Monte J. Wax, 1886-1944
Monte J.6 Wax (Hinda Binnard5,
Abram4, Mosiek3, Jakob2, Lewin1),
only child of Henry and Hinda (Binnard) Wax, was born 21 August 1886 at
Lewiston, Idaho.[1] On
the 1900 census he is called Montefaore (Montefiore) Wax,[2] which
could indicate he was named for Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, a famous British financier, banker,
philanthropist, and Sheriff of London who died at age 100 in
1885. In the 1906 city directory of Portland, Oregon, Monte is called
Montague J. Wax.[3] On
all other records he is called Monte Wax or Monte J. Wax.
Monte was raised at Grangeville, Idaho, where his father was a merchant[4] and later the town mayor.[5] He attended secondary school for three years at Bishop Scott Academy, a military school in Portland, Oregon,[6] where he won a special prize, a silver medal, in June 1901.[7] In 1905, when Monte was 19, his father, Henry, passed away.[8] His mother, Hinda, moved to Portland. In the 1906 city directory, both Hinda and Monte are boarding at 374 Yamhill, and "Montague" is working as a salesman for M. Seller & Co.[9] During the next few years he worked at a variety of jobs. In 1907, while still living in Portland, he was a representative for a San Francisco importing house.[10] In 1912 he was floor manager for the Palace department store in Spokane[11] and was also manager for a Japanese aviator, Koba Taksishi, who was in the process of raising money to finance a flight from Lewiston to San Diego.[12] Perhaps that led to his next job, in 1913, when he was manager for McClellan Aviation Company of Kellogg, Montana.[13] By 1916 he was back in Portland, where he was a notary public and manager of his own company, Wax Special Service, which focused on special sales, business opportunities, and collections.[14] Monte was still in that occupation when he registered for the draft in World War I, claiming to be the sole support of his mother, but not claiming exemption.[15] In December 1917 he was in the Oregon National Guard, serving as supply sergeant in Company A of the First Battalion.[16] In a list of men drafted published in the Oregonian on 20 May 1918, he was listed as an alternate,[17] and two months later, in July, he was still in Portland, having been promoted to lieutenant in the guard.[18] After the war, in 1920, Monte expanded his business in Portland to include advertising and promotions.[19] In 1924 he was manager at the Choral Manufacturing Company, makers of polish,[20] and in 1925 he was selling music and musical merchandise.[21] In 1928 he was manager of the Record Exchange Store, where his mother worked as a saleswoman.[22] About 1925 Monte was convicted in Portland of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was fined $1000 and sentenced to one year in jail. He appealed his conviction to a higher court and the jury found him not guilty.[23] In 1930 Monte became exploitation manager and publicity director of a new amusement park in Portland, Lotus Isle.[24] One of the exhibitions at the park was a log-rolling contest between Pete Hooper and Vic Greenwood, two lumberjacks from the northwest. Monte arranged for them to perform at the 1932 World's Fair in Chicago, and in Miami in 1933.[25] Soon he was the promoter for a troupe of logrollers.[26] His star was world-champion Sam Harris of Washington State, a small man who could turn a log over in the water with his feet 99 times in two minutes. John Lardner wrote in the Richmond Times Dispatch, "the small Mr. Harris and the ingenious Mr. Monte J. Wax move on from river to river, lake to lake, world's champion to world's champion, stumblebum to stumblebum, treading in the footsteps of the great Paul Bunyan."[27] Another reporter noted that Monte "applies his surname to the points of his moustache."[28] In 1935 the troupe performed at Jones Beach on Long Island,[29] at the Centennial Pageant in Rochester, New York,[30] and the Exposition in San Diego.[31] Monte lived in Los Angeles in 1935, according to the answer he gave on the 1940 census. Still in Los Angeles in 1940, he said his occupation was actor in the film industry and noted that he had worked eight weeks in 1939, earning $500.[32] In 1941, on his draft registration, he stated that he was a motion picture actor who worked on call for "any studio that required his services." When asked to give the name of a person who would always know his address he named his aunt, Mrs. Samuel Goldstone of Lewiston, Idaho,[33] although his mother was still living and was in California at the time. Monte never married or had children. He died of a heart attack at his home in Los Angeles on 13 December 1944.[34] A graveside service was conducted by the Elks Lodge at Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston on 16 January 1945.