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Bae Window: 1943
May 1943. New York. "Woman and her dog in the Harlem section." Medium format nitrate negative ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/02/2022 - 2:27pm -

May 1943. New York. "Woman and her dog in the Harlem section." Medium format nitrate negative by Gordon Parks for the Office of War Information. View full size. ColorizedA superb colorized version of this photograph can be found on Shorpy here https://www.shorpy.com/node/19388 from March of 2015 (that links to this page which was posted two years later - how does that work?). [This image was first posted in 2007, then updated in 2017 when a better-quality scan was made of the original negative. - Dave] Gordon ParksAlthough this is a fine portrait of the woman and her pet, it should be noted that the photographer is the great Gordon Parks. There is not enough space here to expound on his achievements, but if you're not aware of him, you should be. Look him up. Coolster DaveOxford English Dictionary named "bae" as a runner-up for 2014 World of the Year. (It lost to "vape.") Their blog defines bae as a "term of endearment for one's romantic partner", which seems rather lame, but added that it has origins in African-American English and is found widely in hip-hop, R&B, and social media. It is widely assumed that bae is a shortened form of baby or babe, though it is also said to be an acronym for "before anyone else." (If you go back to the 1500s, you can find it as alternate to baa for sheep sounds.) In 2014, The Atlantic shed crocodile tears over the "Lamentable Death of Bae," noting its use by Pizza Hut, Olive Garden, Whole Foods, Mountain Dew, AT&T, Wal-Mart, Burger King, Jamba Juice, Arby's and Denny's. This was six months after Esquire proclaimed "the dawn of bae," citing the collaboration of Pharrell Williams and Miley Cyrus on "Come Get It Bae." A Shorpy firstAre we fellow Shorpsters aware that this is a first-time thing, where Dave re-posts a really old post, but doesn’t include the old comments? We start fresh in the comments here on an old post, which is weird. Plus I tried to find the old post and comments, but couldn’t. Plus the power of the photograph, for me, resides in the human and the dog looking at two completely different things. [The oldest comment is right here, from 2017. Scroll down. A lot of our earliest posts have no comments and zero "likes," which is why we repost them. - Dave] Sometimes a photograph breathesLike this one. I looked for fitting Harlem poetry, and found 'Mother to Son' by Langston Hughs. Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. (The Gallery, Dogs, Gordon Parks, NYC, Portraits)
Luxe Life: 1940
... February 13, 1910 - November 29, 1988. New York Times obituary After her husband's death she became president of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/19/2014 - 12:38pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1940. "Cafritz, Morris, Mrs." A leader in both parties and philanthropy, Gwendolyn Cafritz was the Hungarian-born wife of real estate developer Morris Cafritz. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size. Social ClimbingShe reminds me of Auntie Mame, although the staircase in Mame's apartment curved in the opposite direction. Washington HostessFebruary 13, 1910 - November 29, 1988. New York Times obituary After her husband's death she became president of the The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. She and Morris had three sons. Since February 1989 their son Calvin Cafritz has been Board Chairman of the foundation. The August 1, 1949 Life Magazine has a feature article on her here. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Portraits)
Ghost Ship: 1916
... During its eight months on the high seas -- after leaving New York Harbor with 2,000 tons of coal -- the converted 15,000-ton cruiser sank ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 7:09pm -

September 1916. "Kron Prinz Wilhelm, German ship, interned in U.S. in tow." The former passenger liner, pressed into service as a commerce raider by the Imperial German Navy at the start of World War I, being towed from the Norfolk yards to Philadelphia. During its eight months on the high seas -- after leaving New York Harbor with 2,000 tons of coal -- the converted 15,000-ton cruiser sank more than a dozen Allied ships and took hundreds of prisoners. Running low on supplies, its crew and prisoners beset by a variety of illnesses, the battered vessel sought refuge in April 1915 at Newport News, where its sailors were interned for over a year. After the United States entered the war, the ship was seized by the government, rechristened the USS Von Steuben and converted into a troop carrier. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Wilhelm's GunsIt would be interesting to know what kind of armament this ship carried as a "raider." It certainly looks innocent enough from this view. What a great story this would make for a period-piece motion picture! [Exactly what I was thinking. The Wilhelm led quite a dramatic life. The ship seems to have been lightly armed. Wikipedia says two 88mm guns, one machine gun and two 120 mm guns. And of course a lot of small arms. Attacking mostly unarmed and much slower merchant ships, it didn't need much in the way of guns. It was basically a modern-day pirate ship that sailed around under the British flag. It would hail an Allied ship, steam alongside and then raise the German flag instead of the skull and crossbones, send a boarding party, take prisoners, scuttle the enemy ship and be on its way. - Dave] SailsVery interesting. Even though it is obviously a coal powered ship it has masts and rigging indicating that it could also be sailed under wind power. [That "rigging" might be antennas for the ship's wireless. Experts? - Dave] Rusty!Wow, what a rustbucket. The MastsI believe the masts and rigging are cranes used to lift cargo out of the ship's holds. No SailsNo sails on that ship. The rigging lines visible in the photo are heavy stays to support the masts for the lookout (crow's nest), for cargo handling when a boom is slung, and for the ship's wireless. The antennas would run fore/aft between the masts, but they were much thinner wires and don't show in the photo. The Q-ShipSpot on... Like you said, a Raider (or Q-ship on our side) depended on spoofing by fooling the warships and preying on the unarmed (or lightly armed) merchants and so did not need heavy arms. Some cut away portions of the gunwale and covered with painted canvas (or other material) sections that could drop away to expose the guns. I met an old man that was a victim of some German raider during WWII off the west coast of Africa. He was on a sailing merchant ship when they were captured, put adrift on a lifeboat, and witnessed the scuttling of their ship. They were a week at sea before landing at some fishing village in Africa and made their way back to a port and in time back to the USA where he continued in the merchant marine through the remainder of the war. Wait a minute: Timeline?So the picture is from Sept 1916, and the ship is (still?) completely messed up. In April 1915 the battered ship had sought refuge; sailors interned for over year; and then sent home sometime in 1916? (US enters the war in April 1917.) Is one of these dates incorrect? [The dates are all correct. After the United States entered the war, the sailors (who, after their ship was sent to Philadelphia, remained at Norfolk in a "German village" they constructed that became a popular tourist attraction) became prisoners of war and were sent to POW camps in Georgia. - Dave] Wartime shortagesI've read in many accounts that things became quite hard in the States when they finally entered the Great War, and that there were many shortages in raw materials and goods and services due to the conversion to a wartime economy. But interestingly enough, even though there was a very important use of American infrastructure to turn out war materiel, there was not a complete production reconversion as in WWII. Many car companies, for example, did reduce their output and produce trucks and ambulances for the armed forces, but they nevertheless were still able to produce (and sell) cars to the civilians. This photo is very interesting, because it shows the importance of these huge and heavy pieces of manufactured equipment in the war effort of any economy. Ships were still the main way to carry large amounts of supplies and soldiers across the Atlantic, and yet they were of strategic importance to any country involved in the war effort. Being a pirate ship under an enemy flag, and considering the cost and time it would take to build an equivalent ship in war conditions, it is evident why the government commissioned this ship to serve under the U.S. flag. I just can't help wondering; of course I know the States had an active shipbuilding industry back then, but, did they build special-purpose ships during the first World War, like they did with the famous Liberty Ship of the 1940's? Where, how, how many ships they built? And what happened to the many converted steamboats that were used for transporting troops during the war? Were they returned to their owners? Did any of them resume civilian passenger service after the war? Like is always the case with Shorpy, a very interesting and educational photo, worth a lot of research. Thanks for sharing! Armed Merchant CruisersKronprinz Wilhelm, like most fast passenger liners including British ships like the Lusitania, were designed (in their blueprints) to serve as armed merchant cruisers in the event of war. For example Lusitania had gun mounts on her port and starboard sides, although guns were never mounted. This was all part of a scheme in which the various governments could subsidize the construction of civilian liners with funds from their navies on the grounds that they could be used as warships. Their speed made them faster than just about anything else on the seas, but that speed meant burning a lot of coal, which was a problem for a country like Germany that couldn't send out regular supplies to its raiders. They also couldn't stand up to even an obsolete warship, as the Kronprinz Wilhelm's sister ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse found out when she went up against the aged HMS Highflyer. Later, more successful German raiders tended to be slower more nondescript merchant ships like Wolf II which sank 35 merchant ships and 2 warships in a 451 day cruise, or the sailing ship Seeadler, which sank 15 ships in a 225 day cruise. Additionally,..Halfway up the mast there's a crow's nest, which would have dated from the ship's use as a liner. Viewers of "Titanic" will remember the scene just prior to the collision with the two sailors in the same post. A WarshipI believe that Kronprinz Wilhelm's decrepit state is due to the fact that she was considered a warship, and under international law she couldn't be repaired or even maintained once she was interned. On the other hand, ships like the Imperator, which weren't converted to warships could be maintained by their crews, and could even sail back to Germany. The big problem for them was the blockade - at both ends of the trip. The Royal Navy and the dominion navies (the Royal Canadian and Royal Australian Navies) maintained a blockade of American ports. Their ships would lurk just outside the territorial limit waiting for German ships to try to make a run for it and then seize them. HMCS Niobe operated off New York until 1915 when she was declared "worn out" and HMCS Rainbow operated off Seattle. She even managed to capture a pair of German schooners that tried to escape that port. [The ship could have been fixed up before heading out to sea, but the captain chose to stay put. Below: New York Times. - Dave] World War I Emergency ShipbuildingThe answer to Miguel Chavez's question is yes (I'm tempted to write of course). There was a program to produce -- I'm not sure we can say mass produce in that period -- relatively simply designed cargo ships called Hog Islanders at a shipyard at that location (I think it might have been near Philadelphia). Also there was a crash program to produce concrete ships (they would be called ferrocement ships today), becasue steel was in such short supply. Rather surprisingly, they looked just like contemporary steel cargo ships. Also, shipyards in Maine swung into high gear to produce large numbers of wooden, mostly sail-powered schooners, although I don't think there was any Government program behind this, just private industry sensing a chance for a profit. The last of the concrete ships is partly visible above the water off Cape May Point, New Jersey, to this day. I believe these programs were almost complete failures. The innovative new designs, while they were economical of materials and labor to produce, didn't start hitting the water in numbers until the war was practically over. In addition, many of them had mechanical or reliability problems and were not successful in a functional sense, either. The Hog Islanders were the most effective at carrying cargo and many of them remained commercially viable until 1929, when the bottom fell out of the shipping market. A few of the Maine sailing ships remained viable till World War II. Possibly Mr. Kaiser and his associates studied this period's failures and that's how the Liberty ships were so successful. Passenger ships of that era.Those wires are cables for supporting the masts. In regards to captured German cruise ships, there were quite a few that had serious electrical problems. In some cases wiring inside the walls would short and cause fires inside the walls themselves. A few ships burned completely. The Kron Prinz Wilhelm from what I read was used by the US Navy until 1923 and scrapped. A shame. Ships of this era are works of art. Hard-used Navy shipsThe USS Santa Olivia was a civilian cargo ship taken over by the Navy as a troop ship. My grandmother's uncle was an officer on her. Below: the ship on completion in July 1918 and then probably in May 1919, when she looks like a rust bucket. I think they just ran the ships back and forth across the Atlantic constantly with no time to paint them. Coming to AmericaThis is the ship my great great grandfather came to America on! High-Difference CamouflageSome great photos of dazzle-painted ships here and here. Early camouflageI don't think that early camo schemes like dazzle were intended to deceive the viewer in the sense of not seeing the target but to confuse the outline to make identification more difficult. If a ship could be identified (or at least its class) then the apparent size of the image could make the range estimation much more accurate if looking though a periscope, and the size of the bow wave could improve the speed estimate, raising the probability of a hit. I have seen pictures of ships painted with a false bow wave so that its speed would be overestimated, resulting in a torpedo miss instead of a hit. Anything that reduced the probability of a hit was helpful. DazzlingI have no doubt that Dazzle Camouflage is (or rather was) effective in the days when visual sighting rather than radar or sonar was the principal means of identifying a target. The thing is though that for a modern viewer it is difficult to imagine how it could be. We see the images in monochrome and usually under ideal conditions - the ship is in port or stationary. But of course the paint jobs weren't all - or even usually - black and white and the ships that the U-Boat skippers saw were moving through seas at various states and weather conditions. I guess what I'm saying is that when we see black & white photos of ships in Dazzle Camouflage we aren't even getting part of the true effect. Dazzle CamouflageIf you've ever used a typical manual-focus 35mm camera, you might be able to picture one of the intended effects of "dazzle": making it hard to line up the linear elements in the split image of a rangefinder. Optical rangefinders, using two widely spaced lenses, were the principal method used in warships of this era to determine the distance between them and the target. In principle, you could see a dazzle-painted target plainly but still have difficulty hitting it with guns or torpedoes. Painting ShipLooking over the images on Shorpy's there aren't many times when I wish that a black & white photo were in colour, but some of these ship pictures are among them. The photos of the Santa Olivia are a huge contrast, but would she have looked as much like a rust bucket in the second photo in colour than she does in black & white. The paint work on the dazzle camouflage patterns in the first picture are so sharp and clear that you'd wonder that it deceived anyone. How much of the appearance of the "rust bucket" version of the ship is dirt and grime and rust, and how much is a more effective effort to deceive? I think Kronprinz Wilhelm was a rust bucket, almost certainly after almost a year of internment following her time as a raider. The Baron came to America - Twice.The ship's namesake is Baron (Crown Prince) Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. It's interesting to note the Germans used his title and first name(s) while the US used his title and last name. He was a Prussian trained command officer who met Benjamin Franklin in Paris just as the War for Independence was breaking out in America and volunteered to come to America to help the effort - he was looking for work to help alleviate his personal debt and had heard Benjamin Franklin was going to be in Paris and travelled to meet him. He was endorsed by the French government just as France was forming their alliance with the Americans. He volunteered at first to come (later he was paid) and assist the American war effort and was immediately dispatched to join the American forces. He arrived in the US shortly before the American government was being driven out of the capital in Philadelphia by the British and was present during the exodus. He met up with Continental Army General George Washington at Valley Forge during that cold winter and began his efforts at organizing and training the Army. It's from him that the US developed its concepts of military structure and training programs still in practice today, including command structure, elementary concepts of boot camp and right down to the "in your face" training methods of Drill Sergeants still in use today. He was one of the three Commanders in charge of one of the Divisions when General Cornwallis was trapped and forced to surrender at Yorktown, VA - effectively ending the War for Independence. Incredible photo! Named after the eldest son of Kaiser WilhelmKronprinz means Crown Prince, or heir to the throne. The German term usually translated as "Baron" is "Freiherr" and is the lowest title of German nobility. This ship would have certainly been named after the Crown Prince of Germany, Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Know as "Little Willie" by the allies, he served during WWI as commander of the German 5th Army until the battle of Verdun, and then in command of an Army Group until the end of the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm,_German_Crown_Prince (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Harris + Ewing, WWI)
Leonard Nimoy: 1931-2015
... the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83. -- New York Times Los Angeles, 1968. "Actor Leonard Nimoy working on the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/27/2015 - 9:29pm -

        Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83. -- New York Times Los Angeles, 1968. "Actor Leonard Nimoy working on the set of the television show Star Trek." 35mm negative from photos by Douglas Jones for Look magazine. View full size. One of the bestLeonard Nimoy's other work sometimes gets ignored, but all he did, both as a director and actor, he did well. There never will be another Spock, no matter how hard they try. I just wish I could have learned The Vulcan Nerve Pinch, there are people I would have gladly used it on. Live Long and ProsperHe did, just wish it would have been longer. Time to break out the DVDs again. [Also on Netflix streaming. - Dave] 83He did indeed live long, and he prospered. Thrusters on FullLeonard Nimoy was a gifted actor and director and I mourn his passing with millions of others. I think it will be a long time before I can watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan again. The logic of logicI just had this thought: I bet Dave has posted a picture of Nimoy on Shorpy. Never disappointed... "It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want." --Mr. Spock Star Trek: The Original Series, "Errand of Mercy" A One Man ShowMy wife and I went to see him years ago as Van Gough's brother in his one man show. We left the theater feeling as if we had just seen Vincent's actual brother. What an actor and what a man to actually meet everyone that came to the theater after the show. He was indeed 'The most beautiful...human, I have ever known' Life long NimoyBesides the Star Trek role that I loved, Nimoy has filled this nerdy (old) boy with countless documentary narration and the series In Search Of... . Although he lived a long life I wish there was more and I'm grateful for what he created. Go boldly, Sir.You will be missed. You taught us about logic and feelings, and the confusion that results when they collide. We learned not to fear those who looked a bit different from the rest of us. Thank you. As a 15-year-oldI was one of the hordes that wrote NBC not to cancel the series and was shocked that it actually saved it for one more year. There was no one like Mr. Spock and never will be. Bravo Leonard! Nimoy from Dorchester, MassAlthough about 10 years younger, my mother grew up in Dorchester, MA not far from the Nimoys. My father grew up in nearby Roxbury where he occassionally went to Leonard's father's barber shop which I believe was in Dorchester. I know there are a lot of fellow Bostonians who follow Shorpy.com. Anyone know where that shop was? Barber shopThe barber shop where Nimoy's father Max once worked is at 1186 Blue Hill Ave. near Morton Street, in Dorchester. This photo of the late actor was taken in front of it, and posted on the Mattapan United Facebook page in 2011. A Truly remarkable PresenceI was lucky enough to be present at a performance at the Schubert Theater in Chicago where I saw him play the role of Sherlock Holmes. His line "Women are so...illogical" stopped the show! He was not only Spock!We had the pleasure of watching Mr. Nimoy in London (on a visit) in "Sherlock Holmes" - a play (resurrected) by the Royal Shakespeare Company. He played the part straight, and very well - until he turned to the audience, and said "But love is a human emotion" (or something close). The audience roared... A fond memory. (LOOK, TV)
Aeolian Hall: 1919
... Fleischman Baths. Gelatin silver print by American Studio, New York. View full size. 101 years later The trees have grown ... heard on YouTube. A Plunge That Is Like the Surf New York Times Feb. 7, 1908: FLEISCHMAN BATHS OPEN FOR PUBLIC ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/10/2020 - 3:29pm -

August 1919. "West 42nd Street east from Sixth Avenue, showing Aeolian Hall." And let's not forget the Fleischman Baths. Gelatin silver print by American Studio, New York. View full size. 101 years laterThe trees have grown considerably and hats are hard to find. Rhapsody in BlueOn February 12, 1924, Aeolian Hall heard the premiere of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," with Gershwin at the piano and Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. The audience for this epoch-making event included John Philip Sousa, Igor Stravinsky, and Willie "The Lion" Smith. An acoustic recording, abridged but with the same performers, was made four months later and can be heard on YouTube. A Plunge That Is Like the SurfNew York Times Feb. 7, 1908: FLEISCHMAN BATHS OPEN FOR PUBLIC ______________ Company Gives a Fine Entertainment to the Press and Friends ______________ VAUDEVILLE IN SOLARIUM ______________ Diocletian Club to Have Special Privileges ______________ A Plunge That Is Like the Surf. Light Bulb SignIn the days before neon was used in commercial signs, they often had light bulbs to attract attention. The Fleischman Baths sign has three separate bathers on it. By lighting the men in sequence from top to bottom, it would look like a man diving down the side of the building splashing into a pool of bubbles. By the 1920s this could be achieved using neon. You'll never walk aloneOn the sidewalk nearest the camera, at the bottom of the photo, there is what appears to be a child walking by herself, arms down at her sides. She's wearing a short dress in a printed fabric, and from her body language and theirs, she seems (to me) not to be accompanied by any of the adults walking just behind her. And from this angle she gives the impression of being transfixed by something she sees. I wish I knew what she was up to that day. Dr. SimsThe statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims seen on the very right side of the photo was moved from Bryant Park in the 1920's (during subway construction) and then erected in Central Park in 1934. It was removed from Central Park permanently in 2017. It is still in storage, but may someday be restored near his grave in GreenWood Cemetery. Here is the backstory: https://time.com/5243443/nyc-statue-marion-sims/ Re: girl aloneGosh, I hadn’t noticed her till JennyPennifer pointed her out. Now she really pops! Also note the two men in uniform in Bryant Park, near the base of the statue, both caught in near-identical mid-step. Can anyone read the banner down the street?Last two lines appear to be U.S. Navy and ## East 23rd Street but I can't make out the first two. [MEN WANTED / FOR THE / U.S. NAVY / 34 EAST 23rd ST. - Dave] (The Gallery, NYC, Streetcars)
Schrafft's: 1948
June 9, 1948. New York. "Schrafft's, Esso Building, Rockefeller Center. 51st Street exterior. ... my family all coming from that part of the country (NJ/NY/New England), I'd not ever heard of Schrafft's. So, in case you're in the same ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/22/2013 - 1:24pm -

June 9, 1948. New York. "Schrafft's, Esso Building, Rockefeller Center. 51st Street exterior. Carson & Lundin architects." Ubiquitous in urban areas, slightly upscale, tastefully decorated -- Schrafft's was something like the mid-century restaurant version of Starbucks. Gottscho-Schleisner photo. View full size. Applebee's and Oranges.Schrafft's definitely cannot be called an upgraded Starbucks. Unless Starbucks intend to serve a full menu, it wont even come close. The correct comparison would be an upgraded Applebee's. [That's why I said "RESTAURANT version of Starbucks." Applebee's is pretty much nonexistent in most downtowns. - Dave] However, here in Manhattan, there's one on 42nd St between 7th & 8th Avenues and another on 50th St & Broadway. 75 Rockefeller PlazaStill there, nearly unchanged. From Google streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/yg7X8 But ...But Schrafft's was just NICER . . . I Remember Schrafft'sWhen I was a lot younger, my mother used to take me to Schrafft's in Wellesley Hills Square, Massachusetts, for a hot fudge sundae, which, with no nuts, was my favorite. Thanks, Dave. WoW just WoWSo mid-century. Just love it! Great storefront design.Pretty contemporary look even for 1948. Rectilinear look. Huge expanse of clean sleek glazing and framing. Inside we see recessed can lights and more modern glazing details on the clerestory window wall. Graduation LunchThis was the exact Schrafft's where our 8th Grade class had our graduation lunch in 1974. We sat upstairs. 1948 ModernismEven the revolving door, the overhead lights, the stainless steel, the plate glass, it all looks as modern as today. Raise High the Roofbeam, CarpentersIs this the Schrafft's that Buddy Glass took wedding guests to after his brother ditched Muriel at the altar? Things I didn't knowDespite my family all coming from that part of the country (NJ/NY/New England), I'd not ever heard of Schrafft's. So, in case you're in the same boat, here's some more information on what must have been a truly great place to visit: The fantastic Vanishing New York blog. A 2008 NYT article with then/now pictures. Close to HomeMy father worked for Standard Oil/Esso/Exxon for 42 years. (He met my mother there, working for Standard Oil's cosmetics firm - Dagget and Ramsdell.) He worked in this building, formerly the US Rubber Building, before the Exxon Building was built, before they moved to NJ, and then to Houston. Schrafft's was my mother's favorite lunch out. My father referred to having had lunch at "Scraps." Auntie Mame"On our way to Bunny Bixler's—that's my friend who lives on Park Avenue and 71st Street—Patrick and I just stuffed ourselves at Schrafft's! Do you know what your silly nephew did? He spoke French to the counterman! Imagine anybody speaking French to a counterman ... at Schrafft's?" Little Old Ladies from ScarsdaleBack in the '40s-'60s, parties of same often lunched at Schrafft's prior to taking in a matinee performance of some innocuous book musical or other. Perhaps not quite so ubiquitousThis is interesting: I am familiar with the name but never realized Schrafft's were know for whole restaurants. I only knew them from their boxed fine chocolates and candies. Such confections were only available at the finer downtown department stores as I recall, Pizitz or maybe Loveman's in Birmingham. Perhaps Schrafft's restaurants were not as "ubiquitous" in the South. We always went to Britling's cafeteria anyway. But it was still a "dress-up" occasion. Schrafft's Factory, Charlestown, Mass.My mother and grandmother grew up just a few blocks from the Schrafft's candy factory and offices at the base of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The huge building (now the Schrafft Center commercial office building) is a great landmark, the neon sign still in place and shining bright! The Tender TrapWatching it last night on TCM, one of the characters said "He's taking me to Radio City Music Hall, and afterwards, if it's not to late, we're going to Schrafft's." This one, no doubt. Mom Worked ThereMy mom worked at the Charlestown Schraffts factory in the early 60's. She told me stories about poking the chocolates in the boxes with her finger coming down the conveyer belt. One time her Aunt received a box and some of the chocolates had finger pokes. Coincidence?? She also told me that one time Jimmy Durante came to the factory for an event. She sat with him at the piano, I think to turn the sheet music. I've always wondered if there are photos out there of this. I have no clue where I would even begin in looking for them. Ideas? (The Gallery, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC)
Winter Wonderland: 1908
"Union Square from a skyscraper." Winter in New York 100 years ago. A little moldy but full of interesting details like the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/11/2011 - 7:38pm -

