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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Eleanor Josephine Danner Bilimoria 
April 14, 1985 
Cassette 2, Side 1 
 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  00:00 
In fact, we still have reunions once a year, but we had house parties and dances and weekends. I 
took part in two plays there and had the lead the second year. Got good write-ups in the Daily. 
Of course, I must admit, the lad who did the write-up was a personal friend [laughs], one that I 
had dated. Oh, but anyhow, that was lots of fun. 
 
Elizabeth Gallery-Fox  00:56 
How was your mother responding to you being in school? And-- 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  01:05 
Oh, she didn't mind. She was supportive. In fact, when I graduated, I gave her an angel food cake 
cutter because she baked such wonderful angel food cakes, and she always celebrated my 
triumphs. I don't think she was particularly keen on my getting married, and I thought marriage 
was highly overrated as an institution. But most of my girlfriends were getting married. The-- 
most of them had gone into business college and worked for different firms in Seattle, and they 
were much more interested in getting married. I wanted to travel and see things [?in two ways?].  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  02:18 
My university years were just... I never went back to a university reunion. I never felt that 
attachment to university, except to this one group of people. But then I went off traveling, and-- 
oh, yes, that comes into the 25 years. So I graduated and I went to Bainbridge Island to teach, 
and that was '31 and the Depression was coming. And I don't know whether the first year or not, 
but I do know that during that period of four years when I taught on Bainbridge Island, I was 
getting $90 a year-- a month, $90 a month. Probably was the third year, second year, I was 
paying $10 a month for my room. I was rooming with a widow. My food, I figured I could-- 
Mother would always send me back with a roast and a cake and maybe some bananas or oranges 
and anyhow, whatever I had to buy, $3 a month would do. And I remember I bought an all-wool 
coat for $10 and it was delivered, and you could catch the express bus from downtown out to 
Roosevelt Way, Roosevelt District, a dime. So during the Depression, prices were very low, and 
that's something that most people when they talk about the Depression and the hard time don't 
mention. If you had any income at all or any savings, the Depression was a good time, because 
prices dropped and dropped and dropped. So that's when I got the idea of saving my money. I 
was going to save for the next Depression and be all set [laughs] and ever happened again, 
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always prices go up. It's very strange. I don't understand it. So on Bainbridge Island, I went there 
as the art teacher in the junior and senior high school and I also taught other things as they 
needed and archery and dramatics and the Honor's Society. You know, you do all of these things. 
The first year I lived with a widow and the Home Economics teacher roomed with me. And the 
widow had a beautiful home and was beautifully decorated. She had a real knack for interior 
decoration, but she didn't want you to move anything. There was a bedside table, and I wanted 
on the other side of the bed, and so I'd move it, and I'd come into town for the weekend, and the 
table would be moved back [they laugh]. And we would wash out our silk stockings. We didn't 
have nylons in those days. We had silk, and if you have never worn silk stockings, you don't 
know how beautifully they feel. Oh, they feel so good. We would wash out our stockings at night 
and hang them in the kitchen on a clothesline. And if I didn't straighten my stocking out, I got 
reprimanded. She was very particular. She was an excellent cook. But the next year, I decided I'd 
had enough, and several of us from both the high school and the grade school went together and 
rented a little bungalow and did we have a ball. In those days, there were no ferries to Vashon. 
You had to catch a little steamer that went around and stopped at every point, and that was great 
fun. And we had lots of fun. The people on Vashon were so appreciative. You would be invited 
to dinner once a week through the year, somebody's home.  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  07:31 
And so then my father hadn't been well, and he'd always wanted to go back to California. That 
was his dream, to live in California. So I checked with the doctor, and he said, "Yes, my father 
