We have previously featured an overview of the Times Tower Building and Times Square. Now we present a street level view looking west from Broadway. The date is October 3, 1915 and there are a handful of people milling about on the street. Continue reading
If you are like me, Saturday, January 19, 2013 will be remembered by baseball fans as a very sad day because two Hall of Famers died.
Stan Musial was one of the greatest players to ever play the game and was a gentleman on and off the field.
Earl Weaver was supposedly a gentleman off the field. On the field he could be a terror to the umpires.
I’ll leave the comments of greatness to others on both of these legends. While both of these men will get accolades and fond remembrances in the obituary pages, few will mention the outtake reel from “The Manager’s Corner” with Earl Weaver and Tom Marr. Continue reading
The Art of The Book #5 – New York City Deco Dust Jackets From The 20′s & 30′s
As we complete our look at New York City books from 80+ years ago, some of these dust jackets incorporate photography into their covers which the other dust jackets we have featured do not. (click on any photo to enlarge)
Portrait Of New York by Felix Riesenberg & Alexander Alland, New York: Macmillan, 1939 dj illustrator, Alexander Alland
Felix Riesnberg (1879-1939) was a civil engineer and master mariner. He was a polar explorer and wrote numerous books with nautical themes. Portrait of New York ventures among the populace and is an accurate description of the city and its people.
Alexander Alland (1902-1989) was a master photographer and the book shows a small sample of his immense talents. Continue reading
The Art of The Book #4 – New York City Deco Dust Jackets From The 20′s & 30′s
Continuing our look at the those great New York City books from 80 years ago, here are more great dust jacket covers. (click on any photo to enlarge)
Hacking New York by Robert Hazard, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930 dj illustrator, unknown
The first book of its kind – anecdotes of a New York taxi driver. Even back then the meter could be rigged and Hazard explains how it was done. The dust jacket is gorgeous and unfortunately the artist is unattributed. Continue reading
The Art of The Book #3 – New York City Deco Dust Jackets From The 20′s & 30′s
We continue with our look at vintage books about New York City with great dust jackets. (click here to read part 1 and here to read part 2)
Starting with a look at an all-time classic of deco design, New York Nights. (click on any photo to enlarge)
New York Nights by Stephen Graham, New York: George H. Doran, 1927, dj illustrator, Kurt Wiese
A native of Scotland, author Stephen Graham (1884-1975) goes on a tour of jazz age nightclubs, speakeasies and cabarets. Graham provides the grittier side of life in an up to the minute description of prohibition New York neighborhoods, establishments and people.
Kurt Wiese (1887-1974) illustrated over 300 books and later became an award-winning children’s book author. Besides the knockout jacket cover, Wiese drew all the illustrations contained in the book. This was the first American book he worked on. Continue reading
The Art of The Book #2 – New York City Deco Dust Jackets From The 20′s & 30’s
We continue our look at some great New York City books from the 1920’s and 1930’s with exceptional artwork on their dust jackets. (click here to read part 1)
We begin with graphics on a dust jacket worthy of a large size poster from the quintessential art deco New York book. (click on any photo to enlarge)
New York by Paul Morand and Joaquin Vaquero Palacios. New York: Henry Holt, 1930, dj illustrator, Joaquin Vaquero Palacios.
A witty description of New York, via French writer Paul Morand, (1888-1976) from four visits he made to New York, none longer than a month, from between 1925-1929. Morand later became a supporter of the French Vichy regime.
Joaquin Vaquero (1900-1998) as he is credited in the book without the Palacios surname, was a Spanish architect and painter. His paintings are held in museums across the globe. Continue reading
The Art of The Book #1 – New York City Deco Dust Jackets From The 20’s & 30’s
From the 1920’s until the 1940’s, book publishers put out some phenomenal books about New York. They also hired talented artists to design the book’s dust jackets.
The eye-catching art deco graphics were meant to attract potential buyers. Unfortunately, most people who purchased books 80 years ago would discard the dust jacket once they brought the book home with them.
Because of that, many of these books from that time are very scarce in their original dust jacket.
This is the first part of a five part series looking at the dust jackets of books about New York City, the artists that created the work and the authors.
Below are some fine examples of New York City books from the golden era of publishing.
(click on any photo to enlarge)
New York by Quex. New York: David McKay, 1928, dj illustrator, Dixon (possibly Arthur A. Dixon)
Quex was the pseudonym of reporter George H.F. Nichols (1881-1933) of The Evening News of London. Nichols was at the time of his death one of the highest paid reporters in the world. Nichols was the originator of articles written in the form of “the diary of the man about town.” Quex’s observations about about New York are well worth reading.