"Union Square from a skyscraper." Winter in New York 100 years ago. A little moldy but full of interesting details like the "Automatic Vaudeville" penny arcade and Brill Bros. store. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain. View full size. Lesen Sie Deutsch?Lots of German and Jewish names on the signs here -- Gross, Brill, Strauss, Lapidus, Spang, Gottlieb, Heller, Nyburg, Stern, Mayer, Emrich, Schorsch, Spingler, Isaac ... did I miss any? MetronomeIsn't this the location of the Metronome art installation and the Virgin store? I used to work 6 blocks south and walked by here every morning on my commute. Wish it still had corset stores instead of disturbingly fugly public art. [The Metronome would be in the top left of the 1908 photo. - Dave] 14th StreetRe the Abbott photo, it is of a different street -- Barnes & Noble is on 17th (Union Square North). The Automatic Vaudeville Building (the Bain photo) was at 46 East 14th Street (Union Square South), next door to a Whole Foods market now. The only microbrewery that I know of in this area, Heartland Brewery, is on Union Square West. The Bain photo shows Union Square South (14th Street). The Automatic Vaudeville company, started by Adolph Zucker, founder of Paramount Pictures, was taken over by Marcus Loew. This was the start of the movie industry as we know it. Childs RestaurantThe Childs Restaurant on the south side of East 14th Street brings back some fond memories of the one on the north side of East 42nd between Madison and Vanderbilt. My family always stopped there for a meal after coming down on the NY Central train from Beacon. My grandmother's much younger half-brother was a close friend of the Childs family, who maintained a large country place in rural northern New Jersey back in the first third of the 20th century. He also spent some time back then working as a kitchen chef for one of their NY City restaurants. Park benchesYou don't see park benches strung along pathways anymore. These days they plop them down so they are separated by as much space as possible. It was much more communal back then. Some things don't really changeThis part of New York has changed very little. Almost every building visible in this photo remains. I believe that the tall one to the right is a Barnes & Noble and the "Automatic Vaudeville" is now a microbrewery. Berenice Abbott took a famous photo of these buildings from street level in the 1938. Perhaps some day team Shorpy will provide a better version for us. [They all look different to me. Plus there are seven buildings across in the Bain photo, and six across in Berenice's. - Dave] 14th Street and University Place It appears to be a view looking south along University Place. Here is a great page from the 1911 New York Times. Union Square RevisitedOops, of course this is Union Square South. The other three sides of Union Square remain largely unchanged since the late 19th century, but much of the southern border of the square is new. Union Square CondosThere is massive construction of condominium residences occurring right now on Union Square West between 14th & 17th Streets. Their timing is a little off, but don't feel too sorry for them. Anything in Manhattan that overlooks parks, landmarks or rivers will always be in demand. Union SquareThis view is of the west side of the park from 15th street to 16th street. I believe one or two of the center building are still there although their facades have been changed. The photo was probably taken from a turn of the century building opposite on the east side of Union Square which is still standing. [Not quite. The view is of the south (14th Street) side of the park, with Broadway on the left and University Place on the right. - Dave] Re: Park BenchesThe park benches in Union Square Park (which I assume are not the benches pictured here) are very much in the same winding pattern along the walkways. There are even little semicircular nooks of benches where people (myself included) can chill out with a larger group and have a nice chat. Dead Man's Curve!The Southwest corner of Union Square, so well documented in the photograph, was in the 1890s the scene of many pedestrian accidents as the street railways, then cable cars, would whip around the fast curves in order to maintain momentum through these curves and not become stranded. This fast maneuver was the cause of the accidents and this busy corner became known as Dead Man's Curve, long before Jan and Dean raced that XKE to disaster in their Stingray. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC)
W.T. Grant Fire: 1916
W.T. Grant department store fire at New York's Sixth Avenue and 18th Street in April 1916. View full size. George ... Very eerie. April 19, 1916… …according to the New York Times . [Fascinating. A big Shorpy thank-you! - Dave] W. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 7:26pm -

W.T. Grant department store fire at New York's Sixth Avenue and 18th Street in April 1916. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection. Fire in the storeThis made me think of the fire we had in our town in the late 50's. One of the larger stores downtown (can't remember the name now but Anthony's keeps going through my mind) caught fire in the dead of winter. I remember the firemen and firetrucks being coated with ice and the smell was unbelievable. I still have the memory of the smell in my mind and the look of the firefighters. Very eerie. April 19, 1916……according to the New York Times. [Fascinating. A big Shorpy thank-you! - Dave] W. T. Grant Department StoreI grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. There was a W. T. Grant downtown. It was a great place for a kid to look at things since Jacksonville did not have suburban malls in the 1960s. W.T. Grant went bankrupt in October 1975 and the store closed. (The Gallery, Fires, Floods etc., G.G. Bain, NYC, Stores & Markets)
The Waldorf-Astoria: 1910
New York circa 1910. "Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street." ... the missing lines! Wireless Towers The New York Sun -- March 06, 1909, Page 12: "Two forty foot steel towers with ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2023 - 9:25pm -

New York circa 1910. "Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street." Note the radio masts on the roof; the 12 wires strung between the towers, 236 feet apart, are too faint to be seen. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Don't Fall!So either that is a facility manager and a midget, or a policeman talking down a jumper. Either way. a precipitous precarious situation. Future site of ...... the Empire State Building. The story behind the hyphenIt was originally two hotels on the same block, built by feuding cousins. The Waldorf Hotel, developed by William Waldorf Astor, opened in 1893 on Fifth Avenue at 33rd St. John Jacob Astor IV opened the Astoria Hotel in 1897 on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th St. After legal maneuvering, they merged as the Waldorf-Astoria, with 13 entrances. What we're seeing in the Shorpy photo is mainly the Astoria part. The whole thing was razed in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building. Today's Waldorf Astoria (no hyphen), on Park Avenue, opened in 1931. Hide & Seek With the Missing LinesBy adjusting the contrast, saturation, gamma, etc., we can find the missing lines! Wireless TowersThe New York Sun -- March 06, 1909, Page 12: "Two forty foot steel towers with wooden staves twenty two additional feet high to be erected above the big pent house on the roof of the Waldorf-Astoria" Floorplans and descriptionAll this is from the February 5, 1898, issue of Architecture and Building magazine. There is a descriptive narrative that covers everything from the giant battery in the sub-basement to the grand promenade on the roof. The article also included floorplans for the ground floor, first floor, fourth floor, and the roof garden. In the fourth-floor floorplan notice the extra thick wall that runs lengthwise across the middle of the floorplan. That's where the Astoria Hotel (bottom) was joined to the existing Waldorf Hotel (top). Once you see where that is, you can easily see it on the ground and first floor plans. PhotosI've learned not to try to load too many photos in a single submission. Here are the photos that were part of the February 5, 1898, issue of Architecture and Building magazine: Writing room, Astor gallery, Main restaurant, Grand Ballroom, Garden Court of Palms, Royal suite reception room, and Royal suite bedroom. This last photo is from a June 1904 issue of The Architectural Record magazine. I believe it is the West Foyer on the first floor. There's a naked lady in one of those windows --Or probably should be. I'm out on the ledge but ...we aren't jumpers, we are doing a little repair work. By the way, the ledge is wide enough to do a ballet. The antennaThe antenna wires must be more like 150 ft long, if they're parallel to Fifth Avenue. The block is 197-1/2 ft long. [They're parallel to 34th Street, where the building's frontage is 350 feet. - Dave] (Technology, The Gallery, DPC, NYC, Streetcars)
Link to the Past: 1955
... Illinois; as an infant came west via sailing vessel from New York and by litter across the Isthmus of Panama; selling newspapers in ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 01/11/2023 - 3:02pm -

1955, Larkspur, California. Our neighbor Mr. Cagwin at age 98. Born 1857 in Joliet, Illinois; as an infant came west via sailing vessel from New York and by litter across the Isthmus of Panama; selling newspapers in Hangtown, California, at age of five when the Civil War broke out; worked at Carson City Mint, then San Francisco Mint at the time of the earthquake; retired in 1922. My brother, doing occasional yard work for the Cagwins at the time, took this Ektachrome slide in their Arts & Crafts style home, which they had built after moving to Larkspur in 1905. View full size. GrandparentsHis grandparents could have been alive during the Revolution. Long-lived FamiliesMr. Mel's observation that Mr. Cagwin's grandparents might have been alive during the Revolution could easily be true. I was born in 1949. My father was born in 1909. My grandfather was born in 1867, and my great-grandfather was born in 1829, only four generations in 120 years. (In our family the trail ends there, almost. My great-grandfather's father-in-law was born in 1790.) So it's no stretch to suppose that Mr. Cagwin, born in 1857, could have had a grandfather who was born in 1775. Stories aplentyFantastic shot, really well done. You just know he had a rich history of stories. I wonder if he shared them freely or if they needed to be pried from him. LifeWhat a long and beautiful life. And in California, without the 10-below weather Joliet, Illinois, is having. What A Great Face...This is such a well done portrait. This gentleman's colorful history just adds that much more, but the photo stands on its own merits as a really well observed scene. His wrinkled visage, his rumpled yet style conscious attire, his hand holding the smoking pipe, the chair he is sitting in, the canes hanging there, the chair behind, the potted plant, the light on the windowsill in the background... absolutely wonderful. This is as good as Dorothea Lange photo. Pictures like this keep me coming back to this site day after day. I wish a rating system were in place here because I'd rate this gem 5 stars! tterrace, thank you for sharing your, and your brother's, vision. Henri!Are you sure Cartier-Bresson didn't sneak into Larkspur? What an eloquent portrait! There's so much in that face and posture and surroundings. Looking into HistoryHis eyes are wonderful, and I can't imagine all the change and history he's witnessed! If just for the contemplation of the passage of time this is an important photograph. And I would agree......with The Wingman! tterrace please keep them coming! Ye Olde LarkspurBack then Larkspur was semi-rural, despite its proximity to San Francisco. What's great about this photo is how modern it looks. It could've been taken down the street, today. Indeed.very brilliant, this picture alone connects to so much and tells a thousand stories. thank you greatly for sharing it. 54 years ago, this man was nearing a century... it's break-taking. [Coffee, anyone? - Dave] Mr. Cagwin, Role ModelI talked with my insurance company the other day and they think I should give up smoking my pipe, which I have done for 40 years. I figure if I can get another 40 years or so out of pipe smoking I will outlive everyone else. Mr. Cagwin updateMr. Cagwin died August 14, 1959, age 102 years, 8 months. The day before my own 13th birthday, as a matter of fact. His wife had died 13 months previously, aged 92. Papa George CagwinThis Mr. Cagwin is my great-grandfather George Wilder Cagwin (Papa George); his wife was Frances (Mama Fanny). They lived in Larkspur for many years. My grandmother grew up in the house right across from the Lark Creek Inn and it still looks very much like it did back at the turn of the century -- latticed windows, red house, green roof, front porch, all look the same. I have a photo of my grandfather Aubrey Cagwin standing in hip boots in thigh high water on Magnolia Avene. My grandmother was Alice deVeuve. I believe her father built the house on Magnolia Ave. A lot of history has been gathered about the Cagwins by the Cagwin family over the years, photos included. What a great photo you took! Thank you! I will direct my siblings and my Uncle, cousins, etc. to it. Papa GeorgePapa George was my great-great grandfather. I remember visiting him at the hospital with my father, Tom Cagwin, when I was about 4 years old. Dad was quite close to him and lived in the Larkspur house as a small boy. He lost his eye one fourth of July due to an accident with a firecracker. He did not go to the hospital right away, but gave his Independence Day speech as planned. He was also the Mayor of Larkspur. His wife, Fanny, lived to 98. They were definitely pioneer stock! Thank you for this wonderful photo. Lori Alden Cagwin Mr. Cagwin's 100thPerhaps some of the Cagwin kin who've commented are in this Ektachrome slide, also taken by my brother; it's Mr. Cagwin's 100th birthday party in January 1957. Mr. Cagwin himself just managed to get in the shot; that's his wife behind him. What a birthday!Below is a photo of Papa George's 99th birthday on New Year's Day 1956 with grandsons Tom Cagwin & John Costa, wife Mama Fannie and me (great-granddaughter). The color photo under that includes Papa George's daughter Marie and her granddaughter D'arcy. (Marie taught us how to bake great apple pies!) My son calls my dad Papa Tom in memory of Papa George. My father, recently visiting, told us how he looked for Papa George's spare glass eye on his dresser when small, fascinated as boys are with such things. Papa George's father, Hamden Aubrey, took a wagon train in the spring of 1850 with his brother from Joliet, Illinois, to Placerville in search of gold and wrote about the trip, archived at the California Historical Society by granddaughter Louisa. After an arduous four-month journey of 2,557 wagon-train miles, he managed to extract enough gold from Hangtown Ravine ($7979.65 worth) to bring his family out to California six years later, away from cholera and the beginnings of the Civil War. Papa George was an infant on that trip. 102 years later, the story was shared by Papa George! Thank you again for rekindling these memories. Interesting life! By coincidence, I was born in Joliet, Illinois, and lived 50 years on Cagwin Avenue. Very interesting. Camera too closeOtherwise it would have revealed a glass of brandy in the "vicinity", too? My father will be 95 in May. Unlike George he quit smoking in his late 60's. Still maintains his "before the breakfast" grape, plum or pear brandy small shot. The way I see he should be able to match this picture in three years. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Portraits, tterrapix)
Footloose: 1946
July 28, 1946. "Florsheim Shoes, 516 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Mirror detail. Ketchum, Gina & Sharp, Architects." 5x7 inch ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/16/2023 - 12:29am -

