"To be an interesting actor – hell, to be an interesting human being – you must be authentic and for you to be authentic you must embrace who you really are, warts and all. Do you have any idea how liberating it is to not care what people think about you? Well, that's what we're here to do. — Sanford Meisner, founder of the Meisner Technique for actors
Born "Edward G. Martin" as shown in NYC birth records, Mr. Kaye-Martin was an "artist in residence" at my college, where he was my acting teacher and director for a production of Lanford Wilson's complex The Rimers of Eldritch. He could be an exacting, harsh taskmaster who demanded nothing less than your best internal efforts and professionalism, and who could show some major temper when he felt you'd not met his standards. Nonetheless, he knew truth in acting and could recognize it instantly, and worked hard to help you find it. It was like brutality for a good cause. He never settled for a single false or hollow move; if he did not agree with your motivation, or could not feel your motivation in a scene, he would not rest nor let you rest. True to the Meisner Technique which he taught and of which he was a proponent, he would require much repetition, over, and over, and over, until you found the needed understanding of your character and conveyed it clearly. It was always about finding the truth in your character, and conveying that truth.
Our college, Gettysburg, is not mentioned here in his obituaries (nor in any other of his obituaries) as one at which he was artist in residence, most likely because he was finally sent packing by the theater department program head for the emotional duress he put many student actors through there... which isn't to say we didn't learn a great deal from him; it just came at great cost. He was a brilliant man, yet -at least at that time and place- he lacked the gifts of encouragement and leading by letting the actor find things himself. He gave every indication that you were trying his patience with your limited intellect or skills. If you did not respond well to his primary technique of repetition and pressure, heaven help you. It became cyclical: you'd get an impatient critique which crushed your confidence and focus, and then have to repeat the scene in a terrible, rattled frame of mind... which could bring on more criticism. Speaking with others who knew him later in his career, I learned that my fellow students and I were not alone in sometimes being brought to tears... while turning in the truth.
Mr. Kaye-Martin passed away from complications of AIDS. I see what the obituaries say, but those who knew him then describe it slightly differently. They say that he collapsed at an airport, and died not long after in Saint Joseph's Hospital in Chicago. Technically, yes, he died of non Hodgkin's lymphoma, but he had AIDS. People with weakened immune systems, like those living with HIV, are at greater risk of having NHL than others, about 10 times more likely. Overall, in 1989 when Edward died, people weren't always very kind about AIDS diagnoses, so focusing on the NHL was far less controversial than naming AIDS.
He could go from warm and charming to sharp-tongued and lethally stern in an instant. If you didn't know Edward, his shifting intensity is difficult to convey. I wondered about this for many years, asking myself what might be in his history or in his genes to make him so extreme. It hadn't escaped my attention that none of his obits named his ex-wife nor parents. In late 2022, I had a few free days, so set out to find out about his family.
For Edward himself, beyond his work, it turned out that in 1969, in Truro, Massachusetts he became the second husband of actress Dorlee Deane McGregor aka Katherine MacGregor, best known for her work on television's Little House on the Prairie. Online sources like IMDB suggest the union lasted just over a year, and no children resulted. On her bio page on the Little House on the Prairie site where she's asked if she would ever marry once more, she's quoted as saying "I don't want to get into that kind of thing again. My first two marriages were disasters. I was too childish the first time around, even though I was 28, and too easily flattered the second time around. He said I was the most fantastic actress he'd ever seen. Flattery got him everywhere! So, no more."
As to his parents... The nutshell version is that his parents' marriage ended sometime between 1940 and 1946, thus before Edward was even age 8. The two parents went in different directions. Much more info was available on his father (especially in newspapers) than on his mother for some very unhappy reasons you'll see below. And I warn you, if you intend to read this twisty tale, now would be a great time to go to the bathroom and get yourself a large beverage.
The quick and dirty version of the family story
His mom Ruth Estelle Chapin had a fairly normal family and upbringing in New Jersey, but when her marriage to Edward's father dissolved, she pursued her life, not raising her two boys. Edward's father "Allen" did the same. The family Allen came from was quite fractured - Allen's father left the family while Allen was still an infant, and his mom died before she was 28, and before Allen was 9. Thus, Edward's dad Allen ended up an orphan, and at some point afterwards, reinvented himself and embarked on many new beginnings and abrupt endings. Allen's kids Edward and Alan, like him, were left behind, as he had been left behind. (And for clarification: most often it seems the father used "Allen" while the son used "Alan".)
Starting with Edward's father
For the longest time, I was stymied on his father's origins. Most of his adult life, he presented himself as Allen C. Kaye-Martin. It was consistent that Edward's father presented himself as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio from his Social Security records, his draft card and other documents. Ohio has a very good birth index that began the year he was born, 1908, and he is not on it under the last name "Kaye-Martin". Unfortunately while running this search, I came to the realization that while the birth index began in 1908, it did not apparently begin in January of that year in every county. If you search with his given birth name, even just his first name, looking for anyone of his name born in 1908 in Cincinnati's Hamilton county, you get 28 males, all of whom were born in December. None in any other month - just impossible for a large metropolitan area. So we cannot count on the state birth index to cover all of 1908.
He's not recognizable on the 1910 census just 2 years after his birth. I could not find him on any early censuses that would lead me to his parents. For the life of me, I could not find a single document for him prior to his marriage (also not found) and the birth of his two sons in New York, and even there, he is not named.
But as you'll see below, "Kaye-Martin" was not his given last name. I had to repeat my searches for him when I saw one single article naming Allen C Kaye-Martin as "aka Erwin Kindritzer". No one has that surname in any records, but I found just one newspaper article with this name about a lawyer, and that was easy to check, as he was a renowned attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio - it turned out to be a misprint of "Kondritzer".
Enter the Kondritzers
That sounded like a great name to search with - and it is. There's only about 7 people alive in the US with that surname today. Looking back, I can find a few families with Cincinnati connections but no Erwin, Irwin or anyone identified as born on the date he claims, January 1, 1908 in Cincinnati. It's such a great birth date you wonder if he picked it. But when I go through these families, there is no male born about that time whose later death isn't accountable. Ideally, we'd be looking for a Kondritzer guy who sort of disappears and re-emerges as Allen Martin or Kaye-Martin by the time he weds Edward's mom Ruth and has his two boys.
Without taking you through every single step I pursued in trying to find Edward's father and family and place him, the simple version is to tell you that the first Kondritzer family in the United States was headed by a Jewish couple, Oscar Joseph and "Frumme" aka Frances Kondritzer. They and their kids emigrated from Russia. I built their tree. Everyone else flows from them.
Narrowing to the 1910 census to see what Kondritzers were alive back then, we get just 10 people with the name. Most of them were recognizable to me from my previous searching of obits and marriages for the tree I'd built.
The Cincinnati couple of Jacob and Ray (Rachel) Kondritzer looks interesting because in 1910, the family is having kids at almost perfect 2 year intervals. The next kid in line should be a boy born 2 year after the last child, Matilda, but he's not there. I can account for both the boys present: Julius died 1990 in Cincinnati. Albert died at age 17 of peritonitis in 1915.
In 1910, there's just one other Kondritzer household in the entire US and they are also in Cincinnati - headed by those immigrants, Oscar and Frances Kondritzer (sometimes indexed as Kondriker). The couple is pushing age 60, so they were not actively having kids around 1908 when Mr. Kaye-Martin was theoretically born, but... they do have young daughters, like Fannie, a bookkeeper at a furniture concern. Did Fannie have a child around this time, maybe out of wedlock? As it ultimately turned out, no. But her sister is a different story.
That sister, Minnie, left a wispy trail behind, but finally I found it, despite the fact that no one had yet made the connection on any family tree anywhere, and yes, I'm kind of proud of that. The difficulty is that no evidence of any marriage for her is readily available, so no one living knew her new married name to trace her. In fact, it's easy to assume no marriage ever happened because she is actually on Findagrave under her maiden name. She did not live a long life so it'd be easy to assume she never had the chance to wed.
But young Minnie Kondritzer left an incomplete story that I'd like to finish as best I can. Minnie was born in Russia June of 1886, according to the 1900 census. (Her death certificate claims July 15, 1888 which is not in line with the two censuses on which Minnie appears.) Her family came to the United States about 1890, headed up by her parents Oscar Joseph and Frances. On the 1900 census in Cincinnati, the couple oversees a household of five kids. The youngest two are Fannie and Minnie, both at school. Their father (who is listed here as Joseph) works as a clothing trimmer.
The 1910 Cincinnati census of the family reveals that Minnie is now gone, and only sister Fannie remains. So where's Minnie? She's not findable under her maiden name anywhere. Assuming one of her siblings might shed some light, I finally found her living with her widowed sister Rose (nee Kondritzer) Morris, who'd lost her husband Isidore/Israel in 1906. Minnie lives there with sister Rose and Rose's three kids. And the census-taker's handwriting is rough as heck, but Minnie is listed there as a saleslady in a gem novelty company. She's married, and with a last name that looks like Tetzlaff or Fetzlaff or Getzlaff. She claims being married three years, but no husband is in the household. Instead, interestingly, there's a child there, Rose's nephew and Minnie's son - Walter Tetzlaff or one of the variations. Age two, so born about 1908, the same year Allen C. Kaye-Martin would claim as his year of birth. Could this be him with his original name?
For that 1910 census, the sisters lived at 529 Clinton in Cincinnati. Minnie did not always live as an adult with her sister and comparing their listings in city directories, only one address is shared for one year. Remember that such directories are usually published the year after the information was collected. In 1910's directory (reflecting 1909 data) she was at 1009 John. 1911 she's at 529 Clinton with sister Rose, their only shared home. 1912 Minnie lives at 424 Court and the directory names her interestingly as "Mrs. Minnie Tetzlaff" so again, married but no husband showing. 1914 she lived in Norwood at 20 W. 5th. 1916's directory shows her at 423 Chestnut in Cincinnati, at what would be her very last address. This repetition of "Tetzlaff" in directories is what finally gave me the definitive version of the surname.
Minnie died in 1916 at Cincinnati General Hospital. Her death certificate tells us she had chronic appendicitis and a pelvic abscess for which she had been treated 13 days and operated upon. Her son, young Walter was just 8, so what happened to the boy?
I checked other Kondritzer family members on the 1920 census and he didn't show up with any of them. The one you'd expect might have him, Rose, who had been hosting him and his mom back in 1910, is now living in Cleveland with her daughter Zelda. Rose isn't working, Zelda is a stenographer - probably not a lot of money in the household. The 1920 census also in Cleveland shows us that Walter "Tetzloff" is an inmate at the Jewish Orphan Asylum, age 12. In a sad family narrative, it might be guessed that when her sister Minnie died, widowed Rose had to relinquish her nephew, as she was probably struggling to keep her own three children and herself afloat. It appears she had the kindness to have him institutionalized near her in Cleveland rather than leaving him adrift in Cincinnati where his mother had died. Another possibility, of which I am less confident, is that when Minnie died, Walter's father was contacted and he made the arrangements. Father's rights were not much championed in that era, so his notification may have never happened.
So am I certain that Minnie Kondritzer had become Minnie Tetzlaff? Yes. Minnie Kondritzer is on Findagrave as dying February 24, 1916. Turning to the Ohio death records, we can't find her there as Minnie Kondritzer, but we do find Minnie "Fetzlaff", who passed February 24, 1916, in Hamilton County, Ohio, the county home to Cincinnati. This is echoed by Minnie Tetzlaff's death certificate which tells us she died the 24th and was laid to rest the 25th. That death certificate again states that she was married. Minnie Tetzlaff's death was also announced in the Tagliches Cincinnatier Volksblatt (of Cincinnati, Ohio), on Feb. 26, 1916 on page 2, noting the cause was "blinddarmintzundung" - appendicitis. One might thus conclude that official records used her legal married name, but having been left by her husband, Minnie's family chose her gravemarker to read the name of her original family. So Minnie, Edward's grandma, died young, and Edward's dad thus lost his mom when he was eight.
Who's Daddy's daddy? Diving into the Tetzlaffs
If you're like me, at this point, the burning question is "Ok, so who was Walter's father?" 1907, the year Allen C Kaye-Martin was conceived, the city directory lists only three Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati: August (1323 Pleasant, a porter), Wladimir (807 West Court, manager of the Cincinnati Electrotype Foundry) and Hans (922 Race, a waiter). By 1908, there are zero Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati in the directory.
August died in 1908 which suits the possible result of his son being raised just by the mom, but Minnie kept representing herself as married after 1908, not widowed, so likely not him. In fact, August was already married when young Walter was born. Wladimir was harder; there may be a father and son of the same name. The one was married at the time Minne was pregnant, so unless he cheated, or it was the son, they may be off the list. One of the Wladimirs is interesting if for no other reason than that the name Wladimir is the Slavic/Russian equivalent of Walter. And before you tell me "But Jewish families don't name living people after predecessors" I'll point out firstly, that the Kondritzers did re-use names, and secondly, that I am pretty sure the Tetzlaff people were not Jewish. The Tetzlaffs buried in Cincinnati's Hamilton County on Findagrave (just five) are mostly in Vine Street Hill Cemetery, which was founded as the German Evangelical Protestant Cemetery. The other two Tetzlaffs are in Saint Joseph's which was founded as a German Catholic cemetery. I figured if I had to sort out the father/son issue and do a family tree, fine, but first I'd see if the last prospective father, Hans Teztlaff, was any easier.
That was a lucky call. While Hans left an iffy trail initially, once a birthdate and a chronology could be established, the records then started to pop, not a ton, but enough. Hans left Cincinnati by 1910's census, and become a lodger in Cleveland, showing as having been married twice (possibly an error), and while his age is wrong (35, when it should be 30) the golden key is that he is a waiter. He claims his current marriage is 4 years old, so about 1906, but no wife is present with him. By 1911 he starts showing up in the Cleveland city directories as a waiter and bartender so definitely the same man. He could make sense too because he is only 6 years older than Minnie Kondritzer, born 1880, and he's an immigrant like her, though he was born in what was then Prussia, and is now Poland. By 1917 his WWI draft card would show him as married with a unnamed wife (who shares his address so clearly a new wife since Minnie was deceased by then) working as a waiter at the Stag Buffet in Cleveland. With a medium build and height, coupled with blond hair and blue eyes, he might have been a bit, uh, dishy. His naturalization paperwork shows he came to the United States in 1905 (about age 25), and became a naturalized citizen in 1920.
He doesn't pop on any censuses after 1910 but his last marriage's certificate fills us in a bit: Hans Walter Tetzlaff (perfect middle name, no?) wed Elizabeth Mary (nee Hogan) Doyle in 1933. Pastor W A Kane of Saint Patrick's did the ceremony. Hans was 52, and his 49 year old bride was a widow who had been married once before. He claimed the same, once previously married, and widowed. We know this cannot be true. His first wife was Minnie who died 1916, but his 1917 draft card said he was married with a wife at his same address, so it would appear he had a second marriage squeezed in there. In the only other twist he shows in documents, here, he claims to be a cook. He names his parents as Gust and Martha (nee Keller or Kellner) Tetzlaff. The fact Hans claimed just one previous marriage, makes me wonder which marriage he was willing to tell his last wife Elizabeth about, and I wonder if he left out the part about having a son from his earliest marriage.
His 1942 WWII draft card tells us more: He's become a grey eyed brunette, 5 foot 5 and 160 pounds. He's working at the Shaker Heights Tavern in Cleveland, and he names his wife, Elizabeth. He died in 1945, his death certificate showing that "August" was his father (though there were a few men of the name and his father may not have come when Hans came to the US around age 25). The DC shows his last occupation was serving as a waiter. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer, his obit names his wife Elizabeth Hogan Doyle, and his sister, Olga Schreader, and a slew of kids - it is hard to know if any of them were biologically his or which came from his wife. His first biological child, Walter Tetzlaff who would become Allen Kaye-Martin, did not make the obit. Hans Tetzlaff rests in a city owned cemetery in Cleveland.
But continuing further on in records, finally we hit the jackpot: on April 5, 1907 we see what was likely his first marriage (and which he says is his first marriage on the certificate). It explains why I didn't find it earlier - the bride's name is written misspelled as "Minnie Kondetzer" and was indexed like that, so it never showed up when I looked for her, only when I looked for him. But I stared at this document, thinking neither of the parties to the marriage could have guessed the outcome of their union on that day. A Justice of the Peace wed them, and while I don't know Hans' religious affiliation, given the times, if he were not Jewish, it's unlikely a rabbi from Minnie's family synagogue would have been willing to perform the vows, and possible his own family officiant wouldn't have either.
On the marriage certificate, young Hans, age 27, is, yes, a waiter, living on Court Street. Minnie, just age 21, is living at the Sinton Hotel, and while it's rather unusual for a young, unmarried woman of her time not to be living at home with her folks, her occupation was "housekeeper" so perhaps she lived where she worked. The Sinton was brand spanking new, and opened just two months before the marriage, in February 1907. And maybe that's where love bloomed if Hans worked in the one of the hotel's many restaurants (12 were planned when it was built). The Sinton was then regarded (and is remembered now) as elegant, and period pictures of it inspire some awe. The massive lobby filled with sunlight and serious heavy furniture, vaulted ceilings and swanky multiple restaurants made it a place to see, and be seen. The Sinton represented Cincinnati's blossoming metropolitan glamour, and the future must have looked bright for anyone connected to it. And yet, the 1907 union would crash by 1910 when Hans showed up, not in Cincinnati with his wife and son, but alone in Cleveland.
It's an unhappy line of parenthood. Edward's parents Allen/Walter and Ruth split before he was 8. Walter's father Hans left Cincinnati when Walter was just 2-3 years old, so Walter likely did not much know his own father Hans, and did not have his mom in his life for very long when she died in the bloom of youth at age 27. It's sad to realize he had likely no example of fatherhood, and not much time with his mother before he had to go to the orphanage. Perhaps these broken family bonds stayed with Walter Tetzlaff/Allen Kaye-Martin the rest of his life and made it easier for him to keep leaving situations through his life.
