Category Archives: Photography

Worst Snowstorms In New York History – January 1925

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January 2015, Not As Bad January 1925

Trolley stuck in snow during storm

Trolley stuck in snow during storm

It was bad for Suffolk County, NY and Boston, MA, but New York City’s 2015 “worst blizzard of all time” did not live up to its billing.

Official records for the city have been kept since 1869, and so far this January, New York City has received a relatively small amount of snow with 14.3 inches accumulating.

January 1925 arrived and departed like a polar bear and New York City was the unwelcome recipient of 27.4 inches of snow, the most ever recorded for any January up to that time. (This record was finally eclipsed in January 2011 when the city recorded 36 inches of snow.)

But it was not only New York City that got hit multiple times in January 1925 with lots of snowstorms, but upstate New York got slammed as well.

The tally for the city read like this: A relentless snowstorm that lasted two days occurred from January 2-3. On January 12 the city required 12,000 shovelmen to tackle another snowstorm that clogged the streets. January 20 New York City got hit with two blizzards in one day. January 27 more snow fell and then the coup de grace; the giant storm on January 30 that affected the metropolitan area.

Ninety years ago today on January 30, New York City was hit hard, but so was the entire region. How bad was it? Cattle in the streets? Ferry service ground to a halt? Here are a few excerpts of what Continue reading →

The Woman Who Almost Killed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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The Story Of Izola Ware Curry and The Stabbing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Arrest Ms Curry stabbed Martin Luther King 1958

Dr. Martin Luther King’s attacker being booked

As we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day we’ll recount a story many people are not familiar with.

It’s a forgotten story in which the Civil Rights movement narrowly escaped a crippling blow in 1958.  It’s also the story of the woman who tried to be an assassin and failed and is now very old, free, and living a mostly anonymous life here in New York City.

Ten years before being cut down by an assassin’s bullet in 1968, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came within a fraction of an inch of losing his life in an assassination attempt in New York City.

At 3:30 pm on September 20, 1958 Dr. King was in Harlem on the ground floor of  Blumstein’s Department store at 230 West 125th Street signing copies of his new book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. With about 20 people on line, a 42 year-old woman, Izola Ware Curry burst through the line, asking Dr. King if he was in fact Martin Luther King. When King affirmed he was, Curry said either “Why do you annoy me” or “I’ve been after you for six years,” and opened her purse, took out a letter opener, closed her eyes and suddenly plunged the steel blade into his left chest.

The stunned Dr. King remained seated in his chair with the blade buried deep into his chest. Curry tried to leave the store but was seized quickly by those standing near Dr. King and held for the police. It was later discovered Curry also had an automatic handgun hidden in her bra.

At the book signing there was no police protection for Dr. King and the first police officers who responded to the scene, Al Howard and Phil Romano, were nearby in their police car when they received a report of a disturbance at Blumstein’s. They arrived to see King sitting in a chair with the steel letter opener protruding from his chest. Officer Howard told King, “Don’t sneeze, don’t even speak.”

Officer’s Howard and Romano escorted Dr. King, still in the chair, down to an ambulance and rushed him to Harlem Hospital. After waiting for the proper surgical team to arrive to perform the delicate operation, the Chief of Surgery Aubre Maynard attempted to pull out the letter opener, but cut his glove on the blade. At 6:30 pm Dr. King underwent a two and a quarter hour operation. A surgical clamp was finally used to pull out the blade.

After the surgery Dr. King was listed in critical condition. He contracted pneumonia while convalescing, but recovered completely and was released from the hospital two weeks after the attack.

In his posthumously published autobiography King wrote, “Days later,when I was well enough to talk with Dr. Aubre Maynard, the chief of the surgeons who performed the delicate, dangerous operation, I learned the reason for the long delay that preceded surgery. He told me that the razor tip of the instrument had been touching my aorta and that my whole chest had to be opened to extract it. ‘If you had sneezed during all those hours of waiting,’ Dr. Maynard said, ‘your aorta would have been punctured and you would have drowned in your own blood.'” Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #38 – Boris Karloff In Make-Up Chair

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The Making of the Monster

Boris Karloff makeup session Son of FrankensteinBoris Karloff gets his make-up applied by Universal’s chief make-up artist Jack Pierce and his assistant Bill Ely (left) for 1939’s Son of Frankenstein. It took four hours per day to apply Karloff’s make-up.