was well enough to make the trip," and he thought it would be good for him. So I saved my 
pennies, and by Christmastime, I had $400 saved up and gave it to my father to go to California. 
He didn't take it. He would not accept it. So there's nothing I could do. I kept saving my pennies. 
I was in a mood, in a rut, as it were, and by summer, I had enough to go to Europe. Now, in those 
days, nobody went to Europe unless they were very, very wealthy or they lived on the East 
Coast. I didn't know anybody in Seattle, except three supervisors from the Seattle schools, who 
had gone to Europe. None of my friends, none of the teachers, didn't go to Europe in those days. 
I decided I would go to England and study watercolor. And I came into town to talk to this art 
teacher and get some-- the art supervisor for the Seattle schools, and get some suggestions, and 
she said, "You don't want to go there. There's this International School of Art. They studied 
peasant art and folk art. That's where you want to go." So, I was aiming to get into the Seattle 
schools, and the supervisor said, "Do this," I would do it. So I got in contact and made the 
arrangements and left home. First time I ever left. No, I had gone to Los Angeles with my art 
friend, and we had spent the summer in Los Angeles and driven 75 miles a day to San Pedro and 
back to study with Hans Hofman. So that had been my big experience. So then here I was going 
across the continent to Europe all by myself.  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  10:16 
The round trip boat fair was $110. Ten dollars-- ten days on the boat going over. The Atlantic 
was like glass. It was a beautiful trip. Oh, I had a wonderful boyfriend on board. Met him the 
first night out. We had a wonderful time, and we saw the Northern-- no, the midnight sun. I 
remember he woke me up. He came in. It was so hot, we didn't close the door of the cabin. And 
there were three women in this cabin, and the other two had the upper and lower berths and I had 
the single. [Whispering] So he came in. Tapped me on the shoulder, "Come on over and see the 
sun." It was about two o'clock in the morning, and I remember this woman on the upper deck 
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goes up and said, "You nasty man, get out ofhere!" [They laugh] Oh, that was funny. So then I 
had two weeks to spend in London, and he had a brother at Oxford. So the three of us did 
London and the environs, and we went to Shakespeare's home, and we saw Anne Hathaway's 
Cottage. And we went to a Shakespearean play. And we went to the tennis matches in the inner 
court at Wimbledon, center court at Wimbledon. Oh, I don't know [inaudible]. He had a car and 
he drove all over [inaudible] [?Hampton?]. Saw the Beefeaters. I did a lot of sightseeing on my 
own too. I could take a bus and the subway and go places and see things, changing of the guard. 
And then I went to Paris, had a day or two in Paris and-- all by myself. Room I had, it was huge, 
one little bitty person in this mammoth room. And the key [laughs] -- so that you won't walk off 
with it -- is just enormous. And then I took the train and went to Prague, and it was so funny. I 
got off the train at Prague and was nobody to meet me. Well, I had the name of the hotel where 
the school was staying, so I showed it to a taxi driver and got in, and he just tore through those 
streets. I felt like I should be bowing to the populace. It was [they laugh]... And we got there, of 
course, I didn't have the Czech money, and I couldn't pay the taxi cab, and there was nobody 
around from the school, and here were these Czechoslovakian men at the desk, and I was trying 
to get them to pay the taxi cab for me and put it on my bill. And we talked and talked and talked, 
and nobody got the point. And then finally Elma Pratt came along, and she said, "Ooh, you're so 
young! We like them young." And so then they paid my taxi.  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  14:02 
We had-- went all over Prague and saw the dancers, and then we went out into the villages, 
where the villages would put on their dances. And in those countries, each village has a different 
costume, so that if you see them in the big cities, you can tell this person was from this village 
and that person is from a different village. And the first village we went to, we had an Italian 
sculptor as our teacher, and we did clay modeling, and we went to a Czechoslovakian count's 
house and had a wonderful party. And that was the evening that Dollfuss-- Soli, what was the 
name of the Austrian Premier who was murdered before? Dollfuss, something like that?  
 