The dust jacket is classic New York, but I am unsure about the attribution to Arthur Dixon, so we will leave biographical information out until someone can provide a conclusive identification on the artist.
In general I have found that women do not find Abbott and Costello to be funny. Maybe they are an acquired taste.
What is interesting about this particular scene from their 1943 hit movie In The Navy, is that their co-star Shemp Howard (on left) was a member of another stalwart comedy team, The Three Stooges. Continue reading
4 Photographs Of Times Square On New Year’s Eve 1952-1965
Another New Year’s celebration tonight. What did it look like half a century ago?
Pretty much the same.
Here are four photographs of Times Square as it appeared during New Year’s Eve celebrations during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The amount of light emanating from the vicinity leads to an overexposure, making this a difficult scene to capture.
Last Of “12 Angry Men” Cast Passes Away At Home
Jack Klugman with son Adam Klugman promoting Tony and Me 2005 © stuffnobodycaresabout.com
When Jack Klugman decided to write a book he insisted it would not be an autobiography. He was too modest for that. Instead he wrote a book about his close relationship with his Odd Couple co-star Tony Randall. The book, Tony and Me A Story of Friendship, published in 2005 by Good Hill Press, was short on details about Klugman’s life, but very illuminating about Randall and Klugman’s close relationship.
After Klugman was treated for throat cancer he thought his acting career might be over. It wasn’t. With the encouragement of Tony Randall, Klugman returned to the stage and began his career anew, re-learning how to use his new voice, a scratchy rasp that pained some people to listen to. Klugman insisted it didn’t hurt him at all to talk, it just sounded that way to others.
The star of one of the best written and best acted television programs of all-time, The Odd Couple, Jack Klugman died on December 24, 2012 at his home in Woodland Hills, CA at the age of 90. He had been in declining health for the past year. He leaves behind his sons Adam and David and his second wife Peggy. His first wife actress Brett Somers died in 2007, they had been separated since 1974, but had never divorced.
I spent quite a bit of time in 2005 with Jack Klugman helping to promote his book. One of the things I asked him was why he didn’t write an autobiography. He said, “This is all there ever will be. I’m the sort of of person who likes to keep things private. I’ll write about Tony because our relationship was special and that story should be told, but that’s it.”
Our conversations about life and acting made me believe that this was a mistake, and I told Jack Klugman he could have told the world so much more about his career and recollections and many people would be fascinated.
He politely replied that it wasn’t that interesting.
I disagree. His full life story would have been very interesting.
Some things people may not have known about Jack Klugman:
Klugman had an incredibly sharp mind and he attended the prestigious Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University).
On The Odd Couple, Klugman portrayed Oscar Madison, a sloppy sportswriter who was a New York Mets fan. In reality Klugman knew little about modern baseball and his knowledge after the DiMaggio era of baseball was lacking. I arranged an appearance on the New York Mets pre-game radio show with Gary Cohen to promote his book. After some initial nervousness and hesitancy on Klugman’s part, he did the interview and both Klugman and Cohen were very satisfied with the results and Cohen said it was one of his favorite interviews that he had ever conducted. Klugman’s real love was the track. He loved the horses. But for that interview you would not have known that Jack Klugman was not a real life New York Mets fan.
He worked with some of the most famous actors of their day, such as Humphrey Bogart, on live television. Most of those appearances are now lost forever.
Klugman’s role as Juror #5 in of one of the all-time greatest movies, 12 Angry Men was a breakthrough part for him, leading to many more acting offers. He discounted his importance to that film as being “small.” It wasn’t small. Klugman’s portrayal may have had the most authenticity of all the actors based on his rough and tumble upbringing.
On a bright day in late June 2005 in the midst of the book publicity tour in a chilly New York office building, we had some spare time alone between interviews. Klugman was wearing his trademark V-neck sweater and cap. I asked Klugman what he remembered about working with Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb and rest of the stellar cast of 12 Angry Men. Klugman grew wistful, saying, “I never really liked acting in the movies, the pace was too slow. I always preferred the stage and television. But that cast…that was amazing. It was a privilege to be a small part of that movie.”
We talked about John Fiedler (the voice of Piglet from Winnie The Pooh) who had co-starred with Klugman on a couple of episodes of The Odd Couple and appeared in 12 Angry Men as Juror #2. I told Klugman he just passed away.
Klugman was surprised and said, “I just spoke to John a few months ago.” Apparently no one had told him about Fiedler’s very recent death. He was silent for a moment or two, looked out toward the window and said slowly, “They’re all gone. Fonda, Balsam, Cobb, Warden. I’m the last of the 12 Angry Men.”