Tag Archives: Unusual

The 11-Year-Old New York Pancake Flipping Champ For 1947

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Henry McChesney Wins An Unusual Contest

Pancake flipping champ 1947

Bet you didn’t know there was once a pancake flipping champ in New York? Well there was in 1947.

Note the concentration in young Henry McChesney’s face. The rules and how many other entrants there were in this contest is anyone’s guess. The caption for this Acme news photo reads as follows:

Fancy Flapjack Flipper

New York: When Henry McChesney end-over-ended a flapjack five times, he became champion flapjack flipper of the Madison Square Garden Club. Judging the contest, held August 28th, is Legionnaire John M. Lewis, who awarded the wise old owl emblem to the club, one of the Boys’ Clubs in which the National Americanism Commission of the American Legion is interested. credit: (Acme) 8-28-47

Why Are There Annoying Flies At Jones Beach Field 6?

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Is There Anything You Can Do To Keep The Flies Off Of You?

Jones BeachIn the summer if you ever go to Jones Beach in Long Island, especially the often filled popular field 6, you will notice one of two things, there are hundreds of flies swarming around and biting you or there are none at all. I have spent an inordinate amount of time swatting and killing flies as they relentlessly bite away.

So why is this?

The answer lies not in the temperature, the food you bring with you, your choice of sunscreen or fly repellant.

The swimming flags hold the key. Continue reading →

Man Eats Light Bulbs (And Other Delicacies) – 1939

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Harold B. Funston Demonstrates An Unusual Talent For Tolerating Pain

Harold B Funston eats light bulbs 1939

New York City– Harold B. Funston, accounting machine mechanic of Columbus, Ohio brought to New York for an appearance on a radio program, eats glass from a light bulb in a demonstration of his unique hobby — that of emulating the mysteries of the East Indian Fakirs. Credit line (Acme) 2/21/39

The radio program mentioned above was a CBS show, “Dave Elman’s Hobby Lobby.” In rehearsals, Funston amazed Elman, Radio Guide reporter Martin Lewis and the studio audience by chewing up and swallowing six razor blades, which he downed with a glass of water.  He then proceeded to eat some light bulbs.

Funston puts red hot soldering iron on tongue 1939 watermarkedFilm footage exists of Funston eating razor blades; putting fire in his mouth; and laying on a bed of spiked nails as another man sits on him. He also extinguishes a lit cigarette with his tongue.

Here is another Continue reading →

Free Beer For Life – 1950

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Drink Up, While It Lasts

Free Beer For Life 11 18 1950

Free Beer For Life

New York – Chief Petty Officer Kenneth Slamon, 33, of Portland, OR, samples first installment of a lifetime’s supply of beer, which a brewery President awarded him. The beer biggie was watching a television quiz show on which Slamon was co-winner of a $6,350 prize. The sailor said he’d spend his share on “an annuity for life — in beer.” This impressed the beer exec so much that he has arranged for Slamon to get free beer for life. Credit (ACME) 11-18-50

The beer company was the Jacob Ruppert Brewery famous not only for its Knickerbocker and Ruppert beer, but for its longtime owner Jacob Ruppert (1867-1939) who also owned the New York Yankees.

As the news caption notes, Fred Linder, president of the Jacob Ruppert Brewery happened to be watching the program Chief Slamon appeared on and said, “If Chief Slamon wants cold beer so much, then we don’t want his money. He’ll get free beer for the rest of his life.”

The brewery then began sending him a free case of beer every month no matter where he was stationed by the navy.

Unfortunately for Chief Petty Officer Slamon, the Ruppert Brewery closed its doors in 1965 shortchanging his lifetime supply of free beer.

Slamon, a Pearl Harbor survivor and veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, lived another 32 years without his free beer, and passed away August 4, 1997.

1923 News Report – Girls Are Becoming Bad, Boys Becoming Good

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Cheap Literature & Gay Cabaret Life Making Girls 12-20 Unfit To Be Wives & Mothers

This small item worthy of national news is from the November 9, 1923 edition of the New York Times:

Girls Bad Article

Best line- “Too many women want a career in business away from home. The only career in every girl’s life should be the developing of a real home”

Wife Hit Him Over The Head With A Gas Lighter

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Why You Might File For Divorce In 1914

Early 20th Century Gas Lighter -OUCH. photo http://wordcraft.net/flashlight.html

Early 20th Century Gas Lighter -OUCH. photo: http://wordcraft.net
/flashlight.html

One hundred years ago if you got married, it was a commitment for  life. Very few people got divorced. If you did file for divorce, there had to be a good reason. If your spouse hit you in the head with a metal gas lighter that might be enough to justify splitting up.

Salesman and professional musician Sidney Kamna of 1139 Forrest Avenue in the Bronx was very specific about why he wanted a separation from his wife of 15 years, Wilhelmina. In fact, the head whacking was just one of ten good reasons to get out of the marriage  according to Sidney.

Appearing on January 6, 1914 in New York State Supreme Court before future Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Benjamin Cardozo, Sidney explained his unhappy circumstances.

All was well in the marriage until Christmas day 1910 when his wife’s sister received a genuine sealskin coat from her husband.

Wilhelmina was bitterly disappointed that Sidney had not gotten her a similar present. From that moment on Wilhelmina began treating Sidney badly for the next three years until he filed for divorce.

