Classic Hollywood #149 – Mae West & Alice Cooper

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Mae West In A Revival & Hitting On Rock Star Alice Cooper

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 →

Classic Hollywood #148 – Linda Watkins Broadway Star Who Despised Films

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1931 – Linda Watkins Who Gave Up A Promising Film Career at Age 24

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 →

New York City Prostitution in 1870

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New York Prostitution By The Numbers – 1870

Over 10,000 Prostitutes Of All Types In A City of 942,292

A Mix Of Farmers Daughters, Servants, Teetotalers, Drunkards, Native Born, Recent Immigrants, Widows, The Young, Single & Refined Ladies & Illiterates

Illustration From George Ellington's book The Women Of Of New YorkFrom an interesting and self-published 1870 book, Personals or Perils of the Period by Joseph Hertford comes this analysis of the prostitutes of New York. There were at least 10,000 prostitutes coming from various work backgrounds and social statuses. Excerpting from this chapter, Hertford writes: Continue reading →

Old New York In Photos #154 – 1920, New Traffic Tower On 42nd St. & 5th Ave

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Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street With New Traffic Signal Tower 1920

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 →

Jump, Scooter, Jump! Phil Rizzuto In Action

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Phil Rizzuto – 1950

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 →

Classic Hollywood #147 – Biggest Film Stars In Hollywood 1925

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Three Big Stars – Fairbanks, Coogan and Valentino

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 →

This 1942 Movie Contains A Great Lesson About Academic Freedom & Free Speech

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The Male Animal & Henry Fonda’s Speech On Academic Freedom & Free Speech

Henry Fonda in The Male Animal (1942)

When one reads or hears about the fear of debate and the airing of opposing viewpoints at colleges, it is indicative of a disheartening and sickening trend towards academic totalitarianism.

The issue is not a new one.

The following dialogue is from the 1942 film The Male Animal and describes exactly the quandary we are facing today. Continue reading →