New York City has a lot of beggars with children. It always has.
If you look up from your phone you’ll see them weaving through subway cars or standing or sitting mid-block or on corners with children close by. Continue reading
It’s an historical artifact that seems quite self-explanatory.
Yet, when I first encountered this photograph there was no slug on the back explaining the setting or other identifiers.
A general internet search did not provide any clues. And proving once again that AI is worthless on millions of situations, Google was only able to transcribe words on the memorial which did not need transcribing as they are quite legible.
My assumption was that this bronze memorial plaque was once located at Christy Mathewson’s home field: The Polo Grounds of the New York Giants. If so what became of this memorial? Surely it would be preserved somewhere after the demolition of the Polo Grounds in 1964.
This is why you can never assume. I was completely wrong. Continue reading
Pitching Prowess
New York: Bullet Bob Turley limited the Milwaukee Braves to four hits in the sixth game of the World Series here, October 9, winning the tilt for the Yanks, 3-2, and thereby knotting the series at three games all. In this combo, Turley, without benefit of a windup, gets set to fire a pitch plateward. credit: United Press 10-9-1957
Turley pitched magnificently although he did give up solo homers to Frank Torre in the fifth and Henry Aaron in the seventh. But besides Continue reading
The Cat And The Blonde
Hollywood: Film star June Haver is amazed at some of the facts connected with cats as she helps the American Feline Society get the 1949 National Cat Week rolling. For instance, did you know that cats were kept as pets in ancient Egypt? Kitty’s been chasing mice since before the pyramids were built. photo; Acme/ 20th Century Fox 10-31-1949
One of the sillier promotional stills we have come across, is this bathing suit cheesecake photo from 20th Century Fox which was repurposed by Acme news photos to promote Cat Week.
June Haver (1926-2005) appeared in only 18 films Continue reading
Charles Hanson Towne (1877-1949) was a prolific author, poet and editor of such prestigious magazines as Smart Set, Delineator, McClure’s, Designer, and Harper’s Bazaar.
As an urbane New Yorker, Towne’s hobnobbing with celebrities in literature, stage, politics and society was de riguer. His acquaintances also gave him access to juicy gossip.
In the second of Towne’s memoirs (he wrote three), This New York Of Mine, Cosmopolitan (1931), he relates an apocryphal story which occurred at the turn-of-the-century that Towne claims is true.
There are no names attached to the tale. But if the facts are correct an online detective could figure out Continue reading
It’s funny when you are reading an old newspaper and you come across a completely different story that leads down a rabbit hole.
Such is the case of Reuben H. Norcott.
While researching a story in the Chicago Daily Tribune from 1883 about another person, I saw Norcott’s story on the same page.
I quickly became immersed in Norcott’s story as told by an (unfortunately) unnamed New York correspondent for the Tribune. Continue reading
While both of these double entendre postcards would be considered risque around 1900, the photographs are quite different.
This first postcard of “Practice This Piece With Me” from 1907 implies making out during piano practice time.
The second postcard goes a bit further. Notice where his hand is. Continue reading
These two news press photographs of the Yankees star catcher Bill Dickey were released one day apart in late September 1938. The photos were almost certainly taken the same day.
The stadium appears to be Chicago’s Comiskey Park where the Yankees played the White Sox the previous week, September 20-22.
The first news Continue reading
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
