Greta at school
- by Beate B. -

A month before her seventh birthday Greta Lovisa went to school. It was August 1912 when Greta enrolled at Katarina Södra Folkskola in Södermalm/Stockholm/Sweden. Katarina Södra Folkskola  was and still is  the local school in Södermalm.

Her least favorite subjects were geography and mathematics.Her favorite subject was history. She often day-dreamed about fantastic adventures in class while reading her text books.

 
Greta 1916

Her school records show her to have been a "fair" student, but lazy — her mind anywhere except on her lessons.  Pupils were given grades A, a, A ba, B, in descending order from "excellent." On Greta's card the ab's predominate, with some general improvement in her last year.

Like all pupils who were not actual terrorists in the classroom, she was consistently marked A for "Conduct" and "Diligence." But she often did not do her homework, and the only subject that interested her at all was history. She was absent only sixteen days in all.

Greta graduated from public school in on June 14, 1919. It was normal for a Swedish girl, not to pursue any further education. All her life, Greta had a complex because she had so little schooling. She always thought she wasn't enough educated.

 
Greta in school

After the death of her father, the family, left without a breadwinner, was soon penniless. Greta's mother, sister and brother all went to work to provide an income, while Greta stayed at home to take care of her father. On one of the few occasions when she has talked to friends about her childhood she recalled that it was among her duties to take her father once a week to a charity clinic for treatment, and she spoke of the humiliation and sadness she felt in having to watch him, suffering great pain, wait for what seemed an endless time for attention.

She decided then, she said, that she would order her own life so that she would never be financially dependent on anybody.

Content

* The Katarina Folkskola
* Greta entered the public school
* Was she a good student?
* What was Greta like at her school days?
* Her least favorite subjects and her most favorite subjects
* Some names from her fellow students and teachers are known
* Greta skipping school?
* Dream world of theater
* Greta hided herself
* Greta graduated from public school
* Garbo's complex
* Why didn't she pursue her education?
* Garbo on her schooldays
* Did you know...?
* Interview with fellow Garbo student Elvira Relte
* Little Greta and the red balloon

The Katarina Folkskola

Katarina Folkskola, at the Katarina Bangata 41 in Södermalm, was typical of most Swedish schools of the period, adhering to the Lutheran principle that “Where sin is punished, God is honored and praised." The school was build in 1888. In the early 1990s,  Södermalm named a little square not far from the school after Garbo - The Greta Garbo Torg.

 
The school today in 2007. It was build in 1888.

You can find more info  HERE!

Greta entered the public school

In late August of 1912, two weeks before her seventh birthday, Greta began attending school. She enrolled in the Katarina grammar school, in her neighborhood, and continued her attendance there for the next seven years.

Greta with 10 years old

Was she a good student?

Her school record, covering the period between August 22, 1912, and June 14, 1919, has survived; it shows that her marks for behavior and application were always A for perfect but that her intellectual development during her first three school years was only fair.

The school had a rather cumbersome system for grading the pupils. There were five grades: A, a, ab, ba, B, corresponding to perfect, excellent, good, tolerable, hopeless. She received B's consistently for drawing and gymnastics, A's in Christian teaching, and ab's in reading, writing, and needlework.

Greta's scholl report

She got a's or ab's in history, science, mathematics, and geography, and she got consistently high marks for penmanship, which is not surprising, because her handwriting has always been bold and clear. Studying her school report we derive the impression of a girl who is bright and even brilliant but is deliberately holding back, rather lazy and without any decided ambition to make a mark as a scholar, not caring.

Greta was a better than average student, obedient and industrious. Generally speaking, she was a slow starter in her studies. They were teached:

Intellectual Growth
Bible
Reading
Writing
Geography
History
Arithmetic
Handwriting
Singing
Gymnastics
Drawing
Behavior
Application
Needlework

During her first two years she was judged Fair in Intellectual Growth, but throughout the next five she was marked Quite Good. That was the mark she also consistently received, after her first two years, in Bible, Reading, Writing, Geography and History.

Her grades in Arithmetic varied from Passing to Fair; in Handwriting from Passing to Good and in Singing from Fair to Quite Good.

Greta 1917

Her poorest subjects were Gymnastics and Drawing. In the former, she was given the grade of Passing, next to the lowest mark on the scale, for five years, finally improving to Fair in the last two. In the latter, she was never able to rise above Passing.

Her final year in school was her best. Her grades in all subjects, save the unconquerable Drawing, ranged from Quite Good to Perfect, and she promised to develop into a first-rate student.

What was Greta like at her school days?

In Behavior and Application she was marked Perfect on her report cards for all seven years.

But was she like inside herself?? Shy and mysterious too? It was written that Greta sometimes surprised herself by confronting her teachers and that she often lived in a constant state of fear, disliking every moment of it. Instead of reveling in this new world, she seemed the withdrawn even further.

