Letters from Iran to Alberta 1958
Thursday, April, 24, 1958
Transcription of Thursday, April 24, 1958 letter:
Thursday, April 24
Hi Sweetie Pie:
Well I have been away from home now for eleven days, but it seems like weeks. Time is going very slowly because we are just waiting now to hear whether our proposal will be accepted. As things stand we expect to hear Sunday whether the proposal is accepted or not. Nothing can be done about determining when I will return home until the proposal is answered. There are several possibilities that I can think of. These possibilities are:
1. The decision would be yes we can build a plant and my work here would be done
2. The decision would be yes we can build a plant and I would be asked to stay and do some of the work necessary to get the project started
3. The decision could be no and I would return home right away
4. The decision could be a qualified yes or no and I would have to stay to make another modified presentation
5. The decision could be delayed for any length of time and the question of whether I can come home or stay would be contingent on the length of time involved in the delay.
We now have a reservation to move into the Park Hotel on May 2 if we are still here. By we I mean Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, Barney and I. Mr. Baruch is the BFG sales representative in the Middle East, and he is helping on the project. He and his wife are a very charming couple. Willis is about 63 years old and his wife is about 55 years old. Willis has lived in the Middle East countries for 40 years. So both he and his wife know much about this country. At one time Iran was part of Willis’s sales territory, but two years ago another man was given this country as sales territory.
The Park Hotel is the best hotel in Tehran and if I do have to stay past May 2, the park hotel will be a much more pleasant and convenient place to stay.
Tonight we are going to be the guests of one of the very wealthy Persians, and Saturday night we will be the guest of still another very wealthy Persian. I don’t know what is on the program for tonight but on Saturday night we are going to see belly dancers. Belly dancing is a fine art in Middle East countries. This is true. It is not viewed with the idea of the vulgar as it must be in the States, but rather it has about the same status as ballet would have in the States.
Yesterday I had to go to the office of one of our associates and his office is on one of the upper floors of a rather large building so it was necessary for us to ride an elevator. The elevator operator had decorated the elevator like a home. He had eight large pictures hanging inside the elevator and three different vases of flowers. This was interesting because it illustrates the difference in attitude of the people here versus the people in the states.
Not all of the people are so fastidious as this elevator man. In fact many of the people are very ragged and dirty. Last night I wrode in a taxi, and the taxi driver regularly has his wife and little boy in the front seat with him to keep him company while he works.
Tomorrow is Friday which is the Persian Sabbath day so I expect that it will be a very slow dull day. I have not yet received any mail from you. In the future when I make a trip I will give you the address of the BFG plant or sales office if one is in the city. Then you can write sooner and be more comfortable about having a place to contact me.
More later
Love,
Gene
Saturday, April, 26, 1958
Transcription of Saturday, April 26, 1958 letter:
Saturday, April 26, 1958
Hi darling:
The dinner date Thursday evening was very enjoyable. I had caviar, vodka, and a Persian dish made from chicken. For this dish they cut a very large thin slice from the breast of the chicken before it is cooked. This is from wing to wing and head to tail. They then place a large chunk of butter on the slice of chicken and roll the large chicken slice around the butter. This makes a sort of pocketbook of chicken filled with butter. The pocketbook is then dipped in batter and cooked in deep fat. This seals the butter inside the pocketbook. It is the most delicious way I have ever eaten chicken.
Today I have a luncheon date with a Mr. Ludwig who is associated with MKO, the firm which will build our building here in Iran if the project is approved.
Tonight I have a date to eat in the home of one of the local Persians after which we will go to the belly dances I told you about.
Hi Bobby. What did you name the new dog? How’s the grass? Your studies? Your conduct?
Hi Patricia. I didn’t buy your Persian doll yet but I have seen some nice ones.
Bye for now family
Love, Daddy
Sunday, April, 27, 1958
Transcription of Sunday, April 27, 1958 letter:
Sunday April 27
Hi darling
Last night I went to the home of one of the very wealthy Persians I told you about. FHis home is in the foothills of the mountains and looks out onto beautiful snow-covered peaks. He has two swimming pools and beautiful gardens. The house is very modernistic and extremely large. He gives parties at the house where as many as 150 guests attend. The house is only a couple of years old, yet in the bathroom they have no commodes. Instead there is simply a hole in the floor. There is no toilet paper in the bathroom; instead there is a small vase of water sitting along side of the hole in the floor. In spite of this the bathroom has a beautiful tile floor and tile walls with a very modernistic sink and lighting fixture.
We ate dinner at this house and had a typical Persian meal. They make delicious carrots by cooking them in sweetened water and then pouring butter and lemon juice on them when they are finished cooking.
I also ate manna. This is the manna from heaven which is mentioned in the Bible. It is the sap of the manna tree which drips from the leaves of the tree. It is somewhat like maple sugar in taste but it is more delicate in flavor. That which I had was chewy like taffy, and pistachio nuts have been mixed in it. It was very delicious.
Following the dinner we went to a native nightclub where we saw several acts including the belly dancers I was telling you about. Bellydancing may be a fine art here in the Middle East but it is just plain burlesque to me.
