Sasha with Hi and George and a Sasha Family History.
Dublin Core
Title
Sasha with Hi and George and a Sasha Family History.
Description
Hi was not close to his father, but was very close to the youngest of the siblings, Sasha (Allan R. Bloom).
The story goes that when Vera followed Lawrence to the United States with the rest of her children - a brood of 4 girls and one boy, they each had to be "processed" through immigration. The immigration official went through each of the children´s names and "americanized" the most Russian sounding names (e.g. Luba became Lillian), and when they got to the youngest, the immigration official asked Vera, "And what´s this one´s name.?". Vera replied, "Sasha", and the Immigration official shook his head no, saying "We don´t have Sashas here in America. What does it mean?". Vera answered, its a nickname for the Czar, "Alexander". The Immigration official smiled and said, "OK, he´ll be Alex .. no, wait, we just had an Alex, we´ll name him Allan", and henceforth, Sasha became Allan. Later, just to have a middle name presence, Sasha decided to add the letter "R" as his middle initial, not standing for anything at all.
Sasha became a regional buyer/supplier for Thrifty Drug Company, and was so effective that when he died, it took three people to replace him.
All the nephews, Mort, George, and Hi cared for Sasha a great deal, but none more than Hi, who craved the parental love he never got from Lawrence.
I´ve always thought that Sasha got Hi his first drink and they traveled together and saw each other often.
Sasha was gay, which was, in her era, an "infamnia" (to quote the Godfather) and this part of Sasha´s background was spoken about in whispers, but he was so loved by Hi, that when Sasha died, in 1949, he named his first son (yours truly) after him, and although the first name of Allan was changed to Allen, the name of Sasha continued.
Here he is depicted with Hi and George in Torrance, California (where Sasha apparently lived) in January, 1946, three years before his death.
The story goes that when Vera followed Lawrence to the United States with the rest of her children - a brood of 4 girls and one boy, they each had to be "processed" through immigration. The immigration official went through each of the children´s names and "americanized" the most Russian sounding names (e.g. Luba became Lillian), and when they got to the youngest, the immigration official asked Vera, "And what´s this one´s name.?". Vera replied, "Sasha", and the Immigration official shook his head no, saying "We don´t have Sashas here in America. What does it mean?". Vera answered, its a nickname for the Czar, "Alexander". The Immigration official smiled and said, "OK, he´ll be Alex .. no, wait, we just had an Alex, we´ll name him Allan", and henceforth, Sasha became Allan. Later, just to have a middle name presence, Sasha decided to add the letter "R" as his middle initial, not standing for anything at all.
Sasha became a regional buyer/supplier for Thrifty Drug Company, and was so effective that when he died, it took three people to replace him.
All the nephews, Mort, George, and Hi cared for Sasha a great deal, but none more than Hi, who craved the parental love he never got from Lawrence.
I´ve always thought that Sasha got Hi his first drink and they traveled together and saw each other often.
Sasha was gay, which was, in her era, an "infamnia" (to quote the Godfather) and this part of Sasha´s background was spoken about in whispers, but he was so loved by Hi, that when Sasha died, in 1949, he named his first son (yours truly) after him, and although the first name of Allan was changed to Allen, the name of Sasha continued.
Here he is depicted with Hi and George in Torrance, California (where Sasha apparently lived) in January, 1946, three years before his death.
Date
January 6, 1946
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Date Start
1946
Date End
1946
Tags
Citation
“Sasha with Hi and George and a Sasha Family History.,” Bloom Archive, accessed November 22, 2024, https://bloomarchive.org/items/show/293.
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Item Relations
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