Paris and Paris
The Biography of Bette Sraberg
and Reynold Paris
Beverly Hills, California
2003
Lifetime Biography
Copyright 2003 all rights reserved
(800) 458-2464
Paris and Paris
Bette Sraberg was born February 12, 1925 at her parent’s
home in Brockton, Massachusetts which is about 20 miles
south of Boston. She was named Betty Sraberg at birth;
however when she was older she changed the spelling of her
first name from Betty to Bette in honor of Bette Davis. Bette
is the youngest of five children, and she suspects that she
was born to be the replacement for her older brother Joseph
who died of scarlet fever when he was very young.
Reynold Paris was born in 1922. He resembles his father
and was named after his father’s sister Rachel who died of a
the flu during an epidemic before she was able to come to
America
After many years of marriage, raising five children and
working together daily in their Law firm, the two are still
dear friends and sweethearts. If you are around them, you
will see them hold hands and laugh together often.
1
Table of Contents
Bette Sraberg .......................................................... 3
Personal and Family History ..............................................3
Father Samuel Sraberg ...................................................3
Mother Ida Golding ........................................................3
Grandparents ..................................................................5
Growing-up ........................................................................6
Day to Day .....................................................................6
School Years ..................................................................6
Reynold Paris .......................................................... 8
Personal and Family History ..............................................8
Father Paris ....................................................................8
Mother Paris ...................................................................8
Grandparents ..................................................................9
Family Life .......................................................................10
School Years and Military Service ..................................10
Rey and Bette Paris .............................................. 13
Love and Romance ...........................................................13
School Years ....................................................................13
Earning A Living..............................................................14
Children ............................................................................15
Beliefs and Expectations ..................................................18
Favorites Now and Then ..................................................18
Leisure Time ....................................................................18
Predictions ........................................................................18
Politics and People ...........................................................18
Standard Pedigree Tree ....................................... 19
Table of Figures .................................................... 20
Bette and Reynold Paris
Bette Sraberg
Personal and Family History
Father Samuel Sraberg
Samuel Sraberg was born in Ponadel, Lithuania, and it is
possible that Lithuania was still a part of Russia at the time
of his birth. The exact date of his birth is unknown because
the records are incomplete which has led to much
speculation about his true age. Samuel immigrated to
America via Ellis Island while he was still very young.
Throughout his life he was very intelligent and vibrant, not
someone who could easily be pinned down.
Sometime after immigrating to America, Samuel moved
to Brockton, Massachusetts and began working in the shoe
factories. At that time, Brockton was the shoe capital of the
world, and it was filled with many shoe factories.
Eventually, Samuel left the shoe business and studied real
estate. He bought two properties and transformed them into
rooming houses, which were similar to modern day hotels.
The rooming houses became his income.
Mother Ida Golding
Ida Golding was born in America in the state of
Massachusetts. She had two older sisters named Fanny and
Sarah, as well as one younger sister named Katie. They were
all very beautiful women. As adults, Fanny was very
religious and lived in Chelsea. Sarah was always very driven
and ambitious, a “go-getter” as Bette has said of her. Sarah
was married many times and had a daughter named Dede,
who is now deceased. Sarah had no formal education,
however she was brilliant. She lived in Los Angeles,
California before she passed away. Katie was somewhat of a
bitter person. She was married and became Katie Fineburg.
3
Bette and Reynold Paris
Katie’s husband was a fruit merchant and would sell dried
fruit to the Sears-Roebuck Company.
Together, Samuel and Ida had five children, of which
Bette is the youngest. Myer is the oldest child. He was born
in Massachusetts and is many years older than Bette. Alice
came after Myer in 1918. Next, Ben was born and then
Joseph who died young from scarlet fever. Finally Bette
arrived in 1925. All of the children in the family had
beautiful blue eyes.
Myer was a thin man with fair skin, blue eyes, and curly
hair. He was a brilliant man and had intelligence that came
from within even though he had little formal education. He
graduated from Brockton High School, but his education did
not continue past this. Growing up, Myer played the violin.
He was also very hyper and ambitious. After graduating high
school, Myer started his own tire business in Quincy,
Massachusetts where he sold tires. During World War II,
Myer’s business specialized in used tires because new tires
were not being made. This was very profitable because any
tires were greatly desired at the time.
When Bette was in third grade, Myer married. He had
three children; a daughter Estelle, and two sons named Jack
and Jerry. Myer loved Bette very much. He admired her
because she was very bright and intelligent.
