Marx Brothers were neighbors

It happened that the Marx Brothers also grew up in Yorkville, and although they were older than Sam, he knew them from the neighborhood. Groucho was born in 1890, and Sam was born in 1904.  Inevitably, Sam would run into the Marx Brothers during his summers in the Catskills,  where they were performing, and they encouraged him to go into show business. 

Ethel nixes show biz career for Sam

According to Irving, when Ethel found out, she said, "I don't want you hanging around with those bums, the Marx Brothers."  In 1929 the Marx Brothers began making movies, and in 1934, Sam was still a social director in the Catskills at Rosenblatt's, by then renamed Raleigh's.  That was the summer he met a guest, Natalie Schure, whom he married the following June.

Irving is convinced that Sam could have been successful, "like an Alan King of today," he said, "but my grandmother thought show business was not for Jewish people. She didn't know about Eddie Cantor or Al Jolson." 

Ethel as matchmaker

As for Ethel's effect on Rose, Irving says his grandmother was a major factor in Rose's decision to accept Max's proposal, hesitant as Rose was initially.  "Grandmother pushed her to marry him," Irving said, and a good thing it turned out to be for our family. 

The story of how Max provided employment for young men of the family -- beginning with Morris' oldest son, Sidney, all the way through his own nephew, Billy -- is the subject of another article in our Cousins Plus web.  Since its completion, more stories have surfaced, adding to the evidence that Max Sollender played a very important role in the family.  

Man of action

As the cancer of Nazi Germany began encroaching on areas where his parents' family still lived, Max swung into action.  He arranged, in concert with other family members now in America,  the flight to safety of at least 18 souls. (When I mentioned this to my best friend, a top copy editor on the Metropolitan desk of The New York Times, he said, "Geez, Susan, you've got to get that in."  But of course.)

'Sue us; we're insured'

"In his own way, Max did a lot, and everybody liked him," said Shirley Karben.   She remembered a family visit to the Sollenders, at the age of 11 or 12, when Carl Karben, her father, fell down the steps of their house on East 91st Street and injured himself.  "Max said to my father, 'Sue us, we're insured.'  The money that came in was enough to pay the doctor bills, and it gave the family some income until my father could go back to work," she said. "It was nice of him."

Finally, how was it possible for Ethel and Harry to entertain large groups of family every Sunday?  One might wonder about the cost of cooking for "at least 12" so often. "My grandmother would cook, but my mother did  the shopping," Irving said.

So, who paid?  That would be Max

Irving then spelled it out: his father had footed the bills for the food shopping, and that is how Ethel was able to be such a successful "binding agent" of our family across several decades. ...