The Wanderings of Walter, Edward's father
After Minnie's death and his stint at the orphanage, where did Walter go? The 1930 census gives us eight Walter Tetzlaffs, none born in Ohio. There is one such named man, with no age or place of birth, living in Chicago but the lack of data makes it hard to rule him in or out. In fact, half the page is filled with names of people with no data other than "US born" - people not showing an age, occupation, or more specific birthplace. You'd think maybe these folks were in some institution but none is named, and there is no obvious commonality between them - they are male and female. In the column for "relationship" the census taker lazily wrote it hugely just once vertically down the column to cover them all - "lodgers". Is it this our Walter? I don't know. As you'll see, he did have connections to Chicago though, so it's possible. Looking harder at the 1930 census, nationwide, there is no one with a name like Tetz/laff/loff/or Fetz/laff/loff who is born 1908 or even 5 years on either side of it. Nationwide, there's no one who has a surname of "Kaye-Martin" and going through Ohio born men with the last name "Martin" is an impossible task. Still, somewhere between his 1920 orphanage census appearance and his first newspaper appearance in 1935 in Noroton, Connecticut as "Allan (sic) Kaye-Martin of New York" who at a party "entertained with a number of songs with Otto Weber Jr. at the piano" - Walter Tetzlaff seems to have made some decisions about how to present himself, in part, through a name change.
Why would be do this? That's anyone's guess. My dimestore psychology assumption is that he took on "Kaye-Martin" for a few reasons. It allowed him to rid himself of the name of the man who had left him behind. It was not overtly ethnic and had WASPy overtones, and being a white Anglo Saxon Protestant back then was considered advantageous. Hyphenated last names in that time lent an air of a privileged upbringing. When he would get into trouble with the law, one article overtly pointed out his hyphenated name, as though you would not expect transgressions from such a person. I've even wondered if it "Kaye-Martin" was "K" for his beloved Kondritzer mom, and "M" for his Morris aunt who raised him in part. Anyway, that's what I could see about Edward's dad's side - a grandpa Hans who left Edward's dad, Walter Tetzlaff, who then rechristened himself Allen Kaye-Martin and would then leave his own two boys.
The simpler Mom tale
Edward's mom's side is more straightforward. His mother Ruth was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Frank and Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin. Ruth's father Frank ran a uniform business, and died between the 1920 and 1930 censuses. An only child, Ruth's 1929 East Orange (NJ) high school yearbook bio reflects her talents - four years of orchestra, three years of glee club, a year of drama study (plus Latin and math). It goes on to say she is expected to go to NYU, but she actually ended up graduating from the University of Miami in 1934 with a bachelors degree in public school music.
The Kaye-Martins
September 23, 1936, just two years after his mom's graduation, Edward's parents make their first newspaper appearance together. In the Society column of the Washington DC Evening Star, it was said that the couple, of NYC, is staying at the Shoreham before continuing to Virginia Beach, and later, to the races at Havre de Grace, Maryland. Perhaps this was their honeymoon trip; about nine months later, July 12, 1937, their first son Alan was born in Queens, NY. Edward would follow November 20, 1938.
The 1940 census gives us the only snapshot of Edward's family intact. It shows his father Allen as age 32, born in Ohio, now wed to Ruth, with sons "Allen" (aka Alan, age 2) and Edward (age 1) working as an "insurance counselor". He indicated he had worked 60 hours in the past week, and 52 weeks of the year, with zero income... but had some "other income". In October of this same year, 1940, he signed his WWII draft card in Ohio. The card shows at least 5 different addresses, suggesting he moved around a great deal during the few years his card was necessary. His "person who will always know your address" is not his wife, but business associate George W Smith who has the same address as the National Institute of Research and Economics, 247 Madison Ave in NYC. That year in Memphis, TN Allen opened another office of the National Institute of Research and Economics, to "advise policyholders on the best ways to invest their insurance money". By December of 1940, he was ultimately charged with obtaining money by false pretenses. One article named him as aka Erwin Kindritzer which is how I got a name to work with, refining it to Kondritzer, and began understanding the tricky family tree.
So 1940 was a busy year with Daddy in several places, and things may have been difficult for the family. If they survived all that, it was not for long. In 1946, Edward's dad wed Geraldine (nee Alexander) Lintner in NJ. His boys, Edward and Alan, were not yet even age 10 when he was definitely out of their home. My guess is the split happened much earlier based on his multiple 1940's addresses.
A timeline: Allen Kaye-Martin's busy life, with a bit of Ruth woven in
In 1943, "Broadcasting - the Weekly Newspaper of Radio" noted that Allen Kaye-Martin, formerly of the sales staff of Printers Ink, had been appointed to the sales staff of BLUE." In 1944, "Broadcasting" announced that Mr. Kaye-Martin had formed "Radio and Television Services Company" (to be known as Ray-Tele) with NY headquarters at 604 Fifth Avenue, and an office in Chicago, so there's that connection to the city for him that I referenced. The American Television Directory, (the official 1946 yearbook of the American Television Society Inc.) noted that Ray-Tele produced "Package shows, electrical transcriptions and talent."
June 11, 1945, "Radio Daily" mentioned that Edward's dad was owner-producer of "Charm School of the Air" and "World Homemakers Show" which aired weekdays on WGN in Chicago. Yes, Chicago again.
In 1947, Edward's dad was charged with driving without a license and careless driving in East Paterson, NJ. Also in 1947, his mom finally surfaced as Ruth E. Kaye-Martin in the city directory of Honolulu, Hawaii as a music teacher. She had been working in supply at the depot there at Hickham Field earlier before turning to music instruction. In 1948, she was also with the new 130-voice Oratorio Society there when they sang with the Honolulu Symphony. But where were their boys?
Continuing in 1948, in Hartford CT, Edward's dad ran ads to recruit salesmen accustomed to earning $4500-9500 annually. By April of 1949, he's in the Hartford Courant as moving his team of Encyclopaedia Britannica salesmen to a new office space.
The 1950 Manchester CT city directory says that he and second wife Geraldine have removed to Andover, Mass. The 1950 census indexes him badly as "Martin Kaye" - it actually shows his name rightly, but the word "Martin" is squeezed in above. He's age 42 and born in Ohio, living with Geraldine, age 27, born in NJ, living in Chelmsford Massachusetts, where he is shown as an operator of a retail furniture business. The couple shows no children. The 1950 Chelmsford city directory shows him there as sales manager of Simmons Upholstery.
Where did Edward and Alan go?
That same year, 1950, we finally find what became of Edward and his brother. The 1950 census shows Edward and Alan were in Nutley NJ being raised by their "aunt and uncle", Alexander and Dorothy Lescany.
This bore a bit of scrutiny. A book binder, Mr. Lescany was an off the boat immigrant from Czechoslovakia (aka Austria-Hungary) so he is not the connection. In 1940's census, Dorothy Lescany is shown as daughter of Patrick and Alice Lynch. So who was Dorothy (nee Lynch) Lescany to Edward's mom Ruth, who, who was the daughter of Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin? It looks like this would be easy to solve and prove, but it was made trickier by the number of men named Patrick Lynch who were married to an "Alice", the family repetition of the name "Alice" and by the elder Alice's fluctuating age on censuses. Plus, every tree I can find on the family is erroneously following the wrong Patrick and Alice, showing them in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, when they were mostly about New Jersey. Finally, the 1900 census in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County NJ tells the tale: Alice the younger was the elder sister of Dorothy. Thus, "Aunt Dorothy" was an aunt to Ruth, but a great aunt to Edward and his brother Alan. Imagine being raised by your mom's aunt - not even your grandma, but her sister, family yes, but a little more tenuous. "Aunt Dorothy" and her husband Alex had had no children, so that may have figured in the decision. (The boys may have stayed with this family, as Edward graduated from Nutley High School in 1956 and made the local newspapers in high school productions, sometimes with his brother, and sometimes as an actor or accompanist.)
Back to the parents
In 1951, at age 43 in NYC, Edward's dad was charged with obtaining money and goods under false pretenses. As "former director of a Boston upholstery firm" he bought and sold goods he owed money on, and kept furniture he was supposed to be repairing.
In 1952, for whatever reason, Edward's mother Ruth had contact with Social Security, and it was at that time her name was changed in their records to "Ruth Estelle Williamson" which suggests she had remarried sometime before that. Even if she had married that very year, Edward was no older than 13. Knowing her married name now, we can turn back to the 1950 census, and search for women named Ruth Williamson who were born in New Jersey around 1913. There's only two, and one has never been married. That leaves us with Ruth M. Williamson (wrong middle initial) , wife of Horace B., living in Howell, Monmouth County NJ which is a possible turf for the family. There's two NJ-born kids in the home, one, a boy listed as a the son of Horace, whose name is Francis Sullivan. Hmm, which may suggest Ruth had been married before to a Sullivan and Horace was acting as his father. There's also a 3 year old girl, Linda L. Williamson. Mr. Williamson is a farmer, and Mrs. is a waitress. I'm not at all convinced this is our Ruth. But, finishing the tale for now, when in 1967 this Linda Lee Williamson wed Ronald John Allan Lyons, she was named as the daughter of Mrs. Horace B. Williamson and the late Mr. Williamson. It turns out that Horace died in 1966, and his only immediate survivors named in his obit were his five sisters and daughter Linda- no wife, and no mention of the Sullivan boy said to have been his son. Older newspapers show the couple divorced at Ruth's behest in 1954. As said, I cannot be sure this is our lady, and in fact, I doubt it.
In 1958, Edward's dad advertises in Miami, Florida that he'll buy Miami Beach oceanfront hotels and commercial properties. Inquiries are to be sent to Suite 702, 65 E 58th St, NYC.
Also in 1958, Allen and others filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois against the National Bankers Life Insurance Company of Dallas. The details are complex, but in essence, for himself, Allen sought over $4 million from the company, and $2 million in damages from its president.
The September 1959 issue of Martin Codel's "Television Digest" newsletter featured an extensive article on the dumbing-down of television content, saying that too many topics had become taboo, and more and more stations had turned to carrying half-hour commercials that were akin to carnival snake-oil salesmen shows. Edward's father, then general manger of Baltimore ad agency TV Advertising Associates, Inc. is said in part to be responsible for the extended-ad epidemic. He's quoted as saying he is "happily surprised by the advantages that come from a program that is not subject to the distractions of entertainment." The article goes on to say that even in one-station towns, running such lengthy sales shows 300 times in 14 months had happened. Kaye-Martin noted with pride that they had just signed their first network-owned station to the pitch-shows.
In 1960, the New York Attorney General obtained an order from the Supreme Court of New York County to show cause why Edward's father should not be blocked from the securities business in the state. He and another gent had gained control of the formerly well-reputed Security Adjustment Corporation in late 1959, and "bought and sold securities using high pressure methods and boiler room tactics." By January 1960, the firm was insolvent with a deficit of $71,000, and it was illegal for an insolvent firm to sell securities. It was said he and his secretary-treasurer never delivered securities they promised to buy, failed to return money to investors, and used investors' money for personal gain. Edward's father ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny and hypothecation of customers' securities in June 1960. (Hypothecation is taking securities of customers and using them as collateral for personal transactions.) The AG claimed the partners owed 125 customers a total of $103,000. The judge insisted on restitution to avoid receiving long sentences and sought meaningful down-payments. In January of 1961, Mr. Kaye-Martin turned over $37,000 toward restitution and his sentencing was delayed by the judge. That was to have kept him out of jail for another month... Except the money was paid by checks for $12,000 and $25,000... and the $12,000 check didn't clear. It was written by Allen Kaye-Martin's partner in a $25 million Florida development project called Interest Buildings Development Corporation. Upon investigation, it was found that no such entity was registered in Florida, and its bank account held just $90. The outraged judge revoked his $15,000 bail bond and put him in jail. By February of 1962, as reported in a story that had extensive nationwide press coverage, he was in Sing-Sing serving a 5-10 year sentence for grand larceny. The only other item of note in this tale is that when pleading for more time out on bail to get restitution money, Mr. Kaye-Martin noted his borrowed payments to date had "left my wife and child penniless." So it seems our Edward had a half sibling out in the world, who must have been born after his father's childless 1950 census.
In April 1960 in Columbus, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to upset a $3300 judgement from Florida won in Miami County Common Pleas Court by Dimitri Nicholas in April of 1959 against Shia Arsham. Arsham said yes, he had signed the cognovit note but he did so expecting to receive 17,000 shares of Copityper Inc., a firm making a typewriter attachment that was supposed to eliminate the need for carbon papers for copies. Arsham said he never got the stock so the note was invalid, but that didn't work and he lost. The note's co-signer, Edward's father, had earlier been sued by Nicholas in NYC, but when he showed he didn't have the assets to pay, Nicholas then went after Arsham. (Arsham himself has a fascinating financial history that many newspapers made note of over the years.)
April of 1968 Edward's father and Geraldine divorced in Dade County, Florida. If he had served 5 years beginning in 1962, he was not long out of prison when they split. To conclude a short rendition on Geraldine, she apparently did remarry someone surnamed Smith by October of 1970, but she appears on the Social Security Death Index as Geraldine Martin, born March 5 1923. She got her SS card 1951-1952 in Massachusetts, her last residence was in Tarrant County, Texas. Geraldine passed on December 27, 2004 without a findable obit. I've subsequently identified her living now-adult child with Allen; that child married in her early 20's and went on to have a bright Air Force career.
February 1970 in Boulder, Colorado the Securities Exchange Commission was trying to stop 23 defendants in two unregistered firms from selling stock, and one named individual was Edward's father.
Wrapping up
1986, Edward's dad Allen Kaye-Martin would die in Dade County, Florida. As yet, I do not know with finality what happened to his mother Ruth, just that she died December 14, 1998. The Social Security records contain a cryptic comment, noting (without a date) that she was denied disability payments, and the type of disability claim was not recorded. Edward's brother Alan would pass away in 2004.
So having done much searching, and having spun out this tangled tale, after writing through fractured families, abandoned kids, and fake names, we finally have some closure on the influences and people who came to bear in Edward's life, even when they were not present. It's possible we know more about his roots than he did. If he were alive and standing before me, I'd say something like "Even though you once made me cry, thank you, because I kept trying again and again, and again, and I have turned in the truth."
_____________________________________
The Chicago Tribune, Friday, August 18, 1989 :
ACTOR, DIRECTOR, TEACHER EDWARD KAYE-MARTIN, 50
A memorial service for actor, teacher and theater director Edward Kaye-Martin will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in Wisdom Bridge Theatre, 1559 W. Howard St., his professional home in Chicago.
Mr. Kaye-Martin, 50, who died Sunday of lymphoma in St. Joseph Hospital, had done his final work for Wisdom Bridge, staging Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" in May, shortly before illness forced him to retire. Other productions he directed here, all at Wisdom Bridge, included Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing" and Brian Friel's "Faith Healer."
A resident of Los Angeles, Mr. Kaye-Martin had worked in theaters and universities across the country since the mid-'60s. His directing credits include productions at such resident theaters as the Meadow Brook in Detroit, the Nightflight and Cast in Los Angeles and the Production Company in New York.
As an acting teacher, he had been an artist-in-residence at Florida State University, Princeton University, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Among his former students are Holly Hunter, Marilu Henner, Beth Henley, Aidan Quinn, Alan Ruck and John York.
Mr. Kaye-Martin is survived by a brother, Allen. A memorial fund in his name for an acting award or scholarship is to be established at Wisdom Bridge.
________________________________________
From the Chicago Sun-Times, August 17, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, actor, director at Wisdom Bridge
Edward Kaye-Martin, 51, a director and actor at Wisdom Bridge Theatre, died Sunday at St. Joseph Hospital.
Mr. Kaye-Martin had just finished directing Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" for two months at the theater and was planning to move to Chicago from Los Angeles at the time of his death. Born in New York City, Mr. Kaye-Martin was head of the undergraduate acting program at UCLA and chairman of the master's of fine arts acting programs. He was also an artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois, Princeton and Florida State.
From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Kaye-Martin worked at Wisdom Bridge and then returned to the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles. In 1988, he taught acting at the Center Theater in Chicago.
A memorial service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the theater, 1559 W. Howard.
_____________________________________
From the Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, Los Angeles actor, director and acting teacher of the legitimate stage, has died in Chicago of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was 50.
The stagecraft veteran died Aug. 13, according to an announcement from Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago, where Kaye-Martin had recently directed "Traveler in the Dark."
Born Nov. 20, 1938, in New York City, Kaye-Martin performed, directed and taught across the country. His students included Joyce DeWitt, Beth Henley, Marilu Henner, Holly Hunter and Aidan Quinn.
Kaye-Martin was head of UCLA's acting program from 1968 to 1974 and later taught professional classes at the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles and the Wisdom Bridge and Center theaters in Chicago.
After leaving UCLA, he served as artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Carnegie-Mellon University, Princeton University and Florida State University, and was a guest instructor at Rutgers University.
Among plays that Kaye-Martin directed in recent years were "Ready When You Are, C.B." at the Night Flight Theatre in Burbank, "The Man in 605" at the Cast Theatre in Los Angeles, "All the Way Home" and "Summertree" at UCLA, and "On Tidy Endings" at Los Angeles' Ensemblefest '88.
His acting credits include "Murder Among Friends" at Theatre-at-the-Square, Boston; "A Sandburg Odyssey," Lincoln Center Library, New York City; "Cyrano de Bergerac," Cocoanut Grove Playhouse, Miami; "Paint Your Wagon," Equity Library Theater, New York City, and "Happy Birthday Wanda June," Chamber Theater, Los Angeles.
He is survived by a brother, Allen.
