Category Archives: History

Where Did The Saying “Up The River” Come From?

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A Movie Cliche’s New York Origins

If you ever watch any gangster films from the 1930’s or 40’s, one of the lines of dialogue that always pops up is: “up the river.”

Somebody would utter it: a criminal; prosecutor; police officer; or a fellow gangster. Listen and it will be said in most of these early crime movies.

Lines like:

“Didn’t you hear, Rocky’s going up the river.”

“If you don’t talk Ike, I can guarantee you’re going to spend a long stretch up the river.”

“I’m not takin’ the fall to go up the river for a heist you did, Spats.”

The term “up the river” as most people know refers to going to prison.

So where did the saying come from?

In the 1800’s, when you were charged with a crime and sent to prison in New York City, the accused would first be taken to the prison on Centre Street in lower Manhattan which was known as “the Tombs” built in 1838.

The Tombs were so named because the original structure had large granite columns on the outside of the building which  resembled Egyptian burial architecture, a.k.a. tombs. The Tombs though, were merely a holding prison for the accused criminals awaiting trial.

After sentencing, convicts were sent to a prison on Blackwell’s Island (today known as Roosevelt Island) in the middle of the East River.

However if you were a habitual offender or committed a very serious offense, you would be sent thirty miles north, up the Hudson River to Sing Sing prison. This is the origin of the phrase being sent, “up the river.” Sing Sing separated the hardened criminals from the run of the mill pickpockets, burglars and ordinary thieves.

Even though, the term “up the river” originally referred to Sing Sing, it was eventually applied to anyone being sent to any prison.

When Lyrics Meant Something – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and “Ohio”

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May 4th Marks the Anniversary of Four Kent State University Students Murdered For Protesting The U.S. Invasion of Cambodia and the Vietnam War

Do today’s songs have meaning?

One of the things I am confronted with in the 21st century is the degraded state of music today, especially lyrically. Do people really listen to the lyrics of songs and give them any serious thought?  Or are the majority of songs being written not worthy of deep examination?

In the 1960’s and 70’s music listeners certainly did pay attention to the words being sung. They pored over lyric sheets which were inserted into LP albums with artwork that was meant to be contemplated, pondered, discussed, interpreted and argued over. Beginning with the shift to CD’s in the late eighties with their micro-printing of lyrics Continue reading →

On Patriotism, Loyalty and the U.S. Constitution

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2012 – Republican or Democrat?

On May Day (also called International Workers’ Day) which is now morphing into a day of general protest, not just workers rights, I found this nugget of wisdom from an 1864 magazine article. It makes you realize how far we have gone off track as a country when it comes to partisan politics and what is best for the country.

“Patriotism means love of the institutions and customs and peoples of one’s country in general. Loyalty is allegiance, not, as elsewhere or in former times, to kings and nobles, but to the Constitution and laws of our country in both its State and Federal forms. Loyalty to an administration or party may be disloyalty in the true sense of the word, and must be so, if the administration or party be itself unfaithful to the Constitution and laws. Our oath and duty of allegiance are to the Constitution, and not to any administration. The President is not the government, but an administrator of it, according to the laws of the Constitution, and he, as every other officer is sworn to administer it according to that standard and in allegiance to it. They owe the same allegiance we do.”

“The Causes and Dangers of Social Excitement” The Knickerbocker Vol. LXIII No. 6 June 1864 – Page 486

Old, Curious and Unusual Epitaphs

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Some Selections From “Here Lies” A Book About Graveyard Epitaphs

This book from 1900 whose full title is: Here Lies: Being a Collection of Ancient & Modern, Humorous and Queer Inscriptions from Tombstones compiled and edited by W.H. Howe, published by The New Amsterdam Book Company contains 197 pages of fascinating epitaphs, mostly from Great Britain. It was originally published in England in 1891 as Everybody’s Book of Epitaphs.

It’s difficult to believe that hundreds of years ago people were this creative about their own demise. Probably in many cases it was the friends and relatives of the deceased who were responsible for these final words etched in stone. Do you know what you would want written as your epitaph?

Here are a few of the better ones from this out of print gem:

Stephen Remnant

Here’s a Remnant of life, and a Remnant of death,
Taken off both at once in a remnant of breath;
To mortality this gives a happy release,
For what was a Remnant proves now the Whole piece.

 

Mr. Edward Pardon (a bookseller)

Here lies poor Ned Pardon, from misery freed,
Who long was a booksellers hack;
He led such a damnable life in this world,
I don’t think he’ll ever come back.

 

Continue reading →

The Birth Of The Movie Palace, Roxy, and The Best Deal Ever For A Screenwriter

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The Strand Theatre Opens, April 11 1914

When the Strand Theatre opened on April 11, 1914 in New York at 47th Street and Broadway, it marked the beginning of a new era in the exhibition of motion pictures; the age of the movie palace.

The Strand seated an astounding 3,500 people and was the largest and most ornate theatre ever built exclusively to show movies. The Strand covered 20 city lots and had a frontage of over 155 feet on Broadway and over 277 feet on 47th Street.

Innovations in design Continue reading →

Old New York In Photos #17 – Where Was The Easter Parade Held In The 19th Century

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The Easter Parade, circa 1900

This view looking north on Fifth Avenue taken at the turn-of-the-century shows New York City holding its famous Easter Parade. The parade, known for its display of beautiful bonnets and fancy hats, has been occurring since the 1870’s in New York.  You can see how packed the streets near St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Anyone could walk Fifth Avenue on Easter, but it was generally the well to do who participated in the exhibition. Fifth Avenue being home to some of the most expensive homes made this a natural gathering spot for the wealthy. But is that where the tradition began?

One of the first places crowds gathered to display their Easter finery in New York City was not Fifth Avenue, but Central Park. Continue reading →

Was Only One Piece Of Baggage Saved From the Titanic?

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The Baggage Mystery of The Titanic

We continue from last week to look at the lesser known stories surrounding the sinking of the Titanic. This time we examine the story of the one piece of baggage that seems to have made it off the Titanic.

When the Titanic’s passengers were being loaded into the lifeboats, they were told by the crew they could not bring any luggage with them. Some survivors did bring small bags containing personal effects, but most carried nothing with them.

So how did a canvas bag three feet high and two feet thick filled with personal belongings of a Titanic passenger get back to New York? Continue reading →

The Forgotten Man Responsible for Titanic Mania

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The Amazing Story of Titanic’s Last Surviving Crew Member

Titanic Survivors in Lifeboats © Philip Weiss

April 15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking. While the famous and infamous have had their Titanic stories told, one man’s remarkable story remains unexamined.

Walter Belford first came forward and identified himself as a member of the Titanic’s crew in 1955 to writer Walter Lord who was working on a book about the Titanic which would be called A Night To Remember.

When Belford had reached the age of 92 in 1962, he was believed to be the last surviving crew member of the Titanic.  On April 15 of that year he was interviewed by the the New York Times on the 50th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking.

Belford told his story of seeing Captain E.J. Smith standing calmly on the bridge as the great liner was going down. Belford was the chief night baker of the ship and described how he was preparing rolls for the next day when the Titanic struck the iceberg. In dramatic fashion he told how after the last life boat had left the ship, the Captain addressed the remaining crewmen by saying, “Well boys, I’ve done the best I can for you. Now it’s in your own hands. Do the best you can to save yourselves.”

Belford then went over to the side of the ship and jumped overboard Continue reading →