Schottenstein: Good morning. This is July 9, 2003 and I'm Naomi Schottenstein, the interviewer. We're at 1175, at the Jewish Federation Building, which also houses the Columbus Jewish Historical Society. I'm here this morning, to interview, Buzzy Kanter and, we're going to start right off with the interview. Buzzy, I'm going to ask for your full name.

Kanter: Bernard Ely Kanter.

Schottenstein: And spell your last name.

Kanter: K-a-n-t-e-r.

Schottenstein: And, you do have a nickname, don't you?

Kanter: Buzzy or Buzz.

Schottenstein: Okay, how does that come about, how did you get that name?

Kanter: I don't know myself, but I suppose when I was probably one or two years old, I was buzzing around and I came to the name Buzz and then I suppose three or four or five years old there was a Dr. Fry on the corner where I was raised on Linwood and Livingston and his name was Dr. Fry and his nickname was Buzzy too, so we kind of hit it off (laughs).

Schottenstein: Oh, well you're still buzzing around so...

Kanter: Yeah, I know it, thank G-d.

Schottenstein: So that's a good, good name for you. I thought it was great. Do you know
what your family's original family name was and was it changed?

Kanter: This is an odd thing and I just found this out about a year and a half ago. Uh, when my father graduated high school, the name was Kantrovitch.

Schottenstein: Can, can you spell that, do you have any idea...

Kanter: I think K-a-n-t-r-o-v-i-c-h... v-i-t-c-h. Kantrovitch.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter: However, about a year or two ago I was looking at a death certificate of my father's father and there was a notation in my father's handwriting, an asterisk, that actually the name was Lipman. I never knew it, my father never told me, nobody ever told us.

Schottenstein: Huh.

Kanter: And I saw on my Zaydie's monument, it said in Hebrew "The son of something, uh what was his, a funny middle name, Lipman" and I thought which Lipman would they leave the last name off. Anyhow, I know that probably the reason was Kantrovitch was my father's grandfather, a well known Cantor uh, in Pinsk. And actually Rabbi Baker's father-in-law...

Schottenstein: This is Rabbi Baker from Columbus, used to live...

Kanter: Columbus, Rabbi Julius Baker said, and if I remember, in fact, his father-in-law I think told me that he had studied Chazonis with my father's grandfather.

Schottenstein: Oh, so he was actually...

Kanter: So he really was a Cantor.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter: And I think my sister told me at one time that actually there was a write up about him in the Togue or the Morning Journal, I don't know which paper.

Uh huh, the Jewish newspaper.

Schottenstein: It was really odd, I just found out.

Kanter: Uh huh, that's interesting.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter: There is a background to it. So often we have names and we don't know where they come from.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter: So uh, but you, you think your family's name was originally Lipman. Yeah.

Schottenstein: L-i...

Kanter: p-m-a-n.

Schottenstein: Okay, uh...

Kanter: His middle name was Yontif, that was the funny name of my father's grandfather Yontif.

Schottenstein: Yontif.

Kanter: Y-o-n-t-i-f, it was in English, oh!

Schottenstein: Like a, like a holiday.

Kanter: Yeah, yeah.

Schottenstein: Well that's interesting too. So all right, so tell us more about how your family came to The States and uh...

Kanter: Uh, my uh, father was born in Minsk and he came over in 1908, and he came with his parents and I don't know if the sister, Goldie, was born here or there. Either Abe Kanter or Goldie was born in this country, I don't remember which was the youngest. It's awful, I don't remember. Uh and at that time, the reason they came to Columbus was they needed a, they had advertised for a Hebrew teacher, and that's how they ended up here. My mother was a...

Schottenstein: So, wait a minute, was your father a Hebrew teacher?

Kanter: No, no, no, his father.

Schottenstein: Oh, his father, okay.

Kanter: His father.

Schottenstein: Okay. What was your grandfather's name, Yontif?

Kanter: No his name was David.

Schottenstein: David.

Kanter: Israel.

Schottenstein: Oh, okay.

Kanter: David Yisrael.

Schottenstein: Okay, and um, and your father's full name?

Kanter: Was Max Phillip.

Schottenstein: Okay.

Kanter: Now you want to hear about my mother?

Schottenstein: Yeah, yeah.

Kanter: My mother was born in this country, was born in Columbus. And uh, her mother was from, I think, Sweden. Sweden or somewhere like that. And when they came here her fa, my mother's grandfather was the first rabbi of Agudas Achim.

Schottenstein: And what was his name?

Kanter: Kalman, his last name was Kalman. Uh wait, wait a minute, Kalman London. London, my grandmother was London. And they came here because, again, they said they needed a rabbi and I think a Shochet.

I think he was a, I think he was a Shochet too. I'm pretty sure. In fact, there was another relative, wait a minute, my...

Schottenstein: Do you think he was a shochet here in Columbus?

Kanter: Oh yeah, yeah. Now I'm just trying to think, `cause I went to New York years ago, to the grave site, I think it was my mother's grandfather and what had happened...

Schottenstein: Give me, give me your mother's name.

Kanter: Ruth, Ruth Weiner Kanter.

Schottenstein: Okay.

Kanter: And she had asked me to go, you know, to say a prayer or something. So I went and when I came back, I told her and then I said "Listen, what happened to your father's grand, well your mother's grandfather?" and what had happened she said, that one time he was doing schita here, he was killing an animal and the knife went wrong or something, became very upset and he couldn't live with himself. He went back to New York, left the family high and dry, and uh, and just studied, went back to Yeshiva. He just couldn't cope, so...

Schottenstein: You mean because of the intensity of that responsibility?

Kanter: Yeah, something, probably was lazy, I don't know. But, anyhow, so...

Schottenstein: I'll go for the responsibility.

Kanter: My grandmother's, my grandmother's mother was like a lot of these Jewish wives. She started selling from door-to-door, different things. And my father's mother had a grocery store, your family actually knows

about it, Naomi. They had a grocery store on Stauring and, Stauring and Donaldson for years and then they had a building built by uh, by Morris Skilken at the corner of Fulton and Parsons.

Schottenstein: That was the name of the grocery store?

Kanter: I don't know, Kanter's, I guess, I don't... and there was about six store rooms. There was a bar, there was a laundry, there was this, that, and the other and uh...

Schottenstein: Anything to make a buck from, huh? Yeah, they had to...

Kanter: Yeah, my grandmother told me, my father's mother told me that really the way she started it was her husband went somewhere on a train for an interview about a job, and while he was gone she says she got somebody to make some shelves in the living room and she went out, she said, "Buzzie, in the streets and alleys" and asked for money to help her get money for an inventory. And then she, she ended up with a store, they did uh, fairly well. And I gotta tell you a story about her. Course she was, she was a very unusual uh, woman. Actually, she was very close with your, your uh, husband's family, especially with Dora Abrams, and I'm trying to think who else, and Ike, of course. But my, my father's mother, she, she could read and speak about four or five languages: Polish uh, uh Polish, Russian uh, Yiddish, English, and when a lot of these women came to this country Greenhorns, single, or else left their husbands and came here in search of green pastures, they couldn't read any language.

Schottenstein: Just explain what Greenhorn is.

Kanter: Greenhorns are foreigner.

Schottenstein: Okay, good, `cause...

Kanter: And, and they couldn't read any language. So they would come into my Bubbie's store and my Bubbie would read it to `em. And I'll tell you one of the persons that told me that story, Sylvia Schecter. Said "Buzzie, I remember vividly that they would come in the store and sit around" and then my Bubbie would write a letter back for them, they would tell her what to say...

Schottenstein: Yeah

Kanter: And she would write for `em.

Schottenstein: I know she was a very colorful person, because uh...

Kanter: Oh!! Tough person, but she was smart as hell!

Schottenstein: Yeah. Miriam and Bernie Yenkin have told us stories about...

Kanter: Yeah, if fact, whenever I'd come, course she was always, always had food and this and a kibbitz. But whenever I walked in the door, unless it was with other people, she'd always say,"Zets ich avec un leyn daYiddishe paper." I don't know what the word for paper is. So

I would...

Schottenstein: Give us a translation of that. We have a recording.

Kanter: She'd say,"Come and sit down. You have to read a block from the Yiddisha paper, from the Jewish paper."

Schottenstein: Page, uh huh.

Kanter: So normally what I would do is she'd take the paper out and I would read something from a column called "Men or Infroyin" "Men or Women". It's like our Ann Landers.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter: And you could, actually, if you want, you can go to the library and there's a number of books that actually have a lot of these columns in English telling you what kind of stories were told in those days. So she was a riot though, she was a neat woman. And of course, she had, she had a lady that stayed with her for probably forty years at least, a black woman, Rosie. And this, the two of them got along like a pea in, peas in a pod. Argued, but they got along wonderful. It was long, I could tell you many stories about that, but you go ahead.

Schottenstein: Maybe you could give us a few stories. Tell, what about her husband. Tell us a little bit about your, your Zaydie.