A Los Angeles memorial service is being planned for Sept. 24. A Chicago memorial service will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Wisdom Bridge Theatre. A memorial fund also will be established in Kaye-Martin's name at that not-for-profit theater.
Born "Edward G. Martin" as shown in NYC birth records, Mr. Kaye-Martin was an "artist in residence" at my college, where he was my acting teacher and director for a production of Lanford Wilson's complex The Rimers of Eldritch. He could be an exacting, harsh taskmaster who demanded nothing less than your best internal efforts and professionalism, and who could show some major temper when he felt you'd not met his standards. Nonetheless, he knew truth in acting and could recognize it instantly, and worked hard to help you find it. It was like brutality for a good cause. He never settled for a single false or hollow move; if he did not agree with your motivation, or could not feel your motivation in a scene, he would not rest nor let you rest. True to the Meisner Technique which he taught and of which he was a proponent, he would require much repetition, over, and over, and over, until you found the needed understanding of your character and conveyed it clearly. It was always about finding the truth in your character, and conveying that truth.
Our college, Gettysburg, is not mentioned here in his obituaries (nor in any other of his obituaries) as one at which he was artist in residence, most likely because he was finally sent packing by the theater department program head for the emotional duress he put many student actors through there... which isn't to say we didn't learn a great deal from him; it just came at great cost. He was a brilliant man, yet -at least at that time and place- he lacked the gifts of encouragement and leading by letting the actor find things himself. He gave every indication that you were trying his patience with your limited intellect or skills. If you did not respond well to his primary technique of repetition and pressure, heaven help you. It became cyclical: you'd get an impatient critique which crushed your confidence and focus, and then have to repeat the scene in a terrible, rattled frame of mind... which could bring on more criticism. Speaking with others who knew him later in his career, I learned that my fellow students and I were not alone in sometimes being brought to tears... while turning in the truth.
Mr. Kaye-Martin passed away from complications of AIDS. I see what the obituaries say, but those who knew him then describe it slightly differently. They say that he collapsed at an airport, and died not long after in Saint Joseph's Hospital in Chicago. Technically, yes, he died of non Hodgkin's lymphoma, but he had AIDS. People with weakened immune systems, like those living with HIV, are at greater risk of having NHL than others, about 10 times more likely. Overall, in 1989 when Edward died, people weren't always very kind about AIDS diagnoses, so focusing on the NHL was far less controversial than naming AIDS.
He could go from warm and charming to sharp-tongued and lethally stern in an instant. If you didn't know Edward, his shifting intensity is difficult to convey. I wondered about this for many years, asking myself what might be in his history or in his genes to make him so extreme. It hadn't escaped my attention that none of his obits named his ex-wife nor parents. In late 2022, I had a few free days, so set out to find out about his family.
For Edward himself, beyond his work, it turned out that in 1969, in Truro, Massachusetts he became the second husband of actress Dorlee Deane McGregor aka Katherine MacGregor, best known for her work on television's Little House on the Prairie. Online sources like IMDB suggest the union lasted just over a year, and no children resulted. On her bio page on the Little House on the Prairie site where she's asked if she would ever marry once more, she's quoted as saying "I don't want to get into that kind of thing again. My first two marriages were disasters. I was too childish the first time around, even though I was 28, and too easily flattered the second time around. He said I was the most fantastic actress he'd ever seen. Flattery got him everywhere! So, no more."
As to his parents... The nutshell version is that his parents' marriage ended sometime between 1940 and 1946, thus before Edward was even age 8. The two parents went in different directions. Much more info was available on his father (especially in newspapers) than on his mother for some very unhappy reasons you'll see below. And I warn you, if you intend to read this twisty tale, now would be a great time to go to the bathroom and get yourself a large beverage.
The quick and dirty version of the family story
His mom Ruth Estelle Chapin had a fairly normal family and upbringing in New Jersey, but when her marriage to Edward's father dissolved, she pursued her life, not raising her two boys. Edward's father "Allen" did the same. The family Allen came from was quite fractured - Allen's father left the family while Allen was still an infant, and his mom died before she was 28, and before Allen was 9. Thus, Edward's dad Allen ended up an orphan, and at some point afterwards, reinvented himself and embarked on many new beginnings and abrupt endings. Allen's kids Edward and Alan, like him, were left behind, as he had been left behind. (And for clarification: most often it seems the father used "Allen" while the son used "Alan".)
Starting with Edward's father
For the longest time, I was stymied on his father's origins. Most of his adult life, he presented himself as Allen C. Kaye-Martin. It was consistent that Edward's father presented himself as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio from his Social Security records, his draft card and other documents. Ohio has a very good birth index that began the year he was born, 1908, and he is not on it under the last name "Kaye-Martin". Unfortunately while running this search, I came to the realization that while the birth index began in 1908, it did not apparently begin in January of that year in every county. If you search with his given birth name, even just his first name, looking for anyone of his name born in 1908 in Cincinnati's Hamilton county, you get 28 males, all of whom were born in December. None in any other month - just impossible for a large metropolitan area. So we cannot count on the state birth index to cover all of 1908.
He's not recognizable on the 1910 census just 2 years after his birth. I could not find him on any early censuses that would lead me to his parents. For the life of me, I could not find a single document for him prior to his marriage (also not found) and the birth of his two sons in New York, and even there, he is not named.
But as you'll see below, "Kaye-Martin" was not his given last name. I had to repeat my searches for him when I saw one single article naming Allen C Kaye-Martin as "aka Erwin Kindritzer". No one has that surname in any records, but I found just one newspaper article with this name about a lawyer, and that was easy to check, as he was a renowned attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio - it turned out to be a misprint of "Kondritzer".
Enter the Kondritzers
That sounded like a great name to search with - and it is. There's only about 7 people alive in the US with that surname today. Looking back, I can find a few families with Cincinnati connections but no Erwin, Irwin or anyone identified as born on the date he claims, January 1, 1908 in Cincinnati. It's such a great birth date you wonder if he picked it. But when I go through these families, there is no male born about that time whose later death isn't accountable. Ideally, we'd be looking for a Kondritzer guy who sort of disappears and re-emerges as Allen Martin or Kaye-Martin by the time he weds Edward's mom Ruth and has his two boys.
Without taking you through every single step I pursued in trying to find Edward's father and family and place him, the simple version is to tell you that the first Kondritzer family in the United States was headed by a Jewish couple, Oscar Joseph and "Frumme" aka Frances Kondritzer. They and their kids emigrated from Russia. I built their tree. Everyone else flows from them.
Narrowing to the 1910 census to see what Kondritzers were alive back then, we get just 10 people with the name. Most of them were recognizable to me from my previous searching of obits and marriages for the tree I'd built.
The Cincinnati couple of Jacob and Ray (Rachel) Kondritzer looks interesting because in 1910, the family is having kids at almost perfect 2 year intervals. The next kid in line should be a boy born 2 year after the last child, Matilda, but he's not there. I can account for both the boys present: Julius died 1990 in Cincinnati. Albert died at age 17 of peritonitis in 1915.
In 1910, there's just one other Kondritzer household in the entire US and they are also in Cincinnati - headed by those immigrants, Oscar and Frances Kondritzer (sometimes indexed as Kondriker). The couple is pushing age 60, so they were not actively having kids around 1908 when Mr. Kaye-Martin was theoretically born, but... they do have young daughters, like Fannie, a bookkeeper at a furniture concern. Did Fannie have a child around this time, maybe out of wedlock? As it ultimately turned out, no. But her sister is a different story.
That sister, Minnie, left a wispy trail behind, but finally I found it, despite the fact that no one had yet made the connection on any family tree anywhere, and yes, I'm kind of proud of that. The difficulty is that no evidence of any marriage for her is readily available, so no one living knew her new married name to trace her. In fact, it's easy to assume no marriage ever happened because she is actually on Findagrave under her maiden name. She did not live a long life so it'd be easy to assume she never had the chance to wed.
But young Minnie Kondritzer left an incomplete story that I'd like to finish as best I can. Minnie was born in Russia June of 1886, according to the 1900 census. (Her death certificate claims July 15, 1888 which is not in line with the two censuses on which Minnie appears.) Her family came to the United States about 1890, headed up by her parents Oscar Joseph and Frances. On the 1900 census in Cincinnati, the couple oversees a household of five kids. The youngest two are Fannie and Minnie, both at school. Their father (who is listed here as Joseph) works as a clothing trimmer.
The 1910 Cincinnati census of the family reveals that Minnie is now gone, and only sister Fannie remains. So where's Minnie? She's not findable under her maiden name anywhere. Assuming one of her siblings might shed some light, I finally found her living with her widowed sister Rose (nee Kondritzer) Morris, who'd lost her husband Isidore/Israel in 1906. Minnie lives there with sister Rose and Rose's three kids. And the census-taker's handwriting is rough as heck, but Minnie is listed there as a saleslady in a gem novelty company. She's married, and with a last name that looks like Tetzlaff or Fetzlaff or Getzlaff. She claims being married three years, but no husband is in the household. Instead, interestingly, there's a child there, Rose's nephew and Minnie's son - Walter Tetzlaff or one of the variations. Age two, so born about 1908, the same year Allen C. Kaye-Martin would claim as his year of birth. Could this be him with his original name?
For that 1910 census, the sisters lived at 529 Clinton in Cincinnati. Minnie did not always live as an adult with her sister and comparing their listings in city directories, only one address is shared for one year. Remember that such directories are usually published the year after the information was collected. In 1910's directory (reflecting 1909 data) she was at 1009 John. 1911 she's at 529 Clinton with sister Rose, their only shared home. 1912 Minnie lives at 424 Court and the directory names her interestingly as "Mrs. Minnie Tetzlaff" so again, married but no husband showing. 1914 she lived in Norwood at 20 W. 5th. 1916's directory shows her at 423 Chestnut in Cincinnati, at what would be her very last address. This repetition of "Tetzlaff" in directories is what finally gave me the definitive version of the surname.
Minnie died in 1916 at Cincinnati General Hospital. Her death certificate tells us she had chronic appendicitis and a pelvic abscess for which she had been treated 13 days and operated upon. Her son, young Walter was just 8, so what happened to the boy?
I checked other Kondritzer family members on the 1920 census and he didn't show up with any of them. The one you'd expect might have him, Rose, who had been hosting him and his mom back in 1910, is now living in Cleveland with her daughter Zelda. Rose isn't working, Zelda is a stenographer - probably not a lot of money in the household. The 1920 census also in Cleveland shows us that Walter "Tetzloff" is an inmate at the Jewish Orphan Asylum, age 12. In a sad family narrative, it might be guessed that when her sister Minnie died, widowed Rose had to relinquish her nephew, as she was probably struggling to keep her own three children and herself afloat. It appears she had the kindness to have him institutionalized near her in Cleveland rather than leaving him adrift in Cincinnati where his mother had died. Another possibility, of which I am less confident, is that when Minnie died, Walter's father was contacted and he made the arrangements. Father's rights were not much championed in that era, so his notification may have never happened.
So am I certain that Minnie Kondritzer had become Minnie Tetzlaff? Yes. Minnie Kondritzer is on Findagrave as dying February 24, 1916. Turning to the Ohio death records, we can't find her there as Minnie Kondritzer, but we do find Minnie "Fetzlaff", who passed February 24, 1916, in Hamilton County, Ohio, the county home to Cincinnati. This is echoed by Minnie Tetzlaff's death certificate which tells us she died the 24th and was laid to rest the 25th. That death certificate again states that she was married. Minnie Tetzlaff's death was also announced in the Tagliches Cincinnatier Volksblatt (of Cincinnati, Ohio), on Feb. 26, 1916 on page 2, noting the cause was "blinddarmintzundung" - appendicitis. One might thus conclude that official records used her legal married name, but having been left by her husband, Minnie's family chose her gravemarker to read the name of her original family. So Minnie, Edward's grandma, died young, and Edward's dad thus lost his mom when he was eight.
Who's Daddy's daddy? Diving into the Tetzlaffs
If you're like me, at this point, the burning question is "Ok, so who was Walter's father?" 1907, the year Allen C Kaye-Martin was conceived, the city directory lists only three Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati: August (1323 Pleasant, a porter), Wladimir (807 West Court, manager of the Cincinnati Electrotype Foundry) and Hans (922 Race, a waiter). By 1908, there are zero Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati in the directory.
August died in 1908 which suits the possible result of his son being raised just by the mom, but Minnie kept representing herself as married after 1908, not widowed, so likely not him. In fact, August was already married when young Walter was born. Wladimir was harder; there may be a father and son of the same name. The one was married at the time Minne was pregnant, so unless he cheated, or it was the son, they may be off the list. One of the Wladimirs is interesting if for no other reason than that the name Wladimir is the Slavic/Russian equivalent of Walter. And before you tell me "But Jewish families don't name living people after predecessors" I'll point out firstly, that the Kondritzers did re-use names, and secondly, that I am pretty sure the Tetzlaff people were not Jewish. The Tetzlaffs buried in Cincinnati's Hamilton County on Findagrave (just five) are mostly in Vine Street Hill Cemetery, which was founded as the German Evangelical Protestant Cemetery. The other two Tetzlaffs are in Saint Joseph's which was founded as a German Catholic cemetery. I figured if I had to sort out the father/son issue and do a family tree, fine, but first I'd see if the last prospective father, Hans Teztlaff, was any easier.
That was a lucky call. While Hans left an iffy trail initially, once a birthdate and a chronology could be established, the records then started to pop, not a ton, but enough. Hans left Cincinnati by 1910's census, and become a lodger in Cleveland, showing as having been married twice (possibly an error), and while his age is wrong (35, when it should be 30) the golden key is that he is a waiter. He claims his current marriage is 4 years old, so about 1906, but no wife is present with him. By 1911 he starts showing up in the Cleveland city directories as a waiter and bartender so definitely the same man. He could make sense too because he is only 6 years older than Minnie Kondritzer, born 1880, and he's an immigrant like her, though he was born in what was then Prussia, and is now Poland. By 1917 his WWI draft card would show him as married with a unnamed wife (who shares his address so clearly a new wife since Minnie was deceased by then) working as a waiter at the Stag Buffet in Cleveland. With a medium build and height, coupled with blond hair and blue eyes, he might have been a bit, uh, dishy. His naturalization paperwork shows he came to the United States in 1905 (about age 25), and became a naturalized citizen in 1920.
He doesn't pop on any censuses after 1910 but his last marriage's certificate fills us in a bit: Hans Walter Tetzlaff (perfect middle name, no?) wed Elizabeth Mary (nee Hogan) Doyle in 1933. Pastor W A Kane of Saint Patrick's did the ceremony. Hans was 52, and his 49 year old bride was a widow who had been married once before. He claimed the same, once previously married, and widowed. We know this cannot be true. His first wife was Minnie who died 1916, but his 1917 draft card said he was married with a wife at his same address, so it would appear he had a second marriage squeezed in there. In the only other twist he shows in documents, here, he claims to be a cook. He names his parents as Gust and Martha (nee Keller or Kellner) Tetzlaff. The fact Hans claimed just one previous marriage, makes me wonder which marriage he was willing to tell his last wife Elizabeth about, and I wonder if he left out the part about having a son from his earliest marriage.
His 1942 WWII draft card tells us more: He's become a grey eyed brunette, 5 foot 5 and 160 pounds. He's working at the Shaker Heights Tavern in Cleveland, and he names his wife, Elizabeth. He died in 1945, his death certificate showing that "August" was his father (though there were a few men of the name and his father may not have come when Hans came to the US around age 25). The DC shows his last occupation was serving as a waiter. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer, his obit names his wife Elizabeth Hogan Doyle, and his sister, Olga Schreader, and a slew of kids - it is hard to know if any of them were biologically his or which came from his wife. His first biological child, Walter Tetzlaff who would become Allen Kaye-Martin, did not make the obit. Hans Tetzlaff rests in a city owned cemetery in Cleveland.
But continuing further on in records, finally we hit the jackpot: on April 5, 1907 we see what was likely his first marriage (and which he says is his first marriage on the certificate). It explains why I didn't find it earlier - the bride's name is written misspelled as "Minnie Kondetzer" and was indexed like that, so it never showed up when I looked for her, only when I looked for him. But I stared at this document, thinking neither of the parties to the marriage could have guessed the outcome of their union on that day. A Justice of the Peace wed them, and while I don't know Hans' religious affiliation, given the times, if he were not Jewish, it's unlikely a rabbi from Minnie's family synagogue would have been willing to perform the vows, and possible his own family officiant wouldn't have either.
On the marriage certificate, young Hans, age 27, is, yes, a waiter, living on Court Street. Minnie, just age 21, is living at the Sinton Hotel, and while it's rather unusual for a young, unmarried woman of her time not to be living at home with her folks, her occupation was "housekeeper" so perhaps she lived where she worked. The Sinton was brand spanking new, and opened just two months before the marriage, in February 1907. And maybe that's where love bloomed if Hans worked in the one of the hotel's many restaurants (12 were planned when it was built). The Sinton was then regarded (and is remembered now) as elegant, and period pictures of it inspire some awe. The massive lobby filled with sunlight and serious heavy furniture, vaulted ceilings and swanky multiple restaurants made it a place to see, and be seen. The Sinton represented Cincinnati's blossoming metropolitan glamour, and the future must have looked bright for anyone connected to it. And yet, the 1907 union would crash by 1910 when Hans showed up, not in Cincinnati with his wife and son, but alone in Cleveland.
It's an unhappy line of parenthood. Edward's parents Allen/Walter and Ruth split before he was 8. Walter's father Hans left Cincinnati when Walter was just 2-3 years old, so Walter likely did not much know his own father Hans, and did not have his mom in his life for very long when she died in the bloom of youth at age 27. It's sad to realize he had likely no example of fatherhood, and not much time with his mother before he had to go to the orphanage. Perhaps these broken family bonds stayed with Walter Tetzlaff/Allen Kaye-Martin the rest of his life and made it easier for him to keep leaving situations through his life.