July 28, 1946. "Florsheim Shoes, 516 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Mirror detail. Ketchum, Gina & Sharp, Architects." 5x7 inch acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size. Hotfoot it to the mallI have never encountered any actual person named Florsheim, but the name is known to every American of my generation, pretty much synonymous with shoes. Florsheim shoe stores were ubiquitous in malls into the 1990s (verified by Wikipedia!); the company says that in the 1960s it sold a pair every 4 seconds. Nevertheless, I never had Florsheims, perhaps because my parents assumed they were expensive (though they weren't). Flor-ShamI remember going to Florsheim just as I was starting college. I didn't have a problem with the salesman, but the manager (sitting at a desk off the sales floor) gave me grief because I had long hair (it was 1971), and I suppose he thought I didn't look like the type who'd wear shoes. I shrugged, told him what he was, and left the two pairs of shoes I was buying on the counter. I felt a little sorry for the salesman, but I was a paying customer and I wasn't going to be treated that way, even at 18. That was more than fifty years ago, and I have never again shopped at Florsheim. That bigmouth cost his company a lot of money. Love the kicksYou can't beat a riff on the classic spectator pump, but that picture sort of creeps up on you. Fifth & 43rdThe building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 43rd Street in 1946 and in 2011, just before it was demolished. Like a cartoonThese shoes with their legless "foot mannequins" look like they should be in some kind of musical sequence from a Warner Brothers cartoon of the era. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC, Stores & Markets)
Mary Tyler Moore: 1936-2017
... television shows in the 1960s and ’70s helped define a new vision of American womanhood, died on Wednesday in Greenwich, Conn. She had recently turned 80. -- New York Times Los Angeles, November 1970. "Mary Tyler Moore rehearsing ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/28/2021 - 2:16pm -

Mary Tyler Moore, Who Incarnated The Modern Woman on TV, Is Dead         The actress, whose witty and graceful performances on two top-rated television shows in the 1960s and ’70s helped define a new vision of American womanhood, died on Wednesday in Greenwich, Conn. She had recently turned 80. -- New York Times Los Angeles, November 1970. "Mary Tyler Moore rehearsing and performing on the set of the Mary Tyler Moore Show." 35mm negative by Douglas Jones for Look magazine. View full size. Once Upon A Time She Was SamIn the early days of TV (1957-1959) there was Richard Diamond (David Janssen) as a suave private eye who, at first, walks the mean streets of New York then later packs up and moves to Los Angeles where he tools around in a convertible with a car phone. His sexy receptionist Sam (Mary Tyler Moore) whose face we never saw but oh those legs minds the office while Diamond solves his cases. I'm closing in on my 80th decade but I can still see that shot of her legs. Some things you remember. Some things you forget. Farewell sweet lady. Non Sequitur Many of us enjoyed MTM's roles over the years but let's stop and take a look at her mighty Royal HH typewriter. First introduced in 1952 it was, according to the following website, favored by the likes of George Burns, Herb Caen and Truman Capote. I'm staring at one across in my office right now - brown with green keys. http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/typers.html A Royal desk ornamentOh, boy ... Mary's writing her stories on a Royal HH manual. Made from 1952 to 1956, the HH was over-engineered to the point that they practically never failed, so repeat sales suffered, contributing to the eventual demise of Royal as an independent office-machine manufacturer. Mary Tyller MooreEu assisti The Mary Tiller Moore Show em minha infância. Essa excelente atriz marcou minha vida. Que Deus a tenha!!! You won't find any of that office equipment todayBesides the huge old manual typewriter, you won't find any of items on her desk in a standard modern office today. Maybe the pen, but no typewriters, no paper desk calendar, no picture-tube TV. OK, maybe the flowers. (LOOK, Pretty Girls, Public Figures, TV)
Pittsburgh: 1941
... This image is as fantastic to me as something from the new Star Trek movie - and I mean that as a compliment. So inclined My ... has a hula lamp. Honore Sharrer Yesterday's New York Times carried the obituary of Honore Sharrer, "a noted American artist of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2018 - 11:03am -

January 1941. "Long stairway in mill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Medium-format nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the FSA. View full size. HauntingSad but yet beautiful photograph. You can hear the ice crunching under the woman's steps on the long stairway. Would love to see a picture today to see what remains. When the mills closedI moved to Pittsburgh (Ambridge) in 1980 and the sky was yellow. By 1984 when I left the sky was blue...most of the mills had closed. This scene could be anywhere in the Pittsburgh area and is really representative of what it was like. Except for the vintage car, I've been in this scene. I don't understand why I'm coughing......maybe it's the pollen??? Less smoggy, still cloudyWell, the hills are still there! The mills, not so much. The smell of moneyLooks downright Dickensian. There is a pulp mill out in the bay near where I live. For decades it belched a foul smelling brew of toxins from the stacks until the owners were forced to install scrubbers to clean up the exhaust. Now you'd hardly know it was there. When someone would complain to my friend's dad, who worked there for decades, he would reply, "That's the smell of money." City StepsA few years ago Bob Regan documented these stairways in a book called "The Steps of Pittsburgh." There are some 700 stairways all over the city. From the publisher's website: Many of Pittsburgh's steps are legal streets, and all of them reflect the city's unique topography and history. Together, these 712 sets of steps provide a vital link in the city's transportation system as well as unusual challenges for pedestrians, joggers, the bike police, and especially pizza delivery. . . . San Franciscans like to boast about their steps and consider them a top tourist attraction, but they "only" have 350 sets. Cincinnatians do the same, but claim a mere 400. Neither have steps that are legal streets. Pittsburgh is clearly King of the Steps and a place beloved by the self-propelled. Whether you're an active step trekker or an armchair climber, The Steps of Pittsburgh should be on your to-do list! Every year there's an event called the Step Trek that takes participants all over the steps on the South Side Slopes. It's pretty cool and great exercise! Thanks for the beautiful photograph. Led ZeppelinI was raised in a small, very industrial Connecticut town in the 1940's which had a similar wooden staircase from Main Street over the railroad tracks. When we had to attend church, it was necessary to ascend these many, many stairs, after which we were faced with a steep, almost straight up hill, to get to the level of tiers on which our church stood. It was so steep, the concrete was scored about every inch to give better footing and in icy, snowy weather, it was a real challenge. I used to think of it as a stairway to Heaven, and then the title above came out with their hit song. I thought of it first. The town was Seymour, for all you doubting Thomases. The church was St. Augustine's. Good day. Smoke ControlPittsburgh passed strict (for the time) environmental laws a year later, in 1941. What they called "smoke control" back then was delayed until after the war, but went into effect in 1946 and cleaned up the city's air well before the steel industry went south. Smoke Gets in Your EyesMy dad visited cousins in Pittsburgh around the same time this photo was taken. He spoke of sitting on the front porch and watching soot settle on the railing. Hell with its hat offI saw that caption on a picture of a Pittsburgh populated by stacks belching smoke in the bad old industrial days. My daughter is studying ballet there now. It's a different place, really an beautiful city. Not hard to find reminders of those days, though -- soot-blackened buildings and decrepit factory sites. Bisbee, ArizonaAnother vertical metallurgical town where stairways take the place of streets. Three shirt townThey used to call Pittsburgh a three shirt town. You'd wear one in the morning until the sweat and soot mixture was turning your collar gray, then change into another at lunch, and then into a third at dinnertime. I Had No IdeaI had no idea that Pittsburgh was a city of steps. You learn something every day. Thanks for posting this beautiful picture. Photos of some of the city's steps here (http://www.frontiernet.net/~rochballparks2/towns/pgh_steps.htm) for those as ignorant as I of the wonders of Pittsburgh! Epic PicThis is an epic capture. Its like a frame from some Academy Award bait movie. This image is as fantastic to me as something from the new Star Trek movie - and I mean that as a compliment. So inclinedMy son delivers appliances in Pittsburgh, a challenge in that city. And watching a cable guy run a new wire is like having a front row seat a Cirque du Soleil. One of our roofers lives on one of these "stairway streets". He says that there are 214 stair steps to reach his front door and that the number one rule in his household is that you never enter or leave empty-handed. Those Steps...........look like a heart attack waiting to happen. I'm surprised someone didn't rig up some type of trolley to get from one end to the other (both ways). Dig Sixteen TonsAngular staircase, belching factory, grim lack of scenery: Makes me think of the bleak urban intro to Joe Versus the Volcano. Gotta hope someone in one of those houses has a hula lamp. Honore SharrerYesterday's New York Times carried the obituary of Honore Sharrer, "a noted American artist of the 1940s and afterward whose bold, witty, incisive paintings documented the daily experiences of ordinary working people. Known for their jewel-like colors and painstaking attention to detail, her paintings were purposely flat, hyperrealistic and strongly narrative in their depiction of everyday life." It doesn't have anything to do with this particular photograph, but I found this part of the obituary to be of interest to Shorpyites: Ms. Sharrer’s masterwork, critics widely agree, is her painting “Tribute to the American Working People.” A five-image polyptych that recalls a medieval or Renaissance altarpiece, it is more than two yards long and a yard high and took five years to paint. Its central figure, a factory worker, is flanked by smaller scenes of ordinary people at a picnic, in a parlor, on a farm and in a schoolroom. Completed in 1951, the painting was unveiled that year at Ms. Sharrer’s first solo exhibition, at the Knoedler Galleries in New York. Reviewing the exhibition in The New York Times, Stuart Preston called “Tribute” “a notable contemporary American painting” and “a bold, frank and fine achievement.” “Tribute,” which is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution, was the subject of an exhibition there in 2007 devoted exclusively to it. Titled “Anatomy of a Painting: Honoré Sharrer’s ‘Tribute to the American Working People,’ ” the exhibition featured much of Ms. Sharrer’s source material, including Farm Security Administration photographs from the late 1930s. Hats off to Jack Delano and all the FSA photographers. "Paper Streets"I live in this neighborhood. The term we use is "paper streets" because on the city map, they look like any other street, but that's only on paper. My girlfriend has called me in tears when her Garmin couldn't get her home because it wanted her car to take staircases. These sets of steps also all have street signs like any other city roadways. Paper Alley"Paper streets" are common here in Pittsburgh and the suburbs, but most common are "paper alleys." There is one directly across the street from me that runs up the side, then in back of all of the houses. It's now covered in grass and woods (and I imagine it has been this way for at least 90 years). My parents used to fight the boro to let them take ownership of the "property," however they have not budged in 35 years. Funny how the local gov't doesn't want to take care of it, and after my parents stopped, the neighbor does on the other side. Love Pittsburgh!I have lived in Pittsburgh all 23 years of my life. I would never live anywhere else. It's sad we can't get this smoke-ridden image out of the minds of people. This is nothing like the city today. Pittsburgh is a beautiful, growing city that is leading the way in green technology. After the steel industry collapse, the city plummeted into debt. Now, we are a shining example. Anyways, that misconception will be shattered with the hosting of the G-20 Summit here in September! Pay attention to the news around that time. Anyways, this is still a great image. You cannot deny this city's history, and the steel industry was vital to the US, especially during WWII. Pittsburgh has always been a pivotal cornerstone in American (and world) history. Does anybody know where this mill is located? Warhol-landThis is the Pittsburgh that artist Andy Warhol was born into in 1928. When this picture was made, a 12-year-old Warhol was living with his family in a house on a soot-covered hillside in a neighborhood just like this. It's Tullymet StreetThese steps connect Sylvan Avenue and Chance Way in the city's Hazelwood neighborhood. The old wooden steps have been replaced with concrete. The house sitting just out of the frame is gone along with most of the homes on Sylvan. [Thanks for the answer to a longstanding question! - Dave] First Three homes are still thereIt looks as if the first 3 homes in the middle of the picture are still there. So cool to finally know where this photo was taken! many thanks to sinking_ship for solving that mystery! This is still one of the most beat up areas in the 'burghWhen I return via Allegheny County airport in W. Mifflin, we always pass thru this area on our way to Oakland. It's pretty sad now but still very recognizable from this photo. My foreign born wife immediately recognized the neighborhood just from the lay of the land. Back in the early 70s I worked the last in-city blast furnaces at Jones & Laughlin steel just down the road towards Oakland. Very glad I had the chance to touch the history before it was gone. Been thereI lived in the third house in from 1953/1960. Glad my house is still there. First Two HomesSince the photo of first three homes still standing was submitted, the third one in is now gone also...along with pretty much everything in the 1940 photo... (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano, Pittsburgh)
Cloris Leachman: 1926-2021
April 1954. New York. "Actress Cloris Leachman (seen earlier here , here and here ) ... at her home in Encinitas, Calif. She was 94. -- New York Times Ruth & Sonny & Oscar When Cloris wanted to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/27/2021 - 7:36pm -

