Wallachs.Net

The Chicago Years

Roaring 20's, Capone & The California Fur Company

"My father [Hyman] was part owner of the California Fur Company in Chicago. He was partners with my mother’s brother, and the two together, put furs together to make coats out of them. He ran the back end of the shop and the other guys were the salesmen, they ran the front end of the shop. The incident ... My dad was picked up. .. in front - just as he was leaving the shop, he was picked up in a limousine, some guys shoved him in the limousine - they blindfolded him, and they drove him someplace, and they asked him if he would be interested in buying some hot furs. Well my dad was petrified, he didn’t know who he was in the car with, and they blindfolded him you know, so he said he figured if he said out right “No.”, they were liable to kill him so he said yeah he would be interested… They drove for about a half an hour in the car and... never at any time did they ever take this hood that they put over his face, never took it off. He could tell that they opened up some doors, the car drove into a garage type thing, and he got out of the car, and they had these furs in front of him. All he could do was touch them, feel them with his hands. The thing was he was a furrier - he could tell from the feel what kind of fur it was, and whether it was good fur or not good fur. He had the touch for that and they were good fur and what he did was - they asked him - offered him - a real good price for the furs and he told them he would have to talk to his partners. But he really didn’t want to get involved. He was afraid that once he got involved with these guys they would be after him all the time. After they dropped him off then they called him and he said no they weren’t interested. You know. And that was all he heard from them. He was really petrified at the time.” - Sid Wallach (1981 taped transcript)

Esther (Ganzer) Forman - Bubba, wearing
a California Fur Company coat.

The California Fur Company was located at 162 State Street, on the tenth floor of the "Butler Building" (photo left). The 1924 building was recently renovated in 2000, is now the home of the Gene Siskel Film Center, and also serves as a dormitory for the Art Institute of Chicago.

Some additional background from Robyn's '81,'01and '06 interviews with Sid:

Sid - "He [Hyman] had just come from Europe himself ... he was living in New York and he came to Chicago. That’s where he got sick. He ended up in the hospital and he ended up meeting Marty or Jake."

Robyn - "He met them in the hospital?"

Sid - "Not in the hospital. In the trades - they were all furriers. I'm not sure how the equation worked out but Jake, and my father, Benny, they all were partners in the fur business."

Robyn - "Were they partners before he got sick?

Sid - "I think so. I think it must have been. Because that’s how they knew him I think... Hyman, when he came over, he knew nobody here and he made an acquaintance with my mothers brother, which was Jean's father. He introduced him to my mother but he didn't like my mother at that time... But what happened was my dad had an operation. And when he had this surgery he had no friends to go to recuperate when he got out of the hospital. So his best friend had him come to our house and my mother took care of him ... One day Marty says he was going to bring a friend over to the house. He was very sick, he needs looking after and would one of the girls look after him... He had just had surgery, he had no one around. He took him to the house and my mother took care of him. She fed him, and tended to his needs. And eventually they fell in love and they got married... So anyway he was recuperating ...At their house, not my house.. at the house in Chicago where they all lived. Ester, Fanny, Marty. They were all single and living together.... I got to tell you a cute thing - When my mother and Father got married, they lived at the house where everybody else lived. Everybody had to share. They had a bedroom. After they got married they went into the bedroom you know.. My father came out and made the annoucement "My wife is now a woman!"

From Barry's notes: "She met Pa after Pa had his kidney removed. Pa got sick from contaminated water in the Russian Army. She helped nurse him back to health. Pa came to Chicago and owned the California Fur Company. He and Uncle Jake were the first furriers to adverstise on radio."

You are listening to a recording of a live Chicago radio performance [circa 1931]. Pay close attention to the advertisement immediately after the song “That Little Boy of Mine." This recording is from the historical radio collection of David Goldin. David confirmed in a letter that the California Fur Company was one of the early advertisers on radio. More information on this and other early radio recordings can be found on Elizabeth Mcleod's site "Documenting Early Radio".

Transcript of the interesting part: Old Time Radio

"[unintelligible scratchy radio sounds ] ...located in the Butler Building, 162 North State Street on the tenth floor. This reliable firm will now make you a fur coat to order out of the furs you select - and at prices far below those asked by most stores on regular stock models. If you are stout, or short, or unusually tall, you don't have to be content with a limited selection of coats that may happen to fit you. This new offer gives you the finest selection that you could wish for. You choose the fur you want. The California Fur Company proudly makes up the pelts into a beautiful garment that fits you - made for you to your own measurements. And, best of all, this extra service is rendered at prices lower than competing firms charge for ready made garments."

Excerpt from the 1930 Census Form for the Wallach family.