Kanter: Oh, her husband, David he taught, see when, when he died,

I was just ten, so I didn't know a lot. I know one thing, he taught me Hebrew. I started reading Hebrew, I must've been two. I know I read Hebrew before I talked English, spoke English. And I'll bet...

Schottenstein: Hebrew or Yiddish? Hebrew?

Kanter: Hebrew, Hebrew.

Schottenstein:Uh huh. What about Yiddish, did you speak in Yiddish?

Kanter: No, he never, I just, I just picked it up. I never learned it anywhere. I can understand it quite well and I speak it a little bit, but uh, he died, I was ten years old, but he had taught me how to read and pray and uh, in fact, I'll never forget, `cause it's indealt, indealt on my mind, We studied uh, the Old Testament and we got as far as in Genesis, the portion that's called "Lech L 'cha" when G-d says to Abraham,"Go for yourself." And I know almost from beginning to there, almost what they call,"oys vanik", "by heart." Because when you studied with him, oh, I did do Yiddish! We'd study, and we'd read from the Hebrew to Yiddish to English. You know, that's how we studied.

Schottenstein: Oh, so you covered, covered the territory, that's for sure.

Kanter: Yeah, that's how we studied, yeah.

Schottenstein: Now was this one-on-one?

Kanter: Yeah, oh, one-on-one, absolutely, at his house, yeah.

Schottenstein: `Cause there were a lot of grandchildren?

Kanter: Yeah, but my sister studied with him too. I don't know that my brother did or not, but my sister did, I know that, yeah, yeah.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, so you had, you had a lot of interesting stories about your grandparents and you remember them, well your grandfather not as much, but your Bubbie gave you some great memories.

Kanter: Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. I saw her. I'll tell you what used to happen. I almost saw her every day of my adult life, and I'm serious, `cause

I would call her every day and I'd say,"Bubbie, vi vilstu?" "How you feeling?" She'd say,"Ich shtarb avec!" ("I'm dying!") I'd say uh, "Bubble, iz imitzer gekumen?"("Has somebody showed up today?") She

says,"Afilu nisht a meshuginer dog!" ("Not even a crazy dog!") So I'd say,"Bubbie, my tata 's geveyn?" ("Did my father come?") She'd say, "Yeah." I'd say, "Abe is geveyn?" (Did Abe-that's her other son-come?") She'd say, "Yeah." "Goldie's geveyn?" ("Did Goldie come?") "Yeah." I'd say,"Whaddya mean, nobody showed up?" She'd say, "Obir du ich vil zehn!" ("Only you doI want to see!")

Schottenstein: Oh, you were special.

Kanter: She was, everybody was special.

Schottenstein: Whoever, yeah, I know, she just zeroed in.

Kanter: In fact, when you'd come over on, especially like Friday. Friday was the day, because she had gribbines for everybody, and she would say,"Buzzie, yours is on the second shelf. Abe's is on the first shelf, Goldie's is in the dining room. Your father's is in the kitchen."

Schottenstein: That's great, great, perfect.

Kanter: Yeah, we had a good time.

Schottenstein: I, I know your mother uh, came from a family of several women. Tell us about your mother's family, because I remember vaguely hearing stories about how the girls were with their mother.

Kanter: Uh, their, my mother's mother was very, very observant. Her husband wasn't. Her husband had a pawn shop on the avenue called uh, Sam Weiner's Loans.

Schottenstein: What do you mean by "the avenue?"

Kanter: Mt. Vernon Avenue.

Schottenstein: Oh, okay.

Kanter: And uh, but the mother was very religious. I mean you, I, you could walk in her house, she lived for many years at 599 Wilson Avenue, which isn't even in existence anymore, the freeways got it. And you could look at the floor in the dining room and you could actually see where the floor went down a little bit where she stood. She would hold on to the hutch or whatever it was in the dining room and she'd pray probably three or four hours every day. She never needed a book, she never answered the phone

when she prayed, nothing, and she never, she never ate before she prayed. Her day was, you pray three or four hours, then she'd go feed the animals. She had a nice yard. She'd feed the squirrels and the birds and then she'd start on her own breakfast with her coffee, see, but she was a late person, she'd be up three, four, five o'clock in the morning.

Schottenstein: But she took care of the animals, didn't she?

Kanter: Oh yeah, oh and she wouldn't kill nothing. If there was an ant in the house and you were there, you'd have to put the ant on something and take it outside.

Schottenstein: Oh, isn't that something.

Kanter: Yeah, she wouldn't kill nothing.

Schottenstein: Yeah, I remember Miriam telling us a story that when she and Bernie were engaged, I guess your Bubbie fed the bird peanuts or some common nuts, but when they were engaged she fed the birds cashews.

Kanter: Yeah, oh live it up, huh?

Schottenstein: Uh huh, special, something special.

Kanter: Yeah, oh she was something else. And then, of course, my mother was one of four sisters. And there was Tillie who married a Dr. Ziskind, and she's deceased, and my mother is deceased, and then still living are Eleanore Yenkin, who lives in Columbus, and Helen Zelkowitz who lives in Mt. Vernon. In fact, we just had them over Shabbas for dinner Friday night, Helen and Eleanore. And uh, they both enjoyed being over. Thank G-d, both of their minds are good and Helen runs like hell.

Schottenstein: She does, she's busy.

Kanter: Yeah, she still runs...

Schottenstein: But I remember them going together on Friday afternoon, I guess or some particular day and to spend with, with their mother, that they were especially attentive.

Kanter: Well, I'll tell you what used to happen. Friday night, they, it, it was almost a ritual that they would come over to, to my mother's mother's uh, I don't remember going for dinner very often, but we only lived a block and a half

away. The oldest sister, Tillie, lived two blocks away. At that time, Eleanore lived uh, on Bryden Road, when I was a kid, so she was a while away, but a lot of times, we'd see all of them over at my grandmother's Friday night and normally what would happen is, Eleanore would play the piano, and somebody would sing, and somebody would dance it was a very, very enjoyable evening, and uh, and then years later, well there were, let's see, how many? My grandmother, my mother's mother also had three sons: Abe and Elliot and, and uh, Bernard. Bernard died when he was sixteen of influenza or something, G-d forbid, and so I'm named after him, as well as Bernie Yenkin.

Schottenstein: Oh, okay.

Kanter: And uh, Elliot uh, died not too long ago, in the last ten years, I'd say, but Elliot was not mentally well. He was not only slow, he was retarded, he had problems. And actually, he, he lived at home with my grandmother and grandfather, it was my understanding, `cause my grandfather died. I was one year old, on that side. And my, the one who had the, was retarded, his father would never let him go into an institution. But once his father died, that's what my grandmother did, put, institutionalized him, and she would always send him food, and then every once in a while, we'd go out there to visit him and, you know, and have a picnic with him or what have you, and then years and years later, my Aunt Helen had him um, in a nursing home right across the alley from her and then the last few years of his life, he spent at Heritage House, and uh... Now Abe, Abe married out of his faith and my grandmother used to say Kaddish for him. She would have nothing to do with him for, I would say, probably ten years. Finally, they made peace, and he used to come over all the time. And he was the real fun, `cause when he'd come Friday night, he'd bang the hell out of the piano, he was good.

Schottenstein: Oh, he was good piano player.

Kanter: Oh yeah, he was good.

Schottenstein: Eleanore, I've heard her just recently play piano.

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein:

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein:

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein:

Oh yeah, she plays it, but Abe really played the piano. Abe really would tickle the keys.

What, did they take lessons?

I, no, I think she, they played the chords. You know, they didn't... Just by ear.

Yeah, just by ear, both of them.

Was your grandmother, was your grandmother musical or?

Not that I know of, I don't think so. But she, but from pictures that I saw she was a very, very pretty woman in her youth. You know, I don't remember it, you know.

Well she had some beautiful daughters, so...

Yean, oh, they were all pretty women, all of `em were pretty women, yeah.

Yeah uh, you, you mentioned your uh, your aunts and uncles and let's, let's go through that list again one at a time and tell us who their families are.

Okay, so Tillie Ziskind, of blessed memory, married a Dr. Jacob Ziskind, and actually, they were like second cousins, I think, when they married.

A lot of my family they married, you know, lunatics, they married in, their relatives.

That wasn't terribly unusual though, in that era.

Yeah, right, yeah.

I mean, how are they going to find mates? You know, they were right there.

So that's who she married and she was ten years older than the next child, and actually, my mother told me that, not only did Tillie help raise the kids, Tillie worked in the pawn shop. Tillie did everything, she really did. Uh huh, accepted responsibility.

Oh, she really was! The one they said was treated like a princess was Eleanore.

Oh.

Kanter: Eleanore used to say,"I can't do anything." (Naomi laughs) Her father said, "That's fine."

Schottenstein: Everybody else will do it.

Kanter: Eleanore, of course, was gorgeous in her day. `course they all were pretty, but Eleanore was gorgeous.