April 1954. New York. "Actress Cloris Leachman (seen earlier here, here and here) at home with husband George Englund." Photo by Phillip Harrington for Look magazine. View full size. Cloris Leachman, Oscar Winner And TV Comedy Star, Is Dead at 94         Cloris Leachman, who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a neglected housewife in the stark drama “The Last Picture Show” but who was probably best known for getting laughs, notably in three Mel Brooks movies and on television comedies like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Malcolm in the Middle,” died on Wednesday at her home in Encinitas, Calif. She was 94. -- New York Times Ruth & Sonny & OscarWhen Cloris wanted to do another take of the final scene of "The Last Picture Show," Peter Bogdanovich said no -- this will get you the Academy Award as is. And it did. All-time great entranceMy indelible image of her is the opening of 'Kiss Me Deadly', where she runs out of the dark, panting and wearing only a trench coat. The scene was shot less than a year after this 1954 photo. (Incidentally, when making the movie she was several months pregnant with her second son, who would die under somewhat mysterious circumstances at the age of 30.) A legend" ... Frau Blücher ... " [horses whinny] She was once Timmy's momIt's hard to believe, but she played mom to Jon Provost's Timmy on "Lassie" from 1957-1958. In a rather spectacular example of miscasting, neither she nor the audience liked the role, and she ended up getting fired after a year. Cloris as a mouse-like housewife is rather a stretch -- June Lockhart turned out to be a much better choice. Member of a very small clubThe Social Security Administration recorded just 153 babies born with the first name Cloris between 1880 and 2018. What a range The saddest role ever in "The Last Picture Show" and the niftiest comedy in "Young Frankenstein." I whinney for her. (LOOK, Movies, Phillip Harrington, TV)
Bacchus Dance: 1909
Edwardian-Bohemian New York circa 1909. "Bacchus Dance -- Miss Grace Walters, Mrs. A.S. Burden, Miss ... several weeks earlier at the Architectural League. The New York Times reported that, "in most cases the feet and ankles of the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/07/2013 - 10:58am -

Edwardian-Bohemian New York circa 1909. "Bacchus Dance -- Miss Grace Walters, Mrs. A.S. Burden, Miss M.R. White, Alfred Hester, Mrs. James B. Eustis, Miss Martha White." 8x10 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size. It was at this very momentAlbert suddenly realized he was the luckiest man in all of Manhattan. Here's Mrs. Eustis that day, apparently stealing away to powder her nose. Beaux Arts BacchanalThe photo documents a benefit bazaar and Greek pageant held on May 4, 1909, at the Manhattan Trade School for Girls, at 209 East Twenty-third Street. The entertainments included this bacchanal, inspired by a similar performance held several weeks earlier at the Architectural League. The New York Times reported that, "in most cases the feet and ankles of the dancers were entirely bare, allowing the grace and simplicity of old Greece to appear with some modifications to meet modern taste." The modern bacchantes in the photo have tastefully left their stockings on. Bacchus, wearing a flame red wig and beard, was played by the important New York painter and muralist Albert Herter (1871-1950), whose father was one of the founders of the famous interior decoration firm of Herter Brothers. Five Grecian UrnsAm I the only one having Music Man flashbacks here? (The Gallery, Dance, G.G. Bain)
Anti Maim: 1913
... favorable to plaintiffs in defamation cases, she lost. A New York Times article called her courtroom performance record-breaking because, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/25/2012 - 6:53pm -

1913. "International Anti-Vivisection Congress. Standing: Mrs. Clinton Pinckney Farrell, Mrs. Florence Pell Waring. Seated: Mrs. Caroline E. White, Miss Louise Lind-af-Hageby, Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll. The object of the congress is a consistent opposition to all forms of cruelty to animals." View full size. FeatheredActually, I see only one hat has what do appear to be feathers, whereas two of the ladies have adopted slightly unconventional-looking fabric and lace plumes, and none of them are wearing the furs that were quite fashionable at the time, though we don't know the time of year and weather. I'm inclined to wonder whether and how the feather-wearing lady had to defend her choice to her fellows. One of your best puns yetOne of your best puns yet, Dave. Keep 'em coming. [I did it for the bunnies and the hamsters. Thank you. - Dave] Desktop LadiesThis photo at full size makes great laugh-out-loud desktop wallpaper. LOLI don't know what's funnier, the way you faded AT's diatribe, or the fact that AJ's comment sent them into such a tizzy in the first place! No EgretsI wonder what the birds who supplied the feathers for those hats think about it. The Fab FiveBet they were a riot at parties. Proto-PETAThis must be the early version of PETA. What a bunch of prune-faced angry old biddies. Look at Their EyesI wouldn't want to cross one them. Unless I wanted to become a soprano. Skinny Puppy's Ancestral Trailblazers75 years before the song "Testure" was released, these beauties are the embodiment of the sentiment behind lyrics like "face terrified rant and rave smash your head against the cage vacuum clicks on high conscious of the pain pass off as humane white coat seems so clean most dirt bleached out of greed force the point of habit eyes burn in a rabbit push the pain test button spines cut trip mucous inflection" I can see them in the mosh pit now. Maybe stage-diving. Comic FodderThese gals could've kept Groucho busy for hours. Ms. Lind-af-HagebyThe lady front and center, with the unusual (Swedish) name, was only about 35 at the time of the photo. That year she prosecuted a libel suit in England against a newspaper that had called her a fraud. Despite the fact that the English law was extremely favorable to plaintiffs in defamation cases, she lost. A New York Times article called her courtroom performance record-breaking because, in the 34-hour trial, she spoke over 210,000 words and posed over 20,000 questions to the witnesses. VivisectionI have no problem eating animals (so delicious), but vivisection -- dissecting live animals without anesthesia -- strikes me as one of the cruelest things we humans can do. My hat is doffed in honour of those sweet old gals who do battle on behalf of animal suffering suffering animals. Monty PythonLooks like a scene out of Monty Python skit. MoltingBirds naturally molt and shed feathers. Even if someone plucked out a feather, it would grow back. Hardly the same as vivisection, is it? [A lot of the birds used for hats were killed. Most notably the snowy egret, which was almost hunted to extinction due to the use of its plumage in women's hats. This led to some of the first conservation legislation in the United States -- the Migratory Bird Act of 1918. - Dave] PETA TodayThe spinsters that congregate at PETA demonstrations these days make this group look like the Spice Girls. SPCA [We'll be back with Part 2 of this windy diatribe after a brief intermission. AJ's comment was obviously made tongue-in-biddy-baiting-cheek. - Dave] Spaced-out EyesWhen I see group photos like this, one thing I usually notice is the spacing between the eyes and how different ethnicities have the eyes spaced really close together (Miss Topknot in the back-right) or miles apart (the 2 Miss Fluffihats on either end of the front row). Oops sorry, that's not a woman seated front-right—that's Buster Keaton. In defense of ATI expect these women worked very hard to be taken seriously and were influential in the political climate of their day. Now that we as a society stand up for human and civil rights, of course, their old, serious countenances could seem a little funny. Miss Louise Lind-af-HagebyMiss Louise Lind-af-Hageby is actually pretty cute. And I'll bet Mrs. Farrell was quite the looker in her day. Does anyone else get the impression that Mrs. Caroline E. White was hiding a wicked sense of humor behind that serious expression? Why?If you didn't like AT's comment, why did you include it? "Fading" the comment and calling it a "windy diatribe" isn't very polite. Why include it at all? [Entertainment value? - Dave] At the expense of...The internet is full of sites where comments are mocked and people are mean to each other. I guess if you want shorpy.com to become yet another locus of basic incivility, you can do that. But why do you want to? I thought this site was about history and people sharing information. But I guess it's just a vehicle for you to have your entertainment at the expense of others. I'm glad I know that so I can skip the comments sections from now on. [Alas. - Dave] Tough GalsThese women look like they mean business. I certainly would want to argue with them. The look like they could stand their ground under any circumstance. Considering the fact that women weren't given so much consideration at that time, the anti-vivisection movement was well organized and strong. If I wanted help in a lobbying matter, these are the people that I could rely on. Go sister, go! [The nation's women were a powerful political force. Thanks largely to their efforts, the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments to the Constitution were right around the corner. - Dave] (The Gallery, Animals, Harris + Ewing)
Hank Aaron: 1934-2021
... than 30 years, died today in Atlanta. He was 86. -- New York Times Arron? Really? For the love of Pete. How long did it ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/22/2021 - 1:43pm -

