A Better Life New York
Steve "The Judge" focuses on the art of enjoying yourself through food, fun and frolic. Steve conducts live Interviews on many popular and controversial topics. Steve has candid conversations about fine dining to BBQ, cigars to cars, history making events and everything in between. Recently, we added a special monthly addition ion collecting Antique Phonographs with experts Wyatt Markus, and Collector/Dealers Joe Hough and Tracy McKinney. Sponsored by Premium Botanicals the maker of Herbal Spectrum a line of full spectrum Hemp based CBD products. http://www.mypbcbd.com
A Better Life New York
Titanic's Tragic Love Story, Generational Legacies, and Hollywood Connections: Robin Schafer on Isidor and Ida Strauss, and Family Philanthropy
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What if a last-minute change in travel plans sealed the fate of your loved ones on one of history's greatest tragedies? Join us as we welcome Robin Schafer, who shares the awe-inspiring yet heart-wrenching tale of her great-granduncle, Isidor Strauss, and his wife, Ida. As co-owner of Macy's and a titan of his time, Isidore's legacy is far-reaching. Listen as Robin recounts the compelling story of how this power couple ended up on the ill-fated Titanic and the profound love that led Ida to choose to remain by Isidore's side instead of securing a lifeboat.
The narrative doesn't stop there. We journey through interconnected family histories, including the Jewish-German connections of the early 20th century, spotlighting Otto Frank and Nathan Strauss. Robin also shares delightful anecdotes about her cousin, Natalie Schafer, famously known for her role on "Gilligan's Island," and reflects on the family's long-standing philanthropic efforts, from supporting Holocaust survivors to sponsoring the New York Philharmonic's free concerts. This episode paints a rich tapestry of personal and historical narratives, demonstrating how past events shape legacies and inspire future generations.
hello everyone and welcome back to episode two, season three of a better life, with the abbreviated version gs, it's george's mia for the moment. I hope everybody's doing well. I have to thank everyone for the great response to season three's first episode regarding the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and other related stories. I am blown away by the response and the response has triggered some other episodes that are going to be done. Dom will be back. We're going to do a single episode regarding the Kennedy assassination and then we're going to do a single episode regarding the Robert Kennedy assassination, which to me at this point is much more interesting. But today we have a special guest, robin Schaefer. Say hello, robin.
Speaker 1:Hi have a special guest, robin schaefer. Say hello, robin, hi. So robin is, believe it or not, and I've had a lot of people talking in passing. So one day I was at one of the clubs I belong to and they were watching a night to remember having to do with the titanic, and I said in passing I have a friend that's a direct descendant from one of the people on the titanic and they're like who? And I'm like, oh, isadora strauss. And then they all flipped out because the story is so compelling. And so robin is. Is, isadora strauss is your greatfather's brother, so your great-uncle, so I know that your great-grandfather was Secretary of Labor under Taft, right that's correct.
Speaker 1:So the family was deep in a lot of these things. Not only, they also owned Macy's for a long time before they started, or actually during the time that they started, abraham and Strauss.
Speaker 2:Actually Isidore and Nathan Strauss owned Macy's together.
Speaker 1:And they originally came in through the China department.
Speaker 2:They came in through textiles, as it turns out.
Speaker 1:I thought it was China.
Speaker 2:Okay, I can't be right all the time as Robin knows, as it turns out, macy's was originally several, many different stores, almost like a strip mall type situation, and when they came in they had textiles, and then they made it into the big department store that it is now and owned it for almost 100 years, and Nathan continued to own it after Isadora's death.
Speaker 1:And who came in and bought it? Was it Federated that came in and bought it, or you don't know?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure. I'm not sure either. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure either. I'm not sure it doesn't really matter, for our purposes, whatever. So, Isadora at the time was one of the wealthiest people in the world. Right, he was one of the tight group of New Yorkers and others. He was born in Bavaria.
