In 1918, at the age of eight, Marion wrote a letter to Santa that was published in the Selinsgrove Times. What it lacked in spelling it made up for in ambition:
At first glance, the list seems like a perfect example of a child navigating the gender conventions of the early twentieth century. But such a varied list was not unusual; the other letters printed in that issue of the Times showed girls asking for dresses, dolls, trains, and go-carts. After 1929, Marion’s former classmates would tell reporters that everyone considered him a “tomboy.” But that seems to have been more of an idea in his teen years, when he went by the nickname “Guss,” drove automobiles frequently, and generally stayed away from girls. TO THE LEFT is the Mount Carmel Item‘s report on Marion’s yearbook entry from 1928.
Due to a lack of sources, we can’t get into the interior life of the Bodmer family or the social world of Selinsgrove youth. At least, not directly. We have to rely on the remarks of the family and local residents to reporters in July 1929, at a time when plenty of people had reasons to sculpt the story in various ways. So we should take it with a grain of salt that, according to a few newspapers, the Bodmer parents had agreed at some point in the early-to-mid 1920s to move from the area.
Marion, so the story went, began to argue with Mary and Gus about having to dress as a girl, and they eventually decided to move and let him start living publicly as a boy in a new town. But Gus’s business success kept the family rooted in place; it was too hard for him to start again elsewhere when he was gathering steam in Selinsgrove. So they stayed. If these conversations did happen within the family, it’s likely that they happened “a few years” before 1929. That’s when Eugene learned the truth, according to a brief interview the older brother gave outside his house to a reporter from Harrisburg. Other reports, however, said that he found out only in the spring of 1929.
“Marian” in the Bodmer’s 1920 Census entry
Financially and socially, the Bodmers did well in the 1910s and 1920s. In 1921 they bought a house on Orange Street for Mary’s mother and brother. Gus, a Republican, was elected chief burgess of Selinsgrove in November 1921. He won re-election in 1925. Meanwhile, he entered the auto business mid-decade, advertising his Chandler Motor Car dealership from 1924 to 1927, when the Chandler brand started to decline nationally. Eugene worked with him, and they built a sales garage on Market Street in 1925. When he ended his car business, Gus returned to his position as master baker for the Sunbury Baking Company. Marion’s first year out of high school was spent at home with a private tutor, preparing him for admission to college.
This was an upper-middle-class Selinsgrove family, one whose leisurely exploits made the paper every month or so. Gus had stayed in touch with friends from Harrisburg, so the Selinsgrove Times noted when the Bodmers drove to Harrisburg to socialize or hosted people in Selinsgrove. Mary’s attendance at social and charitable gatherings were also noted. As connected as they were to the civic life of the town, the parents faced a dilemma. They had many incentives to continue the deception, opting not to rock the boat and threaten their engaged public lives. But they seemingly had a son who wanted out of the act, and with their level of clout in town, they would have been able to withstand the turbulence more than many.