Schottenstein: Well, let's, let's, let's stay with Tillie. Okay, tell us who her family, tell us about her family.

Kanter: So Tillie had just one child, Susan, who's married to Dr. Portman. That's the only child she ever had.

Schottenstein: Sam, Sam Portman, Dr. Sam Portman.

Kanter: Yeah.

Schottenstein: And she has how many children? Susan has...

Kanter: Susan, you know, I'm not very close with any of those people, but uh, David, Michael... David, Michael, and the other one, I can't even think, I can see his face.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter:

There are two of them in Columbus, David and Michael, and there's a third one who's an attorney in Israel.

Uh huh, okay.

And, and uh, that's her children.

Okay, so that pretty much covers Tillie's family.

Right. Okay.

And then Eleanore...

Was the second oldest? Let's, let's go...

No...

Let's go in uh, rotation.

My mother was, my mother was born in 1908, so today she would be nine-two...

Ninety.. .

Ninety-five, so my mother was the next of the girls.

Schottenstein: Okay.

Kanter: So that's my mother, Ruth.

Schottenstein: And tell us about her family.

Kanter: So there were, she, there are three siblings: myself, my brother Samuel, and my sister Leah. My brother Samuel lives in Bexley. He never married. My sister...

Schottenstein: What was, what's his occupation?

Kanter: Huh? He's also an attorney. My sister uh, was married and has two children. She's widowed. Her husband, G-d forbid, was a doctor and got killed trying to help somebody when he was crossing a street.

Schottenstein: Yeah, I remember that story. So that's Leah.

Kanter: Yeah, that's Leah, Leah Salis.

Schottenstein: What's her nickname? I know she has...

Kanter: Sweetie.

Schottenstein: Sweetie, okay.

Kanter: And, and she has two children uh, Esther, who lives in fact, in my house in Bexley. They bought my house on Sherwood and Cassady. And then there's uh...

Schottenstein: And she's married to?

Kanter: Huh?

Schottenstein: Who's she married to?

Kanter: Gary Gillett. He's an attorney from Dayton.

Schottenstein: Okay.

Kanter: And then uh... Schottenstein: And they have...

Kanter: They have two children.

Schottenstein: Two children, okay.

Kanter: And then uh, Sweetie's other child is David Salis, and he's married, he married a girl from Johannesburg, South Africa. And of all things, and

I probably, I don't know what year it was, but I would venture to say

seven or eight years ago, Helen Zelkowitz and Eleanore Yenkin went to

the wedding in Johannesburg, South Africa at age of probably eighty-five...

Schottenstein: I remember when they went. That was quite an expedition there.

Kanter: Yeah, yeah, and then David has two children. He's a computer programmer and he loves being there.

Schottenstein: Excuse me, their last name is spelled S...

Kanter: a-l-i-s.

Schottenstein: Okay, okay.

Kanter: My sister visits quite frequently, but one thing she, on behalf of Hadassah, I think it's Hadassah, she goes every January for two months and she teaches uh, English in a, in, in a school in uh, Netanya. And she's been doing that and staying at the same hotel for probably five, six, seven years. And then she'll go two, three other times during the year.

Schottenstein: Is that right? I didn't know she went that often.

Kanter: Yeah, yeah.

Schottenstein: So they probably don't get here very much.

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein:

No, I think he, he, well he was, they were here about two years ago and this time on their vacation, they're going to Johannesburg to stay with her people.

Uh huh, how many children does David have?

David has a little boy and a little girl. Little boy must be probably,

I'm just guessing, four and the little girl's one. Uh huh, so they're little.

Yeah.

That's fun, okay.

Go on to the next one?

Yeah, sure.

Kanter: So the next one is uh, I can't remember if Eleanore, I think Eleanore's older. I'm pretty sure. `Course Eleanore was married to Abe Yenkin and uh, and I'm trying to think if they were related?

Schottenstein: Abe and Eleanore?

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein:

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein:

Eleanore. Tillie was and Helen was, I don't think Eleanore was. Anyhow, she was uh, she married and Abe Yenkin, you know better than me, was in the paint business and his son Bernie's in the paint business now. And uh, they had uh, other children. They had two daughters, Sandra and uh...

Linda.

And Linda.

Okay.

And Sandra lives in, lives in Boston and Bernie's here.

And uh, tell us about Bernie's family.

Bernie's family, I don't know much about. You know more than me. Okay, all right. He's married to Miriam.

Right.

Schottenstein Yenkin.

Yeah, they have uh, I don't know, does she, they must have, I think, four kids.

They have three daughters and a son.

Son, yeah, four kids, well you know better than me.

Okay, we got that covered. And then Sandra has two, two children. Sandra has uh, two children. Uh, the girl I've only seen a few times. The boy I've seen many more times than that. But I haven't seen either one of them for a number of years. The boy lives in California. The girl, I guess she's in Boston, I don't know. Do you know, Naomi?

No, I, I don't.

I haven't seen her for years.

Well, when a family gets big and older you do lose, kind of lose track. It's not terribly unusual.

But Sandra is in Boston. Her husband's a physician. In fact, her husband's father was uh, President Nixon's personal physician. Oh, is that right? That's...

Yeah.

And what's his last name? What's his name? Give us his name.

Kanter: Sandy?

Schottenstein: Levine?

Kanter: Levine, yeah. I should know it, I've been talking...

Schottenstein: Yeah, I don't remember his first name.

Kanter: Yeah, Herb.

Schottenstein: Herb. Herb Levine.

Kanter: Herb Levine, yeah.

Schottenstein: Cardiologist.

Kanter: Yeah. So that's...

Schottenstein: I'm glad I can fill in with these spaces here.

Kanter: Yeah and then there's Helen. Helen got married in 1929 or '30. And she married a cousin, Charles Zelkowitz. They ended up in Mt. Vernon and never left, or never moved from there. Charlie bought a, he was an attorney, very bright, and he bought an attorney's practice who died, for fifty dollars.

Schottenstein: Oh!

Kanter: And Helen told me that, I think, he never took in a nickel for like six months and his first fee was either a nickel or a dime...

Schottenstein: Oh.

Kanter: As a notary republic, as a notary public on some document or something. But he ended up, you know, he was from a small town, and I guess it's a lot easier to be a big fish in a little pond.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter: And he did very well, and then, I don't know when it was, I'm guessing in the fifties, I might be wrong, they started a radio station, and originally, I think it was done to just do something for the community. Got a few families together, put up some money, and I don't think it was a winner. And then uh, they got into cable and this, that, and the other and it was very lucrative. And Helen had a program on the radio for probably thirty years called "Coffee with Helen" or something from nine to ten every day. She interviewed from governors to mayors to policemen to educators, and

Helen was, used to keep up with this stuff. And she did that probably till maybe ten, twelve years ago.

Schottenstein: Well, I know she's much beloved in Mt. Vernon.

Kanter: Oh yeah. In Mt. Vernon, if I meet someone from Mt. Vernon, I'll say, "Do you happen to know my Aunt Helen Zelkowitz?" "You mean Helen?" They don't know from a last name. They know this woman but she's been in everything: their blue, red cross, the city council, Republican party, the hospit... you name it, she's been in it. And uh, she still goes to meetings and she's ninety-one.

Schottenstein: Where does she live now?

Kanter: Now she's still in Mt. Vernon.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, but she does come to Columbus a whole lot?

Kanter: Oh yeah, she just was here for ten days.

Schottenstein: Tell me she's not driving anymore.

Kanter: She thinks she can drive, but she doesn't drive much. She's cheating, though. She drives a little bit.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, okay, yeah, that's hard. And she had a son?

Kanter: She had one son, Steven. He passed away, I forget what she told me, how long it's been, probably ten, twelve years ago. And, and Steven was, was married. Married a woman by the name of Donna (yawns) Ricken and she lives now in Las Vegas and the poor soul's got MS, doesn't get around very well.

Schottenstein: Oh,is that right?

Kanter: And she has two children, Jonathan, who's in California and, isn't that awful, I just saw her last month.

Schottenstein: Is Jonathan married?

Kanter: Jonathan's divorced. And his sister just got married about two, three years ago. And uh, she lives, she works in Washington, D.C. and she had the promise of another job somewhere, I don't know what happened to it. And she's married and this fellow either converted or is in the process of

converting to Judaism. Um, she's a real live wire. She was very active in girls' groups here, Bnai Brith Girls, and this, that, and the other. The boy I didn't know very well, Jonathan. Then, then I had, then there was, the brother, Abe Weiner, and Abe went to work with his dad in the pawn shop and that's where he stayed his whole life, in the pawn shop. And I'll never forget, when I was about sixteen or seventeen I went to work for Abe in the pawn shop, and I learned a whole different side of the world from those people. And he was a riot, they all liked him, but uh, it was a riot working in that kind of setting and um, and then he passed away a good while ago, I don't know when. He, he was married to Martha Weiner uh, she's still alive. She lives in um, St. Paul, in a nursing home. Her daughter, Sharon, married somebody (yawns) who's from there and in fact, we just had lunch with them just uh, about a month ago. They were in town.