Eight years old Greta and her friends

Her least favorite subjects and her most favorite subjects

Her least favorite subjects were geography and mathematics. “I could never understand how anyone could be interested in faraway places or in trying to solve such ridiculous problems,” she later said.
She did not share the same disdain for history, reading her textbooks as if they were novels and often daydreaming about fantastic adventures in class. The fantasies dissolved when Greta was confronted by Mrs. Ronnell, one of her teachers. Asked to repeat a historical elaborating, the red-faced student could not separate fact from fabrication. “[And] my embarrassment was taken as proof of my ignorance,” she lamented, earing her low marks in her favorite class.

Fellow student Ebba Antonsson had a different recollection. “I didn't find school as easy as Greta,” she said. “She never seemed to do any homework but knew all the answers anyway.”

Judith Ronnell felt that “she was a strangely appealing girl. She was very careful and attentive at her lessons, but her mind was always on the stage. I remember that when any of the students were scolded, she waited for them in the corridor after class and flung her arms Around them. She hated what she thought was injustice.”

Some names from her fellow students and teachers are known:

Judith Ronnell (student)
Ebba Antonsson (student)
Elisabet Malcolm (student)
Elvira Relte (student)
Sonja Eriksson (student)
Mrs. Ronnell (teacher)
Mrs. Linnea Rosenqvist  (teacher)

Greta and her school class

Greta skipping school?

The last two years at school for Greta were marked by illness. According to her report cards, she was absent, during that entire period, a total of sixteen days on account of illness; she played hooky only once. Reportedly she was suffering from a “sinus problem,” and wary of more serious complications, she was allowed five “vacation” days in 1917.

The following school term she was absent for another eight days due to illness, and was truant – “absent without permission” – once.

There are at least three different stories of Greta skipping school, but only one recorded absence. Accounts of her absence vary: one suggests she ran away with two other girls and was caught across town by an elderly shopkeeper; another insists she was discovered by a conductor on the train to Skåne; a third account simply states that she was lost in the hypnotic fantasies of youth.

Greta 1917

Story one: At twelve, tired of school, she and two other girls success fully traveled eight miles before they were recognized by an old lady in a shop, who called the police and had them sent back home.

Story two: The following year she ran off once more, this time to Skåne in the south of Sweden, by hiding in the toilet of a train. Eventually she was discovered by the conductor, who arranged for her return. This adventure earned Greta a bad report card: the entry reads, "Unauthorized absence of one day."

Story three: Her third escapade occurred in 1919, in the summer of her last year at school. The children of poor families were sent to a holiday camp at Björkö, a small island in Lake Mälaren. Greta, who in her youth suffered often from sinus trouble, felt ill and disappeared after being told to help in the kitchen. The next day she turned up unexpectedly at home.

Whatever occurred, her teacher Linnea Rosenqvist put a black mark on her report card, and Greta learned that the punishment for getting caught was severe (Though she was spared the rod, thanks to her sister's intervention).

Dream world of theater

Greta loved the theatre and wanted to be an actress. She and her friends played theatre whenever they had a chance. With 13 when she formed her own theatrical company. It was called The Attic Theatre. She arranged her friends to bring old furniture from their homes to serve as props and for costumes they used anything they could find.

Greta in front of the school

Their first show was a musical revue. Greta portrayed everything from the Goddess of Peace to a Three-year-old.

The youngest Gustafsson was already living in two separate worlds, juxtaposing the grim reality of home life with the dream world of theater. And there can be little doubt which one was more important to her – or where she felt more understood.

It is written that little Greta one day said: "I am going to be a prima donna or a princess and when I'm rich I'll give all I can to poor children."

Greta hided herself

By the time she was twelve, Greta had reached her full height of five feet seven inches, a point most evident in school photos where she has hidden herself, straight hair and straight-faced, in the back of the classroom with Elisabet Malcolm and Sonja Eriksson.

She was growing up fast, and a great deal of her energy was obviously being put into growing. At ten she began growing as fast as a beanstalk, and at twelve she had almost reached her full height. A gangling, awkward, long-shanked girl, she liked to sit at the back of the classroom and to confront her teachers with just a suggestion of rebelliousness.

Greta's school class

Her former school friends remembered her boyish pout and the way her hair got in front of her eyes, and how her square-ended fingers got covered with ink. They remembered too that she was an efficient and accurate marbles player. They called her G.G. or Keta and usually liked her, but she made few close friends except among students who were remarkably handsome or shared her interest in the theatre.

The physical difference only emphasized her alienation; emotionally she was already distanced from most girls her age. “I think I used to sleep much less than other children,” she confided to a friend. “I was out running far too late in the evenings.”

The reason for her evening escapades: across the island at Mosebacke Torg (Square) Greta had discovered the excitement of watching the actors come and go from the theater.

Greta graduated from public school

Greta's formal education ended abruptly after seven years. She was obliged to drop out of school in June 1919, when her father was taken seriously ill. His illness was prolonged.

In late 1919, Greta's father Karl was seriously ill and unable to work. Anna, Sven, and Alva all had to find jobs, and this is another reason why Greta left school so early. She had to take care for her father at home and accompany him on visits to the district clinic. The months of sickness dragged on, and winter came. It was a hard and terrible winter, for the influenza epidemic had now reached Sweden, and thousands died.