Speaker 2:He was born in Otterberg. Otterberg, right, that's correct and he and his family came over actually during the Civil War and there are a lot of stories about the family from Talbot in Georgia and from their letters from Georgia where they write about a lot of the deaths and a lot of the Civil War sites that they saw.
Speaker 1:They were involved in the Confederate side of the war, strangely enough, correct.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yes, and did he go to the military academy before the war? Strangely enough, correct yes, and he'd go to the military academy before the war started? I think he did, or it was accepted, and then, when the war started, of course he had to withdraw, and then, shortly after the war, they moved to New York. Correct, and they were huge philanthropists as well as bankers and involved in a lot of political stations as well. Like I said, Secretary of Labor for Taft, your direct grandfather was Correct, or your great-grandfather.
Speaker 1:Great-grandfather. So that's a little bit of the background. I don't know how it became that they came onto the Titanic.
Speaker 2:So, as it turns out, they were supposed to not be on the Titanic. They were actually supposed to. They were Isidore, and Ida, his wife of many years, were vacationing in London and they were supposed to be on a different ship. But they decided that ship had an issue with I'm not really quite sure what, and so they decided to take the Titanic, and it was an impromptu thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not a good decision.
Speaker 2:Not a good decision In hindsight. No.
Speaker 1:They both died like many others. That's correct. They both died like many other. That's correct. One of the great conspiracy theories has to do with the Federal Reserve Bank. I don't know if you're familiar with that one at all, but we'll get to that or whatever. So there's a lot of tales about them and how they stuck with each other and she could have gotten a life raft and he a lifeboat, even though there weren't enough. That's correct. It's possible he could have been saved as well. That's correct. But they wouldn't leave each other.
Speaker 2:So basically what happened was she gave her fur coat to her maid. Her maid got onto one of the life rafts and she stood by Isidore and said we've been together for 40 years, I'm not leaving you now. And they died together on the bow of the ship. His body was recovered, as well as his wedding ring, and he's buried in Fairlawn, and hers was not recovered.
Speaker 1:Fairlawn, new Jersey, wow.
Speaker 2:No, Woodlawn, sorry.
Speaker 1:Woodlawn, Woodlawn sorry. Oh, my grandparents were buried there too.
Speaker 2:He's buried in Woodlawn.
Speaker 1:Wow, they have a mausoleum there, right.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I forget the other name. It's another family name. I didn't recognize it at all, but I know that they have a mausoleum there, as most prominent people did during that time period, right.
Speaker 2:There's also a park in Upper Manhattan as well, strauss Park that's dedicated to them, and there's quite a lot of memorabilia, certainly through the Strauss Historical Society.
Speaker 1:There's a plaque in the New York Public Library and I think there's a Strauss Hall in Harvard. And one other thing is skipping my mind, but there's many things that aren't probably known from their philanthropy efforts. I also know that you showed me some time ago, like a newsletter, that I forget who put For the Strauss Historical Society correct.
Speaker 1:And that was a very compelling document. It had great pictures, had great stories that all these people sit around talking about something that happened hundreds of years ago and coming from somebody who collects phonographs from 100 years ago, it was compelling.
Speaker 2:Right, and actually Nathan brought pasteurized milk to Natanya. They named Natanya after him because he brought pasteurized milk there and changed a lot of the milk in New York City as well, in terms of pasteurized milk and saving lives.
Speaker 1:Wow, pasteurized milk is a big thing.
Speaker 2:It, is it changed? Everything Pasteurized milk is a big thing, it is.
Speaker 1:It changed everything, one of the great inventions for lack of a better word in up-and-coming water, sanitary milk. Even today, when I was in my 20s, I lived in Vermont and I had dairies all around me and there was always such an issue with what the status of the milk that would go back into the big tank. Pasteurization fixed all that. So what else do you want to tell us?