Soli B. Bilimoria  15:30 
Dollf-- uh... 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  15:30 
Something like Dollfuss. 
 
Soli B. Bilimoria  15:34 
[Inaudible.] 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  15:34 
And the-- this Czech castle that we were visiting and having this wonderful evening party, the 
count had turned on the radio and gotten the news from Vienna that Dollfuss had been murdered, 
and then the radio was all shut off, and these people were just beside themselves, because one of 
their sons worked in the radio station, and another son was in the guard or whatnot there. So they 
were very, very upset. And that is where-- that is the night where I got my first feeling for 
history, because I sensed that history was being made, and that we were right there and these 
people we were with were a part of it. 
 
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Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  16:37 
From there, we went to Romania, to a little village of Bran, where Queen Marie had her summer 
castle, and we painted in castle grounds. And Queen Marie came along, Betty Stetson and I were 
there painting, and she talked to us, and then she had a little summer cottage, and we had classes 
in there, and she would come in. And then we had a wonderful party at her castle, marvelous 
food and music and dancing. The husband of the sculptress had been in Emperor Franz Joseph's 
private bodyguard, and he was a very distinguished looking gentleman. And I remember he 
walked up this little circular staircase to the room where we would have the party behind me, and 
I had a black evening gown with bright flowers and tiny shoulder straps and whatnot and a 
taffeta petticoat. [?Know?] he told me I made nice music when I walked up the steps with my 
petticoat rustling. And he was the kind who always kissed your hand, you know? [Laughs] Oh. 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  18:21 
I took movies. I was taking motion pictures of everything, and I have this wonderful picture. As-
- we were staying in a little hotel not very far from the castle, and I'd blown out all the lights in 
the hotel trying to press my dress for the evening. And then as we were walking to the castle, we 
were all practicing our curtsies. [Laughs] Oh, that was fun. And then we went to Budapest and 
went out onto the puszta. And in these various villages, we would eat with the people. And--  
 
Soli B. Bilimoria  19:22 
Engelbert Dollfuss. 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  19:24 
Oh, thank you [they laugh]. We'll have this correct. Chancellor Englebert Dollfuss, murdered by 
the Austrian Nazis in 1934 but they failed in an attempted coup, and four years later, Hitler 
annexed Austria to Germany. 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  19:57 
In Hungary, we'd go to these little villages and eat with the peasants and dance with them, and 
they-- oh, what's the name of it? Csárdás, where you go round and round and round and round 
and round. And I was having a wonderful time dancing with all these young men, but they were 
going so fast, so when we'd sit down to have a drink, I'd say, "Now teach me how to say slower. 
I want to say slower." So they did, and I practiced and I learned it. And so the next dance, they 
could hardly wait to get me on the floor. And we whirled and we whirled, and I'd say, "Slower, 
slower, slower." Come to find out I was saying "faster." [Laughs] They had taught me to say 
"faster."  
 
Elizabeth Gallery-Fox  20:50 
[Gasps] On purpose?  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  20:53 
On purpose [laughs].  
 
Elizabeth Gallery-Fox  20:53 
No wonder you would be whirled.  
 
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Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  20:59 
I was whirled. That was, oh, it was such fun. But there were no amenities for the women. 
Because ordinarily, the women didn't... I don't know how that happened. One place we went, I 
know we had to walk past the men and all the urinals to get to where we wanted to go, and that 
was a bit embarrassing. But everybody was doing it. I did it too. Oh, and we went out onto the 
puszta, and there's wonderful horsemen, and we saw them, and we heard the gypsy music, and, 
oh, how romantic. We went to a-- no, that was in Budapest. Then we went to Budapest and 
stayed in a sanitariam. Very clean, very inexpensive, wonderful food. Oh, the croissants and the 
coffee and the whipped cream for breakfast and a little dab of marmalade. And the whipped 
cream was supposed to go on the croissant, but I put mine in my coffee. And there we studied at 
the Royal Opera House, costume design and stage design. And this peasant came in one day and-
- with a big bundle, and she put it down on the floor and opened it out, and she had these 
gorgeous embroideries. So I bought two, and the artists there designed a dress for me. I'll show it 
to you. I still have it. I can't get into it anymore, but I have it. And so I came back to Seattle and 
bought beautiful black Forstmann wool and had it [?paid?] up. And then when I be asked to go 
out and speak or show my fields, I would wear this gorgeous dress. And I bought red, high-
heeled slippers to wear with it.  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  23:22 
And we went riding on the Danube. Oh, and one night they came to me-- Elma Pratt, who was 
the director of the school, and she said, "Betty Stetson is going with this young man to the wine 
place and so and so wants you to go with him, and he's thehandsomest man in Hungary." Well, 
Betty had the men falling at her feet everywhere she went. She was a beautiful young woman 
and very charming, and she knew what to do in every situation. And so I was a bit shy about 
going, but [?Irma?] said, "You'll be all right now, and half of Hungary would give the chance to 
go out with this young man. You'd better go." Well, I think I was very dull and very drab and but 
anyhow... I think I got his picture. Handsomest man would surely be handing out his picture, 
wouldn't he? 
 