The Wanderings of Walter, Edward's father
After Minnie's death and his stint at the orphanage, where did Walter go? The 1930 census gives us eight Walter Tetzlaffs, none born in Ohio. There is one such named man, with no age or place of birth, living in Chicago but the lack of data makes it hard to rule him in or out. In fact, half the page is filled with names of people with no data other than "US born" - people not showing an age, occupation, or more specific birthplace. You'd think maybe these folks were in some institution but none is named, and there is no obvious commonality between them - they are male and female. In the column for "relationship" the census taker lazily wrote it hugely just once vertically down the column to cover them all - "lodgers". Is it this our Walter? I don't know. As you'll see, he did have connections to Chicago though, so it's possible. Looking harder at the 1930 census, nationwide, there is no one with a name like Tetz/laff/loff/or Fetz/laff/loff who is born 1908 or even 5 years on either side of it. Nationwide, there's no one who has a surname of "Kaye-Martin" and going through Ohio born men with the last name "Martin" is an impossible task. Still, somewhere between his 1920 orphanage census appearance and his first newspaper appearance in 1935 in Noroton, Connecticut as "Allan (sic) Kaye-Martin of New York" who at a party "entertained with a number of songs with Otto Weber Jr. at the piano" - Walter Tetzlaff seems to have made some decisions about how to present himself, in part, through a name change.
Why would be do this? That's anyone's guess. My dimestore psychology assumption is that he took on "Kaye-Martin" for a few reasons. It allowed him to rid himself of the name of the man who had left him behind. It was not overtly ethnic and had WASPy overtones, and being a white Anglo Saxon Protestant back then was considered advantageous. Hyphenated last names in that time lent an air of a privileged upbringing. When he would get into trouble with the law, one article overtly pointed out his hyphenated name, as though you would not expect transgressions from such a person. I've even wondered if it "Kaye-Martin" was "K" for his beloved Kondritzer mom, and "M" for his Morris aunt who raised him in part. Anyway, that's what I could see about Edward's dad's side - a grandpa Hans who left Edward's dad, Walter Tetzlaff, who then rechristened himself Allen Kaye-Martin and would then leave his own two boys.
The simpler Mom tale
Edward's mom's side is more straightforward. His mother Ruth was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Frank and Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin. Ruth's father Frank ran a uniform business, and died between the 1920 and 1930 censuses. An only child, Ruth's 1929 East Orange (NJ) high school yearbook bio reflects her talents - four years of orchestra, three years of glee club, a year of drama study (plus Latin and math). It goes on to say she is expected to go to NYU, but she actually ended up graduating from the University of Miami in 1934 with a bachelors degree in public school music.
The Kaye-Martins
September 23, 1936, just two years after his mom's graduation, Edward's parents make their first newspaper appearance together. In the Society column of the Washington DC Evening Star, it was said that the couple, of NYC, is staying at the Shoreham before continuing to Virginia Beach, and later, to the races at Havre de Grace, Maryland. Perhaps this was their honeymoon trip; about nine months later, July 12, 1937, their first son Alan was born in Queens, NY. Edward would follow November 20, 1938.
The 1940 census gives us the only snapshot of Edward's family intact. It shows his father Allen as age 32, born in Ohio, now wed to Ruth, with sons "Allen" (aka Alan, age 2) and Edward (age 1) working as an "insurance counselor". He indicated he had worked 60 hours in the past week, and 52 weeks of the year, with zero income... but had some "other income". In October of this same year, 1940, he signed his WWII draft card in Ohio. The card shows at least 5 different addresses, suggesting he moved around a great deal during the few years his card was necessary. His "person who will always know your address" is not his wife, but business associate George W Smith who has the same address as the National Institute of Research and Economics, 247 Madison Ave in NYC. That year in Memphis, TN Allen opened another office of the National Institute of Research and Economics, to "advise policyholders on the best ways to invest their insurance money". By December of 1940, he was ultimately charged with obtaining money by false pretenses. One article named him as aka Erwin Kindritzer which is how I got a name to work with, refining it to Kondritzer, and began understanding the tricky family tree.
So 1940 was a busy year with Daddy in several places, and things may have been difficult for the family. If they survived all that, it was not for long. In 1946, Edward's dad wed Geraldine (nee Alexander) Lintner in NJ. His boys, Edward and Alan, were not yet even age 10 when he was definitely out of their home. My guess is the split happened much earlier based on his multiple 1940's addresses.
A timeline: Allen Kaye-Martin's busy life, with a bit of Ruth woven in
In 1943, "Broadcasting - the Weekly Newspaper of Radio" noted that Allen Kaye-Martin, formerly of the sales staff of Printers Ink, had been appointed to the sales staff of BLUE." In 1944, "Broadcasting" announced that Mr. Kaye-Martin had formed "Radio and Television Services Company" (to be known as Ray-Tele) with NY headquarters at 604 Fifth Avenue, and an office in Chicago, so there's that connection to the city for him that I referenced. The American Television Directory, (the official 1946 yearbook of the American Television Society Inc.) noted that Ray-Tele produced "Package shows, electrical transcriptions and talent."
June 11, 1945, "Radio Daily" mentioned that Edward's dad was owner-producer of "Charm School of the Air" and "World Homemakers Show" which aired weekdays on WGN in Chicago. Yes, Chicago again.
In 1947, Edward's dad was charged with driving without a license and careless driving in East Paterson, NJ. Also in 1947, his mom finally surfaced as Ruth E. Kaye-Martin in the city directory of Honolulu, Hawaii as a music teacher. She had been working in supply at the depot there at Hickham Field earlier before turning to music instruction. In 1948, she was also with the new 130-voice Oratorio Society there when they sang with the Honolulu Symphony. But where were their boys?
Continuing in 1948, in Hartford CT, Edward's dad ran ads to recruit salesmen accustomed to earning $4500-9500 annually. By April of 1949, he's in the Hartford Courant as moving his team of Encyclopaedia Britannica salesmen to a new office space.
The 1950 Manchester CT city directory says that he and second wife Geraldine have removed to Andover, Mass. The 1950 census indexes him badly as "Martin Kaye" - it actually shows his name rightly, but the word "Martin" is squeezed in above. He's age 42 and born in Ohio, living with Geraldine, age 27, born in NJ, living in Chelmsford Massachusetts, where he is shown as an operator of a retail furniture business. The couple shows no children. The 1950 Chelmsford city directory shows him there as sales manager of Simmons Upholstery.
Where did Edward and Alan go?
That same year, 1950, we finally find what became of Edward and his brother. The 1950 census shows Edward and Alan were in Nutley NJ being raised by their "aunt and uncle", Alexander and Dorothy Lescany.
This bore a bit of scrutiny. A book binder, Mr. Lescany was an off the boat immigrant from Czechoslovakia (aka Austria-Hungary) so he is not the connection. In 1940's census, Dorothy Lescany is shown as daughter of Patrick and Alice Lynch. So who was Dorothy (nee Lynch) Lescany to Edward's mom Ruth, who, who was the daughter of Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin? It looks like this would be easy to solve and prove, but it was made trickier by the number of men named Patrick Lynch who were married to an "Alice", the family repetition of the name "Alice" and by the elder Alice's fluctuating age on censuses. Plus, every tree I can find on the family is erroneously following the wrong Patrick and Alice, showing them in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, when they were mostly about New Jersey. Finally, the 1900 census in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County NJ tells the tale: Alice the younger was the elder sister of Dorothy. Thus, "Aunt Dorothy" was an aunt to Ruth, but a great aunt to Edward and his brother Alan. Imagine being raised by your mom's aunt - not even your grandma, but her sister, family yes, but a little more tenuous. "Aunt Dorothy" and her husband Alex had had no children, so that may have figured in the decision. (The boys may have stayed with this family, as Edward graduated from Nutley High School in 1956 and made the local newspapers in high school productions, sometimes with his brother, and sometimes as an actor or accompanist.)
Back to the parents
In 1951, at age 43 in NYC, Edward's dad was charged with obtaining money and goods under false pretenses. As "former director of a Boston upholstery firm" he bought and sold goods he owed money on, and kept furniture he was supposed to be repairing.
In 1952, for whatever reason, Edward's mother Ruth had contact with Social Security, and it was at that time her name was changed in their records to "Ruth Estelle Williamson" which suggests she had remarried sometime before that. Even if she had married that very year, Edward was no older than 13. Knowing her married name now, we can turn back to the 1950 census, and search for women named Ruth Williamson who were born in New Jersey around 1913. There's only two, and one has never been married. That leaves us with Ruth M. Williamson (wrong middle initial) , wife of Horace B., living in Howell, Monmouth County NJ which is a possible turf for the family. There's two NJ-born kids in the home, one, a boy listed as a the son of Horace, whose name is Francis Sullivan. Hmm, which may suggest Ruth had been married before to a Sullivan and Horace was acting as his father. There's also a 3 year old girl, Linda L. Williamson. Mr. Williamson is a farmer, and Mrs. is a waitress. I'm not at all convinced this is our Ruth. But, finishing the tale for now, when in 1967 this Linda Lee Williamson wed Ronald John Allan Lyons, she was named as the daughter of Mrs. Horace B. Williamson and the late Mr. Williamson. It turns out that Horace died in 1966, and his only immediate survivors named in his obit were his five sisters and daughter Linda- no wife, and no mention of the Sullivan boy said to have been his son. Older newspapers show the couple divorced at Ruth's behest in 1954. As said, I cannot be sure this is our lady, and in fact, I doubt it.
In 1958, Edward's dad advertises in Miami, Florida that he'll buy Miami Beach oceanfront hotels and commercial properties. Inquiries are to be sent to Suite 702, 65 E 58th St, NYC.
Also in 1958, Allen and others filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois against the National Bankers Life Insurance Company of Dallas. The details are complex, but in essence, for himself, Allen sought over $4 million from the company, and $2 million in damages from its president.
The September 1959 issue of Martin Codel's "Television Digest" newsletter featured an extensive article on the dumbing-down of television content, saying that too many topics had become taboo, and more and more stations had turned to carrying half-hour commercials that were akin to carnival snake-oil salesmen shows. Edward's father, then general manger of Baltimore ad agency TV Advertising Associates, Inc. is said in part to be responsible for the extended-ad epidemic. He's quoted as saying he is "happily surprised by the advantages that come from a program that is not subject to the distractions of entertainment." The article goes on to say that even in one-station towns, running such lengthy sales shows 300 times in 14 months had happened. Kaye-Martin noted with pride that they had just signed their first network-owned station to the pitch-shows.
In 1960, the New York Attorney General obtained an order from the Supreme Court of New York County to show cause why Edward's father should not be blocked from the securities business in the state. He and another gent had gained control of the formerly well-reputed Security Adjustment Corporation in late 1959, and "bought and sold securities using high pressure methods and boiler room tactics." By January 1960, the firm was insolvent with a deficit of $71,000, and it was illegal for an insolvent firm to sell securities. It was said he and his secretary-treasurer never delivered securities they promised to buy, failed to return money to investors, and used investors' money for personal gain. Edward's father ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny and hypothecation of customers' securities in June 1960. (Hypothecation is taking securities of customers and using them as collateral for personal transactions.) The AG claimed the partners owed 125 customers a total of $103,000. The judge insisted on restitution to avoid receiving long sentences and sought meaningful down-payments. In January of 1961, Mr. Kaye-Martin turned over $37,000 toward restitution and his sentencing was delayed by the judge. That was to have kept him out of jail for another month... Except the money was paid by checks for $12,000 and $25,000... and the $12,000 check didn't clear. It was written by Allen Kaye-Martin's partner in a $25 million Florida development project called Interest Buildings Development Corporation. Upon investigation, it was found that no such entity was registered in Florida, and its bank account held just $90. The outraged judge revoked his $15,000 bail bond and put him in jail. By February of 1962, as reported in a story that had extensive nationwide press coverage, he was in Sing-Sing serving a 5-10 year sentence for grand larceny. The only other item of note in this tale is that when pleading for more time out on bail to get restitution money, Mr. Kaye-Martin noted his borrowed payments to date had "left my wife and child penniless." So it seems our Edward had a half sibling out in the world, who must have been born after his father's childless 1950 census.
In April 1960 in Columbus, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to upset a $3300 judgement from Florida won in Miami County Common Pleas Court by Dimitri Nicholas in April of 1959 against Shia Arsham. Arsham said yes, he had signed the cognovit note but he did so expecting to receive 17,000 shares of Copityper Inc., a firm making a typewriter attachment that was supposed to eliminate the need for carbon papers for copies. Arsham said he never got the stock so the note was invalid, but that didn't work and he lost. The note's co-signer, Edward's father, had earlier been sued by Nicholas in NYC, but when he showed he didn't have the assets to pay, Nicholas then went after Arsham. (Arsham himself has a fascinating financial history that many newspapers made note of over the years.)
April of 1968 Edward's father and Geraldine divorced in Dade County, Florida. If he had served 5 years beginning in 1962, he was not long out of prison when they split. To conclude a short rendition on Geraldine, she apparently did remarry someone surnamed Smith by October of 1970, but she appears on the Social Security Death Index as Geraldine Martin, born March 5 1923. She got her SS card 1951-1952 in Massachusetts, her last residence was in Tarrant County, Texas. Geraldine passed on December 27, 2004 without a findable obit. I've subsequently identified her living now-adult child with Allen; that child married in her early 20's and went on to have a bright Air Force career.
February 1970 in Boulder, Colorado the Securities Exchange Commission was trying to stop 23 defendants in two unregistered firms from selling stock, and one named individual was Edward's father.
Wrapping up
1986, Edward's dad Allen Kaye-Martin would die in Dade County, Florida. As yet, I do not know with finality what happened to his mother Ruth, just that she died December 14, 1998. The Social Security records contain a cryptic comment, noting (without a date) that she was denied disability payments, and the type of disability claim was not recorded. Edward's brother Alan would pass away in 2004.
So having done much searching, and having spun out this tangled tale, after writing through fractured families, abandoned kids, and fake names, we finally have some closure on the influences and people who came to bear in Edward's life, even when they were not present. It's possible we know more about his roots than he did. If he were alive and standing before me, I'd say something like "Even though you once made me cry, thank you, because I kept trying again and again, and again, and I have turned in the truth."
_____________________________________
The Chicago Tribune, Friday, August 18, 1989 :
ACTOR, DIRECTOR, TEACHER EDWARD KAYE-MARTIN, 50
A memorial service for actor, teacher and theater director Edward Kaye-Martin will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in Wisdom Bridge Theatre, 1559 W. Howard St., his professional home in Chicago.
Mr. Kaye-Martin, 50, who died Sunday of lymphoma in St. Joseph Hospital, had done his final work for Wisdom Bridge, staging Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" in May, shortly before illness forced him to retire. Other productions he directed here, all at Wisdom Bridge, included Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing" and Brian Friel's "Faith Healer."
A resident of Los Angeles, Mr. Kaye-Martin had worked in theaters and universities across the country since the mid-'60s. His directing credits include productions at such resident theaters as the Meadow Brook in Detroit, the Nightflight and Cast in Los Angeles and the Production Company in New York.
As an acting teacher, he had been an artist-in-residence at Florida State University, Princeton University, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Among his former students are Holly Hunter, Marilu Henner, Beth Henley, Aidan Quinn, Alan Ruck and John York.
Mr. Kaye-Martin is survived by a brother, Allen. A memorial fund in his name for an acting award or scholarship is to be established at Wisdom Bridge.
________________________________________
From the Chicago Sun-Times, August 17, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, actor, director at Wisdom Bridge
Edward Kaye-Martin, 51, a director and actor at Wisdom Bridge Theatre, died Sunday at St. Joseph Hospital.
Mr. Kaye-Martin had just finished directing Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" for two months at the theater and was planning to move to Chicago from Los Angeles at the time of his death. Born in New York City, Mr. Kaye-Martin was head of the undergraduate acting program at UCLA and chairman of the master's of fine arts acting programs. He was also an artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois, Princeton and Florida State.
From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Kaye-Martin worked at Wisdom Bridge and then returned to the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles. In 1988, he taught acting at the Center Theater in Chicago.
A memorial service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the theater, 1559 W. Howard.
_____________________________________
From the Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, Los Angeles actor, director and acting teacher of the legitimate stage, has died in Chicago of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was 50.
The stagecraft veteran died Aug. 13, according to an announcement from Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago, where Kaye-Martin had recently directed "Traveler in the Dark."
Born Nov. 20, 1938, in New York City, Kaye-Martin performed, directed and taught across the country. His students included Joyce DeWitt, Beth Henley, Marilu Henner, Holly Hunter and Aidan Quinn.
Kaye-Martin was head of UCLA's acting program from 1968 to 1974 and later taught professional classes at the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles and the Wisdom Bridge and Center theaters in Chicago.
After leaving UCLA, he served as artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Carnegie-Mellon University, Princeton University and Florida State University, and was a guest instructor at Rutgers University.
Among plays that Kaye-Martin directed in recent years were "Ready When You Are, C.B." at the Night Flight Theatre in Burbank, "The Man in 605" at the Cast Theatre in Los Angeles, "All the Way Home" and "Summertree" at UCLA, and "On Tidy Endings" at Los Angeles' Ensemblefest '88.
His acting credits include "Murder Among Friends" at Theatre-at-the-Square, Boston; "A Sandburg Odyssey," Lincoln Center Library, New York City; "Cyrano de Bergerac," Cocoanut Grove Playhouse, Miami; "Paint Your Wagon," Equity Library Theater, New York City, and "Happy Birthday Wanda June," Chamber Theater, Los Angeles.
He is survived by a brother, Allen.
A Los Angeles memorial service is being planned for Sept. 24. A Chicago memorial service will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Wisdom Bridge Theatre. A memorial fund also will be established in Kaye-Martin's name at that not-for-profit theater.
