Tag Archives: 1910s

Old New York In Postcards #30 – Equitable Building Fire

The Equitable Building Burns To The Ground – January 9, 1912

On January 9, 1912, the Equitable Life Assurance Building at 120 Broadway was destroyed in a fire of historic proportions.

In 2012 we covered the 100th anniversary of this historic fire and its consequences. Continue reading

Welcoming The New Year 1912 – Life Magazine

Life Magazine January 11, 1912 Cover

The cover of Life Magazine by Albert Dodd Blashfield (1860-1920) features this allegorical scene of the old year sitting at a table with the new year. What the symbolism of the pose, wine, smoking, hourglass and table setting boils down to is: out with the old and in with new.

The original Life Magazine (not the 1936 -1972 photo-journal magazine version of Life) featured humor, cartoons and short articles. Continue reading

Classic Hollywood #171 – Charlie Chaplin

Official Portrait Of Charlie Chaplin 1919

Charlie Chaplin photo: United Artists

This 1919 portrait of Charlie Chaplin taken at the height of his success shows that behind the make-up and little mustache was a handsome man.

Chaplin, as one of the co-founders of United Artists in 1919 with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith, had many official publicity photographs taken like the one above and below to promote the founding of the company.

The historic moment taken when the papers of incorporation were signed creating United Artists Corporation on April 17, 1919. Left to right in the foreground are the founders. D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.. In the background are their attorneys, Albert Banzhaf and Dennis O’Brien. photo: United Artists

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Old New York In Photos #175 – Fifth Avenue From 57th Street

Fifth Avenue Looking North From 57th Street c. 1914

From the Detroit Publishing Company comes this lightly trafficked view of Fifth Avenue. By 1915 horses were being phased out of daily street life and a large portion of the vehicular traffic is motorized. Continue reading

Boyfriend Proposes To His Girl, Then Shoots Her – 1915

Matrimony Or Else

Marriage Proposal Gone Wrong On New York’s Upper East Side

If you imagine that in the good old days courtship always involved proper etiquette, courtesy and social mores you would be mistaken.

While combing through the archives of the New York Tribune we came across this article Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #173 – Broadway & 44th St. Vitagraph Theatre -1914

Mr. Barnes Of New York Playing At The Vitagraph Theatre – 1914

This rare postcard view of The Vitagraph Theatre on the east side of Broadway and 44th Street shows the theatre’s marquee with people milling about a horse drawn promotional wagon.

The building opening in 1895 as the Lyric Theatre was part of the Olympia entertainment complex built by Oscar Hammerstein. Continue reading

During World War I There Was A “Fag” Day – May 29, 1917

Not Flag Day, But Fag Day

It’s not what you might think. There was no Pride Day 100 years ago. These two members of the armed services shown in the poster above are definitely sharing a moment. But it was not intended to be depicting a gay moment.

Asking for a fag may not be in the parlance of Americans, but to Brits the meaning is very clear. “Do you have a cigarette?” Continue reading

Harlem In the Teens & Twenties As Seen By Frederic A. Birmingham

Growing Up In Bucolic Harlem Before And After World War I

Frederic A. Birmingham’s 1960 memoir of New York, It Was Fun While It Lasted (J.B. Lippincott Company), describes a Harlem which few New Yorkers would recognize today.

The action takes place from approximately 1915 -1925, when Birmingham was between the ages of 4 and 14. Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #165 – Broadway & 40th St. 1913

East Side of Broadway & 40th Street 1913

A Story Of Three Buildings On The Main Stem

This photograph taken by William Roege can be narrowed down to the autumn of 1913. Though photographer Roege engraved the year within the photo, he did not write an exact date.

The Empire Theater

We are looking at the east side of Broadway at 40th Street and the main clue to the time of year is the Empire Theater marquee which announces the appearance of actor John Drew.

John Drew

Drew was one of the turn-of-the-century’s big stage stars and the uncle of actors John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore. Continue reading