Karloff had been making movies since 1919 Continue reading →

Second Avenue Elevated, 100 Years Ago

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A View Of The Second Avenue El From 14th Street

Second Avenue El from First Ave 14th Street Station Jan 13 1915The Second Avenue Elevated (El for short) was one of four elevated train lines that ran in Manhattan. This photo was taken 100 years ago today on Wednesday, January 13, 1915, and shows the view looking north from the 14th street station and First Avenue. That is correct, the Second Avenue El ran on First Avenue up until it turned west on 23rd Street to continue north on Second Avenue.

Enlarging the photo, at track level we can see the next station at 19th Street. At street level there is little activity, with a few people going about their errands. We see on the left side of the street a wall advertisement for Mecca Cigarettes and on the right side of the street on the second floor, a pawn shop window advertisement saying they’ve been “here since 1880” and a warning to any criminals that they have Holmes Electrical Protection (inventors of the modern burglar alarm).

The Els in Manhattan were discontinued over a 17 year period. The first to shut down was the Sixth Avenue El in 1938, followed by the Ninth Avenue El in 1940 and the Second Avenue El in 1942. The Third Avenue El ceased service in 1955 (the Bronx part of the Third Avenue line continued running until 1973), bringing a close to the era of Manhattan elevated trains.

The Transforming New York City Skyline 1880-2009

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Lower Manhattan’s Skyline Evolution

On March 21, 1909 The New York Sun newspaper published an illustration (reproduced below) that showed the rapid growth of the New York City skyline as seen from New Jersey in four line drawings from 1880 -1909.

Click to greatly enlarge this illustration.

We have added a photograph from approximately 100 years later showing the same view.

Transforming New York City skyline 1880-1909 The Sun March 21 1909new york skyline 2009 photo HiltonThe two constants are Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel Continue reading →

Lois DeFee Bouncer At The Dizzy Club, New York City 1936

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Don’t Mess With The Lady

woman bouncer Lois DeFee 1936 photo AcmeLois DeFee started her working life at the age of 18 in an unusual occupation – as a bouncer. A couple of years later she would achieve fame of another sort.

“Little Miss Bouncer”

Gentlemen guests at the Dizzy Club, New York night spot; are polite, especially to Miss Lois DeFee, (shown above), with a waiter of average size. Miss DeFee who stands six feet two inches, without high heels, is the official bouncer at the night club, and has acted in that capacity for seven weeks to the satisfaction of the management. Women drunks give her the most trouble, says Miss DeFee. She has been married twice; one of her husbands was a jockey who was only five feet tall. Yes– she enjoys her work, and Broadway night life in general. Credit Line: (ACME 5/15/36)

Lois DeFee was soon hired away from The Dizzy Club on 52nd street to go work across the street at the more famous Leon & Eddie’s performing the same duties at their nightclub.

Lois was later discovered by Harold Minsky of Minsky’s burlesque and she became a top burlesque star for many years, billed as a “glamazon.” Because of her great height, columnist Walter Winchell billed her as”The Eiffel Eyeful.” Lois died in Florida in 2012 at the age of 93.

New Year’s Eve Celebrations Of The Past, New York City 1906

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Festivities In New York City On New Year’s Eve 1906

A couple of years ago we featured photos of Times Square and New Year’s celebrations from the 1950’s – 1960’s. This time we went back in time a bit further to New Year’s Eve 1906.

Probably something you never thought about: where else did New Yorkers celebrate New Year’s besides Times Square, which started drawing crowds in 1904 with the completion of the New York Times Tower Building?

The answer is all over the city at various churches, hotels, restaurants and clubs, with Trinity Church being a focal point for large crowds.

Seen below is the crowd outside of Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street on New Year’s Eve 1906 awaiting the arrival of 1907.

New Year's Eve 1907 outside Trinity Church

It proves again that celebrating the New Year has not changed that much over the years. People have always liked to congregate on New Year’s Eve in New York City even in freezing weather. It’s just that back then the majority of celebrants were New Yorkers, unlike today where many revelers are visiting from all over the globe.