The bad treatment was quantified in court as a ten point list:

1. She scolded him because her sister-in-laws husband gave a fur coat to his wife.

2. She bent a gas lighter over his head.

3. She threatened to kill herself and her daughter, ten tears old. Continue reading →

Young Man Swims In Lake Michigan On January 4, 1924

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90 Years Ago Today: Victor Barothy Goes Swimming In Lake Michigan January 4, 1924

Victor Barothy swims Lake Michigan on a dare January 5 1924

I’ve seen the polar bear clubs with swimmers who plunge into the Atlantic Ocean on New Year’s Day every year.

But this looks insane. Those large icicles and mounds of snow that loom in the background. Just looking at this photograph gives me the chills.

Unfortunately I cannot find an accompanying story that ran with this news photograph. The caption simply says that “Victor Barothy prepares to swim in Lake Michigan on a dare.” January 4, 1924.

Checking the social security death index, Victor Barothy was born January 4, 1907, so the dare he accepted would have been in celebration of his 17th birthday, even though in the photograph he looks a bit older than 17. With his father and his brother he ran the Barothy Lodge in Walhalla, MI. Victor passed away in Walhalla at the age of 65 in May, 1972.

How long Victor Barothy’s swim lasted in the icy waters of Lake Michigan is unknown.

1935 – Heavy Women Smoking Cigarettes – Vaudeville Act Takes A Break

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The “Tiny Rosebuds” Take A Break From Rehearsing

Heavy Girls Smoking May 11 1935

We’ll let the slug from this unusual news photograph describe the scene:

A Half-Ton of Terpsichore

An act which is liable to bring down the house, (with a crash), is the Tiny Rosebuds, at present rehearsing in New York for a Buffalo appearance. Membership in the troupe is restricted to young ladies weighing at least 200 pounds. Here is the troupe relaxing after a light (heavy) workout. Left to right, are: Nick Elliott, instructor: Hieni Joyce, wgt. 215: Bobbie Diamond, Captain, wgt. 210: Fannie De Belis, wgt. 201: Tiny Sinclair, wgt. 240: and Dorothy Baer, wgt. 230.

Credit Line (Acme) 5-11-1935

The headline uses the word Terpsichore, who in Greek mythology was the muse of dancing and choral singing.

So what sort of an act were the Tiny Rosebuds?

Miss Bobbie Diamond the leader of the Rosebuds, lamented in a May 1935 interview with Raphael Avellar of the New York World-Telegram, how hard it was to pick the right women for the group.

“My Tiny Rosebuds don’t have to be too good looking, just passable. But they have to have the weight and you’d be surprised at the number of girls of 170 or so who try and pass for 200. It’s hard, I tell you, to get a first-class girl, because lots of them who have the weight haven’t got it in the right places. I mean it isn’t on the legs and thighs, where it counts. As I say, as long as they are passable and know a little rhythm, they’ll make good Rosebuds, providing they’ve got the heft. Right now I’m kind of looking for one to sing, too.” Continue reading →

The Strange Origin Of Modern Building Fire Laws In Britain

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Why Every Employee Must Be Able To Reach A Fire Exit In Under Two And A Half Minutes

Empire Theatre Fire photo Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries

Empire Theatre Fire photo Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries

The Telegraph just featured an interesting interview with Professor of Fire and Structures at Edinburgh University, Luke Bisby.

Professor Bisby does something I also do as well, which is when I enter a building I have never visited, I check how to get out of the building and where the fire exits are. Of course he looks at other factors that the average person wouldn’t take into account such as what is hanging on the walls and what the carpeting is made of.

Among the topics discussed was: why there are such tough safety rules in place in case of a fire in office worker’s buildings in the U.K.. The answer he provides is fascinating:

It may not be a surprise to learn that there are tight regulations surrounding the positioning and width of fire exits, and their location relative to workers’ desks, in a modern office.

But the basis for the stringent rules, which state that every employee must be able to reach a fire exit within two-and-a-half minutes, and that fire doors must be wide enough for all employees to pass through within the same time frame, is scarcely to be believed.

“This two-and-a-half minutes is the fundamental basis on which the built environment can exist,” Prof Bisby said. “You would presume there must be a good reason for it.

“The reason is that two-and-a-half minutes is, I’m told, the mean length of God Save the Queen. The British national anthem, when played in full, by a concert orchestra.”

The stipulation can be traced back to a fire at Edinburgh’s Empire Palace Theatre in 1911 which broke out during a performance by a French illusionist named The Great Lafayette, he explained. Continue reading →

A New York City 1859 Mass Murder Prank

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15 Dead Bodies Discovered in The East River

A shocking discovery was made on Thursday June 9, 1859 near Hell Gate in the East River, when some fishermen picked up a box which contained 15 dead bodies in various states of decomposition.

Death on the River print 19th centuryAs was common in early journalism there were mistakes made when the papers first broke the story.

They reported the box contained seven bodies, all dressed in fine night clothes, packed in lime and shavings and having the appearance of recent decease.

This caused a bit of panic among New York’s citizens who concluded that a whole family had been murdered in their beds and packed off to sea to conceal the crime.

The investigation by city authorities three days later revealed the true nature of what had transpired.

The bodies had been removed from the old Potter’s Field and were being transported by barges for re-interment in Long Island.

The box containing these bodies went overboard, and the workmen let it go without trying to retrieve it – just to see what an excitement it would create!