"To be an interesting actor – hell, to be an interesting human being – you must be authentic and for you to be authentic you must embrace who you really are, warts and all. Do you have any idea how liberating it is to not care what people think about you? Well, that's what we're here to do. — Sanford Meisner, founder of the Meisner Technique for actors
Born "Edward G. Martin" as shown in NYC birth records, Mr. Kaye-Martin was an "artist in residence" at my college, where he was my acting teacher and director for a production of Lanford Wilson's complex The Rimers of Eldritch. He could be an exacting, harsh taskmaster who demanded nothing less than your best internal efforts and professionalism, and who could show some major temper when he felt you'd not met his standards. Nonetheless, he knew truth in acting and could recognize it instantly, and worked hard to help you find it. It was like brutality for a good cause. He never settled for a single false or hollow move; if he did not agree with your motivation, or could not feel your motivation in a scene, he would not rest nor let you rest. True to the Meisner Technique which he taught and of which he was a proponent, he would require much repetition, over, and over, and over, until you found the needed understanding of your character and conveyed it clearly. It was always about finding the truth in your character, and conveying that truth.
Our college, Gettysburg, is not mentioned here in his obituaries (nor in any other of his obituaries) as one at which he was artist in residence, most likely because he was finally sent packing by the theater department program head for the emotional duress he put many student actors through there... which isn't to say we didn't learn a great deal from him; it just came at great cost. He was a brilliant man, yet -at least at that time and place- he lacked the gifts of encouragement and leading by letting the actor find things himself. He gave every indication that you were trying his patience with your limited intellect or skills. If you did not respond well to his primary technique of repetition and pressure, heaven help you. It became cyclical: you'd get an impatient critique which crushed your confidence and focus, and then have to repeat the scene in a terrible, rattled frame of mind... which could bring on more criticism. Speaking with others who knew him later in his career, I learned that my fellow students and I were not alone in sometimes being brought to tears... while turning in the truth.
Mr. Kaye-Martin passed away from complications of AIDS. I see what the obituaries say, but those who knew him then describe it slightly differently. They say that he collapsed at an airport, and died not long after in Saint Joseph's Hospital in Chicago. Technically, yes, he died of non Hodgkin's lymphoma, but he had AIDS. People with weakened immune systems, like those living with HIV, are at greater risk of having NHL than others, about 10 times more likely. Overall, in 1989 when Edward died, people weren't always very kind about AIDS diagnoses, so focusing on the NHL was far less controversial than naming AIDS.
He could go from warm and charming to sharp-tongued and lethally stern in an instant. If you didn't know Edward, his shifting intensity is difficult to convey. I wondered about this for many years, asking myself what might be in his history or in his genes to make him so extreme. It hadn't escaped my attention that none of his obits named his ex-wife nor parents. In late 2022, I had a few free days, so set out to find out about his family.
For Edward himself, beyond his work, it turned out that in 1969, in Truro, Massachusetts he became the second husband of actress Dorlee Deane McGregor aka Katherine MacGregor, best known for her work on television's Little House on the Prairie. Online sources like IMDB suggest the union lasted just over a year, and no children resulted. On her bio page on the Little House on the Prairie site where she's asked if she would ever marry once more, she's quoted as saying "I don't want to get into that kind of thing again. My first two marriages were disasters. I was too childish the first time around, even though I was 28, and too easily flattered the second time around. He said I was the most fantastic actress he'd ever seen. Flattery got him everywhere! So, no more."
As to his parents... The nutshell version is that his parents' marriage ended sometime between 1940 and 1946, thus before Edward was even age 8. The two parents went in different directions. Much more info was available on his father (especially in newspapers) than on his mother for some very unhappy reasons you'll see below. And I warn you, if you intend to read this twisty tale, now would be a great time to go to the bathroom and get yourself a large beverage.
The quick and dirty version of the family story
His mom Ruth Estelle Chapin had a fairly normal family and upbringing in New Jersey, but when her marriage to Edward's father dissolved, she pursued her life, not raising her two boys. Edward's father "Allen" did the same. The family Allen came from was quite fractured - Allen's father left the family while Allen was still an infant, and his mom died before she was 28, and before Allen was 9. Thus, Edward's dad Allen ended up an orphan, and at some point afterwards, reinvented himself and embarked on many new beginnings and abrupt endings. Allen's kids Edward and Alan, like him, were left behind, as he had been left behind. (And for clarification: most often it seems the father used "Allen" while the son used "Alan".)
Starting with Edward's father
For the longest time, I was stymied on his father's origins. Most of his adult life, he presented himself as Allen C. Kaye-Martin. It was consistent that Edward's father presented himself as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio from his Social Security records, his draft card and other documents. Ohio has a very good birth index that began the year he was born, 1908, and he is not on it under the last name "Kaye-Martin". Unfortunately while running this search, I came to the realization that while the birth index began in 1908, it did not apparently begin in January of that year in every county. If you search with his given birth name, even just his first name, looking for anyone of his name born in 1908 in Cincinnati's Hamilton county, you get 28 males, all of whom were born in December. None in any other month - just impossible for a large metropolitan area. So we cannot count on the state birth index to cover all of 1908.
He's not recognizable on the 1910 census just 2 years after his birth. I could not find him on any early censuses that would lead me to his parents. For the life of me, I could not find a single document for him prior to his marriage (also not found) and the birth of his two sons in New York, and even there, he is not named.
But as you'll see below, "Kaye-Martin" was not his given last name. I had to repeat my searches for him when I saw one single article naming Allen C Kaye-Martin as "aka Erwin Kindritzer". No one has that surname in any records, but I found just one newspaper article with this name about a lawyer, and that was easy to check, as he was a renowned attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio - it turned out to be a misprint of "Kondritzer".
Enter the Kondritzers
That sounded like a great name to search with - and it is. There's only about 7 people alive in the US with that surname today. Looking back, I can find a few families with Cincinnati connections but no Erwin, Irwin or anyone identified as born on the date he claims, January 1, 1908 in Cincinnati. It's such a great birth date you wonder if he picked it. But when I go through these families, there is no male born about that time whose later death isn't accountable. Ideally, we'd be looking for a Kondritzer guy who sort of disappears and re-emerges as Allen Martin or Kaye-Martin by the time he weds Edward's mom Ruth and has his two boys.
Without taking you through every single step I pursued in trying to find Edward's father and family and place him, the simple version is to tell you that the first Kondritzer family in the United States was headed by a Jewish couple, Oscar Joseph and "Frumme" aka Frances Kondritzer. They and their kids emigrated from Russia. I built their tree. Everyone else flows from them.
Narrowing to the 1910 census to see what Kondritzers were alive back then, we get just 10 people with the name. Most of them were recognizable to me from my previous searching of obits and marriages for the tree I'd built.
The Cincinnati couple of Jacob and Ray (Rachel) Kondritzer looks interesting because in 1910, the family is having kids at almost perfect 2 year intervals. The next kid in line should be a boy born 2 year after the last child, Matilda, but he's not there. I can account for both the boys present: Julius died 1990 in Cincinnati. Albert died at age 17 of peritonitis in 1915.
In 1910, there's just one other Kondritzer household in the entire US and they are also in Cincinnati - headed by those immigrants, Oscar and Frances Kondritzer (sometimes indexed as Kondriker). The couple is pushing age 60, so they were not actively having kids around 1908 when Mr. Kaye-Martin was theoretically born, but... they do have young daughters, like Fannie, a bookkeeper at a furniture concern. Did Fannie have a child around this time, maybe out of wedlock? As it ultimately turned out, no. But her sister is a different story.
That sister, Minnie, left a wispy trail behind, but finally I found it, despite the fact that no one had yet made the connection on any family tree anywhere, and yes, I'm kind of proud of that. The difficulty is that no evidence of any marriage for her is readily available, so no one living knew her new married name to trace her. In fact, it's easy to assume no marriage ever happened because she is actually on Findagrave under her maiden name. She did not live a long life so it'd be easy to assume she never had the chance to wed.
But young Minnie Kondritzer left an incomplete story that I'd like to finish as best I can. Minnie was born in Russia June of 1886, according to the 1900 census. (Her death certificate claims July 15, 1888 which is not in line with the two censuses on which Minnie appears.) Her family came to the United States about 1890, headed up by her parents Oscar Joseph and Frances. On the 1900 census in Cincinnati, the couple oversees a household of five kids. The youngest two are Fannie and Minnie, both at school. Their father (who is listed here as Joseph) works as a clothing trimmer.
The 1910 Cincinnati census of the family reveals that Minnie is now gone, and only sister Fannie remains. So where's Minnie? She's not findable under her maiden name anywhere. Assuming one of her siblings might shed some light, I finally found her living with her widowed sister Rose (nee Kondritzer) Morris, who'd lost her husband Isidore/Israel in 1906. Minnie lives there with sister Rose and Rose's three kids. And the census-taker's handwriting is rough as heck, but Minnie is listed there as a saleslady in a gem novelty company. She's married, and with a last name that looks like Tetzlaff or Fetzlaff or Getzlaff. She claims being married three years, but no husband is in the household. Instead, interestingly, there's a child there, Rose's nephew and Minnie's son - Walter Tetzlaff or one of the variations. Age two, so born about 1908, the same year Allen C. Kaye-Martin would claim as his year of birth. Could this be him with his original name?
For that 1910 census, the sisters lived at 529 Clinton in Cincinnati. Minnie did not always live as an adult with her sister and comparing their listings in city directories, only one address is shared for one year. Remember that such directories are usually published the year after the information was collected. In 1910's directory (reflecting 1909 data) she was at 1009 John. 1911 she's at 529 Clinton with sister Rose, their only shared home. 1912 Minnie lives at 424 Court and the directory names her interestingly as "Mrs. Minnie Tetzlaff" so again, married but no husband showing. 1914 she lived in Norwood at 20 W. 5th. 1916's directory shows her at 423 Chestnut in Cincinnati, at what would be her very last address. This repetition of "Tetzlaff" in directories is what finally gave me the definitive version of the surname.
Minnie died in 1916 at Cincinnati General Hospital. Her death certificate tells us she had chronic appendicitis and a pelvic abscess for which she had been treated 13 days and operated upon. Her son, young Walter was just 8, so what happened to the boy?
I checked other Kondritzer family members on the 1920 census and he didn't show up with any of them. The one you'd expect might have him, Rose, who had been hosting him and his mom back in 1910, is now living in Cleveland with her daughter Zelda. Rose isn't working, Zelda is a stenographer - probably not a lot of money in the household. The 1920 census also in Cleveland shows us that Walter "Tetzloff" is an inmate at the Jewish Orphan Asylum, age 12. In a sad family narrative, it might be guessed that when her sister Minnie died, widowed Rose had to relinquish her nephew, as she was probably struggling to keep her own three children and herself afloat. It appears she had the kindness to have him institutionalized near her in Cleveland rather than leaving him adrift in Cincinnati where his mother had died. Another possibility, of which I am less confident, is that when Minnie died, Walter's father was contacted and he made the arrangements. Father's rights were not much championed in that era, so his notification may have never happened.
So am I certain that Minnie Kondritzer had become Minnie Tetzlaff? Yes. Minnie Kondritzer is on Findagrave as dying February 24, 1916. Turning to the Ohio death records, we can't find her there as Minnie Kondritzer, but we do find Minnie "Fetzlaff", who passed February 24, 1916, in Hamilton County, Ohio, the county home to Cincinnati. This is echoed by Minnie Tetzlaff's death certificate which tells us she died the 24th and was laid to rest the 25th. That death certificate again states that she was married. Minnie Tetzlaff's death was also announced in the Tagliches Cincinnatier Volksblatt (of Cincinnati, Ohio), on Feb. 26, 1916 on page 2, noting the cause was "blinddarmintzundung" - appendicitis. One might thus conclude that official records used her legal married name, but having been left by her husband, Minnie's family chose her gravemarker to read the name of her original family. So Minnie, Edward's grandma, died young, and Edward's dad thus lost his mom when he was eight.
Who's Daddy's daddy? Diving into the Tetzlaffs
If you're like me, at this point, the burning question is "Ok, so who was Walter's father?" 1907, the year Allen C Kaye-Martin was conceived, the city directory lists only three Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati: August (1323 Pleasant, a porter), Wladimir (807 West Court, manager of the Cincinnati Electrotype Foundry) and Hans (922 Race, a waiter). By 1908, there are zero Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati in the directory.
August died in 1908 which suits the possible result of his son being raised just by the mom, but Minnie kept representing herself as married after 1908, not widowed, so likely not him. In fact, August was already married when young Walter was born. Wladimir was harder; there may be a father and son of the same name. The one was married at the time Minne was pregnant, so unless he cheated, or it was the son, they may be off the list. One of the Wladimirs is interesting if for no other reason than that the name Wladimir is the Slavic/Russian equivalent of Walter. And before you tell me "But Jewish families don't name living people after predecessors" I'll point out firstly, that the Kondritzers did re-use names, and secondly, that I am pretty sure the Tetzlaff people were not Jewish. The Tetzlaffs buried in Cincinnati's Hamilton County on Findagrave (just five) are mostly in Vine Street Hill Cemetery, which was founded as the German Evangelical Protestant Cemetery. The other two Tetzlaffs are in Saint Joseph's which was founded as a German Catholic cemetery. I figured if I had to sort out the father/son issue and do a family tree, fine, but first I'd see if the last prospective father, Hans Teztlaff, was any easier.
That was a lucky call. While Hans left an iffy trail initially, once a birthdate and a chronology could be established, the records then started to pop, not a ton, but enough. Hans left Cincinnati by 1910's census, and become a lodger in Cleveland, showing as having been married twice (possibly an error), and while his age is wrong (35, when it should be 30) the golden key is that he is a waiter. He claims his current marriage is 4 years old, so about 1906, but no wife is present with him. By 1911 he starts showing up in the Cleveland city directories as a waiter and bartender so definitely the same man. He could make sense too because he is only 6 years older than Minnie Kondritzer, born 1880, and he's an immigrant like her, though he was born in what was then Prussia, and is now Poland. By 1917 his WWI draft card would show him as married with a unnamed wife (who shares his address so clearly a new wife since Minnie was deceased by then) working as a waiter at the Stag Buffet in Cleveland. With a medium build and height, coupled with blond hair and blue eyes, he might have been a bit, uh, dishy. His naturalization paperwork shows he came to the United States in 1905 (about age 25), and became a naturalized citizen in 1920.
He doesn't pop on any censuses after 1910 but his last marriage's certificate fills us in a bit: Hans Walter Tetzlaff (perfect middle name, no?) wed Elizabeth Mary (nee Hogan) Doyle in 1933. Pastor W A Kane of Saint Patrick's did the ceremony. Hans was 52, and his 49 year old bride was a widow who had been married once before. He claimed the same, once previously married, and widowed. We know this cannot be true. His first wife was Minnie who died 1916, but his 1917 draft card said he was married with a wife at his same address, so it would appear he had a second marriage squeezed in there. In the only other twist he shows in documents, here, he claims to be a cook. He names his parents as Gust and Martha (nee Keller or Kellner) Tetzlaff. The fact Hans claimed just one previous marriage, makes me wonder which marriage he was willing to tell his last wife Elizabeth about, and I wonder if he left out the part about having a son from his earliest marriage.
His 1942 WWII draft card tells us more: He's become a grey eyed brunette, 5 foot 5 and 160 pounds. He's working at the Shaker Heights Tavern in Cleveland, and he names his wife, Elizabeth. He died in 1945, his death certificate showing that "August" was his father (though there were a few men of the name and his father may not have come when Hans came to the US around age 25). The DC shows his last occupation was serving as a waiter. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer, his obit names his wife Elizabeth Hogan Doyle, and his sister, Olga Schreader, and a slew of kids - it is hard to know if any of them were biologically his or which came from his wife. His first biological child, Walter Tetzlaff who would become Allen Kaye-Martin, did not make the obit. Hans Tetzlaff rests in a city owned cemetery in Cleveland.
But continuing further on in records, finally we hit the jackpot: on April 5, 1907 we see what was likely his first marriage (and which he says is his first marriage on the certificate). It explains why I didn't find it earlier - the bride's name is written misspelled as "Minnie Kondetzer" and was indexed like that, so it never showed up when I looked for her, only when I looked for him. But I stared at this document, thinking neither of the parties to the marriage could have guessed the outcome of their union on that day. A Justice of the Peace wed them, and while I don't know Hans' religious affiliation, given the times, if he were not Jewish, it's unlikely a rabbi from Minnie's family synagogue would have been willing to perform the vows, and possible his own family officiant wouldn't have either.
On the marriage certificate, young Hans, age 27, is, yes, a waiter, living on Court Street. Minnie, just age 21, is living at the Sinton Hotel, and while it's rather unusual for a young, unmarried woman of her time not to be living at home with her folks, her occupation was "housekeeper" so perhaps she lived where she worked. The Sinton was brand spanking new, and opened just two months before the marriage, in February 1907. And maybe that's where love bloomed if Hans worked in the one of the hotel's many restaurants (12 were planned when it was built). The Sinton was then regarded (and is remembered now) as elegant, and period pictures of it inspire some awe. The massive lobby filled with sunlight and serious heavy furniture, vaulted ceilings and swanky multiple restaurants made it a place to see, and be seen. The Sinton represented Cincinnati's blossoming metropolitan glamour, and the future must have looked bright for anyone connected to it. And yet, the 1907 union would crash by 1910 when Hans showed up, not in Cincinnati with his wife and son, but alone in Cleveland.
It's an unhappy line of parenthood. Edward's parents Allen/Walter and Ruth split before he was 8. Walter's father Hans left Cincinnati when Walter was just 2-3 years old, so Walter likely did not much know his own father Hans, and did not have his mom in his life for very long when she died in the bloom of youth at age 27. It's sad to realize he had likely no example of fatherhood, and not much time with his mother before he had to go to the orphanage. Perhaps these broken family bonds stayed with Walter Tetzlaff/Allen Kaye-Martin the rest of his life and made it easier for him to keep leaving situations through his life.