Elizabeth Gallery-Fox  24:36 
[Laughs] Probably breaks a lot of hearts, too. 
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  24:40 
Oh, Betty was so wonderful. And this one man fell in love with Betty. And as we were leaving, 
the train was pulling out and got into the countryside and here was this young man on horseback 
with a big bouquet of red roses, galloping along beside the train to hand the roses up to Betty. Oh 
[laughs] she had them swimming [laughs].  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  25:03 
So then what did we do? Oh, yes, the two young men I'd met in England wanted to go to 
Germany, and we'd been corresponding [?all summer?] so I said, "Yes, I would come to 
Germany." So I sent the superintendent a telegram saying I'm going to be a month late [they 
laugh]. The audacity of it, "[?I'm not coming back?] [inaudible]." So I went-- and that was funny, 
too. I needed Hungarian money, and I needed Austrian money, and I needed Czech-- German 
money to complete this train trip. And of course, it was some sort of a Czechoslovakian or 
Hungarian-- was Hungarian, excuse me, some sort of a Hungarian holiday, and I couldn't get my 
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funds, couldn't cash anything, so I had to wait and take the train the next day. When my friends 
were to meet me, I pulled into the station, nobody there. I was a day late, you see, so I didn't 
know where they were, and here I was in Munich all by myself. Didn't know a soul. So I went to 
the hotel, and I went wandering around the streets, and I felt more at home in that city than I had 
in any city outside of Seattle. There were so many people that looked just like me [laughs] that I 
felt as home. And I went into a little sausage place, little delicatessen, and had a sausage and a 
bun for my dinner. And I walked to the American Express and left a note for my friends, hoping 
that they would go in to pick up mail and find me. And no telephone call. So the next day, I went 
down to the station at the time that I was supposed to come in, and there they were waiting for 
me.  
 
Eleanor Danner Bilimoria  27:43 
At that time... Oh, we spent a lot of time in the beer garden. The big Rathaus in Munich filled 
with Germans, men in these short Lederhosen and women in their little black velvet bodices and 
binge folds, flaring skirts, and you drink beer and you dance. You drink beer and you dance. You 
drink beer and you dance. While we're there, I worked up to three liters [they laugh]. That was a 
real accomplishment. I, who had never touched anything, never had any in our house. So in Time 
Magazine, it was saying how the German Nazis did not like the Americans, and we took the 
train-- of course, I must go back a minute. In Munich, the storm troopers were all over the place, 
marching, marching, marching. You know, you'd hear this thunderous plomp [imitates 
footsteps], [?go back in your hotel?]. We took the train to Oberammergau, and for some reason, 
we couldn't get tickets until Sunday morning. So we wandered around the village and saw 
everything there was to see. And at dinner, we decided that of the four of us, there were two of 
us who liked to get up early and two who liked to sleep in, and so the two early birds should go 
and get the tickets. So we met that morning and went to the-- had our breakfast and went to buy 
tickets. And it was such a crowd, and we stood in line and stood in line, stood in line, and finally, 
somebody came up when-- a man, and said, "I have tickets. You want tickets?' So we said, "Yes, 
we needed four." So we paid him what he asked. Our German wasn't very good. And then we 
hunted for the other two people. We couldn't find them. And we hunted and we hunted and we 
hunted, and it was such a crowd. Finally we decided, well, they must have gotten tickets on their 
own and gone in. So we wanted to sell these two extra tickets. So we finally completed the 
transaction, selling them for exactly what we were paid for. And we got tapped on the shoulder, 
and here was a soldier. that old German helmet with the spike on the top, "You're under arrest. 
Come with me." So he took us in and locked us up in the room. And in the meantime, an 
Englishman had come along, and he said, "You don't speak German very well." "No," we 
admitted it. "Well, I speak German. I will come along and I will help you." Well, he was no help 
at all. He argued that ignorance of the law is no excuse [laughs]. So we finally suggested that he 
go on that he was missing the play. And we talked and we talked and we talked and we weren't 
getting anywhere. Finally, they got it through their head that we-- you know, what had happened, 
that we hadn't made any money on these tickets. And I said, "Oh, the play has started, and we are 
going to miss it if we want to go in." And, "Please let us go." And so they did. We saw it, and 
then I was very disappointed in it. I thought it was-- emphasized too much the torture, and I did 
not come away a pan-- fan of the passion play. And then we traveled around Germany and 
painted and-- 
 