Speaker 2:So also. They started concerts in the park hundreds of years ago through the Philharmonic and that was then disbanded and then picked up again by my father, who now sponsors the concerts in the park for all of the city people, for anybody who wants to come. It's in every borough in the city during the summer, usually in the middle of July.
Speaker 1:I know she constantly tries to drag me to these things, but I don't go. Even though I want to go, I say no anyway.
Speaker 2:Next year.
Speaker 1:Because that's what I do, right. You'll find, if you ask her, I say no more than yes to everything she asks me. Unless she needs something, then I go, but beyond that I say no. I know that your dad is also the chairman emeritus of the New York Philharmonic.
Speaker 1:So he's deeply involved in what goes on in the Philharmonic and keeping on that family tradition from many years ago. When you think about the turn of the century and you think about the New York Philharmonic, you think of things like Carnegie Hall. When it was built, people said that it was so far away, no one would go Guess what.
Speaker 2:Yes, he's carrying on the philanthropic bug that the family has carried throughout many generations, which has been very helpful for all of us, and we're all very committed to it.
Speaker 1:So tell me something you're doing.
Speaker 2:So I help out. I go to the White Plains Hospital. I'm very involved there. I've been sponsoring a family from Mexico.
Speaker 1:Oh, I remember you told me about that.
Speaker 2:And it's just when you have, when you're very fortunate. It's so important to give back in so many ways. I gave a whole bunch of furniture to a person who was moving into our first apartment. Today she came and picked up a bunch of furniture.
Speaker 1:All that crap you had in your basement.
Speaker 2:All that stuff I had in my garage Garage. It's just so important.
Speaker 1:But you have to understand her crap in her basement is better than the stuff I have in my living room. So tell me more. What else do you want to say about Isadora and that time period?
Speaker 2:The Strausses were very involved in politics time period, or the Strausses were very involved in politics, I think that Grover Cleveland. They had a cabinet position on Grover Cleveland's cabinet. There's a letter from, I guess, my great grandfather to that effect. One was an ambassador to Turkey, always involved in politics as well as, like I said, philanthropy. In fact, the townhouse on Upper East Side that was recently owned by Michael Cohen, jeffrey Katzenberg, I don't know one of those people was the Strauss family house. It was 9 East 71st Street, which used to belong to Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaker 1:Strangely enough, I've seen pictures of it. It is a beautiful townhouse, so the Strauss house was purchased, yes, by Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaker 2:No longer, however. It is now owned by Michael Daffy, former Goldman Sachs executive.
Speaker 1:Oh, another pauper out there in that homestead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he paid $51 million for the townhouse.
Speaker 1:How much?
Speaker 2:$51 million.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's right there, it's an exquisite part of New York City. My boss used to say who immigrated? Brian O'Dwyer, who immigrated from Ireland, his family? He used to say when my grandfather and my grandmother came here, they both lived on Fifth Avenue. One was the butler and the other one was the cook. You say that all the time for reaction. And it was true, absolutely. But that's how people got ahead in the world. And yet his uncle was the mayor and his father was city council president in New York. Typical American story, much like yours. Here they are and got out of Germany at a good time because anti-Semitism at the time was always on the rise in Germany.
Speaker 2:And one of the relatives I'm going to have to remember who that was but was the roommate of Otto Frank and Frank's father Right, and Otto Frank wrote to him and tried to get his family out and he couldn't.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Strauss could not do it and couldn't help him. And then Otto Frank came to the States by himself and remarried and had more children.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's pretty interesting. It's amazing there's a huge and I know you're knee deep in it German Jewish connection where even today that those families are very tight, right yeah, it was Nathan's stress.
Speaker 2:So yes, so Nathan was your direct great tight right yeah it was Nathan's stress.
Speaker 1:So yes, so Nathan was your direct great-grandfather, right?
Speaker 2:No, oscar was, oh, oscar was. He was another great-uncle, great-uncle. So he was good friends with Otto Frank. They went to school together.
Speaker 1:And that was after Anne had died right.
