Monthly TV Show Berks Composers Picture Galleries Articles Historical Review Index Church Record Index Cemetery Record Index Military Record Index Library Information Family History Index View a tiny sampling of the thousands of items on display in our museum Learn how you can become a member of the Historical Society of Berks County Read breaking stories concerning Berks County history. Authored by Society president George Meiser IX

THREE News-Bits of Reading-Berks historical interest..... =================================== 1- Berks had White Christmas; major snow fall; power off 2- Old-time Reading-Berks holiday-time recalled 3- RSO New Year’s Eve at the Sovereign P.A.C./Rajah. Cute sound clip included =================================== 1- For the benefit of those living outside the Berks area, be apprised that we--like many of you--had a White Christmas. Snowfall-depth seems to have varied quite a bit within the county--from 3 or 4 inches in parts of Exeter... to around 8 in many parts of Reading...to a foot or more elsewhere. At this writing, many are still without electricity. Last evening, as your editor was busy indexing photos, a snowmobile could be heard shooting up and down Shel- boune Road in Exeter. The sound prompted me to look for a photo filed a number of years ago. Below we see that photo--Griesemer Weidner "snow- mobiling" on the main street of Oley Village. Mr. Weidner could not be reached for further comment. ============================ 2- As Gloria Jean and I were having breakfast in a local family restaurant this morning, we couldn’t help overhearing the conversation of some folks in the next booth who were talking about their Christmas Day and how cold the house was due to having lost electricity. This prompted a recollection of something the late C. Howard Hiester (grandson of famous Schuylkill Canal man Johnny Hiester) related to me around thirty years ago. When Howard was a lad, living on Pine Street, not far from the Schuylkill Canal in southwest Reading, there wasn’t much money so they had to "made do" with what they had. This put a strain on holiday festivity! One Christmas, Howard and an older brother wanted to do something nice for a younger brother so they somehow secured an evergreen tree for the living room which they anchored in a bucket filled with coal--after young brother had gone to bed. For decoration, the popped corn which they strung on thin cord, putting a cranberry in line every so many inches--"chust for nice." When completed, the garlands were wrapped around the tree. They then went to bed to keep warm, as there was no central heat in those small, frame, row homes. Folks customarily went to bed early in the evening to save fuel and to keep warm. Next morning they roused young brother, asking him to go downstairs with them as they had a surprise waiting. When they opened the stair door that led to the living room, they ALL had a surprise. During the night, rats had eaten all the decorations from the tree....and they found the water frozen in the coal bucket! Ah, the good old days..... And if you haven’t quite decided what you’d like to do New Year’s Eve (although we’re suggesting that which is detailed in News-Bit #3), and you’re in the mood for something a little different, perhaps you may wish to consider the practice prevalent in Kentucky 150 years ago, as recalled by the long-since-departed Cassius M. Clay, one-time U.S. minister to Russia. When he was a boy, "they caught small birds and suspended them by strings to roast over the fireplace. These were then eaten with cakes, pies, and hickory nuts. The older people had apple toddy, hard cider, and eggnog... and danced till broad daylight the next morning." ================================== 3- For a number of years, the Reading Symphony Orch- estra has hosted a gala pops concert at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center (formerly the Rajah), at 6th and Walnut in Reading, on New Year’s Eve. These programs have proved popular because of the fun pieces performed and the fact the concert is over by 9, which leaves much of the evening remaining "for other things." Among those "other things" might well be stopping by the Sovereign Center on Penn Street for an evening of fun. Yours truly plans to head for the Center right after the concert. In the illustration below, we see concertmaster Christopher Collins Lee (inset) who joins guest artist Jeremy Cohen in "Dueling Violins." Those in the know eagerly look forward to this selection. While Mr. Cohen is renowned as a jazz violinist, he has a healthy regard and admiration for the late Fritz Kreisler, who made dozens of fine Victor records and played in Reading to great acclaim--twice. Those who attend the RSO’s New Year’s eve concert will be THE FIRST to hear Cohen’s rendition of "Praeludium and Allegro," composed by Kreisler. Cohen notes that he will play a good chunk of the piece as Kreisler wrote it--and then "do his thing." Many who attend this yearly musical confection look forward to Maestro Rothstein’s renditions of the every- popular Johann Strauss waltzes, marches, and other Viennese bon-bons. ==================gmmix========== end =======

	Web www.berkshistory.org