This was a prosperous and heady time for the Wallach and Forman families. The booming fur business included world travel to find exotic animals for pelts. Sid remembers coming out of the house to see a live leopard in the back seat of a car. "Two people were in the back seat with the leopard, it had a collar on it. It was very exciting to see." From Barry's notes, "...the family was well off, they had a live-in maid...". This is documented in the 1930 Census form, which in addition to capturing the13 year old Yetta, 11 year old Ben, 9 year old John, 8 year old Sidney, 6 year old Lillian, and 18 month old Sam, also identifies "Pinkie Hodge", as a 29 year old servant, living with the family. The seeds of the eventual demise of the business were planted during those flush years. Again from Barry's notes: "Pa Wallach had signed guarantees for friends and family, when they went under, so did he. .."

Sid remembers hearing additional stories, related in this December, 2001 taped interview:

Sid - "From what I know they carried on with the women... that is how they lost their business. Too much mucking around with women. Not taking care of the business. They were giving away fur coats to the women, you know."

Robyn - "Fur coats for favors?"

Sid - "I think so."

Robyn - "I thought they lost the business because they loaned out too much during the depression."

Sid - "That was part of it. The other part of it was, this was 1929 the time of the crash. Everybody was making so much money in the stockmarket, they invested a lot of company money in the stock market as well. It was all tied up. When the market went to hell, they went to hell. It broke up. Now these are the stories that were passed on to me. How true they are I have no way of knowing. It sounds like it is right."

Wrigley Field - Center Field Bleachers Permit me a brief baseball digression. As a lifelong Cub fan, I was struck by one notable circumstance of Hyman's 1906 arrival in America. Although he was too late for the 1906 World Series (which saw the Chicago White Sox defeat the Chicago Cubs 4-2), Hyman was in Chicago for the 1907 World Series, which saw the Chicago Cubs sweep the Detroit Tigers 4-0. He was also in Chicago to see the Chicago Cubs win the World Series again in 1908 (4-2 against the same Detroit Tigers), and become the first baseball team in history to win back-to-back World Series.

Remarkably, Hyman had been in America for only three years, and in all three years the Chicago Cubs were in the World Series, winning two out of three, losing only to the Chicago White Sox. Hyman Wallach was and is the only Wallach in history to be in Chicago when the Chicago Cubs won a World Series. In fact, he is the only American Wallach in the history of our family lineage to even be alive when the Chicago Cubs won a World Series. Go figger.

Pictured to the right are me, and nephews Roy and Eric, grandson and great-grandsons to Hyman, in the center field bleachers at Wrigley watching the Cubbies beat the Pirates 4-1 on June 6, 2004. Between us, we have never experienced what Hyman experienced, a World Champion Chicago Cubs team.

Come to think of it, neither have any of the people in this picture, nor anybody in Wrigley Field that day, and probably no one in the entire city. - ed.

Editor's Notes:
In Chicago Hyman meets the Forman family. He becomes friends with the Formans. He goes into business with Jake Forman. Fannie Forman nurses him to health and they marry. There are many stories to tell, how they meet, how they go into business, what happened to the business,the Capone connection, but this section is yet to be developed, pending contributions from - umm - You in the Wallach/Forman family who are reading this now. In the meantime, these notes from Barry will have to suffice. – MW

Additional Notes From Barry Wallach:
“Ma” (Fannie Forman) worked hard in a sweat shop rolling cigars in either Canada (says Sam) or Chicago (says Edith).

She met Pa after Pa had his kidney removed. Pa got sick from contaminated water in Russian Army. She helped nurse him back to health.

Pa Came to Chicago and owned California Fur Company partnered with Jake Forman.

The family was well off. They had a live-in maid.

Children of Ester and Jacob Forman:

Jake Forman – Partnered with Pa were the first furriers to advertise on radio.

Herman Forman - Born 07-18-1879 or 1883 Died September 1964 Occupation Junk Yard Died Milwaukee Wisc.

Morris Forman - Born abt 1889 Kreschiner Russia, occupation Clerk, Died March 4, 1933 Chicago Occupation Clerk, Hotel Manager (Capone Syndicate)

Martin Forman - Occupation Beer Brewer/Gambler- had a place on the north side near a theater- one time his place was robbed, and the people who robbed him made the men take their pants off so they would have time to escape. That happened the week before Sid and Ben visited his place. Before he had the bookie joint he borrowed 500 dollars from Ben -it took him a long time to pay it back- he used to come for Friday dinner at the wallachs but then he stopped coming because he wasn't paying the money back - He paid Ben after Fannie talked to him about it.

Jennie Forman - Russia

Fannie Forman - Born near Odessa Russia

John Forman- Born 1887 Kiev Russia

Ben Forman- born 1893 Russia, occupation Bartender, died April 21, 1918

Twin girls

To Be Continued ...