Author Archives: Hannah K.

Fashions Of The 1970s – Men’s & Women’s T-Shirts

Leave a reply

The Fashionable T-Shirt 1973

August 17, 1973 – New York: T-shirt collectors vie to outdo each other. Nancy Greenberg wears gaudy New York souvenir shirt. What mother never told Kathleen O’Connell about is Ultra-Brite toothpaste. French Gitanes shirt worn by Paula Scher is more desirable than American brands; photos: Nancy Moran / New Yoik Times

August 17, 1973 – New York: Jean-Louis Hym’s Liberation shirt from Paris proclaims underground paper. Joel Handrroff, an artist, is not a country music fan, but he likes the shirt because of the black-on-yellow color scheme. Barry Levine’s extols Automotive High School. photo: Nancy Moran / New York Times

Fashions may change, but t-shirts have remained a staple of young people for more than half a century as evidenced by these photographs of young New Yorkers taken in 1973.

If you are wondering what a standard t-shirt cost in the early seventies, generally it was $1.98 for a regular t-shirt and $2.98 for a deluxe heavier cotton. Specialty t-shirts cost more. Continue reading →

Book Review – Building The Metropolis By Alexander Wood

Leave a reply

Building New York City 1880 – 1935

A tremendous flurry of construction in New York City occurred between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. New Yorker’s know many of the the notable accomplishments; the subway, the skyscrapers, apartment buildings, bridges and infrastructure. But who built New York? And how did it get built?

Stories Previously Untold

Alexander Wood provides the nitty-gritty about how the modern city came to be in Building The Metropolis Architecture, Construction, and Labor in New York City, 1880 – 1935 (University of Chicago Press), 2025.

Building The Metropolis digs into the architects, unions, developers and the industries that made New York.

Even with thousands of books previously written about New York, Wood uncovers ground that has not been thoroughly explored. The result is an entertaining examination into the details of developing New York. Continue reading →

Brigitte Bardot Dies At 91 – First American News Feature Was 1952

Leave a reply

Brigitte Bardot Dead

Was Noticed By A Hollywood News Writer In 1952 Before Worldwide Fame

Brigitte Bardot in Madrid, Spain, 1957 photographer: Peter Basch

Brigitte Bardot, who quit film acting at age 39 in 1973 to devote herself to animal rights is dead.

The Fondation Brigitte Bardot who announced her death did not reveal a cause, place or date that she died.

Her obituary appears worldwide, so we will not cover the details of her long and sometimes controversial life or film career.

What interested us is: when did Bardot first come to notice in the United States? Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #188 – Paul Lynde & Elizabeth Montgomery

Leave a reply

Paul Lynde & Elizabeth Montgomery In Bewitched – 1968

This publicity photograph comes from the ABC Television Network for the comedy series Bewitched. This episode is The No-Harm Charm which originally aired on ABC on Thursday April 25, 1968 and re-aired August 29, 1968 from 8:30 – 9:00 P.M. EDT.

Special guest star Paul Lynde appeared eleven times from 1965-1971 in Bewitched. Lynde’s first appearance was as driving instructor Harold Harold in 1965,  However, after that episode Lynde had a recurring role in the series as Uncle Arthur.

In The No-Harm Charm Uncle Arthur gives Darrin (Dick York) a charm Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #186 – Joan Blondell & Bette Davis

Leave a reply

Joan Blondell & Bette Davis – Three On A Match 1932

Joan Blondell (left) plays Mary Keaton and Bette Davis is Ruth Westcott in the1932 film Three On A Match.

The story is about three women (Ann Dvorak completes the trio) who attend high school together and how their lives intertwine when they meet again years later. Three on a match is a superstition – don’t light three cigarettes from one match, otherwise you will have bad luck. As you might figure out from the movie’s title, bad luck does ensue.

This unusual production still taken at Santa Monica beach has the co-stars standing on a platform with a large microphone. Continue reading →

How A $10 Mistake Cost A Pizza Shop $22,000

1 Reply

The Customer Is Always Right (Even When You Don’t Think They Are)

I heard this story recently and in my experience, sets a record for holding a grudge against a business.

22 years ago along with her two toddlers, a steady customer went into her local upper east side pizza shop, to buy a slice.

She gave the pizzaman cashier a twenty dollar bill.

The change received was for a ten. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #182 – Constance Bennett

Leave a reply

Constance Bennett – Service de Luxe 1938

If classic film fans are familiar with Constance Bennett (1904-1965) , it is usually through two films, Topper (1937) and What Price Hollywood? (1932).

The production still above from the 1938 romance comedy film Service de Luxe is one of many that Bennett made and is now forgotten.

What Price Hollywood? is the first version Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #178 – Mystery Celebrity – When She Was Young

1 Reply

Can You Name This Character Actress?

Here are four photographs of a Hollywood contract player, several years before she became a well known MGM feature player in many films during the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

She was born on February 24, 1890 as Mary Tomlinson in Acton, Indiana.

Dressed to the nines – circa 1918

Photo via the New York Public Library.  c. 1920s

Photo: Apeda studio possibly from the 1918 play “Yes Or No”

The next photo should give it away.

With actor Billy Bevan in The Wrong Road (1937)

Do you have it yet?

Yes, it’s the star of a dozen Ma and Pa Kettle movies, Marjorie Main.

Usually thought of as plain and matronly, Marjorie was attractive enough Continue reading →

Women’s Corsets, Bras, Underwear, Silk Petticoats And Bodices -1919

1 Reply

Undergarments For Women From James McCreery & Co. 1919

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 →