Emil Otto Hoppé a famous German-born, British artist / photographer was tasked by The Daily News in 1920 to find The American version of the Modern Venus. The winner of the contest would become Hoppé ‘s model. Continue reading
Mae Today
One of Mae West’s most noted successes – a role with which she is now a bit bored – is as a high-living lady in “Diamond Lil”. The play is still being revived. In a New York dressing room in 1949, Miss West puts on some “prop” diamonds – valued at $2,000 – which she wears in the play. photo: Wide World Photos 8/4/1952
Mae West remained in the public eye for decades. First in vaudeville, then the legitimate stage, followed by movies and radio. Topping off her stardom, there were whispers and rumors throughout her career that Mae West was not actually a woman. Continue reading
If you have never heard the name of Linda Watkins, you can easily be forgiven. But you might recognize her face with appearances in many television programs and a few movies from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Heralded to become a major star with a very strong performance in her 1931 film debut, Sob Sister, Watkins then made only five more films before taking a 17 year screen hiatus. Continue reading
This amateur snapshot captures the manually operated signal tower to control traffic along the busy stretch of Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. We are looking north from 42nd Street with Temple Emanu El beyond the flags.
The tower was active in February 1920 to “control congestion,” not just for vehicles but pedestrians. Continue reading
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
