Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Malibu: Upstairs / Downstairs and Other Stories
    Malibu: Upstairs / Downstairs and Other Stories
    Malibu: Upstairs / Downstairs and Other Stories
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    Malibu: Upstairs / Downstairs and Other Stories

    By MARION CORNFIELD and GIVEON CORNFIELD

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The authors (note plural) of this collection of short stories have led long and
    sometimes turbulent lives . Both came as young children to what was at the
    time British-ruled Palestine in the 1930s. Chance brought them together in
    high school in Tel-Aviv in 1942, and they have been together ever since,
    through thick and thin, in what they consider the most enduring union of two
    souls they know. The stories they recount range from the humorous, ironic,
    through near-tragic; A journalist who interviewed the couple on Valentine's
    Day in 2000 called them "A Republic of Two".(which is one of the chapters)
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateJun 2, 2014
    ISBN9781496915542
    Malibu: Upstairs / Downstairs and Other Stories
    Author

    MARION CORNFIELD

    GIVEON CORNFIELD was born in Montreal in 1926. He came to Israel (then Palestine) with his parents in 1933, and received his education there. He was a member of the Hagana before WWII, during which he served in the Royal Air Force in North Africa. After the war, he rejoined the Hagana, which was incoporated into the Israel Defence Force in 1948, and served in the IDF. In 1952 he moved with his family to Canada, where he worked in the automotive and broadcasting fields. He founded BAROQUE RECORDS in Montreal, and following his move to the USA, incorporated it into ORION MASTER RECORDINGS *. He has produced over 1,000 albums of classical music on his own and other labels. In addition to hundreds of articles, recordings and concert reviews, he also authored three books: ZION LIBERATED (with Max Seligman); LILIAN - ISRAEL'S FIRST LADY OF CUISINE; and NOTE-PERFECT (Thirty years in classical music recording). Together with his wife Marion, they translated into Hebrew several books and articles, including John Steinbeck's THE WAYWARD BUS. MARION CORNFIELD (nee Waxman) was born in Berlin in 1926, and as a young child moved to Israel (then Palestine) in 1935. While still in grade school, she began tutoring younger children, joined the underground, and was a volunteer paramedic in Magen David Adom. Later, she spent a year in a kibbutz. She married her high-school sweetheart when both were twenty, and moved to Montreal in 1952. Following her move to the USA, she continued her education at UCLA and the University of Judaism, and taught Hebrew for many years. Now retired in Hawaii, she continues her work as a volunteer mediator - but misses her son and daughter and the grandchildren. * Marion designed the album covers for both Baroque and Orion Master Recordings.

    Related to Malibu

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Backfire

      Dec 2, 2024

      I enjoyed the article in the September issue about the 1942 Lincoln-Zephyr. What a beautiful automobile. Some words just sound apt for their use, as Zephyr does. I googled zephyr: “A zephyr is a gentle breeze or a wind from the west. The word comes f

      7 min read

    • Article

      Life In Motion

      Jun 17, 2020

      Life In Motion
      3 min read

    • Article

      Sound Your Horn

      Feb 21, 2024

      In the Feb. 15 issue of Old Cars, Ron Kowalke asked if the pedal car from his 1947 photo could be identified. I had a similar pedal bike in 1947 at seven years of age, and it was called a “car bike.” I believe mine was made by Murray, and a neighbor

      5 min read

    • Article

      Recapsletters

      Jul 9, 2021

      Recapsletters
      5 min read

    • Article

      Box 8 Waipu LETTERS

      Aug 31, 2020

      Box 8 Waipu LETTERS
      6 min read

    • Article

      VW Bus Nut Man Cave

      Jul 9, 2019

      VW Bus Nut Man Cave
      5 min read

    • Article

      Your Mail Have Your Say!