Still her father lived. Trying to fight poverty, illness, and the bitter cold, the Salvation Army opened soup kitchens on the south side of Stockholm, where the Gustafssons lived. They also organized a show for the children of the neighborhood, in which the children themselves took part. Greta acted and sang in that entertainment — her first public appearance. Her performance was partic­ularly noticed and praised by John Philipsson, treasurer of the Salvation Army, and he encouraged Greta's firm ambition "to become a great actress."

After a long and exhausting illness, Karl Gustafsson died on June 1, 1920, two weeks before fourteen-year-old Greta's confirmation. In the months before his death the resources of the Gustafsson household were further strained by the arrival of two newcomers: an unmarried neighborhood dairy maid called Elsa Haegerman and her illegitimate baby son, fathered by Greta's brother, Sven. Greta and her sister, Alva, had to sleep on one settee made into a bed at nights.

Greta and her school class

Garbo's complex

It is written that Garbo often felt ashamed due of her "under-education". In later years her friends and acquaintances were often impressed, and sometimes slightly annoyed, by her exceedingly close management of her purse. The scars of childhood are slow to heal.

Why didn't she pursue her education?

Typically, a girl from Södermalm did not pursue her education nay further, and the Gustafsson children were no exception. Greta's sister Alva studied shorthand while working in an insurance office. Her brother Sven struggled with a number of lowplaying jobs after military service. He earned a few kronor a week at the local konditori (bakery). Soon Greta also had her first real job in a local barber shop. She was working as a tvålflicka (a soap girl)...

Greta 1919

...As for my schooldays, I lived in a constant state of fear, disliking every moment of it and especially two subjects: geography and mathematics. I could never understand how anyone could be interested in faraway places, or in trying to solve such ridiculous problems as how many liters of water could pass through a tap of such and such with in one hour and 15 minutes...

...I not only thought it was stupid to lose time with such questions, but to the astonishment of my teachers I even dared to say so out loud...

...The only subject I really liked was history, which filled me with all kinds of dreams. I read my schoolbooks on history just as if they were novels and often let my fantasy wander...

...According to my fancies I might shorten the life of a cruel king and replace him by a romantic knight, or reawaken an unhappy queen centuries after her death. When the history teacher asked me questions I started by giving the correct answers, but then would get carried away, spluttering forth with conjured-up visions of my own...

...When the teacher stopped me and told me to start again from the beginning, I could no longer remember what I had said before and turned red. My embarrassment was taken as proof of my ignorance and I would get the lowest marks...

Greta 1919

Did you know...?

 Greta, who was known as Kata in her neighborhood and in her schooldays. She was a real little cadger in those days. On paydays when the men came home from work she would stand in the street smiling at them with an outstretched hand, and getting the odd ten ore [a dime] here and there, which she would use to pay for her telephone calls.

 As a child she daydreamed a lot and I remember her saying often, "When I grow up I shall live in lots of big rooms."

 Her former schoolmates remembered that when she was reprimanded for coming late to school, she simply shrugged her shoulders. Once when the teacher reprimanded her, she reminded him curtly that he himself had come late the day before.

Interview with fellow Garbo student Elvira Relte

Greta's fellow student, Elvira Relte talked about Greta and their time at the school in 1980. It was published in a Swedish magazine.

  
Elvira in 1980, Elvira and Greta as children

(in treatment)
 

Little Greta and the red balloon

One day in June 1918, she dawdled in the park on her way to school, playing with the squirrels. The church bells struck nine, and she continued to play for some time, dimly realizing that it was already too late for school and she would probably have to find a credible excuse, but none was forthcoming. She abandoned the idea of going to school, squared her shoulders, and decided to go wandering through the Latin Quarter of Stockholm.

Someone had told her you could see Italians there, and they made brightly colored balloons, toy soldiers, and little painted villages you could hold in the palm of your hand. It took her till the early afternoon to find the Italians, and when she found them, she struck up a friendship with a balloon maker. She was still talking with the balloon maker when the late afternoon bell rang at the school.

Greta 1918

Her brother and sister waited for her at the school gates in the hope that she would turn up, and then went home without her. When it grew dark and there was still no sign of her, the police were informed and search parties were sent out. At ten o'clock that night Greta Lovisa wandered dreamily home, trailing a large red balloon. Her father threw his arms around her, and suddenly the balloon she was holding close to her body burst, and she began to cry.
To her the most terrible thing that had happened was the bursting of the balloon. She was more distressed by the fate of the balloon than by her own fate the next day when she was called before the class and spanked across the teacher's knee for being absent without cause.

This incident left a serious blemish on her school record, where it is noted that in the half-year ending in June 1918, she was once absent without the permission of the school or of her parents. She never played truant again.

Remarkably healthy, she missed going to school only sixteen days during the entire seven years she attended the Catherine grammar school. Sometimes worse things happened.

Source:

A Life Apart  by Karen Swenson
Divine Garbo  by S. Broman and F. Sands
 Garbo  by John Bainbridge
The Great Garbo  by Robert Payne