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Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
14 November 1943

Dear Aunty Clara,

Anniversary Day

The picture this evening was "Wake Island". There is no doubt but that the picture is a good one but pictures of the war are never so good that a soldier enjoys them. Again, I say, that a musical comedy or a straight dialogue comedy is much more entertaining than any other type of movie.

Gordon ran the show this evening along with the new assistant, Brown. And did they bawl up the works. For one thing, it seems even having a man check over every inch of the file isn't going to prevent sprocket holes from jumping and causing the picture to blur. It did that twice this evening. Then, on one occasion, they let the film twist around while threading it and the sprocket holes were on the wrong side of the track. Neither Gordon or Brown knew what the trouble was until I happened to notice it. You see, on nights that I do not operate the machine, I sit outside the booth and can look into it thru the little holes cut in the canvas for the projector and the operator. The next bad spot was when the film became very dark and the screen was blacked out. The cause was that one of the lenses had been inadvertently been pulled half way out of its position.

Say, I almost forgot that I wrote you this morning and that I didn't tell you about this afternoon's activities. First of all, I received your letter of November 4th. Thanks for sending out the razor although I hope it will be a long time before I will have to use it more than occasionally. Perhaps I will be fortunate enough to go thru life without ever having to shave from day to day as most men do.

By all means send the fruit cake, Aunty Clara. I shall write up a request V-mail form right after I finish this letter. I didn't think that in rationed days it was possible to make fancy stuff like that. Remember last year before things got tough in the way of butter, milk and other things, you would be baking almost every week? If Anna's place is on the corner of 22nd and Lombard and if there is a dentist, on that corner alone of the four corners, it must be that she lives in the Olympic building.

T/5 Cain and I went around this afternoon trying to see if the fellow we had picked for the show would actually cooperate and go on the stage. For the most part the fellows were willing to help out although the one fellow who could play the piano will not do so. He would be a decided asset to the show. As it stands now we have Jimmy Snelsire the MC, Murray the singer to do a comedy sketch, a quartet of singers with a guitar and a mandolin, an imitator, and another impersonator of a fellow in the company, a tentative mouth organ quintet, and two other little one act jokes.

After saving my money for almost a week, I blew the top off the lid by stacking up on fruit juices and vanilla wafers this afternoon. The stockpile lasted for two hours and no longer. There haven't been any packages coming in for several days now so I can begin expecting a few more starting with tomorrows mail. Not many packages take more than 40 days to be delivered and since the 15th of October was the last day they could be mailed back in the States, they should all be present and accounted for by the 25th of this month.

I'll be working all tomorrow but I feel that by tomorrow afternoon I will have cleared away the major part of my work and will be able to concentrate on straightening out my desk etcetera and then after the show (Ouch, am I a goopie Antek, I went to see the show this evening and I'm going to have to run the same thing tomorrow night!) I'll be able to write those extra letters which need to be gotten out mighty soon. One or two days is all okay to leave them unanswered but when It starts going into a week or two, that is the time so call a halt.

So-long,   /s/ Roman   Roman