[35] _________________________ [1] "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 October 2012), card for Monte J. Wax, no. 83, Draft Board 2, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon; citing NARA microfilm M1509. [2]1900 U.S. census, Grangeville Village, Grangeville Precinct, Idaho County, Idaho, enumeration district 123, sheet 4B, dwelling 69, family 72, entry for Montefaore, son, household of Henry Wax; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 October 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1240233. Monte is also enumerated in 1900 in Portland, Oregon, where he was a student at the Bishop Scott Academy: 1900 U.S. census, 11th Precinct, Portlan, Multnomah County, Oregon, enumeration district 221, sheet 13B, dwelling 205, family 236, entry for Monte Wax, boarder; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 October 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1241349. [3] Portland City Directory, 1906 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1906), 1119. [4] "Henry Wax," An illustrated History of the State of Idaho (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1899), 513-514. [5] "Body Taken to Lewiston; Remains of Late Henry Wax, First Mayor of Grangeville," Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 17 April 1905, p. 7. [6] "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 October 2012), card for Monte J. Wax, no. 83, Draft Board 2, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon; citing NARA microfilm M1509. [7] "End of the School Year," Morning Oregonian, 20 Jun 1901, p. 8. [8] "Body Taken to Lewiston: Remains of Late Henry Wax, First Mayor of Grangeville." [9] Portland City Directory 1906 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1906), 1119. [10] “Gleanings,” Lewiston Morning Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho), 16 August 1907, p. 6 [11] R.L. Polk and Co.'s Spokane City Directory (Including Hillyard), Volume Twenty-One, 1912 (Spokane, Washington: R.L. Polk & Co.), 1218. [12] "Twenty Years Ago Today : from the Lewiston Morning Tribune, Nov. 2, 1912," Lewiston Morning Tribune, 2 November 1932, p. 6 [13] "To Make Auto Sleighs," Lewiston Morning Tribune, 14 September 1913, p. 13. [14] Polk's Portland City Directory, 1916 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1916), 1242, 1458. [15] "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 October 2012), card for Monte J. Wax. [16] "Citizens of Portland Have Good Reason to Be Proud of Multnomah Guard, Purely Voluntary Organization to Be Used in Emergencies," The Sunday Oregonian, 30 December 1917, p. 14. [17] "List of Drafted Being Prepared," The Morning Oregonian, 20 May 1918, p. 14. [18] "Drill is Strenuous: Company A, of Oregon Guard, Puts in Day at Park," The Morning Oregonian, 29 July 1918, p. 4. [19] Polk's Portland City Directory, 1920 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1920), 1483. [20] Ibid (1924), 468, 1693. [21] Ibid (1925), 1822. [22] Ibid (1928), 1619. [23] “News in Brief,” The Morning Oregonian, 28 May 1925, p. 11. [24] "Rolleo Stars to Return: Lotus Isle Plans Big Program for Labor Day," Oregonian, 28 August 1930, p. 6. [25] "Water Carnival Slated Today," Miami Daily News, 24 December 1933, p. 11. [26] "National Tourney in N. Y. Sought by N. W. Logroller," Seattle Daily Times, 29 Jun3 1934, p. 5. [27] John Lardner, "From the Press Box," Richmond Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), 14 July 1934, p. 10. [28] "Monte J. Wax Declares Log-Rolling Eventually Will Sweep Country as Major Sport; Water Is No Problem," Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada), 20 June 1934, p. 5. [29] "Monte Wax Gives New York Thrill with Log Rollers from Northwest," Lewiston Morning Tribune, 23 July 1934, p. 5. [30] "Real Lumber Jacks to Show Kids Log Rolling in Park Pool," Rochester Evening Journal (Rochester, New York), 6 August 1934, p. 6 [31] "Champion Log Rollers Obtain Space at Expo," San Diego Union, 17 May 1935, p. 12. [32] 1940 U.S. Census, Block 18, Ward 55, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, enumeration district 60-945, page 7, household 534, entry for Monte J. Wax, lodger, household of Mildred King; NARA microfilm T637, roll 392. He is not the same person as the actor Monte Wax who was born in Minnesota in 1886 and died in 1988 in Long Beach, California. [33] "United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V4DW-ZDZ : accessed 02 Oct 2012), Monte J Wax, 1942; citing NARA microfilm publications M1939, M1936, and M1937; Family History Library microfilm 2425124. [34] "Monte Wax, 58, Dead; Native of Lewiston," Lewiston Morning Tribune, 15 December 1944, p. 14. [35] "News in Brief," Lewiston Morning Tribune, 16 January 1945, p. 8. |