September 8, 1955. "Hank Aaron standing in front of his locker with misspelled name in the Milwaukee Braves locker room." Photo by Phillip Harrington for Look magazine. View full size. Hank Aaron, Home Run King Who Defied Racism, Dies at 86         Hank Aaron, who faced down racism as he eclipsed Babe Ruth as baseball’s home run king, hitting 755 homers and holding the most celebrated record in sports for more than 30 years, died today in Atlanta. He was 86. -- New York Times Arron? Really?For the love of Pete. How long did it stay like that? RIPI remember when he hit 714; we lived in Atlanta and although I was only 17 and living in an all-female household and not yet a baseball fan, Hank's accomplishment was so celebrated that even those who weren't paying attention, sat up and took notice. There was such joy in the air. Four years and four months later, when my soon-to-be husband took me on our first date to see the Chicago White Sox defeat the Kansas City Royals 4-0 at old Comiskey Park, and in the ensuing years, he taught me about many of the greats, including Hank Aaron. Now we're die hard Cub fans but we love and have utmost respect for all baseball legends. Rest in Peace, Hank. Henry Was Consistent. Here's how to hit 755 home runs: start early, and end late. Henry hit 37 HRs at age 21, and 40 (in just 120 games) at age 39. His stats are especially impressive for a man who played half his career in the pitching-dominant 1960s. Looking at his stats online, I just noticed something for the first time: Henry received votes for MVP for 19 consecutive years. That must be a record. My first baseball gameAt the first pro baseball game I ever attended, in 1953, Hank Aaron played for the Jacksonville Braves. Aaron hit 22 home runs that season and I believe I saw one of them, though that particular memory might be influenced by the following 23 years. (In this photo he's standing at far right.) Hank?I learned from the NY Times obituary of Aaron that he never liked being called Hank. What an annoyance to have to go through life seeing your name in the headlines with a nickname you can't stand. Arron? Makes you wonder doesn't it.Watched an interview with him, he said breaking the home run record made his life miserable, death threats, kidnapping threats, etc to him and his family. Makes me sick to my stomach thinking about the pain and misery we brought on these magnificent human beings when we should have been lifting them up. Forgive us. My Henry Aaron memoryHad a friend in college here in Houston who hailed from Richmond Va, the home of the Braves’ AAA club. He loved Hank and the Braves. We went to the Astrodome in September of '73 with Hank sitting on 711 dingers. We were lucky enough to see him hit #712 that Saturday night. We went back on Sunday hoping that with some luck he’d hit two and we could at least see him tie Ruth. But he sat that one out. Still a fun memory. We got some sort of little certificate on our way out of the Dome with his photo and "I saw #712". I’ve got in buried in one of my many boxes of memorabilia. I always got a kick out of the fact that he and Al Downing were both wearing my college number (44) when Downing gave up #714. RIP, Henry Aaron A piece of my heartI was in Grade 11 when Aaron hit number 715, and I remember the historical impact of the moment. Thank you, Dave, for the link to the NYT article. It saddened me to read of all the racist crap, and I was moved when Aaron is quoted as having said about all the incidents: “All of these things have put a bad taste in my mouth, and it won’t go away. They carved a piece of my heart away.” He added, in 1994: “Any Black who thinks the same thing can’t happen today is sadly mistaken. It happens now with people in three-piece suits instead of with hoods on.” Move over BabeRest in peace Hammer. Charlie Grim and the boysIn the mid 50s my friends and I would frequently conclude watching a Milwaukee Braves game far outweighed the educational opportunities of Horace Mann Junior High School in West Allis, Wisconsin. The school was only a couple miles from Milwaukee County Stadium, so we could meet our academic responsibilities in the morning, and just not return after lunch. (My older sister was an invaluable resource by providing the note I needed the next day from my mom, justifying the absence.) But the real beauty was we could watch the games free. One of my co-conspirators had learned of a seating area the VA had set up on their property on top of a high steep hill that overlooked right field (Andy Pafko) of the ball park. The seating was provided for residents of the VA facility and we were always welcome to join them. One of us always had a portable radio and we listened to the play-by-play from Earl Gillespie as we watched from high on the hill. Henry Aaron of course was someone we always looked forward to seeing at bat, hoping for a homer with each pitch. Times were good. (LOOK, Milwaukee, Phillip Harrington, Sports)
Wireless Iconograph: 1912
... why nothing came of this He got a write up in The New York Times on this, but I don't find too much else. Other features- ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/27/2012 - 1:43pm -

Turin, Italy, circa 1912. "Bernocchi (left) and wireless iconograph." The inventor Francesco de Bernocchi and his fax-like device, which by means of "Hertzian waves" was said to facilitate the "exact wireless transmission of messages, sketches, autographs, shorthand and other signs, with a secrecy hitherto unattained." Bain News Service glass negative. View full size. I think you got the names wrongWhich one's Rube and which one's Goldberg? I wonder why nothing came of thisHe got a write up in The New York Times on this, but I don't find too much else. Other features-I'll bet it could make a good chocolate milkshake too! Doesn't even look close to a wireless getup.I see a two-cylinder engine hooked up to some sort of generator or motor, plus a lot of tubes and hoses, but no drum on which to put the imagery. Where's the Rest?OK now...we see the power plant and what looks to be a generator and a switchboard, but where's the "Iconograph"? Maybe the device on the left side of the engine? My, we've come a long wayImagine how big your desk would have to be to hold THAT fax machine! At the key! Bernocchi at his operating position That generatormay be an alternator. Alternators wre used early in the radio art to transmit modes that needed "continuous wave" radio frequency carriers, as opposed to the "damped wave" signal produced by spark transmitters. An electric motor turned the alternator and the RPM determined the frequency. The speed of the motor was therefore tightly regulated. Alternators had much cleaner output than spark transmitters and could produce tremendous power. Covered in Popular MechanicsFound this in the Google archives. I'd need a bigger computer armoireFascinating to know such a thing even existed then. When I worked in newspaper in the Jurassic Period, we had a scanner that occupied a two-story space about 50 feet by 125 feet. It was used primarily for optical character recognition of writers' copy. You had to type your news stories on special red and white forms. No errors allowed as there was no software in existence to edit what went in. I'm a goood tpyits butit droev me nust. Engine DynamometerThat's an engine dynamometer. The 2-cylinder engine on the left is driving a generator. The system can add generator resistance to hold back the engine. In other words, the generator is a "brake" used to hold the engine at specific rotational speeds (revolutions per minute--RPM) and torque readings are taken at each speed. The data are plotted to construct curves. Horsepower is calculated from the torque data. Result is therefore called brake horsepower, or BHP. (Technology, The Gallery, G.G. Bain)
Gotham: 1915
New York circa 1915. "Brooklyn Bridge, East River and skyline." The Woolworth ... the likely photographer vantage point? [By 1915, New York's skyscrapers had dozens of Marconi masts, for both marine and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:39pm -

New York circa 1915. "Brooklyn Bridge, East River and skyline." The Woolworth Building stars in this Lower Manhattan view, with the Singer, Bankers Trust, Hudson Terminal, Municipal and Park Row buildings as understudies. 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. How it looked in 1927When Harold Lloyd filmed Speedy in 1927 from this vantage point he captured the Standard Oil Building (near Battery Park to the left), and the Transportation Building (to the left of the Woolworth Building), two buildings that do not appear in this image. Intermodal xportationSo many kinds of transportation here, in between eras. The bridge has more streetcars than horse buggies, and no autos that I can make out. So were these electrified streetcars with overhead power? In the foreground is what is now Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. There are horse-drawn wagons loading or unloading the boxcars in the foreground. Is that sand in the barge? On the river I see no sail-powered boats. So even though we're still very much in the age of animal power, wind power is pretty much a thing of the past. Great photo for mixing smaller and larger scales. Lightning Rods?I notice several structures have rod-like structures. It seems 1915 would be a bit early for anything other than Morse-based radio, so I'm wondering if those are lightning rods. Nice angle on the bridge and city. Anyone know the likely photographer vantage point? [By 1915, New York's skyscrapers had dozens of Marconi masts, for both marine and terrestrial telegraphy as well as wireless telephone, and hundreds of flagpoles. - Dave] So neat and clean The little bit of rail road at bottom center looks so neat and clean it could almost be part of someones "N" scale layout. The only activity in that area is the loading/unloading of the two cars on the most distant track. Team tracksThe rail cars being loaded/unloaded are on what the railroad industry called a team track, in reference to the teams of horses required to handle the boxcar lading. The tracks served businesses that had no direct rail service to their doors, and were owned by a railroad in most cases. Team tracks are very scarce today. Pulling loads and empties scattered throughout a yard is a very time consuming and expensive proposition, and railroads have generally opted out of business of this nature. Had the opportunity to work the old Milwaukee Road Railroad Reed Street team track yard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin many years ago. We handled mostly fresh produce from California, destined to brokers who sold the stuff to local supermarkets. One of the brokers might have an iced URTX reefer consigned to them show up, and would send a couple of fellows with a truck to unload it. They did it just like the guys in the picture: one bag or carton at a time. The only thing missingis the bat signal in the sky. 1923 - 1925New York Stock Exchange Addition from 1922 is there. Enlarged 195 Broadway from 1923 is there. Transportation Building from 1927 is not there. More like 1922195 Broadway (AT&T or whatever they called it-- the white bldg just right of midspan of the bridge) has been expanded north to Fulton St, so can't be much before 1922; the Cotton Exchange at 60 Beaver St isn't there, so not later than 1923. (The Cotton Exchange is the building with the columned top and blank east wall near the left edge of the 1960 aerial.) Must have been taken from the tower of the building that's still there on the east side of Main St, at 40.7036N 73.99045W. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
Hello, Doily: 1952
... bits on the kitchen cabinet handles, and how bright and new everything looks. You see this stuff in thrift stores and antique shops ... (1950) Manufacturer / Brand: Jewel Radio Corp., New York http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/jewel_ele_910.html (ShorpyBlog, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/04/2022 - 12:50pm -

Another slide from Set 2 of found 35mm Kodachromes. On the wall, a September 1952 calendar; on the floor, an Indianapolis phone book. At the right, a projection screen where perhaps this very slide was shown after being developed. In the kitchen: many little decorative decals on the cabinet doors. View full size. Grandma?So it was 6:50 too. I have an antique clock with that same dial and a similar teardrop shape. As for Grandma--snake plant and cacti? Check. Doilies? Check. Tacky frog and flower or similar knickknack/ashtray? Check. Flowered curtains? Sensible shoes? Bizarre upholstery? Triple check. Kitchen glasses with rings/stripes? Ivy plant in kitchen? Bread safe with strange decal? Oh yes to all. Dark weird rugs plus newspaper down as a backup? True. She appears to be coming in or leaving, as she has on what looks like a velvet hat and has a coat draped over the chair. Otherwise this room is a time capsule. Hello?I love the phone on the phone book. [Let's not forget the couch covered with a slipcover, covered with a doily! - Dave] What Month?If the month shown on the bottom right of the calendar is September 1952, then I believe the calendar would be opened to August 1952, since the preceding and following months are displayed on the lower left and lower right corners respectively on this type of calendar. I just can not make out the writing. [That's October at the bottom. - Dave] Love it!This is one of my all-time favorite photos from here. What a glimpse into the past. I think the funniest thing is the newspaper on the floor. I'm thankful sensible shoes have become a little more, um, stylish! Wall clockAre those plastic cowboy and indian figures standing on the front of the clock hanging by the kitchen door? [Not a clock. - Dave] "Wall Clock"Thermometer? The "Clock" thingI think this was supposed to predict the weather. I had one when I was a child and it moved the red figure out for dry weather and the blue one out for wet weather. Looks like it was maybe cloudy or changing. It was a crude barometer with what my father said was a "Cat gut" that was dried and twisted to move the figures in or out as the humidity changed. Wow......this could've been MY grandmother's house! My grandma used newspapers to "protect" her kitchen floors as well...seems like they were more of a slipping hazard than anything. MidCentury Not-So-ModernIn spite of all of our Eames-fueled fantasies about what interiors in the 'fifties looked like, I am sure more looked like this than most mid-century decor fans would like to admit! Keep Your Photos!This photo is a fascinating time capsule. All the little details are so interesting. I'm sure that shortly after this photo was taken it was not particularly interesting. Just "Grandma on the phone." Next! This is why I keep every non-blurry photo I take. You never know what may be interesting in the future! This entire site reinforces the idea that we need to take care to back up and maintain our digital photos as carefully as we did with our prints. Otherwise, whatever passes for Shorpy.com in the year 2100 will have nothing to show! TelephoneThat's a Western Electric Model 302 telephone in the photo. They were in general service from the mid-late 1930's until probably the late 1950's early 60's in rural areas. I have one on the counter in my kitchen dated 1938 and it works great with my VOIP. Try that with a Vtech phone 70 years from now... Wish I could reach into this photo...I'd love to have the curtains, the clock radio, the snake plant in the green planter, the telephone, the crazy upholstered chair...and that green anodized aluminum tumbler to the left of the kitchen sink! Just like home!I could be ten years old again and this could be my own grandmother talking on the phone in my own home! O my lord, the couch covered by the slipcover covered by a doily!! Thanks for sharing this with me. I just love it! This site brings back such great memories -- Keep up the good work! The not-a-clockAt first I thought Cosman was right, that it was one of the humidity detectors/weather predictor knickknacks that were so popular back in the day. But there's a 3rd figure, a black one on the very right, so I guess these are just figurines. They look like Ultraman, though. I keep coming back to this photo. I can't get enough of the details. I can't get over how her watch and phone and 1920s-era carpets look just like my grandma's did, and I love those nifty red plastic bits on the kitchen cabinet handles, and how bright and new everything looks. You see this stuff in thrift stores and antique shops nowadays and it's all faded, and it's so hard to remember how ity must have looked new. Midcentury ModernI'm with JMiller. I always wished someone in our family had gone in for the whole "Modern" thing back then. We currently live in the house in the picture, minus the knickknacks, but including Grandma's furniture, which was tastefully reupholstered in the 1980's. (OK, a house just like it, with the kitchen door removed, horizontal blinds, original cabinets.) Aluminum tumblersMy grandparents had those too, and we had a set - probably purchased at the same time by Mom or Grandma. The were a big part of my early memories. And they were perfect for freezing the remaining part of the too-big chocolate shakes I made still make. They're being made again nowadays (they're retro, ya know). Here's one place. Just google "aluminum tumblers" for other hits. Newspapers on the floor...... may indicate a recent mopping. My mother always spread out a walkway of newspapers across the kitchen linoleum while it dried. Source: my memories from this very era. The detailsMy mother used to spread newspapers after she mopped and I thought she was the only one who ever did that. The live plants are interesting. The tall one is what my mother called "Mother-in-law's tongue". I do not know what the lower one is called but I had one for years. When it bloomed it was a star shaped flower that stank like rotten meat. We had to set it outside until the bloom was gone. While outside the flies were drawn to it in masses. (They were not normal house flies either.) Tumblers!My grandmother had a set of those red and yellow glass tumblers (complete with matching pitcher) just like the one next to the decaled breadbox. What memories! Lucite!The kitchen cabinet handles appear to have been (partially) made of lucite. I just previewed a home that still had those - the first time I've ever seen them. Very cool! [More likely Bakelite, though. -tterrace] Ice Cold MilkThere is nothing better than the reflected cold that seems to emanate from an aluminum tumbler when topped with a cold beverage of choice!! CatalinThe orange part of the cabinet handles are Catalin. They are still found in many antique stores. Clock-RadioNo mention of radio make/model? Didn't take long to find just searching clock+radio+1950 Jewel 910 Clock Radio (1950) Manufacturer / Brand: Jewel Radio Corp., New York http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/jewel_ele_910.html (ShorpyBlog, Kitchens etc., Kodachromes 2)
Sousa Next Sunday: 1900
Fall 1900. New York City. "Metropolitan Opera House, Broadway and 39th Street." 8x10 inch dry ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/25/2023 - 1:00pm -