Speaker 2:This is actually they were before they went to school together before, right? This is actually they were before they went to school together before Right, and then when he was trying to get Anne and then the whole family out. Unfortunately, Nathan was not able to do that. He attended Heidelberg University, which is where they met.
Speaker 1:That's so interesting what year we think that was Probably in the turn of the century, right.
Speaker 2:Heidelberg University was probably 38, maybe Probably before that, maybe before that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because the beer, whatever those things were called, were around that time period. Yeah, you look at Nazis coming to power. You look at the Olympics in the 30s. I don't remember exactly what year it was, but the Jesse Owens bit was all in the 1930s.
Speaker 2:So there's a letter from Otto Frank to Nathan from 1941 where he was looking for immigration and trying to get out and couldn't. In 1938, he had filed a petition in Rotterdam to try to get out but he wasn't able to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very difficult. It was very difficult. I know my grandfather, who wasn't Jewish, fought in World War I for the Czechoslovakian Army and then spent a year in a German prison camp and was released. But he saw the tide coming, I guess around the 1920s, and said I better get the heck out of here because they're coming again. And I want to say the town he grew up in in Austria-Hungary or he lived in basically 70% of the town were killed. Germans kept good records so you could see when you go through it. You see teacher politicians, you see this kind of mass murder of people. It didn't really matter if they were Jewish or not.
Speaker 2:No, certainly not at that point.
Speaker 1:The junta, whatever you want to call it, whatever name you want to give it to other than genocide. So it was a very difficult time for Jews everywhere in the world.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. There's a book actually of their letters between the two of them, because they were friends for 30 years and at that point letters was the form of communication.
Speaker 1:So I wonder when that works with the time that they found Anne's diary? Probably much later the diary was found. They probably didn't even know that it existed.
Speaker 2:From what I understand, I thought that Otto Frank had actually taken it to publish it. I think that was my understanding.
Speaker 1:I mean that was required reading when I was a kid. I don't know if it still is. Very compelling story. One of the conspiracy theories that are hanging out there is quite interesting, and that is right. So the French did 1950, and the English versions are 1920, 1952. So that's much later. But if anyone out there has never read it, it's certainly a compelling story of a poor little girl trying to keep herself hidden in an attic or basement. In an attic, in an attic From the Germans who are going around hoarding up Jews and killing them, or at least sending them to concentration camps, then killing them or testing, doing some kind of medical research, so to speak, all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:There's a lot known about Anne Frank, really, other than her diary. It's a compelling story. Obviously the Titanic, as we all know, had a myriad of the ultra wealthy, the ship that would never be able to sink the luxury of it, and we've all seen the pictures. Some of us have seen the movies. I've never seen and I'll confess here, I have never seen the newest version of titanic. I have no interest in seeing it, basically. I think I flipped through the channels one day and saw the end and I couldn't figure out why she wouldn't let him on the door and he drowned. So it always bothered me to that extent.
Speaker 1:But one of the theories about I don't know I want to characterize it perfectly One of the theories conspiracy theories about it was that at the time they were trying to create the Federal Reserve Bank and that was very controversial and a lot of people, a lot of very wealthy people who controlled most of the wealth not only in America but in the world, were split. Some people wanted it, some people didn't want it and strangely enough, most of the people who didn't want it happened to be on the Titanic and that's always been of great controversy and question that the people that were against it happened to be all murdered together. Notice my choice. They were murdered by whatever happened. There were so many things that could have changed the course of events Absolutely. They could have slowed the boat down. It was moving too fast. They could have been more careful when they saw the iceberg. They could have.
Speaker 2:Part of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the part that they saw was above the ground.
Speaker 2:And so much of it was below the ground that ripped into the hull of the ship, which prevented them from doing any things. But, by the way, about Nathan Strauss, you were correct that they did start with the family china and glass business and became they, worked, they operated the glassware department at Macy's and then became so profitable that they then became partners with RH Macy and of course Abraham and Strauss as well, which was part of the conglomerate, and then they took over both completely.
