When I was little, we watched the circus parade from Aunt Hannah’s fire escape in Bridgeport, CT.
Hannah Leber Zucker
Hannah was born about 1891 in New York to Taube Binder and Max Leber.
She completed 8th grade in school.
Hannah married Aaron (aka Harry) Zuckerman at about age 20 in 1911 and they had 2 daughters and one son. Harry later went by the name of Zucker.
Hannah and Aaron lived with their son, daughters and sons-in-law in one apartment in New York City on W. 82nd Street. Their son-in-law, Max Rudnick (Millie’s husband) gave everyone in the family jobs in his theater.
part of a 1940 time sheet for the Eltinge Theater
By 1952, their son, Wilton M. moved to Bridgeport, CT and was working as a Notary Public, amongst other things
In 1953, Hannah and Aaron moved to Bridgeport, CT, where their son Wilton was living.
They lived at 1337 Main Street near the Savoy Hotel and the Majestic Theater. Here is what the area looks like in 2018.
Aaron, aka Harry, died in in 1956 at age 68, as seen in the city directory listing.
Hannah appears in the directory listings through 1965. At some point after that, Hannah moved to Norfolk, VA, to be near her daughters. She died in 1971.
Hannah and Harry are buried next to heach other in the Zucker plot in Montefiroe Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, Queens, New York. They are buried at Gate 557/N, Block 7, Row 008R, Grave 3.
Hannah and Aaron’s Children:
Millie (Mildred) | Billie Shaw
Millie was born Dec. 8, 1911, in Brooklyn, NY. She worked as a burlesque dancer with the stage name of Billie Shaw.
She married Max Rudnick who owned the theater where she was a dancer.
He fell in love with Millie and after they were married, he gave everyone in the family jobs in his theaters. At first they lived with MIllie’s parents on West 82nd Street. MIllie’s sister, Mollie also lived there along with her husband and newborn son.
Millie, either right before, or right after she married, was in a terrible car accident and could never have children so she and Max adopted a son they named, Fred.
Max operated the Eltinge Theatre, a burlesque theatre, in Brooklyn in 1931 – 1932 and had produced the “Folies Bergere” and other shows. According to a NY Times article, in 1937, New York was shutting down all Burlesque shows.
(From the New York Daily News, circa 1932) The Elthinge Theater on 42nd Street, NYC
Sadly, Max died young at age 46 in 1942. Their son was only about three years old.
Millie remarried in 1946 in Florida. Her new husband adopted her son and Fred Rudnick was now known as Fred Lewis.
By 1950, Millie and Charles moved to Norfolk, Virginia along with their son, Fred. She now lived close to her sister, Mollie. Charles owned an operated a tavern.
They lived in a downstairs apartment at 1700 Claremont Avenue.
According to Zillow.com , this dwelling was built in 1923.
In 1960, she attended her cousin’s (Millie Pollay Abramson) son Bar Mitzvah in Long Island, New York.
Seated: Archie WInnick, Harry Laber, Millie / Billy Lewis, Stanley Ackerman
Standing: Goldie and HIlloh Streicher, Merlie Streicher WInnick, Hannah Leber Zucker, Marilyn Steicher Ackerman, Rose Leber Streicher
Fred had a rocky relationship with his Mom and did not get along with his new father.
After her husband died, Millie’s had a glamorous, but troubled life. She moved to a penthouse suite in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, FL. One night when she was downstairs for dinner, her suite was robbed and all of her jewelry was stolen. She was never the same after that.
She died in DePaul Hospital, Norfolk, VA, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia, under the name of Billie Lewis.
Her son, Fred Lewis, moved to Las Vegas and was involved in the gaming industry. He was married twice and had 2 children with his first wife.
Here is a bit about Fred from his step-son from his second marriage:
We lived in Mesquite Nv for 10 years where Fred learn to deal black jack and did casino security in the camera room at Peppermill. Later he was a shift boss/floor man at vVigin River. My mom was running cocktails and became the bartender. They would later together open a flower show and landscaping business, andhad a lot of property in Mesquite.
