Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
As the Depression, family deaths, and financial worries burdened Jimmy, he lost weight, weakened, developed ulcers and contracted pneumonia, an illness that would revisit him in later years.
Doctor De Tata ordered him to take a long vacation whether he could afford to or not. So Jimmy borrowed money from Louie Dimitroff and took a cruise to the warmth of the Caribbean. Photographs of him in Jamaica are reminiscent of starved, gaunt refugees.
In the late 1930's, fear of war began to worry the people of Europe while "America First" became the cry of isolationist politicians in the New World. Jimmy found permanent work in 1938 as shop foreman in the firm of Fierstein & Fierstein on Seventh Avenue He began to recover physically, emotionally and financially. Little by little he paid his debts, joyfully fulfilling his obligations when he received a handsome bonus at Christmas in 1943.
On 29 January 1941, Demetrios ("Jimmy") A. Mavrovitis changed his, his wife's and his children's surname from Mavrovitis to Mavis, and his given name to James.
The reason for the name change is unclear. It is likely that Jimmy wanted to Anglicize it to benefit his children. He claimed to be tired of spelling it for people and of the difficulty in fitting it into small boxes on forms.
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