Speaker 1:So my first job other than working at the trucking company I worked my whole life when I was little. My first job was working Christmas at Abraham and Strauss in Paramus and I worked there again after I worked at Bonwit Teller and Charles Jourdan in the city. I worked at some time in the high fashion shoe section of Abraham and Strauss for a long time and they're really based in Brooklyn, that's really neat, so it's funny. They never liked me much, it's interesting that they had.
Speaker 2:The reason that they brought pasteurization also to New York was because a lot of the wealthy families back then lived in big houses and had livestock, had cows.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And one of their cows died suddenly, and so Nathan decided to bring Louis Pasteur's style of pasteurizing milk, and saved many lives by doing that.
Speaker 1:So there's many conspiracy theories, and the one I just told you was interesting. They also was that there was this fire that existed in a coal bunker that started in Ireland before they even got to London, where they sailed out of, or wherever they sailed out of, and that the fire was never out and that contributed to what happened or contributed to what sunk. One of the other theories is that these watertight doors that were going to save the ship would have saved the ship, except that the gash in the side was so large that it was able to fill up. But there is a theory that if the doors were actually all open, that the water level would have pushed the ship down but not caused it to go up on end. Break in half, break in half and sink and sink. Yeah, so there is that, and then I brought up the.
Speaker 1:There's also a theory that I don't give much credence to is that there was a sister ship called the Olympic, and they had switched them out because JP Morgan, of course, owned everything, and part of that was he wanted to collect the insurance on the ships, and so he deliberately sunk it, which, and part of that was he wanted to collect the insurance on the ships and so he deliberately sunk it, which is I wouldn't put past JP Morgan, but I do. I don't give much credence to that. I actually have more credence than being the conspiracy theorist that I am, that they tried to kill everybody because they didn't want the Federal Reserve Bank, because that's that kind of deep state crap that goes on in the universe.
Speaker 2:And the Britannic also was a sister ship, the Britannic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm familiar with that one.
Speaker 2:So it's the Olympic, the Britannic and the Titanic.
Speaker 1:I guess they put more lifeboats on the other ones after the beginning, right? So what goes on today to remember them?
Speaker 2:So the Strauss Historical Society has events all the time. They have an event at Strauss Park every year. They did a trip down to Talbot in Georgia where they still have the house that the family lived in. They're actually going to have a tea at the Strauss house on 71st Street in the next month or two. So the Strauss Historical Society has events, events. Recently, the Strauss Historical Society has been very philanthropic as well in terms of creating scholarships for students who apply for the Strauss Scholarship that are able to follow their studies because of the money donated by the Strauss family.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic.
Speaker 2:When I was growing up I met Flora Strauss, who was Flora Stieglitz strauss, and she had one of the most beautiful george o'keefe's in her house because her father was offered stieglitz and that is the photographer oh, that's right and he was married to, or at least lovers with, george'keeffe for many years, and so that was a fun family story where I got to meet her, flora Stieglitz Strauss. She lived in a house which is now an area called Old Oaks Country Club. She lived in a house there and that was a fun story.
Speaker 1:Where is Old Oaks Country Club?
Speaker 2:It's in Purchase New York.
Speaker 1:I'm not familiar with it. I'm just a poor boy from New Jersey. We don't know about these country clubs and things you spoke about. Somebody wrote I want to know what your memory, these memories, influence your behavior or whatever you do today. But you talked about your philanthropy and what you do. I know you're very committed. What you think she looks like you. Yeah, so my favorite one of your relatives and I'm not sure it's part of the Strauss family is from Gilligan's Island.
Speaker 2:So Natalie Schaefer, who played Lovie on Gilligan's Island, was my cousin as well, and I met her at a wedding for Roger Strauss, his second wife. She came to a wedding. I was probably eight or 10 years old.