Schottenstein: Is Sharon married?

Kanter: Sharon's married. And in fact, the kids, there might be one left in high school. They've, the other two have a fine education. I forget, one, not an M.D. but, they have a degree now, and I forget what it's called, one of my daughters was interested in it. And um, you can um, like you give injections, you're just a, somewhat above a nurse, but you're not a doctor. Grant Hospital has them and I forget what they're called, doctor's assistants or medical, I don't know what they're called. That's what one daughter is. I don't know what the son does. I have no idea. And then there was Elliot, who I told you was, you know, mentally retarded, he never...

Schottenstein: Now wait a minute, the Weiners had more than...

Kanter: Oh they had a son, Sam.

Schottenstein: A son also, okay.

Kanter: Uh, and Sam's an attorney uh, very active in the uh, legal profession. And uh, has handled a number of profile cases uh, you know, in his practice of law.

Schottenstein: And he's married to?

Kanter: He's married to a girl from Cleveland and uh, I don't see him hardly at all. I don't, I don't know why, I'm not mad at him, but you know, some relatives you see, some you don't, you know.

Schottenstein: Now they never had children, did they?

Kanter: No, no, no children.

Schottenstein: And, and what's his wife's name?

Kanter: I can see her face, I can't think of her name. Frances! !

Schottenstein: Frances, okay.

Kanter: Yeah, yeah.

Schottenstein: Okay, I run into them every now and then.

Kanter: Yeah.

Schottenstein: Okay, who else is there now?

Kanter: That's it! What else do you want? How many you need?

Schottenstein: Okay, that covers the whole story, huh?

Kanter: That's it.

Schottenstein: Um, okay we already talked a little bit about a steadier, the family business and um, I think you have great memories of that. That was really the heart of the Jewish community, wasn't it, in that area, Mt. Vernon Avenue, Long Street? I hear a lot of stories about...

Kanter: In fact, Dr. Ziskind, Tillie's husband, had his medical office either one door or two doors from the pawn shop for a good number of years. That's where his place was.

Schottenstein: It was really a family...

Kanter: Yeah, there were a lot of, when I was a kid there were an awful lot of Jewish businesses and I saw Marvin Bonowitz had something about that, I mean, but I remember that stuff too. In fact, a very good friend of mine had a business there, Norm uh, Krause.

Schottenstein: Oh, sure.

Kanter: He had a, a general store right across from Uncle's pawn shop. And poor Norman, may his soul rest in peace, he was raised in a Cleveland

orphanage and so when he came town, and he opened the store some way, he used to come over and kibbitz with my Uncle Abe Weiner all the time, there wasn't much business, he'd come over...

Schottenstein: Well, Norman was a great kibittzer...

Kanter: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Schottenstein: Yeah, we, they were friends of ours when...

Kanter: Yeah, yeah, good person, good soul, good soul, yeah.

Schottenstein: Yeah, uh huh, um, so what are some of the other stories you remember about the businesses in that area?

Kanter: Uh...

Schottenstein: Do you remember, how about uh, people your age who, who worked in some of their family businesses? Would, did that happen very often?

Kanter: Well, course you know, I had another cousin that had a pawn shop down the street. That was Coffee Ziskind. And Coffee, Coffee was a college graduate and, of course, he had a fine mind and then to end up with a pawn shop, what a, what a , what a waste of a mind. But I'll never forget, one time I, I, I think I was walking for lunch or something to just say hello to him. I walk in there and he fell asleep in the (laughs) he had an attack right there in the seat or something. He didn't care about business, you understand. He was there, he'd read, he didn't care about...

Schottenstein: What about holidays? What happened with all those Jewish businesses, did they close on holidays?

Kanter: Well, I can't, I'm not privy to that really. Uh, I don't remember, but

I, I, I would just imagine they must've, cause those people sure went to shul.

Schottenstein: Yeah, yeah when I think about it, I think of those people, most of them being involved in shul business too.

Kanter: Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah. I, I remember um, and you know this guy better than me, Rosenthal was his name and his son was in radio, I forget. Harry! I think it was Harry Rosenthal. He had a uh, a grocery store there,

on the corner there, someone named Spicer Furniture was there and, course Sonny Romanoff ended up being there and...

Schottenstein: And still is there.

Kanter: And still is there, Mort Rising was there. He just closed up a couple years ago. And uh...

Schottenstein: It certainly was a uh, colorful area.

Kanter: Oh, absolutely!

Schottenstein: So your family...

Kanter: All of them were Jews and blacks.

Schottenstein: Jews and blacks, uh huh.

Kanter: Yeah, always got along good.

Schottenstein: Uh, well very recently uh, there was an excellent exhibition at the uh, Columbus Museum of Art by Aminah Robinson. And uh, she focuses a lot on Mt. Vernon, `cause she grew up in that area, she um, African American woman. And uh, so she puts a lot of those businesses in her artwork uh, with names of stores and so forth. So that's, that's kind of uh, interesting. Um, did, did your grandparents tell you stories about their life in Europe?

Kanter: I never heard a word.

Schottenstein: Well, that wasn't unusual.

Kanter: I never, I never heard a word. The only thing that I knew, was just, just a few things, but not stories as such. My, my uh, father's mother was related to uh, to the Zisenwines. That's the only thing I knew from somewhere.

Schottenstein: Harry Zisenwine?

Kanter: Huh? Yeah, Harry Zisenwine. My dad once in a while would say something about that. They, they never talked about it.

I.

Schottenstein: Well, they left a life that they wanted to get away from.

I guess they left it behind, you know, it wasn't a big deal, you know.

Kanter: Wasn't anything so pleasant.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, and they were involved in their life here. Oh Kanter: yeah...

Schottenstein: Getting things started.

Kanter: I mean, especially on, I mean, on both sides my families were involved in everything. My father was president of the Hebrew School for years, president of Agudas Achim for years. He, he used to teach at the medical school. For years he had an assistant uh, professorship uh, and, and Abe uh, was president of Ahavas Shalom and Agudas Achim and Goldie was very active in Hadassah, this, that, and the other. And, and to be real frank with you, my father's side of the family, his brother and sister, they always tried to help the, the person that was low. Uh, I mean I remember, first of all, I practiced law with my aunt from 1956 to '79. and sometimes I'd say to her, "Now Goldie." She'd ring me on the intercom, she'd say, "Buzzie, want you to interview this guy here. He'll, he'll, he's here in my office. Want you to handle the case." I'd say, ^"Goldie, did, did he uh, pay a retainer fee?" She'd say, ^"Don't ask for money." And we didn't. I mean, third of our practice, at least, was for free.

Schottenstein: Welfare stuff.

Kanter: Yeah, my father said he never sent a bill. If they paid, they paid, if they didn't, they didn't. That's the way the business was. He never sent a bill.

Now, when workmen's comp came into being and social security and all that crap, then he, the girl would fill out a form. But to send a bill to somebody's house, none.

Schottenstein: You went by good will, they went by good will.

Kanter: We earned a good nothing, nothing. I mean, one time my father told me a man had a venereal disease. And uh, my father said, "now listen, you’ve got to fill this prescription." He says, "Doctor, you keep the prescription." He said "What do you mean, I, I don’t need it." He says, "Doctor, I don’t have any money." So now not only did my father treat him for free, gave him money for the prescripotion , and that’s what people did you know. I don’t, they would, sure wouldn’t do it today, you know.

Schottenstein: For sure, for sure. I know, well you worked with Goldie and I know she was really quite a, a character and uh, there, I, I nev, I want you to tell us a little bit about Goldie.

Kanter: Well, first of all...

Schottenstein: Give us her name and, and about her family.

Kanter: She had uh, she had two children, David and Miriam, thank G-d, they're both alive. She was married to a man that, in fact, had worked with Maury Portman, who just died. Her, her hus, former husband had worked with Maury Portman in the newspaper business. Well, they got married, he was a good looking man, and Goldie put him through law school. And so he became an attorney. They ended up getting a divorce. He was running around with somebody, they got divorced. And uh, but Goldie was very active in a number of things, very active with the Republican party, very active in, in Hadassah, go to meetings, this, that, and the other. She was...

Schottenstein: She was a live wire.

Kanter: Live wire and always...

Schottenstein: Did you enjoy your years working with her?

Kanter: Well, you know, working with the public isn't all pleasant, you know. Schottenstein: Little bit of a challenge, yeah, little bit of a challenge.

Kanter: But uh... (laughs) I'll never, I shouldn't say this on the tape, but I'll never forget...

Schottesntein: Well, just, just talk about what you're comfortable with.

