Union Square Street Scene – 1901
This 1901 street scene is looking north from 14th Street towards Union Square. Continue reading
Old New York In Photos #129 – Union Square
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Category Archives: Photography
Classic Hollywood #115 – Tyrone Power “No Good Reason To Get Married”
Tyrone Power Escorts Marlene Dietrich and Annabella To A Premiere
Love or a Hollywood beard? Beard is the old term for a man covering his preference for male companionship by being seen with or escorting women in public.
Deanna Durbin Charms In Preview
Hollywood, Calif. – Deanna Durbin previewed her new picture at the Panteges Theater in Hollywood, last night before an enthusiastic crowd which witnessed her picture “Three Smart Girls Grow Up” by Universal.
Photo shows (left to right) Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power and Annabella arriving at the Theater. Photo: Acme 3/17/39
In 1938 Tyrone Power placed second in receiving fan mail, right behind Shirley Temple. Power was a major film star form the late 1930s until his death on November 15, 1958 at age 44 from a massive heart attack. Power reportedly smoked three packs of cigarettes a day.
Biographer Hector Arce in his book The Secret Life of Tyrone Power (William Morrow) 1979, claimed Power was bisexual.
A newspaper article by Lucie Neville in 1938 asked a bevy of Hollywood actor-bachelors why they were not married. Among those Neville queried were James Stewart, Edgar Bergen and Tyrone Power. When read today, the responses Neville received are almost comical for the reasons the actors gave for averting matrimony. Continue reading
Fox, The Players & MLB Has Ruined The All-Star Game
A Once Exciting Annual Contest Has Become Pathetically Bad
Photo below: 1968 All-Star Game Hank Aaron Swipes 2nd Base In A Competitive Game
National League’s Hank Aaron (44) steals second base in sixth inning. Rod Carew takes throw with umpire Mel Steiner on top of play in All-Star game. July 9, 1968 Photo :George Honeycutt Houston Chronicle
While reluctantly watching this year’s baseball All-Star Game there was a pre-game tribute to Hank Aaron who passed away January 22, 2021. This may have been the high point of the evening as the Fox broadcast and the game itself was lacking in any drama or competitiveness.
Where’s The Drama?
The All-Star Game has become a love-fest between the players and interleague play has ruined what was once a fierce rivalry between the American and National Leagues. In the 1950 All-Star Game in Chicago, Ted Williams fractured his left elbow making a leaping, off-the-wall catch on a Ralph Kiner smash in the 1st inning. Williams remained in the game, and put the American League ahead, 3 – 2, in the fifth inning with an RBI single. Ted Williams said he was never the same after fracturing his elbow. Williams, like many players went all out playing in the All-Star Game, which is an exhibition game with no meaning in the standings. The AL and NL teams used to badly want to beat the opposition in the annual showdown.
Not anymore. Continue reading
Classic Hollywood #114 – Esther Williams -1944
Esther Williams Celebrates The Fourth Of July
This is one of those bizarro publicity shots put out by the movie studios to get your attention. It got ours. The caption says: Continue reading
Visiting The Doors Lead Singer Jim Morrison & How He Died 50 Years Ago
The 50th Anniversary Of Jim Morrison Really Being Dead
or
People Are Paying Their Respects To A Coffin “Loaded With Sand”
The Truth About The Death Of Jim Morrison & A Visit To Mr. Mojo Risin’
Pére Lachaise Cemetery photo: Stuffnobodycaresabout.com
“Is there really a body in there?” is usually not one of the questions you ask yourself when visiting a grave. But this is no ordinary grave. Continue reading
Old New York In Photos #128 – Madison Avenue & 26th Street 1870s
Two Photographs At 26th Street & Madison Avenue c. 1870 & 1875
This first stereoview photograph was taken by the pioneering New York photography firm E. & H.T. Anthony around 1870.
We are looking west from the southwest corner of 26th Street and Madison Avenue. Continue reading
Hall Of Famer Carl Hubbell & His Brother John Hubbell – 1937
John Hubbell Is A Mirror Image of All-Star Carl Hubbell – 1937
Unfortunately for the New York Giants the mirror image does not mirror the talent.
Southpaw, Carl Hubbell known as “The Meal Ticket,” was the anchor of the New York Giants pitching staff in the 1930s. Carl was one of five brothers who played baseball and the only one who had big league success.
Our photo’s original caption says: Continue reading
Classic Hollywood #113 – Monty Banks Stars In Atta Boy -1926
Monty Banks With Flappers In Atta Boy – 1926
Our film still has no explanation and no id’s on anyone in the photograph except star Monty Banks and the film Atta Boy.
Born Mario Bianchi in Cesena, Italy on July 15, 1897, comedian Monty Banks was a popular comedian of the teens and 1920s. When Banks emigrated around 1914 he did not realize there were two America’s and ended up in Buenos Aires, Argentina!
Banks soon made it to the United States and started in films as a stunt man. He later became a gag man and a cutter. Eventually he worked his way up to starring in two reel comedies (ten to fifteen minute short films).
Atta Boy
In 1926 Banks made his first long feature (65 minutes) for Pathe, Atta Boy. How different was it to get a part in a major film 95 years ago? The diminutive five foot five Banks announced through the newspapers that he was casting for a leading lady. The qualifications? Continue reading
117 Years Ago Today Over 1,000 New Yorkers Die In The General Slocum Disaster
June 15 1904 Over 1,000 People Die In The General Slocum Excursion Steamboat Fire
Hundreds Of Women And Children Burn And Drown In The Second Greatest Catastrophe In New York’s History
Illustration: Puck Magazine
Every year after 1904 there was a ceremony on June 15 to commemorate the victims of the General Slocum disaster. Today a few people will gather near an otherwise ignored memorial fountain in Tompkins Square Park to remember the 1,000 plus people who perished on the General Slocum.
If you do not know about the disaster you are not alone. Continue reading
Old New York In Photos #127 – Bridge Of Sighs To The Tombs Prison
Bridge Of Sighs Connects The Tombs and Criminal Courthouse- c. 1905
We are looking west from Centre Street to Franklin Street. Spanning Franklin Street is the Bridge of Sighs connecting the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building to the City Prison also known as The Tombs.
The name Bridge of Sighs comes from a bridge built in 1600 in Venice, Italy connecting the Doge’s Palace and the New Prison. The dubious story is that prisoners being transported from interrogation at the Doge’s Palace to prison would sigh when crossing the bridge upon seeing beautiful Venice.
The origin of the name “The Tombs” is tainted in apocrypha. Old prison guards at the original tombs building claimed that when the building first opened so many inmates committed suicide while in confinement that the prison was nicknamed The Tombs.
Original Tombs prison in 1895, Criminal Courts Building in background
By The Book
The truth is much simpler. Continue reading