The Wanderings of Walter, Edward's father
After Minnie's death and his stint at the orphanage, where did Walter go? The 1930 census gives us eight Walter Tetzlaffs, none born in Ohio. There is one such named man, with no age or place of birth, living in Chicago but the lack of data makes it hard to rule him in or out. In fact, half the page is filled with names of people with no data other than "US born" - people not showing an age, occupation, or more specific birthplace. You'd think maybe these folks were in some institution but none is named, and there is no obvious commonality between them - they are male and female. In the column for "relationship" the census taker lazily wrote it hugely just once vertically down the column to cover them all - "lodgers". Is it this our Walter? I don't know. As you'll see, he did have connections to Chicago though, so it's possible. Looking harder at the 1930 census, nationwide, there is no one with a name like Tetz/laff/loff/or Fetz/laff/loff who is born 1908 or even 5 years on either side of it. Nationwide, there's no one who has a surname of "Kaye-Martin" and going through Ohio born men with the last name "Martin" is an impossible task. Still, somewhere between his 1920 orphanage census appearance and his first newspaper appearance in 1935 in Noroton, Connecticut as "Allan (sic) Kaye-Martin of New York" who at a party "entertained with a number of songs with Otto Weber Jr. at the piano" - Walter Tetzlaff seems to have made some decisions about how to present himself, in part, through a name change.
Why would be do this? That's anyone's guess. My dimestore psychology assumption is that he took on "Kaye-Martin" for a few reasons. It allowed him to rid himself of the name of the man who had left him behind. It was not overtly ethnic and had WASPy overtones, and being a white Anglo Saxon Protestant back then was considered advantageous. Hyphenated last names in that time lent an air of a privileged upbringing. When he would get into trouble with the law, one article overtly pointed out his hyphenated name, as though you would not expect transgressions from such a person. I've even wondered if it "Kaye-Martin" was "K" for his beloved Kondritzer mom, and "M" for his Morris aunt who raised him in part. Anyway, that's what I could see about Edward's dad's side - a grandpa Hans who left Edward's dad, Walter Tetzlaff, who then rechristened himself Allen Kaye-Martin and would then leave his own two boys.
The simpler Mom tale
Edward's mom's side is more straightforward. His mother Ruth was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Frank and Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin. Ruth's father Frank ran a uniform business, and died between the 1920 and 1930 censuses. An only child, Ruth's 1929 East Orange (NJ) high school yearbook bio reflects her talents - four years of orchestra, three years of glee club, a year of drama study (plus Latin and math). It goes on to say she is expected to go to NYU, but she actually ended up graduating from the University of Miami in 1934 with a bachelors degree in public school music.
The Kaye-Martins
September 23, 1936, just two years after his mom's graduation, Edward's parents make their first newspaper appearance together. In the Society column of the Washington DC Evening Star, it was said that the couple, of NYC, is staying at the Shoreham before continuing to Virginia Beach, and later, to the races at Havre de Grace, Maryland. Perhaps this was their honeymoon trip; about nine months later, July 12, 1937, their first son Alan was born in Queens, NY. Edward would follow November 20, 1938.
The 1940 census gives us the only snapshot of Edward's family intact. It shows his father Allen as age 32, born in Ohio, now wed to Ruth, with sons "Allen" (aka Alan, age 2) and Edward (age 1) working as an "insurance counselor". He indicated he had worked 60 hours in the past week, and 52 weeks of the year, with zero income... but had some "other income". In October of this same year, 1940, he signed his WWII draft card in Ohio. The card shows at least 5 different addresses, suggesting he moved around a great deal during the few years his card was necessary. His "person who will always know your address" is not his wife, but business associate George W Smith who has the same address as the National Institute of Research and Economics, 247 Madison Ave in NYC. That year in Memphis, TN Allen opened another office of the National Institute of Research and Economics, to "advise policyholders on the best ways to invest their insurance money". By December of 1940, he was ultimately charged with obtaining money by false pretenses. One article named him as aka Erwin Kindritzer which is how I got a name to work with, refining it to Kondritzer, and began understanding the tricky family tree.
So 1940 was a busy year with Daddy in several places, and things may have been difficult for the family. If they survived all that, it was not for long. In 1946, Edward's dad wed Geraldine (nee Alexander) Lintner in NJ. His boys, Edward and Alan, were not yet even age 10 when he was definitely out of their home. My guess is the split happened much earlier based on his multiple 1940's addresses.
A timeline: Allen Kaye-Martin's busy life, with a bit of Ruth woven in
In 1943, "Broadcasting - the Weekly Newspaper of Radio" noted that Allen Kaye-Martin, formerly of the sales staff of Printers Ink, had been appointed to the sales staff of BLUE." In 1944, "Broadcasting" announced that Mr. Kaye-Martin had formed "Radio and Television Services Company" (to be known as Ray-Tele) with NY headquarters at 604 Fifth Avenue, and an office in Chicago, so there's that connection to the city for him that I referenced. The American Television Directory, (the official 1946 yearbook of the American Television Society Inc.) noted that Ray-Tele produced "Package shows, electrical transcriptions and talent."
June 11, 1945, "Radio Daily" mentioned that Edward's dad was owner-producer of "Charm School of the Air" and "World Homemakers Show" which aired weekdays on WGN in Chicago. Yes, Chicago again.
In 1947, Edward's dad was charged with driving without a license and careless driving in East Paterson, NJ. Also in 1947, his mom finally surfaced as Ruth E. Kaye-Martin in the city directory of Honolulu, Hawaii as a music teacher. She had been working in supply at the depot there at Hickham Field earlier before turning to music instruction. In 1948, she was also with the new 130-voice Oratorio Society there when they sang with the Honolulu Symphony. But where were their boys?
Continuing in 1948, in Hartford CT, Edward's dad ran ads to recruit salesmen accustomed to earning $4500-9500 annually. By April of 1949, he's in the Hartford Courant as moving his team of Encyclopaedia Britannica salesmen to a new office space.
The 1950 Manchester CT city directory says that he and second wife Geraldine have removed to Andover, Mass. The 1950 census indexes him badly as "Martin Kaye" - it actually shows his name rightly, but the word "Martin" is squeezed in above. He's age 42 and born in Ohio, living with Geraldine, age 27, born in NJ, living in Chelmsford Massachusetts, where he is shown as an operator of a retail furniture business. The couple shows no children. The 1950 Chelmsford city directory shows him there as sales manager of Simmons Upholstery.
Where did Edward and Alan go?
That same year, 1950, we finally find what became of Edward and his brother. The 1950 census shows Edward and Alan were in Nutley NJ being raised by their "aunt and uncle", Alexander and Dorothy Lescany.
This bore a bit of scrutiny. A book binder, Mr. Lescany was an off the boat immigrant from Czechoslovakia (aka Austria-Hungary) so he is not the connection. In 1940's census, Dorothy Lescany is shown as daughter of Patrick and Alice Lynch. So who was Dorothy (nee Lynch) Lescany to Edward's mom Ruth, who, who was the daughter of Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin? It looks like this would be easy to solve and prove, but it was made trickier by the number of men named Patrick Lynch who were married to an "Alice", the family repetition of the name "Alice" and by the elder Alice's fluctuating age on censuses. Plus, every tree I can find on the family is erroneously following the wrong Patrick and Alice, showing them in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, when they were mostly about New Jersey. Finally, the 1900 census in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County NJ tells the tale: Alice the younger was the elder sister of Dorothy. Thus, "Aunt Dorothy" was an aunt to Ruth, but a great aunt to Edward and his brother Alan. Imagine being raised by your mom's aunt - not even your grandma, but her sister, family yes, but a little more tenuous. "Aunt Dorothy" and her husband Alex had had no children, so that may have figured in the decision. (The boys may have stayed with this family, as Edward graduated from Nutley High School in 1956 and made the local newspapers in high school productions, sometimes with his brother, and sometimes as an actor or accompanist.)
Back to the parents
In 1951, at age 43 in NYC, Edward's dad was charged with obtaining money and goods under false pretenses. As "former director of a Boston upholstery firm" he bought and sold goods he owed money on, and kept furniture he was supposed to be repairing.
In 1952, for whatever reason, Edward's mother Ruth had contact with Social Security, and it was at that time her name was changed in their records to "Ruth Estelle Williamson" which suggests she had remarried sometime before that. Even if she had married that very year, Edward was no older than 13. Knowing her married name now, we can turn back to the 1950 census, and search for women named Ruth Williamson who were born in New Jersey around 1913. There's only two, and one has never been married. That leaves us with Ruth M. Williamson (wrong middle initial) , wife of Horace B., living in Howell, Monmouth County NJ which is a possible turf for the family. There's two NJ-born kids in the home, one, a boy listed as a the son of Horace, whose name is Francis Sullivan. Hmm, which may suggest Ruth had been married before to a Sullivan and Horace was acting as his father. There's also a 3 year old girl, Linda L. Williamson. Mr. Williamson is a farmer, and Mrs. is a waitress. I'm not at all convinced this is our Ruth. But, finishing the tale for now, when in 1967 this Linda Lee Williamson wed Ronald John Allan Lyons, she was named as the daughter of Mrs. Horace B. Williamson and the late Mr. Williamson. It turns out that Horace died in 1966, and his only immediate survivors named in his obit were his five sisters and daughter Linda- no wife, and no mention of the Sullivan boy said to have been his son. Older newspapers show the couple divorced at Ruth's behest in 1954. As said, I cannot be sure this is our lady, and in fact, I doubt it.
In 1958, Edward's dad advertises in Miami, Florida that he'll buy Miami Beach oceanfront hotels and commercial properties. Inquiries are to be sent to Suite 702, 65 E 58th St, NYC.
Also in 1958, Allen and others filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois against the National Bankers Life Insurance Company of Dallas. The details are complex, but in essence, for himself, Allen sought over $4 million from the company, and $2 million in damages from its president.
The September 1959 issue of Martin Codel's "Television Digest" newsletter featured an extensive article on the dumbing-down of television content, saying that too many topics had become taboo, and more and more stations had turned to carrying half-hour commercials that were akin to carnival snake-oil salesmen shows. Edward's father, then general manger of Baltimore ad agency TV Advertising Associates, Inc. is said in part to be responsible for the extended-ad epidemic. He's quoted as saying he is "happily surprised by the advantages that come from a program that is not subject to the distractions of entertainment." The article goes on to say that even in one-station towns, running such lengthy sales shows 300 times in 14 months had happened. Kaye-Martin noted with pride that they had just signed their first network-owned station to the pitch-shows.
In 1960, the New York Attorney General obtained an order from the Supreme Court of New York County to show cause why Edward's father should not be blocked from the securities business in the state. He and another gent had gained control of the formerly well-reputed Security Adjustment Corporation in late 1959, and "bought and sold securities using high pressure methods and boiler room tactics." By January 1960, the firm was insolvent with a deficit of $71,000, and it was illegal for an insolvent firm to sell securities. It was said he and his secretary-treasurer never delivered securities they promised to buy, failed to return money to investors, and used investors' money for personal gain. Edward's father ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny and hypothecation of customers' securities in June 1960. (Hypothecation is taking securities of customers and using them as collateral for personal transactions.) The AG claimed the partners owed 125 customers a total of $103,000. The judge insisted on restitution to avoid receiving long sentences and sought meaningful down-payments. In January of 1961, Mr. Kaye-Martin turned over $37,000 toward restitution and his sentencing was delayed by the judge. That was to have kept him out of jail for another month... Except the money was paid by checks for $12,000 and $25,000... and the $12,000 check didn't clear. It was written by Allen Kaye-Martin's partner in a $25 million Florida development project called Interest Buildings Development Corporation. Upon investigation, it was found that no such entity was registered in Florida, and its bank account held just $90. The outraged judge revoked his $15,000 bail bond and put him in jail. By February of 1962, as reported in a story that had extensive nationwide press coverage, he was in Sing-Sing serving a 5-10 year sentence for grand larceny. The only other item of note in this tale is that when pleading for more time out on bail to get restitution money, Mr. Kaye-Martin noted his borrowed payments to date had "left my wife and child penniless." So it seems our Edward had a half sibling out in the world, who must have been born after his father's childless 1950 census.
In April 1960 in Columbus, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to upset a $3300 judgement from Florida won in Miami County Common Pleas Court by Dimitri Nicholas in April of 1959 against Shia Arsham. Arsham said yes, he had signed the cognovit note but he did so expecting to receive 17,000 shares of Copityper Inc., a firm making a typewriter attachment that was supposed to eliminate the need for carbon papers for copies. Arsham said he never got the stock so the note was invalid, but that didn't work and he lost. The note's co-signer, Edward's father, had earlier been sued by Nicholas in NYC, but when he showed he didn't have the assets to pay, Nicholas then went after Arsham. (Arsham himself has a fascinating financial history that many newspapers made note of over the years.)
April of 1968 Edward's father and Geraldine divorced in Dade County, Florida. If he had served 5 years beginning in 1962, he was not long out of prison when they split. To conclude a short rendition on Geraldine, she apparently did remarry someone surnamed Smith by October of 1970, but she appears on the Social Security Death Index as Geraldine Martin, born March 5 1923. She got her SS card 1951-1952 in Massachusetts, her last residence was in Tarrant County, Texas. Geraldine passed on December 27, 2004 without a findable obit. I've subsequently identified her living now-adult child with Allen; that child married in her early 20's and went on to have a bright Air Force career.
February 1970 in Boulder, Colorado the Securities Exchange Commission was trying to stop 23 defendants in two unregistered firms from selling stock, and one named individual was Edward's father.
Wrapping up
1986, Edward's dad Allen Kaye-Martin would die in Dade County, Florida. As yet, I do not know with finality what happened to his mother Ruth, just that she died December 14, 1998. The Social Security records contain a cryptic comment, noting (without a date) that she was denied disability payments, and the type of disability claim was not recorded. Edward's brother Alan would pass away in 2004.
So having done much searching, and having spun out this tangled tale, after writing through fractured families, abandoned kids, and fake names, we finally have some closure on the influences and people who came to bear in Edward's life, even when they were not present. It's possible we know more about his roots than he did. If he were alive and standing before me, I'd say something like "Even though you once made me cry, thank you, because I kept trying again and again, and again, and I have turned in the truth."
_____________________________________
The Chicago Tribune, Friday, August 18, 1989 :
ACTOR, DIRECTOR, TEACHER EDWARD KAYE-MARTIN, 50
A memorial service for actor, teacher and theater director Edward Kaye-Martin will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in Wisdom Bridge Theatre, 1559 W. Howard St., his professional home in Chicago.
Mr. Kaye-Martin, 50, who died Sunday of lymphoma in St. Joseph Hospital, had done his final work for Wisdom Bridge, staging Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" in May, shortly before illness forced him to retire. Other productions he directed here, all at Wisdom Bridge, included Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing" and Brian Friel's "Faith Healer."
A resident of Los Angeles, Mr. Kaye-Martin had worked in theaters and universities across the country since the mid-'60s. His directing credits include productions at such resident theaters as the Meadow Brook in Detroit, the Nightflight and Cast in Los Angeles and the Production Company in New York.
As an acting teacher, he had been an artist-in-residence at Florida State University, Princeton University, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Among his former students are Holly Hunter, Marilu Henner, Beth Henley, Aidan Quinn, Alan Ruck and John York.
Mr. Kaye-Martin is survived by a brother, Allen. A memorial fund in his name for an acting award or scholarship is to be established at Wisdom Bridge.
________________________________________
From the Chicago Sun-Times, August 17, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, actor, director at Wisdom Bridge
Edward Kaye-Martin, 51, a director and actor at Wisdom Bridge Theatre, died Sunday at St. Joseph Hospital.
Mr. Kaye-Martin had just finished directing Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" for two months at the theater and was planning to move to Chicago from Los Angeles at the time of his death. Born in New York City, Mr. Kaye-Martin was head of the undergraduate acting program at UCLA and chairman of the master's of fine arts acting programs. He was also an artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois, Princeton and Florida State.
From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Kaye-Martin worked at Wisdom Bridge and then returned to the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles. In 1988, he taught acting at the Center Theater in Chicago.
A memorial service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the theater, 1559 W. Howard.
_____________________________________
From the Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, Los Angeles actor, director and acting teacher of the legitimate stage, has died in Chicago of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was 50.
The stagecraft veteran died Aug. 13, according to an announcement from Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago, where Kaye-Martin had recently directed "Traveler in the Dark."
Born Nov. 20, 1938, in New York City, Kaye-Martin performed, directed and taught across the country. His students included Joyce DeWitt, Beth Henley, Marilu Henner, Holly Hunter and Aidan Quinn.
Kaye-Martin was head of UCLA's acting program from 1968 to 1974 and later taught professional classes at the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles and the Wisdom Bridge and Center theaters in Chicago.
After leaving UCLA, he served as artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Carnegie-Mellon University, Princeton University and Florida State University, and was a guest instructor at Rutgers University.
Among plays that Kaye-Martin directed in recent years were "Ready When You Are, C.B." at the Night Flight Theatre in Burbank, "The Man in 605" at the Cast Theatre in Los Angeles, "All the Way Home" and "Summertree" at UCLA, and "On Tidy Endings" at Los Angeles' Ensemblefest '88.
His acting credits include "Murder Among Friends" at Theatre-at-the-Square, Boston; "A Sandburg Odyssey," Lincoln Center Library, New York City; "Cyrano de Bergerac," Cocoanut Grove Playhouse, Miami; "Paint Your Wagon," Equity Library Theater, New York City, and "Happy Birthday Wanda June," Chamber Theater, Los Angeles.
He is survived by a brother, Allen.
A Los Angeles memorial service is being planned for Sept. 24. A Chicago memorial service will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Wisdom Bridge Theatre. A memorial fund also will be established in Kaye-Martin's name at that not-for-profit theater.