Kanter: I'm comfortable with anything. After I was with her for a little while, she says, "Buzzie, now listen, law is a jealous mistress." I says, "Goldie, I'm really enjoying the practice, but if that's all there is to eat and sleep and excrete, I'm jumping out the window, you know." (both laugh) that she

used to kid me about it, you know. But, basically, we got along good, we really did. We did a lot of cases together. She uh (coughs)...

Schottenstein: She was respected, though.

Kanter: Oh yeah, and I don't know, she had a way in the courtroom that was amazing. She could try a case and there'd be other,

two or three other attorneys getting paid good dollars, their client might be convicted and her client was set free. Court would say afterward, "I don't understand, Goldie, your client was more involved." All these jurors thought from what I was able to determine from the bailiffs, `cause I didn't try many cases with her, we did our own thing. They just thought if you convict Goldie's client, you're convicting Goldie, and how you convict a little woman, you know.

Schottenstein: Oh, yeah, she was little of stature, but…

Kanter: Yeah, yeah, and big of mouth.

Schottenstein: Big of mouth.

Kanter: Big of mouth.

Schottenstein: That's okay. I remember once she was walking in the dark in Bexley or something, taking a walk and I don't remember where I heard the story, but uh, she, her answer, whoever it was said, "Goldie, you shouldn't be walking in the dark by yourself." And her answer was, "I have nothing to worry about." Who's going to attack her? You know they, they had a lot of respect for her.

Kanter: Yeah, oh yeah. Well, when I was a kid, you know, I remember going with my father at night for house calls, and we'd literally be in alleys, and my father would have a big pocketful of money, not millions, but he'd have probably a hundred dollars with him. He never worried about hitting over the head or hitting on the neck or somebody steal, nobody worried about, you know it too, our houses were unlocked. I never even had a key when my kids were growing up. I never had a key to my house on Sherwood. I wouldn't know where to find it.

Schottenstein: Yeah, well life is different now.

Kanter: Yeah, you're telling me.

Schottenstein: Can't, you can't drive down the street now without being cautious. All right, well tell us about places, homes that you lived in as a child. Where was your, where were your family homes?

Kanter: Well, when, I just remember, my mother had us moving so much when we were little. We were renting and I know we lived on Lockbourne Road, just south of uh, Livingston uh, near the Tennenbaums for, for a while and that was a while. Then we moved to a place...

Schottenstein: Which Tennenbaums were they?

Kanter: Uh, Harold Tennenbaum, Sy Tennenbaum and his family. And

I remember then, I'll never forget, I was always an early riser, and the milkman would come, I don't know, five, five-thirty, and I must've been two or three and my mother used to let me go out the door and the milkman would take me down the street with him, it was a horse and buggy, not a car or something.

Schottenstein: Sure.

Kanter: And then when they came back on the other side, he'd drop me off. Then we lived on Oakwood Avenue and I still see that house, that was near Forest. It had so many doors, I don't think there were rooms. (Naomi laughs) and then finally, in nineteen...

Schottenstein: Well wait a minute, do you remember any of your neighbors on Oakwood?

Kanter: Oakwood, I, I really don't, I, I think, I think I remember, I'm looking at his face now... Ronnie, aw, isn't that awful, my mother was such good friends with these people. He's an optometrist, Ronnie, what's his name? He's about seventy-five now. Ronnie, isn't that awful. His father was a pharmacist and his parents and my parents were like this, were very,very close and I can't think of their last name. There was a daughter too.

Schottenstein: Well, maybe it'll pop in.

Kanter: But I don't know, yeah, Ronnie...

Schottenstein: That was, so that was on Oakwood?

Kanter: That was on Oakwood. And then in nineteen, roughly thirty-nine, we moved to Linwood Avenue, 735. And Abe Wolman lived next door, Joe Modes across the street, Sillmans down the street, Rabbi Julius Baker down the street, the Krakowitz's down the street uh, I mean, an awful lot

of Jews, the Jewish neighborhood was also a big Catholic neighborhood because a church was over at Ohio and Newton. So it was a, you know, a lot of uh, of Catholics there. And uh, I mean we, we were friendly with everybody, Jew, Catholic, or whatever it was.

Schottenstein: It was a great family neighborhood. Everybody knew each other.

Kanter: Yeah I, well I, I went there with uh, with Rosalie Schottenstein the other day, my wife and I.

Schottenstein: Yeah, my sister-in-law.

Kanter: They had a garden tour.

Schottenstein: I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe...

Kanter: And, and, it's unbelievable, what the, the neighborhood has come back, and, and the gardens, it's gorgeous.

Schottenstein: I, I can't believe that was the same neighborhood. Uh, Buzzie, I'm going to stop you just a second so I can turn this tape over. We're at the end of A side, tape one. I'm going to just turn this over... Okay, we're on side B, still tape one. And we're on Linwood Avenue, okay. So, you had fond memories there.

Kanter: Sure, very fond, and of course, like I told you before, my mother's mother lived at 599 Wilson, which is like a block and a half away. My mother's sister, Tillie, lived on Linwood Avenue, just uh, north of Main Street, which is four blocks away or five and so uh, you know we had relatives uh...

Schottenstein: And, and walking from one place to another was quite common.

Kanter: Oh yeah, first of all, when I was, when I was a kid, and none of our family rode on the Sabbath but my father, so we would walk every Friday night in the decent weather, when they had services and then `course always on Saturday morning.

Schottenstein: Where did you go for services?

Kanter: Uh, when I was real little, I went to Ahavas Shalom on Ohio Avenue and it's a church now. It's on Ohio near Forest. And of course, my father's mother lived two blocks from there, on 22^nd. And, and then we went to

Agudas Achim, which is at Washington and Donaldson. And, you know, we went there forever.

Schottenstein: Um, and then, `course Agudas Achim moved and they're on East Broad Street, where they are now. Um, okay, let's see, let's um, how about your father's relatives, can you, can you give us some lowdown uh, on...

Kanter: I know as much about them as you do. I know so little. I remember some things that stand out, but they're not many. My father's father had a brother that came to visit from London, England. I think I only saw him once. There was a, and I don't remember names at all, I don't know, my sister might, and I doubt it. Then another relative came and his, oh wait a minute, his name was Nimitz. We had a, my, my father's mother had a lot of family in Washington D.C. Those people I knew when I was a kid. I haven't seen `em for so long, it's awful. But uh, those people we were close to, we'd go to weddings, we'd go to Bar Mitzvahs. You know, this, I'm talking about forty, fifty years ago. But uh...

Schottenstein: Okay, go ahead.

Kanter: My father had a relative, my, my, my father's father had a relative that was in the movie business, a producer. My sister probably remembers his name. Then I had a cousin come from London, England, that she plays in the London Sym, uh, Philharmonic. And she was here, I don't know, a few days or something and then a number of years later, her son came back. He was studying music at some university in, I think, West Virginia or Kentucky or Tennessee. I saw him a couple times. That's all I ever saw of those people. Then my father had a brother who was in Milwaukee and I saw him a few times and uh...

Schottenstein: What was his name?

Kanter: His name was Velvul, Velvul. I never knew anything else, Velvul. And uh, he uh, composed melodies for this synagogue. They had a, a big choir, and so he was the Cantor and he composed melodies for the, for the choir and so forth. Then there was a sister. This is a story I mean, out of sight,

I probably shouldn't tell it, but I will. Apparently, my father's mother didn't like, didn't get along with her husband's sister. She lived in Milwaukee. So I don't know, about, about two, three years before my father died, about then, I hear him talking, he's going to go visit his aunt in Milwaukee. I said, "What do you mean, you're going to go visit your aunt in Milwaukee? I never heard of her." So anyhow, he went, they had a wonderful time. I was supposed to go and I got the flu or pneumonia, I had a flight ticket, I didn't go. So I never saw that one, but my father after that, every Friday night, he'd call her for Shabbas, you know. Now her daughter came to Columbus and my sister and I had lunch or dinner a couple days with her. My sister, I think, still corresponds. And that's all I know of that side of the family. Um, of my, that's my father's father's side. My father's mother's side, like I said, were the Nimitz's in Washington D.C. and that's all I remember. There was an Aaron and a Blanche. Blanche is still alive. They were both doctors. He passed away years ago, Aaron. And their son is a physician and one, two of my cousin are there now. Lou Kanter's kid, daughters, and they're friendly with them. Um, so that's on my father's side. On my mother's side I know nothing.

Schottenstein: Let me ask you this uh, Buzzie. When you were little, when you were growing up, did your family ever take vacations together? Did you go on trips?

Kanter: It, it, it was seldom, I can tell you. I remember, I'll never forget it (laughs), I don't know how old I was, but we were going to Florida. We stayed at a place in Miami, I think it was called the New Orleans. Well my mother packed the car with all their pots and dishes, I mean, we wouldn't use somebody else's dishes.

Schottenstein: Like she was going to Europe, huh?

Kanter: That's right.

Schottenstein: Or she was coming from Europe.

