And that must be quite a feat, taking everything
apart, moving it in a day andresetting it up.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Absolutely and the Philharmonic are not used to
flying by the seat of theirpants, so it must be no, and
their instruments are insuredfor a lot of money and they have
to move their instruments andtake care of them.
So yeah, it's a big event.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Well, robin, I thank you very much for coming.
I appreciate the insight intothe Titanic and your family, how
it's changed and stayed thesame all at once in the future.
It's changed and stay the sameall at once in the future and
I'll look into these people thathave impressed their lives of
what they did in their finalmoments, which, strangely enough
(25:12):
, is is a little bit of a fromother people that I know that
are German and Jewish.
The how they die is veryimportant to them.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I had a friend.
That friend that hergrandparents died together
because one of them was going todie, so they made sure they
died together.
I'll leave it at that.
And then her parents wereplanning to do the same thing.
To me it's a little creepy, butobviously you're on a boat and
you know what's going down.
I understand that point of view.
To take your own life becausesomeone else that you love is
(25:44):
dying is a little.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
I think it's beautiful.
Actually they were together forsuch a long time and you know
they had a lot of children andthey had a wonderful life and
they made huge strides.
There's a public school namedafter them at 96th Street in the
city.
There's just at one point youjust think that they chose love,
which was really nice.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Reminds me of the Marcy song right that a light,
what is it called?
The light that never goes out,or something like that, where he
says to die by your side issuch a heavenly way to die.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Sounds great.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, so that's where we're going to leave it.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Thank you, Steve.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Thank you, steve.
Thank you so much, robin, forcoming and speaking to us about
your ancestors.
If you have any other questions, please post them when you
click on the link on the podcast.
If you have it on your computer, you just click on it.
You could send me any questionsor anything.
I'll gladly get them answeredfor you.
Or if there's anything else oryou see any topics you want us
to talk about, we'd love to do.
Thank you very much forlistening.
Enjoy the rest of your week,and next week I think we're
(26:51):
going to be in the Kennedyassassination, so hopefully
you're all interested in that.
And that's it for now.
Everybody, have a good day.
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