Tag Archives: 1920s

In 1920 People In New York Are Asked – Is There Life On Mars?

The Inquiring Photographer Asks New Yorkers In 1920 – Is Mars Inhabited?

Asking people what they don’t know is a sure way to get wrong answers.

The New York Daily News once had a feature called The Inquiring Photographer. It’s a journalistic gimmick to take the pulse of citizens on what they think about issues. Continue reading

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

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

Classic Hollywood #147 – Biggest Film Stars In Hollywood 1925

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

Classic Hollywood #141 – Charlie Chaplin & Jackie Coogan

Charlie Chaplin & Jackie Coogan Reenact “The Kid” 1935

No wonder Charlie Chaplin looks bewildered. Recognize the other person in the photograph? None other than Jackie Coogan, whom Charlie Chaplin made famous fifteen years ago in the famous picture, “The Kid” – Jackie had never seen the film, so the other day he renewed an old friendship with the comedian, Charlie had the picture run for him, and then sat down on a curb and talked things over as this exclusive photo shows. – photo: Acme March 26 ,1935

In an 1934 interview with Grace Kingsley, Coogan states that he incredibly had never seen The Kid. Coogan says he “remembers nothing of his experiences filming with Chaplin, except running away one day and hiding, when everybody thought he had fallen into the pool.”

These were days when once a film had its initial run Continue reading

100 Years Ago Today The World Learned Of The Discovery Of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb

November 29, 1922 The World Is Told About The Discovery Of King Tut’s Tomb

Hussein Abdel Rasoul, a water boy for an archeological expedition came across something unusual. As he was swishing around sand to make bottles stay upright, he noticed the surface he had uncovered looked like a sculpted stone. It turned out to be a step. The first step leading to a blocked entryway.

Hussein the water boy wearing a scarab necklace found at King Tut’s excavation site

Hussein’s discovery occurred early in the morning of November 4, 1922 in the Valley of the Kings, just outside of Luxor, about 450 miles upstream of Cairo, Egpyt.

The expedition’s lead was archeologist Howard Carter who in the past had other significant finds under his direction. Carter was spending another year digging and looking for treasures, but without progress. Continue reading