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein:

So I, I remember going there for a couple weeks and to be frank with you, I do not recall, oh, I know what else we did. When I was very young, I think before I was even in elementary school, my Aunt Tillie, my mother's sister, had a place out in Buckeye Lake and so we used to go, I don't know if it was for one summer, two summers, three summers, you know, the more you think of it, you embellish it, the story gets better. And uh, we had a little cottage there and uh, we'd go for couple weeks and they had swimming and this, that, and the other. But I remember one thing, we always had to go out and go down the street to pump water, so we had water to drink...

Oh, you didn't have running water.

No, we didn't have a toilet in the house, even. We went outside, you understand, that was it.

Yeah, yeah, you had an outhouse, probably.

An outhouse, yeah. And I don't, I...

But it was a vacation. It was fun.

Yeah right, what did we know?

It was fun.

Kanter Yeah, we didn't know from nothing. And, and I don't remember really any, now my parents would go away sometimes, you know. Uh, especially uh, once we were teenagers, they went a lot more. They used to love to go down to Beverly Hills outside of Cincinnati. They weren't gamblers, but they loved to go to, for the music and the dancing and the performers and uh, uh, they had good fish dinner. They nev, my parents never ate meat out, but they would eat fish out.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, yeah Beverly Hills was a very popular spot to...

Kanter: Oh yeah, they loved it, they loved it. And they'd go other places, they went to Canada, they went here and so forth. I don't, I don't remember many vacations, though.

Schottenstein: I don't think we needed them then. I think that we had a lot of family to visit...

Kanter: Well, we didn't have them, I know that! You know,what you don't have, you don't, we didn't have, nobody else in our neighborhood went anywhere, what the hell did we know?

Schottenstein: So, so you weren't missing anything.

Kanter; No, if we did, nobody knew it. You know.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, yeah, it's fun, well you had a lot of fun growing up too. Kanter: Yeah, oh I have fond memories, I really do, really do, yeah.

Schottenstein: What about businesses uh, other than uh, Mt. Vernon Avenue, like grocery stores, butcher shops?

Kanter; In our neighborhood?

Schottenstein: Well, the Jewish people, your family,uh...

Kanter: Of course, our family you know, you know they were, you know, my father's side, they were all professional people, you know. And like I said, you know, Abe Yenkin was in the paint business and so forth.

Schottenstein: But do you remember...

Kanter: But in our neighborhood, though...

Schottenstein: like uh, delis, and you just mentioned...

Kanter: No, I was just going to tell you...

Schottenstein: "Why didn't I bring a corned beef sandwich?" Well, if Hepp's was open, I would've.

Kanter: Right, of course, I wish they were. (Naomi laughs) Uh, right on Livingston Avenue at Wilson was Brier's. And, and Mrs. Brier was a widow so a lot of people used to buy from her even though her prices were higher, due to the fact that she was a widow. Then a block from her on Oakwood and Livingston was Sam Stolmack, he had a drug store. And then Katz's was between Champion and Ohio and that became Haas.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, was it, that was a deli?

Kanter: That was, well, it was a meat market.

Schottenstein: Meat market.

Kanter: A meat market. I mean, you buy, in fact, I worked for Haas.

Schottenstein: Butcher shop.

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter:

A butcher shop, yeah I mean I worked for him when I was a teenager. And Brier's was a butcher shop. And then down at about 18^th was uh, Mendelman's. They had a kosher butcher shop. And then going the other way at Ellsworth was Martin Godofsky. He had a kosher, there were so many butcher, kosher butcher shops. Now you can't find even a, nothing. You're lucky you got one, huh?

Got one, that's a half, maybe.

Schottenstein: Uh huh.

Kanter: Uh, and uh, and Dr. Seligson was on Livingston uh, next to Haas, in a little brick building there I see, you still see it.

Schottenstein: You mentioned you worked for one of the uh, one of these stores. Do you remember any other jobs that you had as a kid?

Kanter: Honey, I worked all the time. I worked for Mrs. Brier, I worked mostly at Schottenstein's. I went to work, I think I was fourteen.

Schottenstein: In the department store?

Kanter: Yeah, on Parsons.

Schottenstein: Uh huh.

Kanter: And I remember...

Schottenstein: As a clerk or a...

Kanter: Yeah, yeah sure. We could sell anything in the men's department. You had your own cash register. You could sell a sock up to a suit. Same, same person, work clothes, anything. And a, a lot of the Jewish boys worked there on Sundays and then we'd work holidays: Easter, Christmas, and, and I worked in the summer uh, sometimes there.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, even, how `bout when you went to college, when you were going to college?

Kanter: When I went to college I was still working at Schottenstein's.

Schottenstein: Do you remember anything about how much you got paid per hour for any of these jobs, just to give us a sense of what things were like.

Kanter: I, well I had so many different jobs. Schottenstein's was a commission. That was a good job. But I remember when I was, I had finished high

school and I went to work for, what a job, for uh, Ohio, not Ohio Bell, what was it called? The installation division of, of the telephone company, I forget what it was called. Anyhow, I was making ninety cents an hour, and you'll, what my job was, to lay on my back all day, up about twenty feet high, not an air-conditioned building, and I was sewing cable, so when they put lines, more lines in, they needed the cable, cables and they needed them to adhere to the others. So I worked about a week or two doing that I, I used to come home drained. I mean, I don't know how anybody lived, like an animal. And the fellow says to me, who was in charge, "Listen, would you mind being in charge of all the equipment going in and out?" Because if certain jobs were being done, they needed certain equipment, they might ship it to Akron, Milwaukee, and so, whatever it is, so I had a nice, then I had a nice soft job. I also worked in high school for my Uncle Abe Yenkin. I don't know what I got paid, but I'll tell you a story about it. They were, he was very nice to me. I worked in the lab. And we used to check the color and we, and the flow, the viscosity of paints and other things.

Schottenstein: How old were you at that time?

Kanter: Probably fifteen or sixteen. And I'll never forget, (laughs) I said, I walked into my Uncle Abe Yenkin's office one day, I said, "Now listen, Uncle Abe, you know, you got men out here that aren't working very hard. I don't know why you're paying them." You know I'd see men I, to me I thought, even at, at age fourteen, if you, somebody's paying you, it means you do your best. In fact, I used to tell my children, when they wanted to, said they didn't like working so they're going to slow down a little bit, I said, "Do yourself a favor, quit. You can't do your best quit, that's all. Don't, don't bother with the store."

Schottenstein: Uh huh.

Kanter: Anyhow, I said, "You know, these men are leaning against the wall smoking cigarettes. They're not doing anything." It was like a conveyer belt that, they should've been doing something.

Schottenstein: Sure.

Kanter: He said, "Buzzie, that's how the business is."

Schottenstein: Just lay low.

Kanter: I learned fairly young that plenty of people loaf, you know. So I, and I worked, I told you, for my Uncle Abe Weiner in his pawn shop one summer. I, I did so many things, it was unbelievable. I always worked. I always liked working, you know.

Schottenstein: Yeah, I think...

Kanter: One summer, I did this, I'll never forget. It was about 1940, I don't know forty-six, seven, something uh, uh, gas lawn mowers just came on the market. So a friend of mine and I, I asked my father, would he front for the money for a mower and we'd pay him back from getting lawns. Yes, okay. Oh I know how old I was, I was fourteen or older, `cause I was driving my mother's car. I, I drove when I was fourteen. You could get a license. So anyhow, we go out to Bexley and we get a bunch of lawns lined up. So much money, this and that.

Schottenstein: You said, "We" who, who else?

Kanter: Jerry Delwin, I'll never forget it. And uh, we never could get the lawn mower to work right. We'd work it for three hours, take it back to the shop. It was a new item, you know. I don't, I don't know what ever happened. But I always worked ...

Schottenstein: But you went out of that business?

Kanter: Yeah, but I always liked working. It was, you know.

Schottenstein: It wasn't unusual though, I mean all, all young people had to work. Kanter: Oh sure, they weren^'t out to...

Schottenstein: There wasn't any question about it.

Kanter: No the only camp I went to was a boy scout camp. Jess Foreman handled it. It was on Lee, on Morris Skilken's property in Buckeye Lake. It was seven dollars a week. We'd go for two weeks. I think I went one or two summers. We put up tents, built a, dug a latrine, just Foreman and Cook, and we'd play games, we'd learn, we used to walk, I don't know, for

maybe a half hour, an hour down to the lake and swim every day, you know.

Schottenstein: That was a good time too.

Kanter: Yeah, I forgot that yeah, well I didn't forget it, but forgot...

Schottenstein: What about um, the Jewish Center at that time? Schonthal Center.

Kanter: Okay Schonthal Center, it was right across the street from the Hebrew School. And uh, I, I, I spent time there, but I remember the basketball court wasn't high enough to throw, throw a basket. That's the one thing I remember. I don't think it was eight feet high. (Naomi laughs) I mean...

Schottenstein: But that's all they had?

