Keith Tillotson
The Full House (1942)
Now I don't have any girlfriend. The war started. I guess that's when I decided that Kenneth might be comin' into port someday. I wrote a letter to Ida and asked her if she wanted to come out. I'd rent a house. Bring the kids out, and she'd be close by. When Kenneth hit one of the ports, he'd probably be able to come home. She wanted to do that. And she says, "Can I bring Stella with me?" I said, "Well, ok – bring Stella."
So I rented this house near Burbank, which is close to Hollywood – about a mile. It was a one-story house with two bedrooms. I moved in, bought some furniture off of Beacon's second-hand furniture and I furnished the house. 'Course Ida would pay the rent when she come in. I'd just contribute to the food, like a boarder. 'Cause she'd get money from Kenneth – he has to give her money for that. And of course the government always pays part of it, maybe all the rent during the war.
So Stella come in with her refrigerator and her vacuum cleaner. She just left her husband. She always did that – just leave her husband and go with Kenneth wherever he was, and Ida. She had one of these Kirby vacuum cleaners with all the attachments. That was her big thing – cleanin' house with the vacuum cleaner. But, that's about all she did do.
So with Stella, Ida and her four kids the house was pretty full of people, and the next thing I know here's Vicki comes in. I guess she must have called the boardinghouse, and they told her where I lived. I come home one day from work, and there's Vicki. She's still married. Now she's living there. It was a mess! Ida, Stella, Vicki, four kids and me.
Finally I kicked Vicki out, to tell you the truth, because she was goofin' around again. She got a job in an ice cream place or something, and one day this kid shows up at the door to see her. I said, "Who the hell are you?" Anyway, I got mad at her and kicked her out.