Speaker 1:For those who don't know, that's Mrs Howell. Lovey is Mrs Howell.
Speaker 2:And she was amazing and from the time that I was eight to probably about 18 or 19, I think she passed away when I was in college. We would meet once a year and have lunch and she lived on Park Avenue in the first floor apartment. She had a Chihuahua and we went to Serendipity for lunch and I told her that I loved the Sundays there and she said very sarcastically oh, I didn't know, they had Sundays here. They were open on Sundays. She was very funny and very dry. She talked about Barbara Stanwyck as being one of her closest friends from her time in Hollywood. She was a great lady. Natalie Schaefer, she was great. I have a picture of her that she sent to me that said Dear Robin, love from Cousin Nat. She's great.
Speaker 1:I know I saw the picture in your house when I was helping you fix your television and I said wait a minute. You have an autographed picture of Mrs Howell on your closet, and probably our listeners. That's the thing they're going to find the most interesting that you're related to Mrs Howell. Knowing my listeners as I do, yeah, she was a great lady.
Speaker 1:What do you impose upon your daughters to carry on that philanthropy interest? I know your youngest daughter she's like a 40-year-old genius and I know that I don't talk to her about anything because she always knows more than I do. So I try to keep my comments down to a minimum.
Speaker 2:Both of my children give back absolutely. My 12-year-old at the moment has given her birthday money for the past couple of years to the ASPCA, to other organizations. She's also given it to Meals on Wheels and is very committed to giving back. New York Philharmonic in the park. It's free concerts in the park. There's one in every borough. They do it during one week in July. There's no rain date, so that if it rains, unfortunately the concert's canceled. And it's sponsored by Oscar and Dee Dee Schaefer and it's an amazing event where you go and you can just listen to the Philharmonic for hours and then at the end they have fireworks and there's food and there's drinks that you can purchase. It's a wonderful event.
Speaker 1:I know they do them in the parks all over the city. Right, they do absolutely Randall's.
Speaker 2:Island, they do in Riverdale.
Speaker 1:And that must be quite a feat, taking everything apart, moving it in a day and resetting it up.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and the Philharmonic are not used to flying by the seat of their pants, so it must be no, and their instruments are insured for a lot of money and they have to move their instruments and take care of them. So yeah, it's a big event.
Speaker 1:Well, robin, I thank you very much for coming. I appreciate the insight into the Titanic and your family, how it's changed and stayed the same all at once in the future. It's changed and stay the same all at once in the future and I'll look into these people that have impressed their lives of what they did in their final moments, which, strangely enough, is is a little bit of a from other people that I know that are German and Jewish. The how they die is very important to them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I had a friend. That friend that her grandparents died together because one of them was going to die, so they made sure they died together. I'll leave it at that. And then her parents were planning to do the same thing. To me it's a little creepy, but obviously you're on a boat and you know what's going down. I understand that point of view. To take your own life because someone else that you love is dying is a little.
Speaker 2:I think it's beautiful. Actually they were together for such a long time and you know they had a lot of children and they had a wonderful life and they made huge strides. There's a public school named after them at 96th Street in the city. There's just at one point you just think that they chose love, which was really nice.
Speaker 1:Reminds me of the Marcy song right that a light, what is it called? The light that never goes out, or something like that, where he says to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.
Speaker 2:Sounds great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's where we're going to leave it.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Steve.
Speaker 1:Thank you, steve. Thank you so much, robin, for coming and speaking to us about your ancestors. If you have any other questions, please post them when you click on the link on the podcast. If you have it on your computer, you just click on it. You could send me any questions or anything. I'll gladly get them answered for you. Or if there's anything else or you see any topics you want us to talk about, we'd love to do. Thank you very much for listening. Enjoy the rest of your week, and next week I think we're going to be in the Kennedy assassination, so hopefully you're all interested in that. And that's it for now. Everybody, have a good day.