Kanter: Yeah, and, and of course, they had different clubs, and I remember going. And, and of course uh , the boy scouts met there, uh...

Schottenstein: Were you a boy scout?

Kanter: Oh sure! BBG met there, AZA met there uh, I remember something else that was big at Temple Israel on Bryden Road, and that was YFTL, Young Folks' Temple League. And they used to meet Sunday night. I don't know if it was all year or so many, every week, or every other week or something, but the kids from all the synagogues, or most of them, would go there Sunday night for dances. Oh, it was a big time.

Schottenstein: That was at Temple Israel?

Kanter: That was at Temple Israel...

Schottenstein: Which was on Bryden Road at that time.

Kanter: Bryden Road, yeah, yeah.

Schottenstein: Okay, well we have some great uh, conversations about the past. Let's bring us up to date now with your family. Tell us about your children and your grandchildren.

Kanter: Okay, uh, I have uh, three daughters, one just left yesterday. She was here for six days. She has two sons, one's six and four.

Schottenstein: And tell us her name now.

Kanter: Rebecca, Becky.

Schottenstein: And she's from where?

Kanter: Well she lives in New Mexico now, in Carlsbad. In draird affen deck (In hell on a shelf), I call it.

Schottenstein: Uh huh.

Kanter: Anyhow uh, she's divorced and thank G-d , she went back to school, and she's, she just has to do her student teaching and she'll finish. She has a major, I think it's in science. So thank G-d she's well on her way and she seems like a, a happy girl now, for the most part. She's got some problems, everybody does.

Schottenstein: Yeah, and the children, how about the grandchildren?

Kanter: She had two children, one six and one four, they're fine, good kids, good, well, good-mannered children.

Schottenstein: What are their names?

Kanter: Uh, Christopher and Aaron. And uh, good kids, good...

Schottenstein: So was, she was here with the children?

Kanter: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She had her tenth high school class reunion from Bexley.

Schottenstein: Oh, oh good.

Kanter: So a number of her friends came in. It was a nice thing.

Schottenstein: It's a fun time for the kids, I know they all look forward to that. Kanter: Oh she had a ball.

Schottenstein: A lot of excitement.

Kanter: Then I have a, a one who's in Germany. She married a fellow who's career army. He's up for Major and he does very well, he likes it. Schottenstein: Now which daughter is this now?

Kanter: Uh, Debbie.

Schottenstein: Debbie, okay.

Kanter: And uh, she's in Germany and she has a boy eleven (yawns) one six... Schottenstein: Now how old, what's his name?

Kanter: and one I think four, huh?

Schottenstein: Tell, how, what's his name, the eleven?

Kanter: The eleven is Zach, and, and the middle one is Matthew, and the little one is Anthony.

Schottenstein: Okay.

Kanter: And her husband's over in Iraq now, he went July ^1St, or June 1^St, why'd I say July? No he went, no he went about May 1^St. Oh yeah, right after they said it's over, that's when he went.

Schottenstein: It wasn't over.

Kanter: Yeah yeah, it's never over, yeah. So I talk, I talk to all of them almost every day, you know. I have now a phone service, I can talk twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, it's the same cost long-distance.

Schottenstein: You really need it now with well, the way children...

Kanter: Germany you wouldn't want to have to pay overseas.

Schottenstein: Yeah.

Kanter: Then the other one, I just talked to her last night. Her name is Kimberly, uh, and she has uh, one son who's three, he's adorable, gorgeous. And she's pregnant with the first girl. So now it'll be six grandsons and one granddaughter if, thank G-d, she's lucky.

Schottenstein: Oh finally, uh huh, where does she live?

Kanter: They live in um, in Colorado in um...

Schottenstein: What brings them to Colorado?

Kanter: Well, what happened was, she went out to college there at Boulder, and she was interested in going to college like I'm interested in going to the moon. She was having a hell of a time. Finally I said, "Kimmy, guess what? I'm not shelling out my money for you to do not a damn thing." I really got disgusted. She met this awfully nice fellow, he's a college graduate, uh none of mine married in the Jewish faith, I can tell you. One of them is back to the Jewish faith, the one that was just here, Becky. I'll tell you a story about her in a minute. Uh, she married a fellow by the name of Jeff Morrisette, from very fine people. And uh, he's got a wonderful job. He's, he's working for a construction company. He manages a couple crews, and they build these places up there. You'd think

money was nothing, you know uh, two million dollar homes, two, four million dollar homes, a half, three quarter million dollars, just little apartments, I mean it's crazy! It's crazy.

Schottenstein: Yeah, different sense there, money.

Kanter: Where does she live? Isn't that awful? Oh Gramby, g-r-a-m-b-y, Gramby. It's a little town up in, northwest of Denver, about an hour and a half. We're going next month for a week.

Schottenstein: Do you get to visit any of your children very much?

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter:

Schottenstein:

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein:

Oh sure I do. Yeah they come here and I visit them, yeah. You know,

I try. I was at uh, I was at Becky's for Christmas. Now Germany, I don't know what I'm going to do. She might come next month to Charlotte and, and I'll just fly there for a while to see her. I was planning, with G-d's help uh, to go next spring to Germany for a couple weeks if you know, my health holds up.

Have you ever been there?

No, I've been to Europe, but I never wanted to go to Germany. I'd really not, I don't really want to go to Germany.

Yeah, yeah we, we, we went through that too, but uh, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, for Bernie, especially.

I gotta tell you about Becky, though, `cause this is kind of cute. She, she's been in Carlsbad about a year, a year and a half And a few months after she moved there they uh, started a Jewish Reform temple, they dedicated it. And she's been active, so her mother, my former wife, will send me pictures. What they do is they'll, her husband's good in, in cameras, photography, and stuff, so they'll take a movie picture and like two weeks ago she led the whole service. One, this guy, they don't have a professional rabbi, one's a doctor, one's a lawyer, they were both out of town, so she ran the service.

Well that's interesting.

In fact, I showed it to Helen Friday night.

Oh that's interesting. I bet you were pleased with that.

Kanter: Oh yeah. I'm glad, I'm glad. And uh, in fact she went to shul with me Saturday. I said, "Whenever you want to go." She said, "Daddy, I can sit all morning, I don't get to go often." You know.

Schottenstein: Oh yeah, so it was a treat.

Kanter: Huh?

Schottenstein: So you did go?

Kanter: Oh yeah, sure, sure.

Schottenstein: Um, tell us about, tell us about their mother. Just give me...

Kanter: I'm divorced from their mother. We got divorced about nineteen, well I raised the kids, they all stayed with me.

Schottenstein: What was her name?

Kanter: Well it was eighteen years ago, seventeen years ago. Carol was her name, and uh, I met her, we went together two, three years. She converted through Rabbi Rubenstein. And it just, really it was, it was not a good marriage.

Schottenstein: Uh huh, okay, and, and now you're remarried to...

Kanter: Yeah.

Schottenstein: To, tell us who your present wife is.

Kanter: I, I, I married a girl from Pittsburgh and we've, we've known each other about ten years. And, and we got married just three years, another two weeks ago. Susie, her maiden name is Hohenstein. She was married to an Oberman, he passed away after they got divorced. She has uh, three children, two daughters here in town (yawns). Stacey and Pauli and she has a son, Eric who lives in Portland, Oregan. He's married again, out of the faith, and uh...

Schottenstein: Does he have children?

Kanter: Has uh, two boys. In fact, my wife was just out there last month. Schottenstein: How about the girls, are they married?

Kanter: No, they're both single.

Schottenstein: Uh huh.

Kanter: They're both single. One uh, works for Milenthal in advertising. She's very capable. The other one works for Mt. Carmel West. She does something out there, I don't know what she does.

Schottenstein: So between you, you a have quite a family.

Kanter: Yeah, a lot of people, lot of action.

Schottenstein: Yeah, that's nice, it's nice. Um, okay, let's see a lot of these things, what are, do you remember anything about, we're pretty much winding up. Tell us about how you celebrated holidays as a youngster. Were they real special events and...

Kanter: I can remember a few. We never, to my knowledge, shouldn't say never, we very seldom celebrated a holiday in my mother's mother's house. Now when I was little I remember going over to my father's parents' house for especially seder, I remember, you know? And uh, not for many years, but I remember Abe being there, and Goldie. We're all there in the little dining room, twenty of us or some... oh I think the kids, we were in the kitchen. But uh...

Schottenstein: The kids, you mean the kids were in the kitchen?

Kanter: Yeah I think so. We did it maybe for two or three years. And you know, my grandfather passed away and so, so that was it, you know.

Schottenstein: What a, what about uh, your Bar Mitzvah, what do you remember about that?

Kanter: I remember it was in June. I remember I worked like hell, in fact, I just last week read the portion in shul on Thursday, and my wife gave me a party, I was seventy. And uh, uh...

Schottenstein: Tell us when you were, give us your birth date, while I'm thinking of it. Kanter: June 21, '33.