Born "Edward G. Martin" as shown in NYC birth records, Mr. Kaye-Martin was an "artist in residence" at my college, where he was my acting teacher and director for a production of Lanford Wilson's complex The Rimers of Eldritch. He could be an exacting, harsh taskmaster who demanded nothing less than your best internal efforts and professionalism, and who could show some major temper when he felt you'd not met his standards. Nonetheless, he knew truth in acting and could recognize it instantly, and worked hard to help you find it. It was like brutality for a good cause. He never settled for a single false or hollow move; if he did not agree with your motivation, or could not feel your motivation in a scene, he would not rest nor let you rest. True to the Meisner Technique which he taught and of which he was a proponent, he would require much repetition, over, and over, and over, until you found the needed understanding of your character and conveyed it clearly. It was always about finding the truth in your character, and conveying that truth.
Our college, Gettysburg, is not mentioned here in his obituaries (nor in any other of his obituaries) as one at which he was artist in residence, most likely because he was finally sent packing by the theater department program head for the emotional duress he put many student actors through there... which isn't to say we didn't learn a great deal from him; it just came at great cost. He was a brilliant man, yet -at least at that time and place- he lacked the gifts of encouragement and leading by letting the actor find things himself. He gave every indication that you were trying his patience with your limited intellect or skills. If you did not respond well to his primary technique of repetition and pressure, heaven help you. It became cyclical: you'd get an impatient critique which crushed your confidence and focus, and then have to repeat the scene in a terrible, rattled frame of mind... which could bring on more criticism. Speaking with others who knew him later in his career, I learned that my fellow students and I were not alone in sometimes being brought to tears... while turning in the truth.
Mr. Kaye-Martin passed away from complications of AIDS. I see what the obituaries say, but those who knew him then describe it slightly differently. They say that he collapsed at an airport, and died not long after in Saint Joseph's Hospital in Chicago. Technically, yes, he died of non Hodgkin's lymphoma, but he had AIDS. People with weakened immune systems, like those living with HIV, are at greater risk of having NHL than others, about 10 times more likely. Overall, in 1989 when Edward died, people weren't always very kind about AIDS diagnoses, so focusing on the NHL was far less controversial than naming AIDS.
He could go from warm and charming to sharp-tongued and lethally stern in an instant. If you didn't know Edward, his shifting intensity is difficult to convey. I wondered about this for many years, asking myself what might be in his history or in his genes to make him so extreme. It hadn't escaped my attention that none of his obits named his ex-wife nor parents. In late 2022, I had a few free days, so set out to find out about his family.
For Edward himself, beyond his work, it turned out that in 1969, in Truro, Massachusetts he became the second husband of actress Dorlee Deane McGregor aka Katherine MacGregor, best known for her work on television's Little House on the Prairie. Online sources like IMDB suggest the union lasted just over a year, and no children resulted. On her bio page on the Little House on the Prairie site where she's asked if she would ever marry once more, she's quoted as saying "I don't want to get into that kind of thing again. My first two marriages were disasters. I was too childish the first time around, even though I was 28, and too easily flattered the second time around. He said I was the most fantastic actress he'd ever seen. Flattery got him everywhere! So, no more."
As to his parents... The nutshell version is that his parents' marriage ended sometime between 1940 and 1946, thus before Edward was even age 8. The two parents went in different directions. Much more info was available on his father (especially in newspapers) than on his mother for some very unhappy reasons you'll see below. And I warn you, if you intend to read this twisty tale, now would be a great time to go to the bathroom and get yourself a large beverage.
The quick and dirty version of the family story
His mom Ruth Estelle Chapin had a fairly normal family and upbringing in New Jersey, but when her marriage to Edward's father dissolved, she pursued her life, not raising her two boys. Edward's father "Allen" did the same. The family Allen came from was quite fractured - Allen's father left the family while Allen was still an infant, and his mom died before she was 28, and before Allen was 9. Thus, Edward's dad Allen ended up an orphan, and at some point afterwards, reinvented himself and embarked on many new beginnings and abrupt endings. Allen's kids Edward and Alan, like him, were left behind, as he had been left behind. (And for clarification: most often it seems the father used "Allen" while the son used "Alan".)
Starting with Edward's father
For the longest time, I was stymied on his father's origins. Most of his adult life, he presented himself as Allen C. Kaye-Martin. It was consistent that Edward's father presented himself as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio from his Social Security records, his draft card and other documents. Ohio has a very good birth index that began the year he was born, 1908, and he is not on it under the last name "Kaye-Martin". Unfortunately while running this search, I came to the realization that while the birth index began in 1908, it did not apparently begin in January of that year in every county. If you search with his given birth name, even just his first name, looking for anyone of his name born in 1908 in Cincinnati's Hamilton county, you get 28 males, all of whom were born in December. None in any other month - just impossible for a large metropolitan area. So we cannot count on the state birth index to cover all of 1908.
He's not recognizable on the 1910 census just 2 years after his birth. I could not find him on any early censuses that would lead me to his parents. For the life of me, I could not find a single document for him prior to his marriage (also not found) and the birth of his two sons in New York, and even there, he is not named.
But as you'll see below, "Kaye-Martin" was not his given last name. I had to repeat my searches for him when I saw one single article naming Allen C Kaye-Martin as "aka Erwin Kindritzer". No one has that surname in any records, but I found just one newspaper article with this name about a lawyer, and that was easy to check, as he was a renowned attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio - it turned out to be a misprint of "Kondritzer".
Enter the Kondritzers
That sounded like a great name to search with - and it is. There's only about 7 people alive in the US with that surname today. Looking back, I can find a few families with Cincinnati connections but no Erwin, Irwin or anyone identified as born on the date he claims, January 1, 1908 in Cincinnati. It's such a great birth date you wonder if he picked it. But when I go through these families, there is no male born about that time whose later death isn't accountable. Ideally, we'd be looking for a Kondritzer guy who sort of disappears and re-emerges as Allen Martin or Kaye-Martin by the time he weds Edward's mom Ruth and has his two boys.
Without taking you through every single step I pursued in trying to find Edward's father and family and place him, the simple version is to tell you that the first Kondritzer family in the United States was headed by a Jewish couple, Oscar Joseph and "Frumme" aka Frances Kondritzer. They and their kids emigrated from Russia. I built their tree. Everyone else flows from them.
Narrowing to the 1910 census to see what Kondritzers were alive back then, we get just 10 people with the name. Most of them were recognizable to me from my previous searching of obits and marriages for the tree I'd built.
The Cincinnati couple of Jacob and Ray (Rachel) Kondritzer looks interesting because in 1910, the family is having kids at almost perfect 2 year intervals. The next kid in line should be a boy born 2 year after the last child, Matilda, but he's not there. I can account for both the boys present: Julius died 1990 in Cincinnati. Albert died at age 17 of peritonitis in 1915.
In 1910, there's just one other Kondritzer household in the entire US and they are also in Cincinnati - headed by those immigrants, Oscar and Frances Kondritzer (sometimes indexed as Kondriker). The couple is pushing age 60, so they were not actively having kids around 1908 when Mr. Kaye-Martin was theoretically born, but... they do have young daughters, like Fannie, a bookkeeper at a furniture concern. Did Fannie have a child around this time, maybe out of wedlock? As it ultimately turned out, no. But her sister is a different story.
That sister, Minnie, left a wispy trail behind, but finally I found it, despite the fact that no one had yet made the connection on any family tree anywhere, and yes, I'm kind of proud of that. The difficulty is that no evidence of any marriage for her is readily available, so no one living knew her new married name to trace her. In fact, it's easy to assume no marriage ever happened because she is actually on Findagrave under her maiden name. She did not live a long life so it'd be easy to assume she never had the chance to wed.
But young Minnie Kondritzer left an incomplete story that I'd like to finish as best I can. Minnie was born in Russia June of 1886, according to the 1900 census. (Her death certificate claims July 15, 1888 which is not in line with the two censuses on which Minnie appears.) Her family came to the United States about 1890, headed up by her parents Oscar Joseph and Frances. On the 1900 census in Cincinnati, the couple oversees a household of five kids. The youngest two are Fannie and Minnie, both at school. Their father (who is listed here as Joseph) works as a clothing trimmer.
The 1910 Cincinnati census of the family reveals that Minnie is now gone, and only sister Fannie remains. So where's Minnie? She's not findable under her maiden name anywhere. Assuming one of her siblings might shed some light, I finally found her living with her widowed sister Rose (nee Kondritzer) Morris, who'd lost her husband Isidore/Israel in 1906. Minnie lives there with sister Rose and Rose's three kids. And the census-taker's handwriting is rough as heck, but Minnie is listed there as a saleslady in a gem novelty company. She's married, and with a last name that looks like Tetzlaff or Fetzlaff or Getzlaff. She claims being married three years, but no husband is in the household. Instead, interestingly, there's a child there, Rose's nephew and Minnie's son - Walter Tetzlaff or one of the variations. Age two, so born about 1908, the same year Allen C. Kaye-Martin would claim as his year of birth. Could this be him with his original name?
For that 1910 census, the sisters lived at 529 Clinton in Cincinnati. Minnie did not always live as an adult with her sister and comparing their listings in city directories, only one address is shared for one year. Remember that such directories are usually published the year after the information was collected. In 1910's directory (reflecting 1909 data) she was at 1009 John. 1911 she's at 529 Clinton with sister Rose, their only shared home. 1912 Minnie lives at 424 Court and the directory names her interestingly as "Mrs. Minnie Tetzlaff" so again, married but no husband showing. 1914 she lived in Norwood at 20 W. 5th. 1916's directory shows her at 423 Chestnut in Cincinnati, at what would be her very last address. This repetition of "Tetzlaff" in directories is what finally gave me the definitive version of the surname.
Minnie died in 1916 at Cincinnati General Hospital. Her death certificate tells us she had chronic appendicitis and a pelvic abscess for which she had been treated 13 days and operated upon. Her son, young Walter was just 8, so what happened to the boy?
I checked other Kondritzer family members on the 1920 census and he didn't show up with any of them. The one you'd expect might have him, Rose, who had been hosting him and his mom back in 1910, is now living in Cleveland with her daughter Zelda. Rose isn't working, Zelda is a stenographer - probably not a lot of money in the household. The 1920 census also in Cleveland shows us that Walter "Tetzloff" is an inmate at the Jewish Orphan Asylum, age 12. In a sad family narrative, it might be guessed that when her sister Minnie died, widowed Rose had to relinquish her nephew, as she was probably struggling to keep her own three children and herself afloat. It appears she had the kindness to have him institutionalized near her in Cleveland rather than leaving him adrift in Cincinnati where his mother had died. Another possibility, of which I am less confident, is that when Minnie died, Walter's father was contacted and he made the arrangements. Father's rights were not much championed in that era, so his notification may have never happened.
So am I certain that Minnie Kondritzer had become Minnie Tetzlaff? Yes. Minnie Kondritzer is on Findagrave as dying February 24, 1916. Turning to the Ohio death records, we can't find her there as Minnie Kondritzer, but we do find Minnie "Fetzlaff", who passed February 24, 1916, in Hamilton County, Ohio, the county home to Cincinnati. This is echoed by Minnie Tetzlaff's death certificate which tells us she died the 24th and was laid to rest the 25th. That death certificate again states that she was married. Minnie Tetzlaff's death was also announced in the Tagliches Cincinnatier Volksblatt (of Cincinnati, Ohio), on Feb. 26, 1916 on page 2, noting the cause was "blinddarmintzundung" - appendicitis. One might thus conclude that official records used her legal married name, but having been left by her husband, Minnie's family chose her gravemarker to read the name of her original family. So Minnie, Edward's grandma, died young, and Edward's dad thus lost his mom when he was eight.
Who's Daddy's daddy? Diving into the Tetzlaffs
If you're like me, at this point, the burning question is "Ok, so who was Walter's father?" 1907, the year Allen C Kaye-Martin was conceived, the city directory lists only three Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati: August (1323 Pleasant, a porter), Wladimir (807 West Court, manager of the Cincinnati Electrotype Foundry) and Hans (922 Race, a waiter). By 1908, there are zero Tetzlaffs in Cincinnati in the directory.
August died in 1908 which suits the possible result of his son being raised just by the mom, but Minnie kept representing herself as married after 1908, not widowed, so likely not him. In fact, August was already married when young Walter was born. Wladimir was harder; there may be a father and son of the same name. The one was married at the time Minne was pregnant, so unless he cheated, or it was the son, they may be off the list. One of the Wladimirs is interesting if for no other reason than that the name Wladimir is the Slavic/Russian equivalent of Walter. And before you tell me "But Jewish families don't name living people after predecessors" I'll point out firstly, that the Kondritzers did re-use names, and secondly, that I am pretty sure the Tetzlaff people were not Jewish. The Tetzlaffs buried in Cincinnati's Hamilton County on Findagrave (just five) are mostly in Vine Street Hill Cemetery, which was founded as the German Evangelical Protestant Cemetery. The other two Tetzlaffs are in Saint Joseph's which was founded as a German Catholic cemetery. I figured if I had to sort out the father/son issue and do a family tree, fine, but first I'd see if the last prospective father, Hans Teztlaff, was any easier.
That was a lucky call. While Hans left an iffy trail initially, once a birthdate and a chronology could be established, the records then started to pop, not a ton, but enough. Hans left Cincinnati by 1910's census, and become a lodger in Cleveland, showing as having been married twice (possibly an error), and while his age is wrong (35, when it should be 30) the golden key is that he is a waiter. He claims his current marriage is 4 years old, so about 1906, but no wife is present with him. By 1911 he starts showing up in the Cleveland city directories as a waiter and bartender so definitely the same man. He could make sense too because he is only 6 years older than Minnie Kondritzer, born 1880, and he's an immigrant like her, though he was born in what was then Prussia, and is now Poland. By 1917 his WWI draft card would show him as married with a unnamed wife (who shares his address so clearly a new wife since Minnie was deceased by then) working as a waiter at the Stag Buffet in Cleveland. With a medium build and height, coupled with blond hair and blue eyes, he might have been a bit, uh, dishy. His naturalization paperwork shows he came to the United States in 1905 (about age 25), and became a naturalized citizen in 1920.
He doesn't pop on any censuses after 1910 but his last marriage's certificate fills us in a bit: Hans Walter Tetzlaff (perfect middle name, no?) wed Elizabeth Mary (nee Hogan) Doyle in 1933. Pastor W A Kane of Saint Patrick's did the ceremony. Hans was 52, and his 49 year old bride was a widow who had been married once before. He claimed the same, once previously married, and widowed. We know this cannot be true. His first wife was Minnie who died 1916, but his 1917 draft card said he was married with a wife at his same address, so it would appear he had a second marriage squeezed in there. In the only other twist he shows in documents, here, he claims to be a cook. He names his parents as Gust and Martha (nee Keller or Kellner) Tetzlaff. The fact Hans claimed just one previous marriage, makes me wonder which marriage he was willing to tell his last wife Elizabeth about, and I wonder if he left out the part about having a son from his earliest marriage.
His 1942 WWII draft card tells us more: He's become a grey eyed brunette, 5 foot 5 and 160 pounds. He's working at the Shaker Heights Tavern in Cleveland, and he names his wife, Elizabeth. He died in 1945, his death certificate showing that "August" was his father (though there were a few men of the name and his father may not have come when Hans came to the US around age 25). The DC shows his last occupation was serving as a waiter. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer, his obit names his wife Elizabeth Hogan Doyle, and his sister, Olga Schreader, and a slew of kids - it is hard to know if any of them were biologically his or which came from his wife. His first biological child, Walter Tetzlaff who would become Allen Kaye-Martin, did not make the obit. Hans Tetzlaff rests in a city owned cemetery in Cleveland.
But continuing further on in records, finally we hit the jackpot: on April 5, 1907 we see what was likely his first marriage (and which he says is his first marriage on the certificate). It explains why I didn't find it earlier - the bride's name is written misspelled as "Minnie Kondetzer" and was indexed like that, so it never showed up when I looked for her, only when I looked for him. But I stared at this document, thinking neither of the parties to the marriage could have guessed the outcome of their union on that day. A Justice of the Peace wed them, and while I don't know Hans' religious affiliation, given the times, if he were not Jewish, it's unlikely a rabbi from Minnie's family synagogue would have been willing to perform the vows, and possible his own family officiant wouldn't have either.
On the marriage certificate, young Hans, age 27, is, yes, a waiter, living on Court Street. Minnie, just age 21, is living at the Sinton Hotel, and while it's rather unusual for a young, unmarried woman of her time not to be living at home with her folks, her occupation was "housekeeper" so perhaps she lived where she worked. The Sinton was brand spanking new, and opened just two months before the marriage, in February 1907. And maybe that's where love bloomed if Hans worked in the one of the hotel's many restaurants (12 were planned when it was built). The Sinton was then regarded (and is remembered now) as elegant, and period pictures of it inspire some awe. The massive lobby filled with sunlight and serious heavy furniture, vaulted ceilings and swanky multiple restaurants made it a place to see, and be seen. The Sinton represented Cincinnati's blossoming metropolitan glamour, and the future must have looked bright for anyone connected to it. And yet, the 1907 union would crash by 1910 when Hans showed up, not in Cincinnati with his wife and son, but alone in Cleveland.
It's an unhappy line of parenthood. Edward's parents Allen/Walter and Ruth split before he was 8. Walter's father Hans left Cincinnati when Walter was just 2-3 years old, so Walter likely did not much know his own father Hans, and did not have his mom in his life for very long when she died in the bloom of youth at age 27. It's sad to realize he had likely no example of fatherhood, and not much time with his mother before he had to go to the orphanage. Perhaps these broken family bonds stayed with Walter Tetzlaff/Allen Kaye-Martin the rest of his life and made it easier for him to keep leaving situations through his life.