Here is how the New York Tribune described Continue reading →

W.C. Fields Will Gave The Bulk Of His Estate To Establish A College For White Orphans

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W.C. Fields Died On A Day He Pretended To Despise, Christmas Day 1946

When His Will Was Read, It Had A Peculiar Racial Provision In It

WC Fields full face and portraitsMovie star comedian W.C. Fields is not well remembered by today’s generation, his cerebral brilliance generally going unappreciated or unrecognized. But those who know comedy such as Monty Python’s John Cleese said of Fields, “At a time when political correctness often stifles honesty and impulse to laugh and genuine wit is in such short supply, I think nothing could be healthier than the re-discovery of this most original, perceptive and unrepentant of comedians.”

When Fields died 68 years ago today on December 25, 1946, his will provided small amounts for family members and friends with the $800,000 remainder of his estate being left to establish “The W. C. Fields College for White Orphan Boys and Girls Where No Religion of Any Kind is Ever to be Taught.”

This strange racial provision seemed completely out of character for a man who treated blacks as equals and stood up for racial equality long before it was popular.  It was at W.C. Fields insistence that his Zigfield Follies friend, the great black vaudeville star Bert Williams, be allowed to join Actor’s Equity. Williams was finally admitted to the association. Fields said Williams was, “The funniest man I ever saw and the saddest man I ever knew.”

So why would Fields put this exclusionary provision in his will? Continue reading →

Old New York In Photos #45 – Broadway After Snowstorm 1905

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New York City 1905 After A Big Snowstorm – The Sights Along Broadway Between 29th and 30th Streets Described

New York After a Big Snowstorm 1905 ph Detroit Photo Library of CongressSo far New York City has not had a major snowstorm this season like upstate New York received earlier this month. But I dream of New York City days gone by like this one shown above.

In this high resolution photograph (click to greatly enlarge) taken in 1905, the effects of a recent snowstorm can be seen as the snow has been shoveled high onto the edge of the street and sidewalk.

We are looking up Broadway from the northwest corner of 29th Street towards 30th Street. On the extreme left at 1209 Broadway is one of the many United Cigar Stores outlets, a chain store which dominated New York’s tobacco retail industry at the turn of the century. Next door at 1211 Broadway is Marcus & Marcus supplying men’s furnishings.

Across the street at 1204 Broadway an advertisement in the window at ground level announces that the entire stock in their window was purchased by The Maurice Company, a clothing company run by Maurice Rogaliner. The “Broadway Dentists” also had offices in the same building along with Sol Young, Photographer.

Next door to the Maurice Company is Shanley’s Restaurant, owned by brothers Tom and Michael Shanley.

Shanley’s was one of the most famous eateries of the late 19th and early 20th century in Manhattan. With three restaurants, this one at 1210-1212 Broadway was their second location which opened in 1896. As the restaurant guide Where And How To Dine In New York (Lewis, Scribner & Co; 1903) describes it:

Everybody in New York knows Shanley’s and almost everybody has dined at one or another of the three establishments conducted under this name. The management acknowledges but one purpose in the conduct of its restaurants — to make its guests absolutely comfortable and to persuade them that Shanley^s holds the recipe for good cheer. It has taken twelve years to develop the atmosphere which one finds in Shanley’s and during this time the extent of its business operations has been greatly enlarged.   The service at Shanley’s is entirely a la carte. The cuisine is proverbial for its excellence. Chops, steaks, lobsters, game, shell fish and kidneys are among the special attractions of the house.

Next to Shanley’s the building with the initials HB and the crown on its sign is the Hof Brau Haus Restaurant. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #37 – Lilian Harvey

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Lilian Harvey – “I Am Suzanne” 1934

Lilan Harvey 1934 I Am SuzanneLilian Harvey was born Helene Lilian Muriel Pape on January 19, 1906 in England. Her mother was British and her father German and Lilian was schooled in Switzerland. Lilian became a leading star in Germany in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

A Hungarian nobleman once offered to give Lilian a castle and a whole village to go along with it. Speaking 13 different languages, Lilian was able to make films in four. She left Germany permanently after the outbreak of World War II. Continue reading →