      Aug 17, 2022

      Like us on Facebook Unique Cars Magazine LETTER OF THE MONTH Thanks to Warwick for sharing his Peugeot ownership story. send to… Unique Cars Mailbag Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, VIC, 3170 or email: [email protected] or Facebook us! 3

      4 min read

    • Article

      Backfire

      Apr 8, 2022

      Backfire
      7 min read

    • Article

      Sound Your Horn

      May 16, 2022

      I liked the article “Surprised by a ’Bird” in the May 1 issue and the story behind the 1956 Thunderbird featured in it. It’s great to know the history behind a particular car, especially when there are family ties. The other comment I wanted to share

      5 min read

    • Article

      The History Man

      Dec 9, 2020

      The History Man
      12 min read

    • Article

      Sound Your Horn

      May 17, 2021

      Sound Your Horn
      5 min read

    • Article

      RecapsLetters

      Jul 28, 2023

      EMAIL YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS TO: [email protected] I AM A SUBSCRIBER to Hemmings Motor News. When I saw that Hemmings Classic Car was going to have a feature on the Lotus Elan Sprint, I had to buy a copy. It was the first time that I bought th

      5 min read

    • Article

      Julian Shoolheifer

      Dec 23, 2020

      Julian Shoolheifer
      4 min read

    • Article

      Oh Lordy! It's STAVROS !

      Aug 17, 2021

      I was very young when I was born, back in 1953 in a village called Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire. The family lived on a farm, about 500 acres, with a big old rambling farmhouse which belonged to my grandfather Bert Parrish. The farm itself was sold

      7 min read

    • Article

      Backfire

      Aug 29, 2020

      Backfire
      8 min read

    • Article

      Recaps Letters

      Jan 20, 2021

      Recaps Letters
      9 min read

    • Article

      Rocket Man!

      Jun 15, 2021

      Rocket Man!
      12 min read

    • Article

      Patience Is A Virtue!

      Nov 11, 2020

      Patience Is A Virtue!
      7 min read

    • Article

      Readers’ Letters

      Apr 3, 2019

      I really enjoyed your article ‘Saintly Collection’ (April 2019) about Terry Smith and his collection of ex-police motorbikes. My father was a policeman who for years in the 1960s used to patrol on a ‘Noddy bike’ in Crosby, Liverpool. He often reminis

      6 min read

    • Article

      Riding Life

      Aug 5, 2023

      Riding Life
      9 min read

    • Article

      Backfire

      Apr 1, 2024

      As a young lad raised in the 1950s and early ’60s, I lusted after Corvettes (Thanks Route 66) because I was a bit too young to lust after females yet. Being fortunate enough to obtain an appointment to U.S. Military Academy at West Point (where senio

      7 min read

    • Article

      One-track Mind

      Apr 25, 2022

      One-track Mind
      8 min read

    • Article

      Riding Life REASONS TO RIDE

      Nov 4, 2023

      Riding Life REASONS TO RIDE
      10 min read

    • Article

      Backfire

      Nov 29, 2020

      Your story in the October issue about the Rodtoberfest Reliability Run in Round Top, New York, represented a moment in time for me. Many at the event were from Upstate’s Tri-City area where my wife and I grew up. As a kid going to St. Mikes in the la

      9 min read

    • Article

      Frank’s Famous Last Words

      Jan 24, 2022

      Frank’s Famous Last Words
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Malibu

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Malibu - MARION CORNFIELD

      1. WHEELS

      An out of control descent on my tricycle ended in a crash, with bits of gravel embedded in my knees and face. I survived, and graduated to a four-wheeled AUTO! This was all long, long ago, in faraway Dallas, Texas, but my fate was then inextricably wedded to wheels. When many years later I was able to voice my choice of a high school, I chose the only one in Tel Aviv that offered a course in auto mechanics. Montefiore Polytechnical Institute, as it was grandly named, was at an easy biking distance from home. But first, I must tell you how I got my first bike.