Alice was the second oldest in the family and she was
eight years older than Bette. Because Ida was not a very
strong person, Alice took charge and became a sort of semimother for the family. She took care of Bette and taught her
to read before Bette even started school. She was very
attractive; however she was also somewhat bossy which
probably came from having to take care of the family from a
young age. Alice had trouble finding a job because the family
4
Bette and Reynold Paris
was Jewish, and they lived in a small and anti-Semitic town.
Alice was very happy when their family moved to Boston,
Massachusetts because it opened up opportunities for her to
work.
Alice was married and had a son before Bette and Rey
had even met. Bette first dated the man that Alice later would
marry, but she did not like him, so they broke up. Alice liked
him, and they started dating; soon they fell in love and were
married. Alice’s husband was in the United States Army and
moved to Boston after basic training.
He was somewhat domineering however he loved Alice
very much. Alice and her husband lived with her mother and
did most of the cooking and cleaning. Alice was always very
firm with her children about eating. She always made them
finish their entire meal, whether they wanted to or not. She
was very obsessive about eating, and her children now resent
that part of her.
Ben is the second youngest in the family. According to
Bette he had a very “benign” personality and was very goodnatured. Because of his sweet disposition, people took
advantage of Ben, even his own wife! At an early age Ben
moved out of the house and lived with Myer and he also
worked in the tire business. Myer also took advantage of him.
Ben was not very good in school; however he was a very
easy-going person and loved Bette very much. After living
with Myer, he moved out on his own and lived in Walton,
Massachusetts.
Grandparents
Bette’s maternal grandmother, Reba Esther Golding, was
born in Boston, Massachusetts.
5
Bette and Reynold Paris
Growing-up
Day to Day
Growing up, Bette loved to play hopscotch, which she did
very well. During first grade, the school physician discovered
that Bette has scarlet fever so he sent a note home to her
mother with the information. Of course, her mother was very
afraid, especially since Bette’s older brother had died from
this. The doctor told Ida that Bette was to have very limited
physical activity; therefore Bette was not able to participate
in any sports or highly physical games while she was
growing up.
Bette had many girlfriends while in school, and they
would frequently play together after school. One of their
favorite things to do was playing with paper dolls. In the
evening, Bette would not help her mother much with the
dinner or other housework because, as Bette says it herself,
she was very “un-domestic”.
Bette lived with her family in Brockton, Massachusetts
until her senior year when the family moved to Boston. The
main reason for the move was the family’s desire for a larger
social life. Brockton was a very small town and had very few
people. Bette’s mother wanted to make sure that there were
enough Jewish men available to find husbands for her
daughters. Bette considers Brockton to be her home town.
She describes it as a very small town, however despite its
size; it was the shoe capital of the world.
School Years
Throughout her school years, Bette was an excellent
student. She received A’s in all of her subjects, and her
husband Rey describes her as being very “cerebral”. Bette
knew how to read before she began school. He older sister,
6
Bette and Reynold Paris
Alice, loved to play schoolteacher, and Bette played along as
the student. This playing paid off, as Bette skipped
kindergarten and went straight into first grade at age six.
Bette went to Lincoln Elementary School in Brockton.
This elementary school was very small, having only one class
per grade with between 20-30 students in each class. School
started early in the morning and lasted until around 3:30pm.
The same teacher taught all the subjects to the class, so there
were no switching classrooms during the day. The students
went home during lunch hour, and returned to school when
they were finished. Lincoln Elementary School is still an
active school in Brockton today.
In her early elementary school years, Bette recalls a story
of her teacher thinking she had plagiarized an assignment
because it was written so well. Bette had been given an
assignment to describe a photograph. She was given a photo
of the painting “Blue Boy”. Well, Bette did an excellent job,
and the teacher accused her of copying the paper from books
in the library. She later found out that the paper was Bette’s
original work.
Though Bette was excellent at all academic subjects, in
either fourth or fifth grade, she discovered that she was not
so good at home economics. She quickly learned that sewing
and cooking were her weaknesses, however she was still able
to earn an ‘A’ in the class because of the written assignments
and tests that were required. In her senior year of high
school, Bette moved with her family from Brockton to
Boston. The schools in Boston were very different from
those she had attended in Brockton, especially since they
were not co-ed.
