The two illustrations seen here are excerpts from a full page ad. This advertisement comes from the April 27, 1919 New York Sun daily newspaper. Shown is an array of intimates of the late teens that a fashionable woman would wear beneath their clothes.
The uptown location of James McCreery & Co. at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street Continue reading
For over 150 years Coney Island has attracted visitors to sample its beach, cuisine and amusement parks.
This magic lantern slide photograph shows an attraction that was more of a curiosity. Though It was only in existence for 11 years, hundreds of thousands of people came to see the Elephantine Colossus.
It was not a ride, but Continue reading
Here are two views of Fifth Avenue from the 1891 book History And Commerce Of New York (American Publishing and Engraving).
In our first illustration above we are looking north along Fifth Avenue towards The Hotel Brunswick (with flag on the roof) at the corner of 26th Street.
The second illustration below, Continue reading
Great Garbo (1905-1990) was never fond of the press. The star’s apocryphal line of “I want to left alone” did apply to almost everyone outside of her circle of close friends.
So it was rather surprising that Garbo allowed reporters to speak with her, after staying in Europe for ten months. Traveling back to the United States aboard the Swedish American Line MS Kungsholm, 100 reporters gathered in he ship’s lounge to question the Swedish Sphinx. Garbo then cagily semi-answered their questions.
“Did you ever say I want to be left alone?” a reporter queried. Continue reading
It’s 12:20 in the afternoon according to the clock at Grand Central Depot as horse drawn vehicles congregate nearby.
We are looking north from 41st Street and Park Avenue. This contemporary colored magic lantern slide is from around 1895. Continue reading
Will Remain In Britain For The Duration
Vivien Leigh, who won swift fame as Scarlett of “Gone With The Wind,” plans to return to the American movies, but not until the war is over. Miss Leigh, pictured here in London, and her husband, Laurence Olivier,returned to Britain in January, 1941, during the height of the air blitz. He joined the fleet air arm and she signed for the leading feminine role in “The Doctor’s Dilemma,” by George Bernard Shaw. “Both my husband and I felt that we should return to England,” she said “and we both feel that we should remain here until the war is over.” photo Wide World 3/23/1943
Eight years earlier in May 1935 Leigh debuted in the play The Mask of Virtue at London’s West End. The 21-year-old beauty became famous virtually overnight. Six film companies, three British, three American offered her a film contract. Leigh signed with Alexander Korda for ten pictures in five years for £50,000. Continue reading
To Our Readers:
From March 20 -March 24 we were offline. Gone. Kaput. Website does not exist. And a feeling of helplessness as far as getting everything back and running again. What happened?
Server and hosting issues.
It’s not like millions of people noticed as if Amazon went down. As a matter of fact, appropriately, we don’t think anybody really cared. Continue reading
Newest Dodger
Vero Beach, FL – (L-R) Branch Rickey, Dodger President, Dick Shea, electronics engineer from General Electric, umpire Bill Stewart and Fresco Thompson scout for the Dodger system. They are looking over Rickey’s newest pet – a mechanical umpire that calls balls and strikes and gives speed of pitch over the plate.It is worked by means of a magic eye. It won’t replace the human umpire because it can’t operate at night. photo: Gunther-Keystone 3/15/1950
The machine pictured above was called the “cross-eyed electronic umpire.” It was claimed the machine “could call balls and strikes closer than any normally endowed arbiter.”
Always the innovator, Branch Rickey said, “I expect it to be of definite value in determining the abilities of young pitchers since the machine also will establish the velocity of a fast ball as well as to show beyond question whether the ball is in or outside the strike zone.”
But Rickey also emphasized that he machine was “not intended now or ever to replace manual umpiring in actual games.” Continue reading
This circa 1900 Detroit Publishing Co. photograph is captioned “Capt. Riley and Life Guards, Coney Island, N.Y.”
But which of them is Captain Riley? Click on the photo to have a much closer look.
The obvious choice would be the man in the cap wearing a dark colored shirt that says “Balmers Life Guard.”
Wearing a lifeguard shirt does not mean you are one or in charge of a group. Continue reading
Fastway 1983 (l-r) Jerry Shirley, Fast Eddie Clarke, Dave King
If there is one common theme to a band not making it big it is wrong place, wrong time. The public’s shifting and fickle tastes in music often conspire against success. But that’s not the only reason.
You can’t underestimate luck in the success formula.
Many talented hard rock bands were left by the wayside for no other reason except that they were unlucky.
The other reasons for not making it? Bad management, an indifferent record label, poor distribution, a lack of exposure and personnel turmoil within the band. Also in the late 1980s an oversaturation of the market with a lot of bands sounding indistinguishable from one another. Finally, the rise of grunge / alternative was the coup de grace for hundreds of hard rock bands.
With the exception of Badlands, where the band imploded and the singer died in 1993, we present here five 1980s bands that should have been huge but never got there.
I can say positively that Zebra’s music is unknown to the vast majority of rock fans. With one possible exception – the 1983 hit, Tell Me What You Want.
From 1983 on, their record label, Atlantic Records, dropped the ball and did nothing right in promoting Zebra. Continue reading