Fall 1900. New York City. "Metropolitan Opera House, Broadway and 39th Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. "Direct From European Triumphs"Ads for the first and fourth dates of this four-concert series -- A Barrel Of LaughsAccording to some of the posters wrapped around the barrels lining the street you can get pastries and go to a casino. (The Gallery, DPC, Music, NYC, Streetcars)
Night Lights: 1905
New York circa 1905. "Night in Luna Park, Coney Island." A veritable wonderland of ... the Internet I've yet found. Just incredible. You have a new fan for life!! I was originally looking for Lewis Hine photos for a lecture ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/20/2014 - 6:46pm -

New York circa 1905. "Night in Luna Park, Coney Island." A veritable wonderland of incandescent illumination. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Thanks DaveI would crawl inside this photograph if I could. The Luna Park CircusAs if the architecture wasn't enough, the cafe mezzanines overlook a "floating" circus ring supported on arched trusses over the central lagoon. In the Shorpy image, Ring No. 1 is set up for a trapeze act. Here's a tinted postcard of a performing horse act on the same elevated platform. Ooh.I would have given anything to spend a night at the old Luna Park. The blurred figuresbring this photo to life! I love this website!!!! Ethereal glowI really like how the camera captured an aura around some of the lights. Even today this would be considered a beautiful display of lights. I can't imagine how magical it must have been to people who grew up without electricity in their homes and still may not have had it. I think that people too easily forget about some things in the past, like the original Ferris Wheel, and Coney Island in its prime. Modern day designers would do well to learn from these works of engineering art. WOW.They didn't waste any time taking advantage of electricity, did they? FWIW, I found this site yesterday and it is the most glorious corner of the Internet I've yet found. Just incredible. You have a new fan for life!! I was originally looking for Lewis Hine photos for a lecture ... and found more than I ever could have imagined! Keep up the good work! [Aw shucks. Thanks! - Dave] Job security!Can you imagine having the job of changing the burned-out light bulbs there? I imagine it'd have to be done after dusk so you could see which ones were out. Wonder if they bulb arrays were rigged so they could be lowered to the ground for maintenance, or if the poor workers had to scale the heights! GorgeousBut hardly a surprise it burned down. What a Sight Even the most staunch Victorians were impressed with this -- actually "awed" might be more appropriate. I've read a lot about Luna Park but don't remember anything about those elephants. Glowing praiseOne of your best choices yet -- an amazing photo. Oriental FantasiesThere's never been anything quite like the hallucinatory grandeur of the architectural mashups seen in amusement park and exposition buildings in this period. The primary quotations appear to come from Cairo minarets and Mughal Indian archways, but these have been all mixed up with motifs from Chinese pagodas and old Russian church spires, Venetian balustrades and Italian baroque shields on the balconies. Then there are the what-the-heck details like the phoenix-head fern planters erupting from the bases of the flagpoles all around the upper deck. What shall we call it all -- Electro-Moresco-Sino-Baroco? Lights - actionI have seen a number of photos of Luna Park, and they are all astonishing. It must have been a fabulous place! Hey, Dad!Can I borrow the time machine tonight? I want to head on over to Coney with the gang. What an unbelievable shot. You've done it again, Dave. Sadly, about all that is left of the old Coney Island is the Cyclone and Nathan's. Disney's inspiration?The attention to detail is amazing. I have (happily) wasted a half an hour on this picture and still find new details! AC/DCWhat makes this photo truly remarkable is the fact that even in 1905 there still wasn't an electrical standard. Was the power Edison's DC or was it Tesla's AC? I'm betting on AC. My grandfather, born in 1875, would regale us with stories of Coney Island. He would weave these almost impossible sounding stories about the grandeur of the place. Now you have to remember, the Coney Island of the 1950s and the 60s and then into the very depressing 70s was a very far cry from his experience, so it was almost as if he was telling fairy tales. It really must have been something else back then for the blue-collar worker. Working six days a week, up to 14 hours a day and taking your only day off to go to Coney Island. We have gained so much, we have lost so much. Few places I'd rather bethan Luna Park and Coney Island in 1905. What an interesting, fascinating and exciting place it must have been. HauntedI watched Ric Burns' documentary about Coney Island several years ago and it was so haunting and eerie that I can't look at this photo without getting chills. The 1903 footage of a Coney Island elephant being electrocuted for the "crime" of attacking a handler who threw a lit cigarette in her mouth still haunts me. Time machine pleaseIf I had a time machine, I'd take it back, throw a huge blanket over this place and tell them that they couldn't touch it for another 100 years, when they could appreciate the grandeur of all that is here. Those architectural details! Today's buildings are just squares and rectangles. No pomp! No curlicues! No flourishes! How amazing it must have been to see all this electricity in one place. All that light. Must have been like they imagined the future would be. Where do you think we live, Luna Park?!While growing up on the Lower East Side of NYC in the 60's and 70's my grandparents and parents were always admonishing us kids to "turn off the lights when you leave the room!" If they ever had to turn the lights off after we carelessly left them on they would always say, "Where do you think we live, Luna Park?!" Or, my father's favorite, "the place is lit up like Luna Park!" Now I see what they meant! Fascinating photo. Thank you. Luna ParkMaxim Gorky's remarks about Luna Park fit this photo perfectly: With the advent of night a fantastic city all of fire suddenly rises from the ocean into the sky. Thousands of ruddy sparks glimmer in the darkness, limning in fine, sensitive outline on the black background of the sky shapely towers of miraculous castles, palaces, and temples. Golden gossamer threads tremble in the air. They intertwine in transparent flaming patterns, which flutter and melt away, in love with their own beauty mirrored in the waters. Fabulous beyond conceiving, ineffably beautiful, is this fiery scintillation. NicopachydermI must correct Mattie below. The elephant was certainly electrocuted at Luna Park, but not because a handler threw a lit cigarette into her mouth and she killed him. She was killed because she had killed three men in as many years. While it was true that she was abused by patrons and had in fact been fed a lit cigarette by someone, that incident was some time before and her handler was neither whom she killed nor who fed her the lit cigarette. Luna in filmI was just flipping through the channels and Turner Classic Movies is showing a silent film called "The Crowd" that features a montage of the lead characters enjoying the sights of Luna at night. The shots were just as spectacular as the photos of Luna park here at Shorpy. (The Gallery, Coney Island, DPC)
Tenement Ec: 1908
New York circa 1908. "Class in Practical Housekeeping -- Congestion Exhibit." 8x10 ... health issues associated with the massive overcrowding of New York's poor into tenement neighborhoods. This photo documents the model ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/25/2012 - 2:10am -

New York circa 1908. "Class in Practical Housekeeping -- Congestion Exhibit." 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. Girls, next weekWe will cover sweeping and dusting, and that small book case at the foot of the bed is where we'll start. The Congestion ExhibitionThis unusual and influential exhibition was organized by the American Museum of Natural History, and ran from March 9 through March 22, 1908. Many social welfare organizations, including city departments and private charities, participated in this attempt to document and expose the complex social and public health issues associated with the massive overcrowding of New York's poor into tenement neighborhoods. This photo documents the model two-room apartment exhibit built by the Association of Practical Housekeeping Centres, to demonstrate the classes they offered to working class women and girls on how to cope with their overcrowded living spaces. Other architectural installations included a facsimile East Side sweatshop, which displayed its "uncleanness and wretchedness." The exhibition was well publicized and very well attended by New Yorkers from both up and down the social ladder, from the Duchess of Marlborough (the former Consuelo Vanderbilt), to the East Side tenement dwellers themselves, including a girl who told a reporter that she was astonished to see a photograph of herself at work in a sweatshop. The New York Times archive retains many news articles about this exhibition, among them "Exhibit Will Tell All About New York," published March 1, 1908. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC)
Subway Fire: 1915
... resulting in chaos for a quarter-million commuters. The New York Times reported that one person, Ella Grady, was killed. We note that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/19/2012 - 2:16pm -

On January 6, 1915, an electrical short in a manhole started a fire that filled the subway line under Broadway at West 55th Street with smoke, resulting in chaos for a quarter-million commuters. The New York Times reported that one person, Ella Grady, was killed. We note that photographer George Grantham Bain, like many of us writing checks just after January 1, was a year off in dating this photo. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Woodward HotelWhich is now the Dream Hotel. It used to have a sister building across from it on 55th Street, long gone. Lousy ExperienceI was in a 1990 subway fire. Water leaked onto a transformer causing an explosion that sent thick brown smoke throughout the train. Nothing like feeling like you and your 50+ train-mates are going to die in a hole. The building at left rear…… (with the arches) seems to be the only building in this photo or the other one still extant. It's visible in Google Street View here. Complete lack of crowd controlAmazing how all of the rubber neckers stand on the partially removed grates peering down into the subway. An interesting contrast would be the mid 2007 steam line blow out near Grand Central where half of the emergency responders were dealing with crowd control. (The Gallery, Fires, Floods etc., G.G. Bain, NYC)
Candlelight Inn: 1951
... Candlelight Inn restaurant. Manhasset, Long Island, New York. Garden Room." This was one of several Candlelight Inns operated by New ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/09/2023 - 12:14pm -

