Regal Cinemas 13th Street and Broadway
September 29, 2011 8:35pm
They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway. Not much neon, Continue reading
“Now Playing” In Bright Lights
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Author Archives: Hannah K.
Tombstone Humor
New York City at Sunset
Classic Hollywood #8 – Marilyn Monroe & Edward R. Murrow
Marilyn Monroe and Edward R. Murrow, April 1, 1955
The caption for this press photo is:
News Commentator Edward R. Murrow holds a match to the cigarette Marilyn Monroe extends to her puckered lips, during discussions at the Ambassador Hotel in New York regarding the luscious actress’ forthcoming appearance on Murrow’s “Person To Person” television show. Scheduled for April 8th, the TV show will be the second one Miss Monroe has ever done.
Ghost Video At Smith Building In Corpus Christi, Texas
Why Are Ghost Videos Always Poor Quality?
If you are going to record paranormal activity you should remember three things:
1- Have good video equipment, preferably with a good lighting system.
2- Don’t run away if you encounter something strange.
3- Don’t scream.
It always seems that people who claim to have video proof of ghosts, always have poor evidence. Continue reading
Old New York in Photos #9 – Coney Island Ring The Bell
Hit Bell, Win Prize
Coney Island July 5, 1946.
Before the mall-ification of New York, Coney Island had lots of things to do besides the rides. One was this common amusement which was found at lots of carnivals and amusement parks. To test your strength you would swing a large mallet, hitting a levered board with a weight attached to a pole. Hitting it as hard as you could would drive the weight up the pole. If you hit it hard enough, the weight would go the top, anywhere from 10-15 feet from the ground and strike a bell. Doing so would entitle you to a prize.
It was a great way to impress a date, Continue reading
I Recognize That Scream
The Story Of “The Wilhelm Scream”
Coming across weird, useless things like this, is what makes life fun.
When films need vocal sound effects, professional voice actors are frequently called in to a recording studio to create them.
For the Warner Bros. 1951 film “Distant Drums” the sound needed was “a man being bit by an alligator. ” Instead of the actor being “bit” by the alligator recording the scream of pain, someone else at the studio, did the screaming. Continue reading
One of the Strangest Deaths in New York’s History
Girls Chase A Boy to Give Him Birthday Kisses… and He Dies
Woodlawn Cemetery Is The Final Resting Place of George Spencer Millet Who Had One Of The Strangest Deaths In New York’s History
There is a book called Woodlawn Remembers: Cemetery of American History by Edward F. Bergman (North County Books, 1988.) The book is mostly comprised of beautiful full page color and black & white photographs of monuments, tombstones and mausoleums with one page of text describing each person profiled. The cemetery is located in the northern part of the Bronx. Woodlawn is on my shortlist of recommendations of unusual places to go for New York visitors.
The book is fascinating to be sure. It covers many of the interesting and important historical figures at Woodlawn. 
But one story not mentioned, is the life and death of George Spencer Millet (misspelled as George Millitt by The New York Times in the story at the end of this article) who is interred at the cemetery.
Millet’s story is briefly recounted in Permanent New Yorkers A Biographical Guide To The Cemeteries of New York by Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall (Chelsea Green 1987.) This book contains photographs too, but has more detailed biographies than Woodlawn Remembers. Permanent New Yorkers also covers the entire New York area, not just focusing on the two most famous New York City cemeteries. Woodlawn and Greenwood. I highly recommend both of these out-of-print books.
It was February 15, 1909 and Millet was a good-looking boy. Because when the girls he worked with at The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company found out that it was his 15th birthday, they all insisted on giving him a kiss. Continue reading
Classic Hollywood #4 – Theda Bara
The Vamp in a Classic Role
“The Vampire,” Theodosia Goodman otherwise known to the world as Theda Bara in her 1918 starring role The Forbidden Path with (I believe) Hugh Thompson, her co-star.
Theda Bara was one of the first sex symbols of the screen. Her name was supposedly an anagram of “Arab Death.” (that is completely fabricated along with many other “facts” of her life.) Bara became a star in 1915 as a “vampire” (not the blood sucking kind – a notorious woman who drives men wild with desire using her wiles and charm and wreaks havoc in their lives) in A Fool There Was. She cemented immortality in 1917 with her portrayal of the title role in Cleopatra. Bara was pretty much typecast as the vampire (later shortened to “vamp”) and her film career stalled by the end of 1919. She appeared in only three films in the 1920’s and never made any sound films, retiring in 1926. She died in Los Angeles in 1955 at the age of 69.
While some today would not necessarily consider Bara a beauty, there is definitely something very appealing about her. A naturalness that comes through. In a lot of ways she represents more real women of that age and much more than her modern Hollywood contemporaries of Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson representing today’s woman.
Bara’s heavier legs and abdomen are shown in her movies and photos. Would modern lead actresses be permitted to display extra poundage in our hyper-perfect-looks media without being skewered a la Oprah or Kirstie Alley?
Some photos of Bara when she was at the height of her career:
Literary Man Of Mystery
Who Is This Man?
At my local library there is a used book store. Sometimes they get unusual items donated. This is one of them.
It is a framed, large format photograph of apparently someone famous from the literary world. The staff at the library book store has put a sign above the photo saying “Who is this literary man?” Four years have gone by and still no answer.
I got out my cell phone and took a photograph of the photo (hence the glare from the glass covering it.)
So I pose it to you the readers, is there anyone who recognizes this man? Please feel free to forward, so we can solve this literary mystery.