We tend to think of bathing beauty contests as being ogling-fests for men.
But not always.
Sometimes the ladies would be judging the men.
As the roaring twenties drew to a conclusion, this role reversal contest was held in Venice, California on May 20, 1929.
The news slug reads: Continue reading
What is about to happen in this 1925 film is anybody’s guess. But these 16 chorus girls are ready to do some sort of athletic routine in their spiffy hats. As the news slug says:
The athletic training indulged in by the Christie Sports Girls even comes in handy now and then in the pictures. Witness this gym scene in a new Bill Dooley comedy. photo: NEA,(Newspaper Enterprise Association) December 3, 1925
Forgotten today are brothers Al and Charles Christie of the Christie Film Company. Continue reading
The Original Movie Vampire Learns Intricate Chinese Game
Theda Bara the original movie vampire learned a new game yesterday, while at the Westchester-Biltmore Club. It is called Pung-Chow, the Royal Game of China, played for thousands of years in the land of Confucius, the mystic charm of the East, combined with the excitement and entertainment which Americans demand, and a game for young and old. The game is even more intricate than chess and Miss Bara had the pleasure of being instructed by these two fair Chinese experts. photo: Wide World Photos 12/7//1922
Theda Bara (born Theodosia Goodman 1885-1955) is virtually unknown today because she was a silent star and only six of her films are extant. People usually recognize publicity stills of Bara without necessarily knowing her name as the title character in Cleopatra (1917). That film is lost, as are 40 of Bara’s other movies.
A huge star earning $4,000 per week when there was practically no income tax, Bara slowed down after making dozens of films in the nineteen teens. From 1920-1926 Bara made only more three films.
In 1921 Bara married Continue reading
Radio As Effective As Morphine
This photo shows several young patients at Beth Israel Hospital, N.Y. listening in to concerts on the radio taking their minds off their ailments, and making them happy.According to Beth Israel Superintendent L.J. Frank, the doctors and nurses agree that in a large number of cases, that, at times the radio is as effective as morphine, bromine and other narcotics. Many sufferers of rheumatism and other chronic afflictions require no other sedative other than radio since it was introduced at that hospital as a treatment. photo: United Press International / Acme – August 25, 1925
Radio, morphine? An interesting comparison.
When doctors made this proclamation 99 years ago Continue reading
St. Paul’s Chapel and Broadway. photo: Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside
If the clock on the tower of St. Paul’s Chapel is accurate, it is a couple of minutes before noon on a weekday. Looking at the pedestrians shadows, the clock is probably correct. Hundreds of people stream by Fulton Street while a trolley is coming down Broadway. One thing you might notice besides the fashion of the day, with many men wearing light-colored straw hats, is that there are few women present. One hundred years ago, the central business area around Wall Street was still the domain of a predominantly male working force.
Here is the same scene taken seconds apart with a tighter focus. The policeman directing traffic can now be clearly seen.
The 30 foot obelisk Continue reading
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
Every so often we look back at life in the Unites States 100 years ago. In this case, we were looking at Buffalo, New York.
Besides the household prices for groceries, we glanced quickly at a few news items from the Buffalo Evening News newspaper for February 21, 1924.
Buffalo was dealing with a major blizzard. Continue reading
Pick of Nation In Race For Nation’s Beauty Crown!
A staggering fascinating view of the cream of America’s beauty , gathered from all corners of the United States to vie for title of Miss America at Atlantic City. The beauties of all sorts and moods – are pictured as they appeared September 8, lined up for rehearsal of ceremony of picking of winner. photo: Pacific and Atlantic Photos 9/9/1926
The Miss America prize was awarded to “The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America” starting in 1921. As you can see in our photo, originally the competitors were from various cities around the United States and not representing individual states.
The irrelevant Miss America contest still takes place but without the bathing suit competition. Continue reading
Page 2 article New York Herald January 16, 1921
In 1921 instead of illegals, the New York City Police Department were gathering up men from other cities who were jobless.
This article is from the January 16, 1921 New York Herald:
POLICE ROUNDING UP NON-RESIDENT IDLE
Jobless Who Do Not Live Here Arrested as Vagrants.
Squads of detectives and uniformed policemen, under orders to arrest unemployed men who could not prove themselves residents of New York City, went through the lower East Side last night and early to-day inspecting saloons and lunch rooms. At one saloon at 199 Worth street twenty-nine men, who had nothing to do but warm themselves beside a stove, were made prisoners and locked In the Elizabeth street station on charges of vagrancy. Continue reading
This photograph taken by Percy Loomis Sperr on August 31, 1934 shows a mostly desolate section of the west side of Manhattan. 38th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues has still not been absorbed by the Hudson Yards building boom.
There has been great change, but there are many vacant lots and Incredibly nearly 90 years later, Continue reading
