Before the construction of Stuyvesant Town this is what the area looked like.
The news caption reads: Continue reading
While standing next to Brian Aherne at a party one day, Gary Cooper said quietly out of the side of his mouth, “How tall are you?”
“Six foot two and a half,” Aherne answered.
“Me too,” said Cooper. “Never admit to six foot three!”
A few years later at a party in Washington D.C., General George C. Marshall asked the identical question in the identical way.
“I used Gary’s line to reply six two and a half, never admit to six foot three,” Aherne said. And the General replied, “Me too!”
The point is Continue reading
This photograph was taken by the Department of Bridges official photographer, Eugene de Salignac.
For over three decades until 1934, de Salignac took thousands of photographs for his job with the city. Many show an artistic eye and were compiled in New York Rises: Photographs by Eugene de Salignac (2007) Aperture. Continue reading
This photograph by Percy Loomis Sperr shows the Ninth Avenue El looking north from the west side of 23rd Street.
We can see the entire corner from 23rd to 24th Street has been cleared in preparation for the construction of the London Terrace apartment complex. London Terrace has 14 buildings stretching from Ninth to Tenth Avenues. Continue reading
The most surprising thing about Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet is not that it stars the usually typecast gangster Edward G. Robinson as a doctor. The fact that it was made in 1940 Continue reading
JUST CHARMER NOW, NO SNAKE
Paris, France – She was “Nita”a snake charmer in a traveling circus, who thrilled the audience with her five foot rose python snake form Brazil. But she was also Nicole Vaissiere, six-year-old. So she’s been taken out of her animal trainer step-father’s side show by a court order. Nicole’s on her way to school where the three R’s aren’t all in the word wriggle. Credit: Acme photo by New York staff correspondent David S. Boyer 12/29/1949
And what else? That’s our usual question to a news story like this.
Checking the news outlets of the time did not yield much more information. United Press International did report some additional facts. Nicole’s snake act Continue reading
This weekend the National Baseball Hall of Fame will honor this year’s inductees; Dick Allen, Dave Parker, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner.
The Baseball Hall of Fame began in 1936, but the first ceremony inducting former greats wasn’t until the museum first opened its doors on June 12, 1939. Continue reading
If classic film fans are familiar with Constance Bennett (1904-1965) , it is usually through two films, Topper (1937) and What Price Hollywood? (1932).
The production still above from the 1938 romance comedy film Service de Luxe is one of many that Bennett made and is now forgotten.
What Price Hollywood? is the first version Continue reading
This stereoscope view of lower Manhattan was taken from the St. Paul Building at 220 Broadway around 1900.
The development of steel skeleton buildings enabled skyscrapers to be constructed towards the end of the 19th century.
The 25-story St. Paul Building stood at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street. Continue reading
Marilyn Monroe is seen here with an unidentified assistant dresser, squeezing into an corset for the film River Of No Return.
Directed by Otto Preminger and Jean Negulesco, the film’s Continue reading