7
Bette and Reynold Paris
Reynold Paris
Personal and Family History
Father Paris
Rey’s father was born in 1888. He had three brothers:
Oscar, Joseph, and Maurice, and a sister named Rachel.
Rachel died in a flu epidemic before she was able to come to
America. While Rey was growing up, his father was not a
good role model. Sadly, he suffered migraine headaches and
was physically abusive toward his family. He sold
Metropolitan Life Insurance for a living, drove nice cars and
liked to take the family on vacations in the family car.
Rey’s father immigrated to America from Poland. He met
his future wife on the ship on the way to the United States.
Before coming to America, his last name was Harris;
however his name was changed to Paris at Ellis Island. He
and his wife were married in 1912, and they had their first
child, Frieda in 1914. Rey was born in 1922. There was an
eight year difference between the children, it is suspected due
to Rey’s father contracting tuberculosis. Because of this
tuberculosis, Rey’s father had to live in a sanitarium.
Rey’s father highly valued education and he graduated
from high school in the United States. At this time,
graduating from high school was a huge accomplishment and
fairly rare. At home, he spoke Yiddish.
Mother Paris
Rey’s mother was born in 1889. She had two sisters and
two brothers: Mary, Sadie, Frank, and Harry. Sadie married
Rey’s uncle on his father’s side. Frank changed his last name
from Fleischer to Farber. Harry was a member of the Purple
Gang in Detroit, Michigan. Rey’s mother was a very
8
Bette and Reynold Paris
comforting woman, however she was also very smart and
quick witted. She did not get a high education and had to
work in a sweatshop making clothing. She worked as a single
person before she was married, however fortunately she did
not have to work after she was married. She was a great
housewife and a wonderful cook. She was also very
meticulous about cleaning. Rey’s mother was very good to
him, and she loved him greatly.
Rey has one older sister named Frieda who was born on
March 14, 1914; eight and a half years before Rey was born.
Frieda was very small framed; she stood around 5’1” and
weighed less than 100 pounds. For a while Frieda attended
Porsche Law School in Boston where she was a fair student;
however she did not finish at this school.
Frieda was very artistic and was a talented artist and
pianist. However, she had a bad temper and Rey would
constantly taunt her. Rey was still living at home when
Frieda was married. After her marriage, she had a son named
Norman who Rey would baby sit.
Grandparents
Rey’s paternal grandmother was a Hebrew woman
named Mina. She lived in Massachusetts after she had
immigrated to America. Rey’s paternal grandfather was an
English man named Nathan. Rey’s maternal grandmother’s
name was Beatrice, and his maternal grandfather’s name was
Jaimen.
9
Bette and Reynold Paris
Family Life
Growing up Rey was an avid reader. He loved works by
London, Dickens, and stories of World War I. Rey also loved
philosophy. His father urged this liking; however he did not
force it upon Rey. Because of this, Rey would often discuss
philosophy with his father. Rey particularly liked a Jewish
philosopher named Stenoski. The church in Holland
excommunicated Stenoski because he did not agree with the
concept of God in human form. Stenoski believed that there
were natural laws that governed the seasons, the heavens, and
life, and these laws were the best representation of God. Rey
enjoyed Stenoski and could both understand and relate to his
views.
Rey’s family took a few road trips while he was growing
up. They visited upstate New York, Washington D.C., and
went to a farm in New Hampshire. One summer they stayed
at a resort in Winthrop, Massachusetts. Rey’s father was an
automobile insurance salesman and had to have a nice car to
elicit sales. Rey remembers his father driving a 1926 Nash
Automobile, a 1932 Chevy, and a 1936 Chevy. Rey enjoyed
cars when he was a young child and could name all the cars
that he saw.
School Years and Military Service
While in sixth grade, Rey’s teacher, Mrs. Whittier
recommended that he enroll in the Boston Latin School. His
parents took this advice and Rey attended the Boston Latin
School from seventh through twelfth grade. While attending
this school, Rey studied Spanish six years, French and
German two years.
When Rey was in Latin School he joined a social club
called the Spartans. It consisted of a brilliant group of boys.
The key book for this group was called “Robert’s Rules of
10
Bette and Reynold Paris
Order”. At some point in each of their lives, all the boys
from this club served in the military. This group produced
judges, lawyers, doctors, dentists, and even a Nobel Prize
winner. This was a very stimulating group of people, and
they helped Rey develop while he was attending school.