After awhile things failed there we moved to Washington State where Fred was involved in indian gaming and was quickly promoted to gm of Nooksack River Casino. While there he opened a gaming and pull tab distributing business including his own pultab games.
From here he would continue in indian gaming managing two more casinos before being offered his own casino in Costa Rica, Casino Fiesta, in at which time my parents sold and left everything for Costa Rica. Fred was involved in another casino and also a night club in Nicaruagua.
Five ears later Fred would give this up and come to Las Vegas to retire with my mother, He died on Jan 1 2019 in his sleep. My mother would follow him on Jan 12th 2022 after a very rough couple years in and out of hospital with covid , a broken back and neck and subcumed to injuries in a fall.
He also remembered always seeing a picture of his step-father, Freddie, as a baby being held by his mother, Millie, hanging on a wall in his home when he was growing up.
Wilton M
Wilton was born on January 27, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York. He married Ruth Rapp on May 16, 1941, and served in the military from 1943 – 1946.
By 1950, he was living with his wife and 3 children on Louisana Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut and working as an insurance agent.
He was active in the community and served as a chancellor commander of the Colonel Harry Cutler Lodge, 77 Knights of Pythias.
This article below appeared in the Bridgeport Post on January 23, 1957 and the article on the right appeared in the Bridgeport Post on January 13, 1959.
He opened Wilton’s Men’s Store in Bridgeport, CT, in Nov. 1960. At one point in time, his uncle, Harry Leber, worked for him. Harry was not crazy about him and called him “Captain Bligh”, after Captain Bligh in the 1935 movie “Mutiny on the Bounty”.
article above from the Bridgeport Post, Nov. 18, 1960
In the 1965 Bridgeport City Directory he is listed as the manager of the Hotel Savoy, which was probably run by his brother-in-law Max Rudnick.
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Wilton died on Sept. 12, 1981 in Broward County, FL. He is buried in the Star of David Memorial Gardens in North Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida in the Negev Garden plot. His son, Edward,who died in 2017 is buried in the plot next to him.
Mollie / Molly
Mollie was born December 23, 1918, in New York City.
Her sister, Millie / Billie made an engagement party for her.
She married William, aka Billie, Howard at age 19. He was 21. They got married on June 12, 1918. He became a professional gambler and they eventually moved to Norfolk, Virginia.
After she was married, and while they still lived in New York, she continued to work for her sister’s husband in the theatre he owned.
In 1940, she was the treasurer of the theatre.
According to the 1940 census, she and William lived with her parents along with her sister, Millie, and Millie’s husband. Max Rudnick.
They all lived on West 82nd Street in New York including Jerry, Molly’s infant son.
They eventually had another son.
Before she retired, she was the owner of The Stork Shop in Norfolk. Her husband died in 1994.
Her younger son and his family lived in California. She either moved out there or was visiting when she died.
Mollie died in California, on May 15, 2007, at age 88. She left behind her two sons, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. She is buried next to her husband in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.
My Memories:
Hannah and Aaron moved to Bridgeport, CT, and lived on in an apartment on a main street. I remember visiting there when my mother’s cousin, Mollie, was also visiting from VA with her 2 sons. There was a circus parade that day and we watched it from the fire escape. We crawled out of the apartment window to sit on the fire escape to watch. After the parade, I remember my cousins chasing me all over the apartment building, through the hallways and up and down the stairs until we got yelled at to calm down!
My mother adored all of her cousins. She spoke about them frequently. She even met my father when she and Mollie were fixed up on a double-date. The story my mother always told me was that the guy she was fixed up with was “too fast” for her, and she preferred the other quieter guy, my father. After my mother died, my father was upset with all of her cousins. He said they never came to visit her the entire time she was in the hospital. He did not want anything to do with them anymore. However, I know the cousins who did live in the New York area, did visit her, so I assume he was really upset with Mollie and Millie.
Sources
- New York Daily News
- Ancestry.com
- FindAGrave.com for Hannah’s and Harry’s gravestone
- FindAGrave.com for Mollie’s gravestone and memorial information
- FindAGrave.com for Wilton’s gravestone
- FindAGrave.com for MIllie / Billie’s grave
- family stories