It may come as a surprise that remote learning via video / television goes back at least seven decades. Continue reading
This magic lantern slide emphasizes Broadway’s position as a canyon of skyscrapers.
Today many of these older skyscrapers lining Broadway Continue reading
New York – Bob Dillinger of the Athletics slides safely back to 2nd in the first inning of game with Yanks here, 7/5 as Phil Rizzuto leaps for throw from catcher Yogi Berra. The ball went over Rizzuto’s head . Yanks won 12-8. credit: Acme Telephoto July 5, 1950
As Red Sox great Ted Williams once said the margin of difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox was very slim, but that the Yankees had Phil Rizzuto. “If Rizzuto had been in Boston we’d have won all those pennants instead of New York,” Williams said. Continue reading
When Douglas Fairbanks Sr. died on December 12, 1939, newspapers pointed out that he was one of the three biggest moneymakers of Hollywood just 14 years earlier. After 1925 Fairbanks starred in only seven more films, with his final film being 1934’s The Private Life Of Don Juan.
Here is the original news caption: Continue reading
Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Dick Groat hitting during the 1960 World Series. photo: Marvin Newman
In 1952, when Dick Groat was 21-years-old, Duke University’s sports publicity department published an entire pamphlet heralding his achievements.
In 1950-51 Groat put up 831 points with 261 free points shattering records at Duke, the Big 5 (North Carolina schools) and the Southern Conference.
Groat, who was five feet eleven, Continue reading
There is nothing extraordinary happening as we look north up Sixth Avenue from 31st Street.
There’s lots of horse manure in the street and there’s some construction and workers beneath the Sixth Avenue El. The bar on the corner has western saloon style doors and advertises Triple X German Liquors on its sign. A high pressure fire hydrant is on the corner, a sight rarely seen today as the city removed most of them almost three decades ago . The tallest building on the left between 32nd and 33rd Streets is Gimbels Department Store.
As much as we’d like to put an exact date on the photo we cannot. It is uncredited and labeled 1911. There is one intriguing clue however. It’s blurry but if you look at the roof of the building on the left you can see a billboard ad for Eva Tanguay (1878-1947) appearing at The Colonial Theatre. Continue reading
Comedian W.C. Fields does not strike me as someone who would have had any passion for baseball. In James Curtis’ comprehensive 2003 biography of Fields, not one page mentions baseball or any player of the National Pastime. So the news caption below for this photograph is pure Hollywood ballyhoo. Continue reading
Caesar and Glamour
Edward G. Robinson sometimes known as “Little Caesar” currently is appearing as a foreman of a tough gang of trouble-shooting power linemen in Warner Bros.’ “Manpower.” Here he chats with the feminine lead in the film Marlene Dietrich. George Raft completes the cast. Credit: Warner Bros. Studio / King Features Syndicate 1941
It seems as though Robinson is intently studying his co-star. So what did Robinson think of Dietrich? Continue reading
From a private collection comes this 1910 photograph of Fifth Avenue looking north from 64th Street. The tree lined west side of the street abuts Central Park. The residential nature of this stretch of Fifth Avenue can be seen by the abundance of mansions as far as the eye can see. Continue reading
Arne Nicolaysen holding life preserver on British ship Surveyor
Reading the story entitled “Man Overboard” about Arne Nicolaysen in Robert Littell’s 1961 book It Takes All Kinds (Reynal & Compnay) you come to the realization that some human beings are incredibly resilient.
Nicolaysen was able to survive an agonizing 29 hours in the ocean without any flotation device, food or water, while sharks kept approaching him. The fact that it was hours before anyone on his ship discovered that Nicolaysen was missing, made his rescue seem even more unlikely. Between 15 – 20 ships passed by without hearing his calls for help or spotting him bobbing up and down in the endless expanse of the ocean.
Nicolaysen’s story is frightening, dramatic and ultimately inspiring. Continue reading