Those from this group who remain living still have contact
with each other. Rey also worked in the office of the National
Youth Authority while he was attending Boston Latin
School. During that time he would listen to the Boston
Braves, a baseball team which is now located in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Rey volunteered for service while attending Georgetown
University. He first applied to the U.S. Navy and U.S.
Marines however he was denied acceptance because of his
poor eyesight. He then applied to the Unites States Army
and was accepted in February of 1943. He was stationed for a
short time at Fort Lee, Virginia, which is also a processing
center for new recruits. Next, Rey went to Miami Beach,
Florida and joined the Air Corps, a part of the Army at the
time. Soon after arriving in Miami Beach, Rey developed
pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital where he stayed
for many weeks.
After being discharged from the hospital Rey went to
basic training at Camp Crowder, Missouri. Above his regular
training, Rey also trained as a teletype operator. Soon, Rey
joined the Army Specialized Training Program through the
language division. For this training Rey was sent to Carlton
College in Minnesota. Though Rey qualified for Spanish, the
Army put him in a German class. During this time Rey went
from being a Private to being a Private First Class. Rey loved
this time of his Army life, and stayed at Carlton College for
six months before it closed due to the Battle of the Bulge.
11
Bette and Reynold Paris
In December 1944, the Army sent Rey to Fort Leonard
Wood in Missouri where he joined the 73rd infantry division.
After being at Fort Leonard Wood for one day, Rey was
given a bayonet rifle and sent on a drill. Up to this point Rey
had never operated a rifle before. Soon after, the Army
moved Rey to Fort Benning, Georgia. He became a Signal
Radio Switchboard Operator where he intercepted and
translated German radio messages. After this, Rey was
moved to Camp Campbell in Kentucky where he joined the
20th armored division. Along with all of this, Rey went to
Germany and worked in interpretation and radio intelligence
for the G5 military government group in which he would
interpret for both the colonel and the mayor.
12
Bette and Reynold Paris
Rey and Bette Paris
Love and Romance
Bette met her husband Rey at a subway station in Boston
the night that the lights were first turned on after the war. She
and her sister had gone into Boston to see the lights; however
it was so crowded, they could not enjoy it and decided to go
home. Because the city was so crowded that night, they had
to go through many subway stations until they found one
empty enough to board. They finally boarded the subway,
and there they met Rey. Bette remembers checking Rey’s
military tags to make sure that he was Jewish.
School Years
Though her siblings were all very smart, Bette was the
only one of them to go to college. She first attended the
Boston University College of Administrative Studies and
majored in accounting. After graduating there with high
honors, she went on to law school. She was a year ahead of
Rey in law school, and the competition was very large at the
school. She graduated cum latte and second in her class.
When Bette took the Massachusetts Bar Exam, she received
the top score in the state at that time. Rey worked in the
library during Law school. Both he and Bette worked on the
Law Review.
Rey passed the Massachusetts State Bar Exam after his
second try. Since he did average on the written exam, he had
to be interviewed. Bette was in labor with their first child
when his interview was scheduled, however Rey still
attended the interview. Well, not surprisingly Rey did not
pass this interview, his mind was pre-occupied with Bette’s
circumstances, however he was given a second chance
13
Bette and Reynold Paris
because of the situation surrounding the interview. The
second time around Rey passed.
Rey and Bette moved to California in November of 1950.
Earlier in his life Rey had been stationed with the Army in
Cancook, California which is right outside Vandenburg,
California. During this time he went to Los Angeles and it
was very intriguing to him. Also, Bette’s brother Myer
moved to California early in his career so they had family
there.
After graduating law school, Bette found an
advertisement for a law book publishing company in San
Francisco, California. They sent her a test by mail which she
passed. She accepted and editing job with the company. Rey
also accepted a job with the same company. At this time they
had one child, Richard, and decided to move to California.
After arriving in California, Bette did very well with the
company, and she even published an article in a law journal.
Within a year, Rey stopped working for the company and
moved to Los Angeles where he stayed with Myer for a short
time. He began working for MacDonnell-Douglas in the
computer department. Bette and Richard moved down to be
with Rey in Los Angeles, California in 1951.
Earning A Living
After moving to San Francisco, California, both Rey and
Bette worked at a law book publishing company. Soon after
that Rey left that company and began working at
MacDonnell-Douglass in Los Angeles. Rey stopped working
at MacDonnell-Douglas to study for the California State Bar
Exam. He collected unemployment during this time and Bette
shortly worked for a company called Northrop. After Bette
passed the California State Bar Exam in 1952, she put a work
wanted advertisement in the Los Angeles Law Journals. She
14
Bette and Reynold Paris
then began working for Rosenthal and Hesky Law Firm in
Beverly Hills, California. She only worked for them for a
short time because she quit to help Rey study for the Bar
Exam.
