Papineau
 

People
       					 
LETOVSKY

Photo
Philip Teitelbaum's taped recollections
Eddy Shore's recollections


 



According to the notation on the back of this photograph, these are butchers, Letovsky and Pinsky.


Photo courtesy of the Jewish Public Library Archives, Montreal, Canada






Philip Teitelbaum's taped recollections

Note: audio is ON


Peter: OK Letovsky, I know there's quite a bit to say about Letofsky. He was a good friend of yours,
       Jack Letofsky.

Philip: Yeah.

Peter: So what's the story with them?

Philip: They had the treyfe butcher store on Papineau. And Jack's father was partners with the
	father's brother Morris Letofsky. They pretty well lived lived on each side of the business 
	itself. The daughter...one of the daughters of Jack's father...or Jack's sister was married
	to Ruby who owned Eskimo Bottling Works.

Peter: Oh, I remember that.

Philip: I also remember... oh, I'm sorry, I believe her name was Fanny, rather than Sarah, and I remember
	Fanny had a little girl whose name was Ruchel, and she was called Rhoda. And she was born at the
	same time as my brother Motty. And they used to go up to Shawbridge, and we used to and we rented
	a room from the Letovsky's in Shawbridge, in their house. The Letofsky's owned this house.
	There was always a bit of squabbling because there was the swing that used to go back and forth,
	back and forth on the side of the house, as part of the house, and sometimes Jack wouldn't let me,
	wouldn't let us go on it.

Peter: You hung around Jack's house?

Philip: I hung around a lot, around Jack's house.

Peter: Just you or was it a house people

Philip: It was a house where all my friends hung around. We hung around more at Jack's house than anybody
	else's.

Peter: There's was music and stuff

Shirley: And pickles.

Philip: Lot of music. Jack's brother Eddie, Eedle, he used to play the trumpet, and one of his sisters played
	the piano. There was always music going on in the house. And cards, there was always card-playing
	going on. It was a a great house. With a lot of children, lot of action.

Peter: And what's the pickles?

Philip: The pickles.like you'd go up through the back to their house. 	There was always a barrel or two of
	pickles and I believe sour tomatoes also. We used to put our hands in the brine. Also the telephone
	was there, also. The Letovsky's always had a telephone.

Peter: And you ran into Jack again much later

Philip: I ran into Jack years and years later when we went to a Century Village in Pembroke Pines.
	Jack actually I believe owned a place in Pembroke Pines and through a friend we met there
	again. Among the guys, I don't know why, Jack was not in the service. A lot of us during the war were.



We used to go there and play blackjack. We called it shtup.



Abe Letovsky told me (July 31, 2008) that the czar's conscription officers usually did not insist on drafting from families
where there was only one son. Three Letovsky sons therefore each took a different name: Letovsky, Pinsky and Malinsky
(later Malin). Thus the Papineau families descended from these men are really all Letovskys.






Eddy Shore's recollections - January 2009

I was born in 1940 and I still remember Saturdays spending time at the butcher shop on Papineau.  I lived in
Outremont and took the Beaubien bus to Papineau and walked the rest of the way.  Other cousins were there
and it was a bit of a hangout.  Charles Letovsky had four daughters and three sons.  The oldest daughter in order
of birth was Fanny, married to Ruby Bitensky  (Eskimo), next was Katie, my mother married to Phillip Shtull, 
(egg business).  My name was changed in 1969 to Shore.  The next was Bessie, divorced, followed by Eva married
to Harry Morris, Lachine Supermarkets and the youngest was Sarah, married to Sam Walsh .The boys were Eddy,
bachelor, Jack married to Dorothy, previously Laurier Packers and the youngest Nathan, an artist living in Montreal.
As for Shawbridge, you are correct, it was a hangout also.  I spent 15 summers, from 1940-1955 there but stayed
at my paternal grandmother's house, (the Shtulls) six houses away.  On the week-ends, when all the fathers would
come, there was a lot of action at the Letovsky house.  Card games on Sunday afternoon were the norm. Kids would
hang around over their father's shoulders, helping them bet, but were kicked out after a while.  The swing on the porch
was used a lot and singing was very popular particularly with Eddy and his trumpet.  Jack is now quite elderly and not
in good health.  All the sisters are deceased as well as Eddy. Nathan, the artist is still alive.  

I just listened to you interview  your father about Shawbridge. About the name Beaulne .He was also a handyman and drank
beer by the quart when he showed up to work which was totally unpredictable. As a kid I knew him as Mr. Bones and many
years later I received a new patient by the name of Mr. Beaulne who was from Shawbridge. It was only then that the beer
drinking Mr.Bones was Mr. Beaulne.

Eskimo Bottling works was owned by Ruby and Archie Bitensky. Ruby was my uncle and was married to Fanny Letovsky
[Jack Letovsky's sister].

Another little tid bit . Charles Letovsky's sister who married a Selick[slick's mother] wereactually twins. A sister married
a Sternthal whose son Harvey took over Marie Selick'splacement business.To review Charles[mygrandfather] and his
brother Morris were partners in Letovsky Bros.









Return to home page.