When Douglas Fairbanks Sr. died on December 12, 1939, newspapers pointed out that he was one of the three biggest moneymakers of Hollywood just 14 years earlier. After 1925 Fairbanks starred in only seven more films, with his final film being 1934’s The Private Life Of Don Juan.
Here is the original news caption: Continue reading
Henry Fonda in The Male Animal (1942)
When one reads or hears about the fear of debate and the airing of opposing viewpoints at colleges, it is indicative of a disheartening and sickening trend towards academic totalitarianism.
The issue is not a new one.
The following dialogue is from the 1942 film The Male Animal and describes exactly the quandary we are facing today. Continue reading
A brief description of Feltman’s from The New York Hotel Record July 9, 1912:
The Magnitude of Feltman’s Garden Coney Island New York
One of the largest and most unique restaurants and cafés in this country is Feltman’s at Coney Island New York was established in 1873 (ed. – actually 1871) with six employees and it now has a pay roll of more thirteen hundred names. Continue reading
In late Summer 1945, with total victory secured, manufacturers could soon begin producing consumer products rather than armaments. With the transition would come amazing technological advances. Continue reading
It would be impossible today for one person to cause the collapse of the stock market, corner the gold market or just print stock shares in a large-cap corporation as needed.
Not that Jay Gould single-handedly did any of these things.
He had help. Continue reading
Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Dick Groat hitting during the 1960 World Series. photo: Marvin Newman
In 1952, when Dick Groat was 21-years-old, Duke University’s sports publicity department published an entire pamphlet heralding his achievements.
In 1950-51 Groat put up 831 points with 261 free points shattering records at Duke, the Big 5 (North Carolina schools) and the Southern Conference.
Groat, who was five feet eleven, Continue reading
Joe DiMaggio’s swing takes up half the space in this Camel cigarette ad which ran in Time Magazine April 6, 1942. It’s as good a way to promote smoking than just showing DiMaggio smoking.
Capturing reader’s attention is always the hard part of magazine advertising. So the series of photos of DiMaggio’s swing probably gets you to examine the page. Generally people buy news magazines to read them, not look at the ads.
Companies have always believed that to attract customers, you should have a celebrity push your product. Continue reading
There is nothing extraordinary happening as we look north up Sixth Avenue from 31st Street.
There’s lots of horse manure in the street and there’s some construction and workers beneath the Sixth Avenue El. The bar on the corner has western saloon style doors and advertises Triple X German Liquors on its sign. A high pressure fire hydrant is on the corner, a sight rarely seen today as the city removed most of them almost three decades ago . The tallest building on the left between 32nd and 33rd Streets is Gimbels Department Store.
As much as we’d like to put an exact date on the photo we cannot. It is uncredited and labeled 1911. There is one intriguing clue however. It’s blurry but if you look at the roof of the building on the left you can see a billboard ad for Eva Tanguay (1878-1947) appearing at The Colonial Theatre. Continue reading
The home of Major Anthony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie
Recently visiting me was my friend’s daughter a recent college graduate, and her friend Stephanie who was born and raised in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Cocoa Beach’s renown comes from The Kennedy Space Center, home of NASA during the 1960s. Continue reading
Comedian W.C. Fields does not strike me as someone who would have had any passion for baseball. In James Curtis’ comprehensive 2003 biography of Fields, not one page mentions baseball or any player of the National Pastime. So the news caption below for this photograph is pure Hollywood ballyhoo. Continue reading