After Rey passed the California State Bar Exam after
Bette in 1952, he began working for Bernard Flakston,
Attorney at Law. Though Rey did not like working for him,
he worked there for approximately two years. This job held
valuable as it taught him how to try a lawsuit. During this
time, Bette worked for Leo Sherman at Moss and Sherman
Law Firm. Quickly after this, Bette opened her own office at
215th West 7th Street in Beverley Hills. A short time later Rey
joined her in this office, and Paris and Paris Law Firm
officially opened in1955 at the same office Bette had opened
on her own.
Since Bette was such an excellent writer, she would do
most of the writing. She would write the briefs, the appeals,
and draw up the complaints for lawsuit cases. She loved
working in this firm and was a very intense and driven
attorney, in fact, Rey says that she “lived her law practice”.
Rey did much of the maintenance, though he also had a share
of the law cases.
Children
Bette and Rey have five children; two sons and three
daughters. Their first child, Richard, was born just a few days
after Bette passed the Massachusetts State Bar Exam in 1947.
Richard looks much like Rey and has blue eyes like Bette.
Their second child, Jeffrey was born in 1953 after Rey and
Bette had opened their own law office. Jeffrey has brown
eyes; however he claims they are hazel. Jeffrey is very “street
savvy” as Rey and Bette would say.
15
Bette and Reynold Paris
Rey and Bette adopted the three children of Bette’s sister
Alice when she died in 1959 of breast cancer. There was
some enmity between the children and their father and the
children chose to live with Rey and Bette. There was a
custody battle surrounding this in which Rey and Bette lost.
However, the father never chose to execute the order of the
court so the children were adopted by them. Robert was the
oldest of the three children, and then there were two girls:
Janice and Lorna. When they moved in with Rey and Bette,
Robert was 14, Janice was 13, and Lorna was 11 or 12.
After a short time, Lorna felt drawn to her father and felt
that she had a responsibility to help him, so she moved back
with him. After staying with him for awhile, she left her
father because she was being abused by her step mother and
went back to Rey and Bette by her own accord. Lorna went
to college in Arizona. She married while in college and Rey
and Bette did not approve of this. She later divorced her
husband, changed her last name to Paris, and moved back to
Rey and Bette. Today she runs her own business.
All of Rey and Bette’s five children attended Beverley
Hills High School, and all five of them graduated from
college. Janice has a doctorate degree in Education. She is
married and has two daughters, the youngest of which was
adopted. Richard was very smart and graduated Phi Betta
Kappa from the University of Southern California. Richard
was granted a Fellowship to Cornell University to do
cognitive psychology, however he chose law school after a
while at Cornell. He is currently mediates in San Raphael,
California.
Jeffrey is brilliant and went to school in New York and
he transferred to the University of California, Santa Cruz
from which he received his Bachelor’s degree. Jeffrey is
16
Bette and Reynold Paris
married to Karen and they have two children, Sarah who is
twelve and Matthew who is nine. Many people adore Jeffery
due to his great personality.
Jeffrey and Karen are attorneys and have stepped up to
the challenge of the roles of Paris and Paris, the same name
of the law firm established by Bette and Rey. The law office
is in Santa Monica, California.
(To be continued)
17
Bette and Reynold Paris
Beliefs and Expectations
Favorites Now and Then
Favorites
Now
Holiday
Hobby
Board Game
Card game
Outdoors
Food
Place
Color
Animal
Season
Author
Book
Charity
Leisure Time
Predictions
Politics and People
18
Then
Bette and Reynold Paris
Standard Pedigree Tree
See the Paris Family Tree at www.ancestry.com for
more information.
Descendants of Bette and Reynold Paris:
19
Table of Figures
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
Figure 3:
Figure 4:
Figure 5:
Figure 6:
Figure 7:
Figure 8:
Figure 9:
Figure 10:
Figure 11:
Figure 12:
Figure 13:
Figure 14:
Figure 15:
Figure 16:
Figure 17:
Figure 18:
Figure 19:
Figure 20:
Figure 21:
Figure 1
Lifetime Biography
Copyright 2003 all rights reserved
(800) 458-2464