      Buying a bicycle in wartime Palestine was of course out of the question. However, I spotted a discarded frame in an empty lot which I passed daily on my way to and from school. Also on my route there was a tiny bicycle repair shop. I dug out the rusty frame, which was half-buried under weeds and trash, and brought it over to the shop. Could it be resurrected? The shop owner was doubtful. But he had a suggestion: he needed help, so how about coming to work for a couple of hours after school? He couldn’t pay me, but promised to help add parts to the frame from discards in the shop. I jumped at the offer, and in due course managed to assemble a heavy hybrid that was not easy to pedal, and which lacked proper brakes and other parts. But I had my own bike! I’ll never forget the feeling of exhilaration that swept over me as I rode it! It was more intense than the joy I experienced a few years earlier, when my grandmother Bertha gave me my first pair of roller skates, when .I roamed the neighborhood pretending to be a detective pursuing dangerous criminals. That bike served me well for several years, during which I became a master bike repairer.

      1%20first%20bike.tif

      My first bike

      At school I was an indifferent student, to put it charitably. What few courses I found interesting I followed avidly, but barely squeaked by in most others. Yet that was really of little import, because it was here that I met the love of my life. That’s a big statement for a sixteen year-old to make, but it’s true. Marion was one of three girls in my class, and it didn’t take long for me to fall head over heels in love with her. It was a while before she even took notice of me, but things improved after I taught her to ride a bike. So you see - wheels were good to me.

      After high school, I couldn’t wait to join the RAF. Of course I entertained fantasies of flying, but it was late in the war, and I ended up in an engine repair squadron in Egypt, maintaining Liberators and such, that took part in the Italian campaign. When I was demobilized in June, 1946. I was twenty, felt very mature, and was ready to marry and settle down. No kidding. We had been going steady for four years. It would be no exaggeration to say that we grew up together. My parents would have preferred that I study medicine (My Son the Doctor) or at least engineering, and put off marriage for some lengthy period. I would not even consider it: separate from my love? No way!

      But first things first: we needed wheels to get around. So we pooled our meager resources and bought a pair of shiny, brand new bicycles.

      2.tif

      Both bikes were soon stolen, within a few days of each other.

      I got a job in the municipal garage, repairing dump trucks and the like, and obtained my driver’s license. Both pairs of parents helped out, and we were married in November. It was a double wedding: Marion’s sister Ruth married Menachem, a veteran of the Jewish Brigade. A childhood friend of Marion’s was married to Yehuda Amit, who worked at the local Chevrolet agency. Through Yehuda, I got a better job there. I had bought an army surplus Norton motorcycle, a powerful machine upon which it was very tempting to open up. Very soon I realized that this was too risky, so I traded down to a Sachs Motor, a heavy kind of bicycle, assisted by a lawnmower-size engine. This was OK for the interim, but when we were expecting an addition to the family, it was time to buy a car. Now this may not sound like a big deal in today’s terms, but believe me - it was a very big deal! And what we ended up with will really make you laugh. Still, it was a car, with four seats, even.

      3%20our%20car.tif

      Our car (note right wheel)

      It was a 1929 Austin Seven. It was so dilapidated that it elicited condescending smiles, which really hurt. But it ran, sort of. Most times. The battery was ancient, so the car had to be started with the crank, that protruded below the radiator. It had no parking brake (or any brakes to speak of), and a brick had to be placed under the front wheel, lest it roll away in a strong wind.

      Across the road from the Chevrolet garage there was a small auto repair shop owned by Felix Burian, a nice fellow who was kind enough to let me park the Austin on his premises while I was at work. He also promised to have a look and see what improvements could be made to make it run better. One thing led to another, we became good friends, and when his partner fell ill, I borrowed some money and became independent - a business partner! Wow!

      One of our customers owned a sporty-looking convertible, a late 1930s Czech-built Jawa, which was little more than a four-legged motorcycle. On this contraption, I taught Marion to drive…Next came a German-made 1938 Adler, our first civilized car that I purchased from one of our customers. This was the first car that I had reupholstered and painted (forest green). It was a four-door sedan, very low-slung, quite similar in appearance to the French Citroen. It was

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1