The Wanderings of Walter, Edward's father
After Minnie's death and his stint at the orphanage, where did Walter go? The 1930 census gives us eight Walter Tetzlaffs, none born in Ohio. There is one such named man, with no age or place of birth, living in Chicago but the lack of data makes it hard to rule him in or out. In fact, half the page is filled with names of people with no data other than "US born" - people not showing an age, occupation, or more specific birthplace. You'd think maybe these folks were in some institution but none is named, and there is no obvious commonality between them - they are male and female. In the column for "relationship" the census taker lazily wrote it hugely just once vertically down the column to cover them all - "lodgers". Is it this our Walter? I don't know. As you'll see, he did have connections to Chicago though, so it's possible. Looking harder at the 1930 census, nationwide, there is no one with a name like Tetz/laff/loff/or Fetz/laff/loff who is born 1908 or even 5 years on either side of it. Nationwide, there's no one who has a surname of "Kaye-Martin" and going through Ohio born men with the last name "Martin" is an impossible task. Still, somewhere between his 1920 orphanage census appearance and his first newspaper appearance in 1935 in Noroton, Connecticut as "Allan (sic) Kaye-Martin of New York" who at a party "entertained with a number of songs with Otto Weber Jr. at the piano" - Walter Tetzlaff seems to have made some decisions about how to present himself, in part, through a name change.
Why would be do this? That's anyone's guess. My dimestore psychology assumption is that he took on "Kaye-Martin" for a few reasons. It allowed him to rid himself of the name of the man who had left him behind. It was not overtly ethnic and had WASPy overtones, and being a white Anglo Saxon Protestant back then was considered advantageous. Hyphenated last names in that time lent an air of a privileged upbringing. When he would get into trouble with the law, one article overtly pointed out his hyphenated name, as though you would not expect transgressions from such a person. I've even wondered if it "Kaye-Martin" was "K" for his beloved Kondritzer mom, and "M" for his Morris aunt who raised him in part. Anyway, that's what I could see about Edward's dad's side - a grandpa Hans who left Edward's dad, Walter Tetzlaff, who then rechristened himself Allen Kaye-Martin and would then leave his own two boys.
The simpler Mom tale
Edward's mom's side is more straightforward. His mother Ruth was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Frank and Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin. Ruth's father Frank ran a uniform business, and died between the 1920 and 1930 censuses. An only child, Ruth's 1929 East Orange (NJ) high school yearbook bio reflects her talents - four years of orchestra, three years of glee club, a year of drama study (plus Latin and math). It goes on to say she is expected to go to NYU, but she actually ended up graduating from the University of Miami in 1934 with a bachelors degree in public school music.
The Kaye-Martins
September 23, 1936, just two years after his mom's graduation, Edward's parents make their first newspaper appearance together. In the Society column of the Washington DC Evening Star, it was said that the couple, of NYC, is staying at the Shoreham before continuing to Virginia Beach, and later, to the races at Havre de Grace, Maryland. Perhaps this was their honeymoon trip; about nine months later, July 12, 1937, their first son Alan was born in Queens, NY. Edward would follow November 20, 1938.
The 1940 census gives us the only snapshot of Edward's family intact. It shows his father Allen as age 32, born in Ohio, now wed to Ruth, with sons "Allen" (aka Alan, age 2) and Edward (age 1) working as an "insurance counselor". He indicated he had worked 60 hours in the past week, and 52 weeks of the year, with zero income... but had some "other income". In October of this same year, 1940, he signed his WWII draft card in Ohio. The card shows at least 5 different addresses, suggesting he moved around a great deal during the few years his card was necessary. His "person who will always know your address" is not his wife, but business associate George W Smith who has the same address as the National Institute of Research and Economics, 247 Madison Ave in NYC. That year in Memphis, TN Allen opened another office of the National Institute of Research and Economics, to "advise policyholders on the best ways to invest their insurance money". By December of 1940, he was ultimately charged with obtaining money by false pretenses. One article named him as aka Erwin Kindritzer which is how I got a name to work with, refining it to Kondritzer, and began understanding the tricky family tree.
So 1940 was a busy year with Daddy in several places, and things may have been difficult for the family. If they survived all that, it was not for long. In 1946, Edward's dad wed Geraldine (nee Alexander) Lintner in NJ. His boys, Edward and Alan, were not yet even age 10 when he was definitely out of their home. My guess is the split happened much earlier based on his multiple 1940's addresses.
A timeline: Allen Kaye-Martin's busy life, with a bit of Ruth woven in
In 1943, "Broadcasting - the Weekly Newspaper of Radio" noted that Allen Kaye-Martin, formerly of the sales staff of Printers Ink, had been appointed to the sales staff of BLUE." In 1944, "Broadcasting" announced that Mr. Kaye-Martin had formed "Radio and Television Services Company" (to be known as Ray-Tele) with NY headquarters at 604 Fifth Avenue, and an office in Chicago, so there's that connection to the city for him that I referenced. The American Television Directory, (the official 1946 yearbook of the American Television Society Inc.) noted that Ray-Tele produced "Package shows, electrical transcriptions and talent."
June 11, 1945, "Radio Daily" mentioned that Edward's dad was owner-producer of "Charm School of the Air" and "World Homemakers Show" which aired weekdays on WGN in Chicago. Yes, Chicago again.
In 1947, Edward's dad was charged with driving without a license and careless driving in East Paterson, NJ. Also in 1947, his mom finally surfaced as Ruth E. Kaye-Martin in the city directory of Honolulu, Hawaii as a music teacher. She had been working in supply at the depot there at Hickham Field earlier before turning to music instruction. In 1948, she was also with the new 130-voice Oratorio Society there when they sang with the Honolulu Symphony. But where were their boys?
Continuing in 1948, in Hartford CT, Edward's dad ran ads to recruit salesmen accustomed to earning $4500-9500 annually. By April of 1949, he's in the Hartford Courant as moving his team of Encyclopaedia Britannica salesmen to a new office space.
The 1950 Manchester CT city directory says that he and second wife Geraldine have removed to Andover, Mass. The 1950 census indexes him badly as "Martin Kaye" - it actually shows his name rightly, but the word "Martin" is squeezed in above. He's age 42 and born in Ohio, living with Geraldine, age 27, born in NJ, living in Chelmsford Massachusetts, where he is shown as an operator of a retail furniture business. The couple shows no children. The 1950 Chelmsford city directory shows him there as sales manager of Simmons Upholstery.
Where did Edward and Alan go?
That same year, 1950, we finally find what became of Edward and his brother. The 1950 census shows Edward and Alan were in Nutley NJ being raised by their "aunt and uncle", Alexander and Dorothy Lescany.
This bore a bit of scrutiny. A book binder, Mr. Lescany was an off the boat immigrant from Czechoslovakia (aka Austria-Hungary) so he is not the connection. In 1940's census, Dorothy Lescany is shown as daughter of Patrick and Alice Lynch. So who was Dorothy (nee Lynch) Lescany to Edward's mom Ruth, who, who was the daughter of Alice (nee Lynch) Chapin? It looks like this would be easy to solve and prove, but it was made trickier by the number of men named Patrick Lynch who were married to an "Alice", the family repetition of the name "Alice" and by the elder Alice's fluctuating age on censuses. Plus, every tree I can find on the family is erroneously following the wrong Patrick and Alice, showing them in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, when they were mostly about New Jersey. Finally, the 1900 census in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County NJ tells the tale: Alice the younger was the elder sister of Dorothy. Thus, "Aunt Dorothy" was an aunt to Ruth, but a great aunt to Edward and his brother Alan. Imagine being raised by your mom's aunt - not even your grandma, but her sister, family yes, but a little more tenuous. "Aunt Dorothy" and her husband Alex had had no children, so that may have figured in the decision. (The boys may have stayed with this family, as Edward graduated from Nutley High School in 1956 and made the local newspapers in high school productions, sometimes with his brother, and sometimes as an actor or accompanist.)
Back to the parents
In 1951, at age 43 in NYC, Edward's dad was charged with obtaining money and goods under false pretenses. As "former director of a Boston upholstery firm" he bought and sold goods he owed money on, and kept furniture he was supposed to be repairing.
In 1952, for whatever reason, Edward's mother Ruth had contact with Social Security, and it was at that time her name was changed in their records to "Ruth Estelle Williamson" which suggests she had remarried sometime before that. Even if she had married that very year, Edward was no older than 13. Knowing her married name now, we can turn back to the 1950 census, and search for women named Ruth Williamson who were born in New Jersey around 1913. There's only two, and one has never been married. That leaves us with Ruth M. Williamson (wrong middle initial) , wife of Horace B., living in Howell, Monmouth County NJ which is a possible turf for the family. There's two NJ-born kids in the home, one, a boy listed as a the son of Horace, whose name is Francis Sullivan. Hmm, which may suggest Ruth had been married before to a Sullivan and Horace was acting as his father. There's also a 3 year old girl, Linda L. Williamson. Mr. Williamson is a farmer, and Mrs. is a waitress. I'm not at all convinced this is our Ruth. But, finishing the tale for now, when in 1967 this Linda Lee Williamson wed Ronald John Allan Lyons, she was named as the daughter of Mrs. Horace B. Williamson and the late Mr. Williamson. It turns out that Horace died in 1966, and his only immediate survivors named in his obit were his five sisters and daughter Linda- no wife, and no mention of the Sullivan boy said to have been his son. Older newspapers show the couple divorced at Ruth's behest in 1954. As said, I cannot be sure this is our lady, and in fact, I doubt it.
In 1958, Edward's dad advertises in Miami, Florida that he'll buy Miami Beach oceanfront hotels and commercial properties. Inquiries are to be sent to Suite 702, 65 E 58th St, NYC.
Also in 1958, Allen and others filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois against the National Bankers Life Insurance Company of Dallas. The details are complex, but in essence, for himself, Allen sought over $4 million from the company, and $2 million in damages from its president.
The September 1959 issue of Martin Codel's "Television Digest" newsletter featured an extensive article on the dumbing-down of television content, saying that too many topics had become taboo, and more and more stations had turned to carrying half-hour commercials that were akin to carnival snake-oil salesmen shows. Edward's father, then general manger of Baltimore ad agency TV Advertising Associates, Inc. is said in part to be responsible for the extended-ad epidemic. He's quoted as saying he is "happily surprised by the advantages that come from a program that is not subject to the distractions of entertainment." The article goes on to say that even in one-station towns, running such lengthy sales shows 300 times in 14 months had happened. Kaye-Martin noted with pride that they had just signed their first network-owned station to the pitch-shows.
In 1960, the New York Attorney General obtained an order from the Supreme Court of New York County to show cause why Edward's father should not be blocked from the securities business in the state. He and another gent had gained control of the formerly well-reputed Security Adjustment Corporation in late 1959, and "bought and sold securities using high pressure methods and boiler room tactics." By January 1960, the firm was insolvent with a deficit of $71,000, and it was illegal for an insolvent firm to sell securities. It was said he and his secretary-treasurer never delivered securities they promised to buy, failed to return money to investors, and used investors' money for personal gain. Edward's father ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny and hypothecation of customers' securities in June 1960. (Hypothecation is taking securities of customers and using them as collateral for personal transactions.) The AG claimed the partners owed 125 customers a total of $103,000. The judge insisted on restitution to avoid receiving long sentences and sought meaningful down-payments. In January of 1961, Mr. Kaye-Martin turned over $37,000 toward restitution and his sentencing was delayed by the judge. That was to have kept him out of jail for another month... Except the money was paid by checks for $12,000 and $25,000... and the $12,000 check didn't clear. It was written by Allen Kaye-Martin's partner in a $25 million Florida development project called Interest Buildings Development Corporation. Upon investigation, it was found that no such entity was registered in Florida, and its bank account held just $90. The outraged judge revoked his $15,000 bail bond and put him in jail. By February of 1962, as reported in a story that had extensive nationwide press coverage, he was in Sing-Sing serving a 5-10 year sentence for grand larceny. The only other item of note in this tale is that when pleading for more time out on bail to get restitution money, Mr. Kaye-Martin noted his borrowed payments to date had "left my wife and child penniless." So it seems our Edward had a half sibling out in the world, who must have been born after his father's childless 1950 census.
In April 1960 in Columbus, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to upset a $3300 judgement from Florida won in Miami County Common Pleas Court by Dimitri Nicholas in April of 1959 against Shia Arsham. Arsham said yes, he had signed the cognovit note but he did so expecting to receive 17,000 shares of Copityper Inc., a firm making a typewriter attachment that was supposed to eliminate the need for carbon papers for copies. Arsham said he never got the stock so the note was invalid, but that didn't work and he lost. The note's co-signer, Edward's father, had earlier been sued by Nicholas in NYC, but when he showed he didn't have the assets to pay, Nicholas then went after Arsham. (Arsham himself has a fascinating financial history that many newspapers made note of over the years.)
April of 1968 Edward's father and Geraldine divorced in Dade County, Florida. If he had served 5 years beginning in 1962, he was not long out of prison when they split. To conclude a short rendition on Geraldine, she apparently did remarry someone surnamed Smith by October of 1970, but she appears on the Social Security Death Index as Geraldine Martin, born March 5 1923. She got her SS card 1951-1952 in Massachusetts, her last residence was in Tarrant County, Texas. Geraldine passed on December 27, 2004 without a findable obit. I've subsequently identified her living now-adult child with Allen; that child married in her early 20's and went on to have a bright Air Force career.
February 1970 in Boulder, Colorado the Securities Exchange Commission was trying to stop 23 defendants in two unregistered firms from selling stock, and one named individual was Edward's father.
Wrapping up
1986, Edward's dad Allen Kaye-Martin would die in Dade County, Florida. As yet, I do not know with finality what happened to his mother Ruth, just that she died December 14, 1998. The Social Security records contain a cryptic comment, noting (without a date) that she was denied disability payments, and the type of disability claim was not recorded. Edward's brother Alan would pass away in 2004.
So having done much searching, and having spun out this tangled tale, after writing through fractured families, abandoned kids, and fake names, we finally have some closure on the influences and people who came to bear in Edward's life, even when they were not present. It's possible we know more about his roots than he did. If he were alive and standing before me, I'd say something like "Even though you once made me cry, thank you, because I kept trying again and again, and again, and I have turned in the truth."
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The Chicago Tribune, Friday, August 18, 1989 :
ACTOR, DIRECTOR, TEACHER EDWARD KAYE-MARTIN, 50
A memorial service for actor, teacher and theater director Edward Kaye-Martin will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in Wisdom Bridge Theatre, 1559 W. Howard St., his professional home in Chicago.
Mr. Kaye-Martin, 50, who died Sunday of lymphoma in St. Joseph Hospital, had done his final work for Wisdom Bridge, staging Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" in May, shortly before illness forced him to retire. Other productions he directed here, all at Wisdom Bridge, included Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing" and Brian Friel's "Faith Healer."
A resident of Los Angeles, Mr. Kaye-Martin had worked in theaters and universities across the country since the mid-'60s. His directing credits include productions at such resident theaters as the Meadow Brook in Detroit, the Nightflight and Cast in Los Angeles and the Production Company in New York.
As an acting teacher, he had been an artist-in-residence at Florida State University, Princeton University, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Among his former students are Holly Hunter, Marilu Henner, Beth Henley, Aidan Quinn, Alan Ruck and John York.
Mr. Kaye-Martin is survived by a brother, Allen. A memorial fund in his name for an acting award or scholarship is to be established at Wisdom Bridge.
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From the Chicago Sun-Times, August 17, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, actor, director at Wisdom Bridge
Edward Kaye-Martin, 51, a director and actor at Wisdom Bridge Theatre, died Sunday at St. Joseph Hospital.
Mr. Kaye-Martin had just finished directing Marsha Norman's "Traveler in the Dark" for two months at the theater and was planning to move to Chicago from Los Angeles at the time of his death. Born in New York City, Mr. Kaye-Martin was head of the undergraduate acting program at UCLA and chairman of the master's of fine arts acting programs. He was also an artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois, Princeton and Florida State.
From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Kaye-Martin worked at Wisdom Bridge and then returned to the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles. In 1988, he taught acting at the Center Theater in Chicago.
A memorial service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the theater, 1559 W. Howard.
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From the Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1989
Edward Kaye-Martin, Los Angeles actor, director and acting teacher of the legitimate stage, has died in Chicago of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was 50.
The stagecraft veteran died Aug. 13, according to an announcement from Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago, where Kaye-Martin had recently directed "Traveler in the Dark."
Born Nov. 20, 1938, in New York City, Kaye-Martin performed, directed and taught across the country. His students included Joyce DeWitt, Beth Henley, Marilu Henner, Holly Hunter and Aidan Quinn.
Kaye-Martin was head of UCLA's acting program from 1968 to 1974 and later taught professional classes at the Melrose Theater in Los Angeles and the Wisdom Bridge and Center theaters in Chicago.
After leaving UCLA, he served as artist-in-residence at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Carnegie-Mellon University, Princeton University and Florida State University, and was a guest instructor at Rutgers University.
Among plays that Kaye-Martin directed in recent years were "Ready When You Are, C.B." at the Night Flight Theatre in Burbank, "The Man in 605" at the Cast Theatre in Los Angeles, "All the Way Home" and "Summertree" at UCLA, and "On Tidy Endings" at Los Angeles' Ensemblefest '88.
His acting credits include "Murder Among Friends" at Theatre-at-the-Square, Boston; "A Sandburg Odyssey," Lincoln Center Library, New York City; "Cyrano de Bergerac," Cocoanut Grove Playhouse, Miami; "Paint Your Wagon," Equity Library Theater, New York City, and "Happy Birthday Wanda June," Chamber Theater, Los Angeles.
He is survived by a brother, Allen.
A Los Angeles memorial service is being planned for Sept. 24. A Chicago memorial service will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Wisdom Bridge Theatre. A memorial fund also will be established in Kaye-Martin's name at that not-for-profit theater.
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