Author Archives: B.P.

This Undated Photo Of Bob Feller Has A Backstory Of War And Sacrifice

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It Looks Like Spring Training…But It’s Not

Bob Feller Plays Baseball After Returning From The War

Cut Lines
George Metkovich sent one of Rapid Robert’s curves over the right field fence, but Feller saw to it after the first time at bat that George received nothing good at the plate. Here Metkovich is shown running to first after sending a roller down to the first baseman. Feller is just receiving the throw to cover the base on the play.

While this looks like a typical spring training news photograph it is not. Continue reading →

2022 Baseball Lockout Ends – More Stupid Changes Coming

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The MLB Lockout Is Over. The Cost?

More Ruinous Changes

A Quick Look Back At A Spring Training Of The Past

Babe Ruth Greets New Yankees Manager Joe McCarthy At Spring Training 1931

Spring training will begin soon now that the avaricious owners and materialistic players have reached an agreement to continue ruining baseball. Continue reading →

This May Be The Oldest Manhole Cover In New York

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A Man Made Object In Central Park Almost As Old As The Park Itself

The 161- Year-Old Central Park Relic Hidden In Plain Sight

When you need to go to the restroom in Central Park there are few choices. Last year when a friend needed to use the bathroom we headed towards the closest one.

The tennis courts were empty as it was getting near dusk. But the bathrooms near the tennis courts were open, about 100 feet from the northern part of the Central Park reservoir.

I was waiting outside the building containing the women’s bathrooms looking down at the ground.

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Old New York In Photos #136 – 125th Street & 7th Avenue Harlem 1917

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Harlem, Corner of 125th Street & 7th Avenue – January 31, 1917

125th St & 7th Ave 1917 photo New York Historical Society

125th St & 7th Ave 1917 photo New York Historical Society

We’re looking south along Seventh Avenue towards 125th Street. The tall building directly behind the passing trolley identified by its sign is Harlem’s famous Hotel Theresa. The hotel opened in 1913 and closed in 1967. It is now a mixed use office building named Theresa Towers. Continue reading →

Doomed New Yorker Cartoonist Ralph Barton On Living In New York – 1929

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Ralph Barton Talks About New York After Living In Paris In The 1920s

Ralph Barton & Germaine Tallieferre

Ralph Barton & his 4th wife Germaine Talleferre photo: Daily News

“New York has ceased to be a city in which people live. It is necessary if one has to have quiet and peace to work to live in the suburbs. Steamships have made Europe a suburb of New York. I like to eat well, drink well and read grown up books, and these are not to be had in America.”

“New York is a crazy city and America is a madhouse. That is why I came back. I feel I belong here. Americans are crazy and I find I am crazy too. Americans are too rich. We have too much money. I have too much money. That is why I’m crazy. An artist ought to be prohibited from earning as much money as I do. Yet if someone suggested cutting my earnings, I’d scream so that you could hear me for three blocks.” – Ralph Barton upon returning to New York in 1929 after being in Paris for two years.

Barton committed suicide, Continue reading →

Old New York In Postcards #25 – Night In The City

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New York Night Scenes

Let’s start by saying in general most of these postcard scenes of New York are not really night scenes. The postcard companies would take a daytime scene and simply transform it into a night view.

Out first view of the Bowery at night circa 1905 is a prime example of day turned into night.

On the extreme left a small portion of the facade of the Bowery Savings Bank can be seen. Above the street is the Third Avenue El.

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Classic Hollywood #122 – A Kimono Cannot Contain Jayne Mansfield

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Jayne Mansfield Busts Up A Kimono – 1957

NEEDLE AND THREAD, QUICK!
Jayne Mansfield’s Japanese kimono, no longer able to contain her 41 inch bosom splits at the sides. Waitresses in a Tokyo restaurant take great delight in tightening it around the blonde bombshell’s 18-inch waist. Jayne, presently with the Bob Hope Show entertaining GI’s in the far east brought service in the restaurant to a standstill Monday, when she entered in the colorful kimono, which despite its traditional straight lines could not disguise the fabulous figure. – AP Wirephoto: December 25, 1957 Continue reading →

Groucho Marx & Erin Fleming On The Dick Cavett Show

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A Rare TV Appearance & Interview With Groucho Marx’s Muse, Erin Fleming

For anyone who has read extensively about Groucho Marx’s life, the name Erin Fleming will elicit a strong reaction.

There are two views of Fleming’s relationship with Groucho. People who spent time with Groucho and Fleming were split as to their opinion of Groucho’s muse. Continue reading →

How Sweet’s Biggest Hit “Ballroom Blitz” Was Recorded In A Single Day

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Sweet’s Producer Phil Wainman Tells The Story Of Ballroom Blitz

Upon Finishing The Song, Wainman Says “The Hair’s On The Back Of My Neck Stood Up.”

When you capture lightning in a bottle you know it.

The iconic song Ballroom Blitz was recorded in a single day after just two to three takes.

Phil Wainman the producer of Sweet in the early 1970s when the band was turning out hit after hit, describes how the song Ballroom Blitz came to be, in this excerpt below in an interview with Iain McNay.

After the recording session was complete Wainman simply said to the band, “Do you think that’s a number one in America?”

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