I thought I would go to the bazaar today but here it is 11:00 AM already I slept late after the night out.
More later
Love
Gene
Monday, May 5, 1958
Transcription of Monday, May 5, 1958 letter:
Monday, May 5, 1958
Hi darling;
I DID IT! While I don’t have official confirmation, I have been told verbally that the High Economic Council of Iran has granted permission for BF Goodrich company to build a plant here. I am now waiting for the letter from the government which will officially confirm this good news. According to my informants the leather-covered proposal was a major factor in the decision. His majesty Shahanshah of Iran is reported to have spent considerable time looking at the proposal after which he commented “these fellows really know what they are doing and what they want. “
I phoned Mr. Gulick yesterday and he is coming over here about May 20 or 25th. I expect that it will be necessary for me to stay until he arrives as things stand now I would be guess that I will not be home before June 15. This is only a guess however.
Approval has been given for us to build a plant in Brazil, and Barney is in Brazil now, doing almost the same things that I must do here since the plant has been approved. This will include buying the property, organizing and registering the new company, hiring a lawyer, etc.
I am now in a very comfortable air-conditioned room in downtown Tehran, so, except for missing you and the children, I am quite comfortable. I have been very careful and so far have not been ill.
Hi Kids-Bye kids
Love,
Gene
Tuesday, May 6, 1958
Transcription of Tuesday, May 6, 1958 letter
Tuesday, May 6, 1958
Hi darling –
Once again I am just twiddling my thumbs waiting for the next development. This assignment has been a series of having to work very rapidly up to a point and then sitting back to await results. Each time the wait has been one of having to sweat out the time because important decisions were being made. Today I am waiting at the phone for a call which will tell me whether the Shah will participate in the program and be a partner in the company.
I think that I pulled a boo-boo by accepting an invitation to a Masonic dinner. While at the dinner I was asked to attend the meeting and was embarrassed because I could not remember the code word required to prove I am a Mason. My concern is that there were several very influential people at the dinner and that I may have become the subject of some negative type of gossip. In the meantime I have remembered the code word. My mistake of course was in accepting an invitation to begin with. Oh well, live and learn.
Yesterday I ate a dish prepared from grape leaves where rice, nuts and fruit were cooked in the grape leaves. It was absolutely delicious, far better than the grape leaf dish at Tangiers.
Dan Ress had a trip to Europe scheduled for May 4, but, with Barney and I both away, he can’t go. I’ll bet he is unhappy.
Have you been up to the cottage yet? The grass will need to be cut and the water turned on.
Hi Bobby – Patricia – did you get your dog? Are you being good? I am going shopping to buy something for each of you.
More later
Love
Gene
Sunday, May 18, 1958
Transcription of Monday, May 18, 1958 letter:
Sunday, May 18, 1958
Hi darling:
Last night I went to the wedding of Mr. Ansari, the man I am working with, and it was the most fabulous affair imaginable. Mr. Ansari is Treasurer General of Iran, and the girl he married is very beautiful and very wealthy. There were about 500 people at the wedding which was at the home of the bride. The house was like a palace. Without exaggerating, there were at least a half million dollars worth of Persian rugs in the house. They even had Persian rugs on the ground in the garden. Not cheap ones either. I have been pricing rugs so I pretty well know the grades and prices and there were several thousands of dollars worth of rugs in the garden. The living room of the house was as large as a big ballroom and was decorated in gold and white. It was the most beautiful room I have ever been in. One very large room in the house is decorated and furnished in the typical old Persian manner. In this room, which incidentally is itself large enough to hold 50 people comfortably, there are no chairs or tables. Instead there are rugs and cushions on the floor to sit on. Also on the floor are large trays of fruits, nuts, candy, flowers and cigarettes. There are also several water pipes for the men to smoke. In this room they had a local orchestra playing native instruments and they also had dancing girls doing native dances. The food was terrific with many dishes I have never tasted. One of the most delicious was a rice dish made with rice and oranges including the orange peeling. The dinner was buffet style with tables in the house and in the garden. The garden itself was a beautiful thing. It was a walled in garden as are all of the houses and gardens here. There was a fountain and pool in the center of the garden and several immense magnolia trees. In the trees they had put thousands of colored lightbulbs for the event which was very beautiful and impressive. The men were all dressed in tuxedos and included all of the top government people as well as the ambassadors from the various foreign countries. Many of the richest and most influential people in Iran were there. The women wore dresses like I have never seen before. The extremes of fashion and design were terrific. I was told that many of the women pay $5000 or $6000 for one dress. What with oil and the feudal system which exists here, some of this people have so much money they don’t know what to do with it.
I still haven’t received any more mail from you other than the first two letters. I just can’t understand why. At first I thought that the mail had piled up someplace as sometimes happens. Then I thought that the trouble in Beirut might have held up the mail, but I am regardless getting mail from BF Goodrich so I know that mail is getting through.
Have you made the car payment, and paid the water and utilities?
For heaven sake let me know what’s going on!
Love,
Gene
Letter from Iran May 29, 1958:
