University of California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office California Historical Society The Bancroft Library San Francisco, California University of California Berkeley, California California Historical Society Oral History Series A. Jess Shenson, M.D. DRS. BEN AND A. JESS SHENSON: OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SERVICE TO SAN FRANCISCO IN MEDICINE, MUSIC, AND ART With Introductions by Eugene A. Bauer, M.D. Michael McCone Nancy Bechtle Reid Dennis Interviews Conducted by Caroline Crawford in 1997 Copyright 1998 by the California Historical Society and The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the Nation. Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well- informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************************ All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between the California Historical Society, The Regents of the University of California, and Dr. A. Jess Shenson dated March 5, 1998. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the California Historical Society and The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Librarian of the California Historical Society or the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Librarian, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco 94105 or the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The legal agreement with Dr. A. Jess Shenson requires that he be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: A. Jess Shenson, M.D., "Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson: Over One Hundred Years of Service to San Francisco in Medicine, Music, and Art," an oral history conducted in 1997 by Caroline Cooley Crawford, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1998. Copy no. Drs. A. Jess and Ben Shenson in 1995, Cataloging information SHENSON, A. Jess, M.D. (b. 1921) Medical doctor and philanthropist Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson: Over One Hundred Years of Service to San Francisco in Medicine. Music, and Art. 1998, xi, 226 pp. Family background and early years; the Shenson brothers and kosher markets in San Francisco in the 1880s; I. Shainin and Company; the life and work of California painter Theodore Wores, his works in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the White House and Blair House, Washington, D.C., the National Museum of American Art, Stanford University, the Honolulu Academy of Art, the Triton Museum; Stanford University and Medical School in the 19AOs; practicing medicine in San Francisco and at St. Francis Hospital, 1948 to the present; Mae Helene Boggs and My Playhouse was a Stagecoach; Shenson family involvement with and support of the California Historical Society, the Merola Opera Program, San Francisco Opera and Symphony, San Francisco and Asian Youth Orchestras, museums, scholarships and support funds for young artists; thoughts on travel, medical practice and civic responsibility. A. Introductions by Eugene Bauer, M.D. , Stanford University School of Medicine; Michael McCone, Director, California Historical Society; Nancy Bechtle, President, Board of Governors, San Francisco Symphony; and Reid W. Dennis, Chairman, San Francisco Opera Association. Interviews conducted by Caroline Cooley Crawford in 1997 for the California Historical Society Oral History series, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. TABLE OF CONTENTS--A. Jess Shenson, M.D. PREFACE by Michael McCone i INTRODUCTION by Eugene A. Bauer, M.D. ii INTRODUCTION by Michael McCone iii INTRODUCTION by Nancy Bechtle iv INTRODUCTION by Reid W. Dennis v INTERVIEW HISTORY vi BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION viii I EARLY FAMILY HISTORY 1 From Russia to San Francisco: Aaron and Fanny Shenson 1 The Shenson Markets: 1880s to 1930s 4 Rose and Louis Shenson 7 A Farm in Vacaville 8 Family Homes 9 I. Shainin and Company 12 Shopping and Cooking: Family Pastimes 16 Life in the Depression 18 Schools, Music and Other Family Activities 20 San Francisco Families and Associations 25 Major Influences 26 II THE WORK OF THEODORE WORES AND SHENSON PATRONAGE 28 Theodore Wores and Carrie Wores 28 Rose Shenson and Carrie Wores: A Close Relationship 29 Restoring and Exhibiting Wores 1 Work: 1968 30 Charles Gould of the S.F. Examiner and the Resurrection of Wores' Work 32 The Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara and a Traveling Exhibit 33 Wores' Early Years Studies in Munich: 1875 36 Living and Painting in Japan: 1885-1888 38 Theodore and the Art of Portraiture 40 Promoting Theodore Wores' Work and Traveling with Rose Shenson 42 Acquiring "The Chinese Fishmonger": 1968 44 Finding and Purchasing "A Rural Village": 1970 45 Finding "A Japanese House, Nikko, Japan": 1976 47 Dr. William Gerdts, Clement Conger and the White House: 1972 50 Museum AcquisitionsThe Metropolitan Museum of Art and Wores' "Street in Ikao" : 1973 54 An Exhibit in Japan and Lizzie Victor and "The Lei Maker" Find a Home in Hawaii: 1988 55 President Clinton Gives "The Iris Gardens" to Japan: 1995 59 The Hawaiian Exhibition of 1994 61 III MEDICAL SCHOOL AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 62 Choosing Stanford and Stanford Medical School 62 Wartime Service at Camp White and in the Pacific: 1943-1945 67 Coming Home to Stanford Medical School: 1945-1950 71 Remembering the Medical School Faculty 74 Medical Research in the 1950s 77 Ben Shenson Establishes a Practice: 1948; Jess Shenson Joins Him: 1951 78 Practicing at St. Francis Hospital 83 The Changing Practice of Medicine: A Day in the Life of the Shensons 84 Medical Meetings and Associations 88 Longstanding Patients 91 Office Staff 92 A Special House on Washington Street 93 IV A LONG INVOLVEMENT WITH THE MEROLA OPERA PROGRAM AND OTHER ASSOCIATIONS 101 The Merola Program in the Early Years: The 1950s 101 Major Developments 103 Grand Finals Auditions 104 Fundraising for the Program 105 Creation of the S.F. Opera Center: Adler Fellows 107 Sponsoring MOP Singers 109 Chairing the San Francisco District Metropolitan Opera Auditions: 1971-1978 110 The Performing Arts Library and Museum 116 San Francisco Opera Board: 1992-1997 118 Supporting the San Francisco Symphony: The 1987 Shenson Young Artist Debut Fund 120 The Rose Shenson Opera Scholarship Fund: 1977 125 The San Francisco Youth Orchestra and Asian Youth Orchestra: 1987 125 V TRAVELING THE WORLD 132 First Travels in the Orient: 1954 132 Trips to Europe, North Africa, Burma, India and Sri Lanka: 1956-1964 137 Visiting Hawaii and Setting up the Wores Exhibit at the East West Center in Honolulu: 1970, 1971 139 Travels with Ben Shenson: 1984 141 Washington, D.C., New York, and a Birthday Party: 1985 143 The Shanghai Conservatory: 1986 146 Honored by Merola; A Temple Emanu-El Endowment; Thoughts About Giving: 1991 148 Honored by the Hebrew Union College, 1992; Art Tours and a "Weak" in Provence, 1994 150 Honored by the CHS: 1994 153 The Last Holiday Letter-- 1996 154 Looking Back on a Charmed Life 155 TAPE GUIDE 157 APPENDIX A The Shenson family holiday letters: 1970 to 1997 158 B "The Widow's Remarkable Gallery," San Francisco Examiner, November 12, 1967 188 C "The Shensons Resurrect an Artist," Stanford M.D. , Summer/Fall, 1971 193 D Distinguished Service Award of the Stanford Medical Alumni Association, presented to Dr. Jess Shenson on April 23, 199A 196 E Remarks made by Dr. Albert Shumate and Dr. William Gerdts at a California Historical Society luncheon honoring Ben and Jess Shenson, November 1, 1994 197 F Remarks entitled "The Doctors Shenson: Doing a Good Job Is Its Own Reward," April, 1995, in connection with the Shenson Award to honor outstanding St. Francis Hospital employees 205 G Letter to Dr. Jess Shenson from President Clinton regarding the presentation of "Iris Garden, Hori-Kiri, Tokyo" to the Emperor and Empress of Japan, December 26, 1995 209 H Invitation to and remarks by Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce at a memorial concert for Dr. Ben Shenson, Sunday, December 14, 1997 210 I Participants of the Rose Shenson Opera Scholarship Fund, the Merola Opera Program, 1977-1997; Shenson Young Artists, sponsored through San Francisco Performances, San Francisco Symphony and CAL Performances, 1987-1997 213 J "Theodore Wores; Paintings from California to Japan," by Dr. William Gerdts, 1998 214 K St. Francis Hospital's photographic portrait of the Drs. Shenson, April 1995 218 INDEX 223 PREFACE by Michael McCone History is the stories we tell, the songs we sing, and the letters we write, recording eyewitness testimony through memory and opinion about the people and events of our time.