Schottenstein: Okay, I know you wrote it down but I don't know if I asked you that before.

Kanter: And she wanted to throw me a birthday party. I said, "I don't want to hear about it." I said, "You want to do something? I like going to shul during the week. Let them have a breakfast." So that's what they did. And

I called about a dozen guys and they showed up...

Schottenstein: So you had like a kiddush.

Kanter: It was nice, yeah. And I read from the Torah, that I did, when I did, you know was Bar Mitzvahed. I was bar mitzvahed, it was in the summer. And, of course at that time, a lot of the fellows did, you know, they did everything. We read the Torah, we did the service, this and that. But

I'll never forget, we had the uh, party, a reception, whatever you call it, at our house and it was chicken and so forth. And they had tables out, this that and the other, it was so damn hot you could die, and here we are eating chicken.

Schottenstein: Did your mother do the preparation?

Kanter: No, no, no. We ordered from somebody. I don't remember who. Don't forget, my father was a doctor, we were millionaires.

Schottenstein: Oh right (laughs)

Kanter: We had a car (laughs).

Schottenstein: Oh, you had a car? What do you remember about the car? We were just talking about cars, family cars.

Kanter: About cars? I remem, well I remember for sure, my father bought a 1939 Pontiac. In 1939 paid about six hundred dollars. Now before that I remember another car. I don't know what kind it was. I think it was a Studebaker, with like two big wheels on the side. And then for a while we had one that had a rumble seat in the back.

Schottenstein: Oh yeah, I remember the rumble seats.

Kanter: But the '39 he kept. You could hardly get a car during the war, in the Second World War. I think some people bought them, but we didn't do it. And my father then in '47, he bought an Oldsmobile. And then in 1949 he bought two new cars. Bought my mother a new Oldsmobile. You'd have thought that uh, we owned the bank, you know what I mean?

Schottenstein: There weren't too many of those around.

Kanter: No, no I think each car was, I think, twenty-five hundred dollars, yeah. My mother drove hers, I think for thirty years, at least, yeah.

Schottenstein: Goodness, well, how far did she go?

Kanter: Yeah right, she went to the corner to mail a letter and went to Brier's. Schottenstein: Uh huh, and family, family visits.

Kanter: Yeah.

Schottenstein: How about bikes, did you have bikes as a kid?

Kanter: Oh sure we had bikes, and I'll tell you something. Uh, we had bikes and I remember going down to a relative of ours on Long Street, Schottenstein's uh, Bicycle Store.

Schottenstein: Alan?

Kanter: Jake.

Schottenstein: Jake, Max.

Kanter: Yeah, Jake was his, Max's father. And that was Alan's grandfather. And so we got bikes there but, one time I remember, I don't think he could get bikes and my father got us bikes called Hartfords. They were made in Massachusetts, and I don't know how he got `em, through some friend or something, `cause it was during the war. Then again, those kind of things were difficult to come by, you know. So uh...

Schottenstein: Um, you mentioned World War. What, what do you remember about World War II?

Kanter: Well, of course, I was little you know, when the war started in '41. at was I, eight years old? But, what I used to, what I remember is a few things are vivid. One, my father used to love to go down to the movie theatre and watch what was called The Eyes and Ears of the World. So he'd go to the movies, just maybe twenty minutes, to see the news.

Schottenstein: Just to get the news.

Kanter: Just to get the news.

Schottenstein: Well we didn't have uh, television then.

Kanter: Right, and so, and, and every day my father used to put on tefillin and while he was davening he used to have the radio on listening to the news, you know.

Schottenstein: At the same time.

Kanter: Oh yeah, every, all the action. And of course I remember, you know, we used to, almost every week you'd hear the newspaper boy come down, "Extra, extra, read all about it" do, do, do whatever it was, you know? And we used to go down, I mean, I'll bet you three, four nights a week, my father and I, maybe my brother, mostly me, we'd go down to Broad and High, we dealt with the same newspaper guy and he'd get what was called The Night Green. And the top of the paper was light green. And, and, and so, we'd get the, more news, you understand?

Schottenstein: Uh huh, more up-to-the-date, up-to-the-date.

Kanter: Yeah, up to the hour, you know. So he loved that. Of course, my father didn't serve in the army. Now uh, Tillie's husband did, Doc Ziskind, as a physician. He was stationed I think, in Texas. My Uncle Abe Weiner was in the army. Uh, but not, I don't remember any other relatives being in the army, and of course, you know, I was little.

Schottenstein: Yeah, yeah that was a different era too. What about movies, do you remember uh, movies that you went to, theatres that you went to?

Kanter: Oh I'm, I'm the worst, because uh, when we were kids, if you went to Agudas Achim, Harry Maybruck ran the, the Saturday morning Junior Congregation. And he might have not been religious, and he might not have read Hebrew well, I was just talking to his son, Stanley the other day, but he knew how to bring kids. If you showed up you got a candy bar. Like if you showed up twice in a row or something, you got a ticket to the Champion Theatre.

Schottenstein: Oh boy. Big time.

Kanter:

Schottenstein: Kanter: Schottenstein: Kanter:

So we'd go to the movies, I guarantee ya', and I'm sure my parents gave me money, but I don't remember much about movies. My wife knows every actor and actress. I wouldn't know one, Elizabeth Taylor I know. That you'd know (laughs)

And a few others.

Do you remember what it cost to go to the movie at that time? Yeah, a dime. It was a dime and if you went downtown, `cause

I remember if I had a date when I was like fourteen or fifteen I started going out, we'd take a streetcar downtown. Wasn't allowed to drive.

I drove, I got a license at fourteen, but it was only restricted, so we'd take a streetcar and you'd go to The Palace for fifty cents. Talking about movies, I'll tell you something and then I'll quit bothering you, `cause I gotta get out of here too, but my mother's mother loved movies, Grandma Weiner. She would go, never scared, she'd take a streetcar, she never wanted to bother anybody, she'd like go to The Grand which was on State Street, see a double feature, get a bite to eat or a cup of coffee or something, go four doors away to The Ohio, see another double feature and then come home.

Schottenstein: Oh my.

Kanter: Then she'd go down another day, go over to Broad Street and there was The Palace and the uh, and The Grand, and The Ohio, and The Palace, and the Loew's Broad, maybe The Lowes Broad, maybe. And so then she'd go to those two theatres. She was a, she was a movie goer.

Schottenstein: That was very unusual for somebody at that time.

Kanter: Right, I mean I don't think anybody went, any older people. Schottenstein: I mean, she was a Balabusta...

Kanter: Right, yeah,

Schottenstein: a Bubbie.

Kanter: I don't know how she ever got into that. And then when they, some of these movie actors and actresses started getting divorced, she wouldn't go. She'd say, "I'm not going to see him. He's lousy. He left his wife."

Schottenstein: Oh she was mad at him, yeah.

Kanter: Like that's going to affect his acting.

Schottenstein: That was no good anymore.

Kanter: Right, no good, "I'm not watching him. I'm not spending my money." Schottenstein: That's cute, she did a lot of cute things. Um, well, Buzzie,

I think we've done, done very well and...

Kanter: I appreciate it.

Schottenstein: Unless you can think of anything else you want to share with us. You've been great about telling us uh, some interesting...

Kanter: I know plenty stories, you know. I know, my father's mother, she's the one that either founded something, either the Ivreeyoh Society or one of these things where they raise money, I can't, my father, I was going to say "My father would tell you." I'm in real good shape. Uh, my sister would probably know. But she started one of these things, you know, and she was never bashful to ask people for money. No, she'd go down the street, she wouldn't say, you know, "I'm collecting... You'll have to give."

Schottenstein: Yeah, no question about it.

Kanter: Right, yeah, you had to give.

Schottenstein: We're going to have to pin Leah down and get her in here.

Kanter: Yeah, she knows, she knows a lot more than me, I can tell you that. Schottenstein: Yeah, yeah, I know she's very much in touch with the whole community.

Kanter: Yeah, and she would be happy to, to, to talk, I'm sure.

Schottenstein: Well, we'll, we'll get her and uh...

Kanter: She won't tell you some of the things I've told `cause she doesn't want to say anything.

Schottenstein: Well, but I love the way, I love the way you tell stories and, and it's true, you know...

Kanter: My Bubbie used to say, oh not my Bubbie, Tillie, "Tachlis offen tish." That means "tell it the way it is."

Schottenstein: Tell it the way it is, yeah. I, I love your Yiddish expressions. I understand `em perfectly.

Kanter: I know you do.

Schottenstein: I just ask to translate, `cause there's somebody who does the transcribing. Kanter: I understand, I understand.

Schottenstein: So uh, but I appreciate the time that you've given us.

Kanter: Well I'm glad that you called me and I really enjoyed it.

Schottenstein: On behalf of the Columbus Jewish Historical Society, we all thank you and uh, keep on having good stories.

Kanter: Okay.

Schottenstein: Thanks, Buzzie. Kanter: Thank you so much.