There are no periodicals like Puck Magazine today.
The weekly political, satirical and humor magazine was in business from 1876-1918. A main feature of the magazine was a chromolithograph centerfold usually relating to events of the day.
Our illustration is from the February 25, 1904 issue and drawn by Udo Keppler (1872-1956). Continue reading
In these politically correct times even the smallest transgressions will be pointed out and removed by “cancel culture”.
Frequently in Warner Bros. cartoons the animators would superimpose whatever they wanted for a headline and visual in real newspapers. They would leave the rest of the page unaltered. Continue reading
The San Francisco Giants opened the 2026 baseball season playing the New York Yankees.
There was no interleague play between American and National League teams until 1997.
But had the Giants played the Yankees 117 years ago neither team would have had to travel as their home ballparks were both in upper Manhattan. The Yankees playing their games at Hilltop Park at 168th St. and Broadway, while the Giants home field was at The Polo Grounds,155th Street and 8th Avenue. Continue reading
The year is 1903 and two toy merchants are showing their products to passerby. The title of the photograph by the Detroit Publishing Co. is “Gutter Toy Merchant.” That is a term I have never heard applied to those who sell merchandise on the sidewalk. Continue reading
112 years ago today one of New York’s most venerable merchants Lord & Taylor moved into their new store on Fifth Avenue between 38th and 39th Street.
This advertisement in The New York Sun newspaper appeared a couple of days before the new store would open. Lord & Taylor’s first store on Catherine Street opened in 1826. Lord & Taylor moved many times before settling into their new 11-story building on February 24, 1914. Continue reading
Unfortunately this is an undated photograph with no location or news slug to identify any of the specifics. The photo appears to be from the 1950s based upon judges and participants hairstyles and outfits.
Obviously it is a best legs competition. Unlike many other Continue reading
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
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?
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
The lower Manhattan Skyline from Jersey City circa 1914 showing (l-r) Municipal Building; Woolworth; Hudson Terminal; City Investment; Singer; West Street; Trinity; American Surety; Bankers Trust; U.S. Express and Manhattan Life. by H.H Tammen Co., New York
The thrill of viewing New York from the water was once a daily occurrence for hundreds of thousands of people. Until 1903 when the Williamsburg Bridge opened the only bridge crossing to lower Manhattan was the Brooklyn Bridge. The subway would open in 1904.
The majority of people arriving from New Jersey, Staten Island or Brooklyn would take a ferry boat. As building technology advanced, the view from the New York Bay, the East River and The Hudson was rapidly changing.
Over a 40 year period from 1892 -1932 with the building of skyscrapers, the lower New York skyline would become an instantly recognizable view featured in art, photographs and motion pictures.
Here are some postcard river views of the city. All cards were scanned at 600 dpi.
This card “New York From Hoboken” is not that sharp in detail but clearly shows two of the city’s tallest buildings circa 1900. Slightly to the left Continue reading
Because I own some old newspapers that report historic events, I was looking at the New York Daily News of August 27, 1974 announcing the death of Charles Lindbergh on the front page. Turning the pages my attention was drawn to the movie advertisements.
The ads are simple, frequently without captivating graphics and usually lacking even brief summaries of the plot of the movies. Besides giving the theatres and times they were playing at, these ads were supposed to attract potential viewers with the title, the stars or a reviewers blurb.
The disarray of the motion picture industry in the seventies is evident in the variety of films playing at theaters.
Adjacently advertised next to one another are Deep Throat; The Devil In Miss Jones; The Longest Yard and Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia. Two X-rated and two R-rated films.
Deep Throat (1973) was the first “mainstream” pornographic film. It was Continue reading