Tag Archives: 1930s

A New Baseball Introduced At Spring Training 1931

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Manager Connie Mack Shows Pitchers The New Baseball To Be Used For The 1931 Season

Connie Shows His Men How The New Ball Works
Fort Myers, Fla: Connie Mack, veteran chief of the Philadelphia Athletics explains the new ball to Walberg, Grove, Rommel and Shores as spring training gets under way here. 3/5/1931 photo International Newsreel

With a new lively baseball introduced after 1920, it was no surprise that balls started to travel further. But as the 1920s progressed and hitters kept hitting more and more home runs, baseball writers, fans and those within the game felt that the hitters had achieved too much of an advantage. So after a decade of increasing run production, the National and American Leagues made the decision to try and curb the scoring by changing to a new baseball.

Big Numbers

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Lou Gehrig & Wife Eleanor After Retiring From Baseball

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Lou Gehrig Has Help From Eleanor Gehrig With His New Job

LOU GEHRIG’S WIFE MAY BECOME HIS SECRETARY
Larchmont, N.Y. – Wife and secretary is the double role Mrs. Lou Gehrig (above) might assume Jan. 1, 1940, assumes his position on the New York City Municipal Parole Board. Mrs. Gehrig is shown in their Larchmont N.Y., home, Oct. 11, after Mayor F.H. LaGuardia announced appointment of the New York Yankees former first baseman to the board for a ten-year term. Mrs. Gehrig handles all of Lou’s fan mail and other correspondence. Credit: Acme Oct. 11, 1939

After Lou Gehrig stepped down from playing baseball on May 2, 1939 he stayed with the team for the remainder of the year, never playing a major league game again. But once the season was over Gehrig pondered the future.

The parole board job La Guardia offered paid an annual salary of $5,750, quite a cut from Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #169 – Charlie Chaplin & Paulette Goddard

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Charlie Chaplin & Paulette Goddard Attend The Premiere Of Gone With The Wind 1939

Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard At “Gone With The Wind” Premiere
Hollywood, Calif. – The long-awaited Hollywood premiere of “Gone With The Wind” brought out many film celebrities and socialites, among those present were Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard (above). This is one of the very few times in months that Chaplin has been photographed at a premiere. photo: International News 12/28/1939

The news slug here implies that Charlie Chaplin had not been attending movie premieres in 1939. But maybe he just wasn’t photographed at them. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #168 – Carole Lombard In A Candid Photo On Set

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Carole Lombard Laughing Between Scenes Of Fools For Scandal – 1938

Carole Lombard and Fernand Gravet (Gravey) starring in director Mervyn Leroy’s Fools For Scandal (1938) are apparently amused by something during a break in filming. The candid photograph taken by Otto Dyar perfectly displays Lombard’s exuberant personality.

During a war bond drive. Lombard, along with her mother, died tragically in a plane crash on January 16, 1942. She was 33.

Kyle Crichton’s biting memoir of literary. political and celebrity attachments,Total Recoil (1960) Doubleday & Company, gives a brief portrait of Lombard. Continue reading →

Two Of The Dionne Quintuplets Turn 90-Years-Old Today

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Annette and Cécile Dionne Turn 90 On May 28, 2024

Turning 90 is still considered a feat of longevity and cause for celebration.

But for two Canadian women, Annette Dionne Allard and Cécile Dionne Langlois, turning 90 on  May 28 will still be a bittersweet day. Their siblings are dead and much of their early lives were lived under constant scrutiny.

Annette and Cécile, are each one fifth of what were the world’s most famous sisters.

When it was announced that five baby girls were born to Oliva-Édouard and his wife Elzire Dionne on May 28 1934 in rural Callendar, Ontario Canada, the world went into Dionne Quintuplet-mania.

The Dionne’s were the first known set of quintuplets to survive infancy. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #161 – Eight Warner Bros. Bathing Beauty Starlets 1937

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Jane Wyman & Marie Wilson Among Warner Bros. Hopefuls

The Charge of The Powder Puff Brigade
These Warner starlets (L. to R.) Jane Wyman, Shirley Lloyd, Ann Nagel, Marie Wilson, Linda Perry, Jane Bryan, Rosalind Marquis and Carol Hughes, prepare to “fire” from their portable outdoor dressing table. photo: Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. 1937

The headline here is a spoof of the 1936 film The Charge of The Light Brigade starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Continue reading →

May Day Gathering In New York For Socialists And Communists

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May 1 Brings Out The Socialists And Communists In 1930s New York

Socialists Hold May Day Celebration In Central Park
Shown above is a scene on the Mall in Central Park, New York City on May Day as the Socialists listened to the various speakers. The Mall was crowded to capacity. credit: Acme May 1, 1935

In 1930s New York socialism was a popular draw. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #160 – Virginia Bruce Wedding – 1937

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Virginia Bruce With Friends At Wedding Party 1937

At Reception Following Bruce-Ruben Nuptials
Beverly Hills, Calif. – Virginia Bruce is pictured above with three of her screenland friends at the reception following her marriage to director J. Walter Ruben. From left to right are; Dolores Del Rio, Virginia Bruce, Mrs. Jack Warner and Mrs. Gary (Sandra) Cooper. The newly wedded couple’s honeymoon has been delayed until sometime after Christmas when they will be able to take a respite from their screen duties. 12/20/1937 credit: International News Photos

The wedding itself was small by Hollywood standards Continue reading →

St. Louis Cardinals Catchers At Spring Training 1937

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Who Will Be The Cardinals Catcher? – March 3, 1937

Though these three men look like they could be in a softball beer league, they are actually major league catchers.

As the news slug explains:

A Lot of Backstopping
Daytona Beach, FLA. – The burden of St. Louis Cardinal catching duties is almost certain to fall on one of the three backstoppers shown at the Card’s training camp here. Front to back: Paul Chervinko, Arnold “Mickey” Owen and Brusie Ogrodowski. credit: Associated Press March 3, 1937

Of the three catchers Mickey Owen had the most successful career. Continue reading →