January 18, 1951. "Patricia Murphy's Candlelight Inn restaurant. Manhasset, Long Island, New York. Garden Room." This was one of several Candlelight Inns operated by New York restaurateur Patricia Murphy (1905-1979), whose culinary trademark was the freshly baked popover. 4x5 inch acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size. WickedI wonder how the heck the waitpeople managed to maneuver in between these ridiculously close tables. I wonder why the Candlelight restaurant doesn't have candles on each table. Keeping UpIf you attend a Candlelight Supper, you may later be invited for Riparian Entertainments. Candlelight Inn SupperOooh a candlelight supper. Will there be riparian entertainments as well? [Riparian? - Dave] Maybe you have to ask for oneIn response to Patterdale, I notice, looking down the room, the tables are staggered. You could back your chair out without hitting a chair behind you. This would also give waitstaff enough room to maneuver, although they'd have to zigzag. I like the light fixtures and think fans in the dormer windows is a smart idea. It's interesting that, with all the tables so uniform, the candlesticks were not. Maybe there was a shortage and you had to ask for a lit candle. In 50 years, there'd be a candle on every table ... battery powered. Crease & DesistI don't think Hyacinth would approve of the fold on those napkins. My favorite Hyacinth line"Am I serious? I would not be speaking to you on a Slimline phone and surrounded by some very expensive wallpaper if I weren't serious." Riparian EntertainmentsWere not enjoyed here; it was my family's go-to on Sundays after Mass. Great food & service -- no river, though. Standard FareThe menu of the Westchester restaurant, about eight years later. Service charge of 75 cents for children not having regular meal. Apparently popovers were more popular than I had imaginedPopovers and Candlelight: Patricia Murphy and the Rise and Fall of a Restaurant Empire (Excelsior Editions) Paperback – November 1, 2018 by Marcia Biederman (Author) Space RestrictedThis restaurant needs either fewer tables or more floor space. It would feel very claustrophobic being crammed in like that, not to mention as Patterdale points out, it would be a waiter's nightmare navigating that maze of tables and chairs. On the plus side, excellent architecture and fittings. And those prices; always wonder how businesses made money on those tiny prices. (The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, Gottscho-Schleisner)
Cheyenne Joe's: 1903
New York circa 1903. "Coney Island -- the Bowery." Decisions, decisions. Wacke's ... consumed Steeplechase in 1907. In 1912, Wacke fanned a few new flames. He began showing films for free in the saloon as a way to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 1:48pm -

New York circa 1903. "Coney Island -- the Bowery." Decisions, decisions. Wacke's Trocadero or Cheyenne Joe's? Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Do Not ResuscitateSome fashions should never be revived. I am talking about the fellow on the far right, facing away from us. He has a V gap in his waistband, just above his rump. I don't know what they were thinking when they designed that, but I hope no designer thinks it again! Re: Do Not Resuscitate@aenthal: While I share your dislike of that v-cut in the waistband of the gentleman's pants, I'm not so sure I agree with your observation that it's "just above his rump." Those are some mighty high-waisted pants! I'd say that gap is more like just above the L1 or L2 vertebra. Other choicesBallantine's Export or Genuine Wurzbüger Draught He Coulda Been a Contender"Rumour had it the challenger was so determined to prevail, he planned to load his gloves with Plaster of Paris. “Let him do it,” said Jeffries. “I’ll flatten him anyway.” "It came in the eighth round. After several blistering exchanges, Fitzsimmons inexplicably paused, lowered his guard, and spoke to Jeffries, taunting him. The champion’s response was a hard right to the belly followed by a thunderous left hook that put Fitzsimmons on the floor and ended the fight." from http://www.bestboxingblog.com/?p=687 Don't Overlook Flynn's... and Ballantine! They made a pretty good ale up through the 1970s: green bottle, great with hamburgers. From the Dutch "bouwerij" meaning "farm"The idea that Coney Island would have a theme area based on a famously seedy street in a nearby borough cracked me up; it was a short leap (for me, anyway) to visions of Disneyland installing a pre-Disney 42nd Street populated with street walkers and hustlers dressed as Disney characters. Pooh? Bambi? Lady & The Tramp? The 7 Dwarfs? It's a natural. But the truth about Brooklyn's Bowery is merely very interesting... http://www.thevirtualdimemuseum.com/2009/11/coney-island-bowery.html Wacke's TrocaderoFree Movies With Beer Coney Island theater proprietor Herman Wacke, no stranger to the moving image, is touted by some as the first commercial exhibitor of a motion picture at his Trocadero Hotel in 1893. Wacke's hotel, a stalwart from Coney's early years located along a strip of cabarets and beerhalls affectionately called the Bowery, was nearly destroyed in the fire that consumed Steeplechase in 1907. In 1912, Wacke fanned a few new flames. He began showing films for free in the saloon as a way to entice people to come in and purchase food and beer. Wacke's was probably the best known of many along the Bowery to exhibit films in this fashion. But the proprietor didn't have a license to do so, and during one particular sting, Wacke was arrested -- "charged with conducting a free show in connection with his bar" -- and fined $5. Not a huge sum of money for a successful saloon owner, and Wacke went willingly, becoming a test case for a law that many certainly thought was rigid and overly meddling. The Bowrey Boys - New York City History Cinnamon Rolls & BeerAnd there on the left you can get your fresh cinnamon rolls to go with your Export Lager Hot Crisis Vaffles 3 for 5 cents?The curlicue tool held by the woman in the booth on the left intrigued me. I stretched and skewed the sign on the front of her stand, but I still cannot make sense of it. [HOT CRISPS WAFFLES / 3 for 5¢ - Dave] Love this picture!Wonderful, evocative detail. Please, somebody colorize this one for us! Get a RoomCould that couple actually be holding hands in public? It's shameless is what it is. Ballantine'sBefore I read the comments, coincidentally, I did the same as JeffK, but with the sign over the street on the left. Ballantine's Export Beer was well advertised! 3 Balls 5¢Are they for a throwing or bowling game? I can't imagine they're talking whiskey at that price. Cheyenne Joe's Cowboy TavernFrom The Summary - Published weekly by and for inmates of the New York State Reformatory at Elmira. The Summary, July 4, 1908. Coney Island: The World's Greatest Play Ground As it is To-Day. … Cheyenne Joe's Tavern is free and once inside a long bar is visible. On one end sits a cowboy with two six-shooters protruding from this belt while he plays a violin. Another cowboy acts as waiter while a third tends bar. A group of these typical westerners are around a table and in the corner of the cabin stands a pony restlessly. The floor is sprinkled with sawdust and newspaper is made to supply wall paper. … Personal Time MachineThis is what I love about Shorpy. Whenever I want to go to a different time and place, I just come here, find a wonderful picture like this, click on "View Full Size," step into the picture and go for a fascinating visit. Oh the hats! I believe when we stopped wearing hats, it was the beginning of the fall of civilization. Great PhotoThis is a perfect amusement park photo from the turn of the 20th century. I wish I could time travel back to 1903. I’ve often wondered how many of these amusement park scenes are set up by the photographer. The couple walking towards the camera could be models. People are in just the right places. I’m sure they spent a lot of time setting up for the perfect shot. Belly Up To The Bar Boys. I'm BuyingQuite a few always wax nostalgic when an idyllic tree lined residence street with an little girl is shown and wish that they could go back to that peaceful scene. Not me. This is where I'm taking the Time Machine and a hundred dollars. A sports bar, German beer on draught, Ballentine Ale, cinnamon buns, good 5¢ cigars, hot crisped waffles 3 for 5¢, chops, a cowboy bar with sawdust on the floor plus a pony, cowboy waiters, cowboy entertainers, an Oriental shop with 10 ¢ large ????, and last but not least an Irish Hotel Bar. Since I am of Irish/German ancestry, a known beer drinker, and an occasional cigar smoker I would have been right at home here and would have spent the day slipping in and out of the various establishments announcing each time, "Drinks on me, boys and may ye be dead an hour before the devil knows it." Ah wouldn't it have been a glorious day filled with oompah bands and Irish reels, good food, cold beer, and possibly meeting relatives from Strokestown, County Roscommon Ireland or Dusseldorf Germany?" (The Gallery, Coney Island, DPC)
Office Girls: 1925
... published by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Office postage Those are 2¢ stamps, not 1¢ ; most letters bear ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 2:03am -

Washington, D.C. "American Nature Association. Between 1910 and 1926." It's probably safe to say this is 1925. September 14, to be specific. A Monday (boo). View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. Great example of an officeLook at all of the decorations. I like the Allied Flags of the Great War. Did they use "qwerty" keyboard typewriters then? Tree Huggers"Agnes, here's another letter from that lumberjack. He didn't like your reply." Off and OnMy grandparents had those kind of pushbutton light switches! Some Like it HotThe girl on the extreme left must have been a role model for Jack Lemmon in "Some Like it Hot" as they look identical. The middle girl looks somewhat like an anorexic Joey Brown. I used to LOVE rubber stamps when I was a kid, they seemed so important when someone stamped their official message on my things and at the library I felt as though I had passed approval when the librarian would stamp every book and every file card so I could take their books home. You would have thought I was being allowed into a forbidden zone. That crown molding edging the ceiling (which we all took for granted) would cost a small fortune to add to any room today. And those postage stamps are most likely 1 cent. Still, I bet these three conscientious workers we VERY efficient at what they did and their stick phone did not have a droning message telling you what buttons to push but that you got to talk to a real person who would handle your problems quickly and accurately. Thanks for a photo of my childhood memories. [Big-boned, isn't she. - Dave] Passion for filesJust stick junk up on the walls with tape, don't worry about the mess it will make or the damage to the paint and plaster. In a way it's oddly gratifying to see that at least some things never change. All in all, a wonderland for a stationery/office gizmo/wooden file cabinet freak like me. The supply room I inherited in a 1932-vintage government office building still had some retired items of this kind on the shelves. Also file cabinets like that - which, you'll note, are modular. This one's in 5 pieces - leg unit, three tiers of drawers and top. Any or all of the drawer units could be replaced with different kinds of filing compartments, including standard file drawers and even glass-front bookshelves. They fit together with metal male & female fittings and could easily be mixed and matched at any time to meet each office's changing organizational needs. Every film noir police station is fitted out with these. Now I want to see this office's supply room! Inkwells Etc.I immediately noticed the square glass inkwells and the stick pen with removable points, just like we used when we first learned cursive penmanship. You had to dip your pen into the inkwell about every sentence or more. Ink most commonly came in blue, black, red and blue-black (my second job was at Waterman's in Connecticut). Those inkwells also had glass lids and notice the paperclips had specific roundish glass bowls. I used an old stapler like that also. I enjoy the details in these old pictures the most. What we used every day and never even thought about are now collectibles and antiques. Answering the MailLove all the details in this one: phones, lamps, staplers... The American Nature Association was incorporated as a scientific educational organization in 1922. Located at 1212-1214 Sixteenth St NW, it employed about 60 people to publish Nature magazine. In 1959, the magazine merged with Natural History magazine published by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Office postageThose are 2¢ stamps, not 1¢ ; most letters bear Scott #554: Although I see at least one with two Scott#552 Both originally issued January 1923. Between 1910 and 1926Hmm, seems as though the person who wrote the caption to the photo was not very Sherlock Holmes-esque! Good thing there's Dave! I would love to be able to read the finer print - any chance of a zoomed in close up?? Why in the world............Wonder why there are ads on the wall for Canadian Club Whiskey and Stonewall Jackson Cigars Double EagleFrom the newspaper clipping just above the filing cabinet and to the right, looks like a full-page article debating the "Golden Eagle or Bald Eagle as Emblem?" I wonder what brought that discussion on way back in 1925. Underwood typewriterI'm not a typewriter expert but this looks to be an Underwood, apparently very common for the time. Images here and below (click to enlarge). QWERTYThey did in fact use the QWERTY layout. QWERTY was developed specifically to keep typists from going too quickly and causing the keys to jam. Trench art lampNot only do they have the flags of the Allies but there is also a desk lamp made from an old artillery projectile on the far right. ARTillery UtilityI guess that was the post Great War rage or something. There's a table lamp made out of some WWI artillery shell thing at my parents' house. I think it was a souvenir from my mom's uncle's tour of duty. Artillery artArtillery art must have been "in" after WW1. I've got two pieces that came from my grandfather's estate. He was an ambulance driver in France and never had anything official to do with field artillery. One piece, they took an empty cartridge case and cut most of it away down to the bottom two inches. They added some other pieces and made it into an ashtray. The other piece is a more or less complete cartridge case and was supposedly used as an umbrella or cane stand for years. The interesting thing about that case is the several "Life of Case" stampings on the bottom (inspector and date) indicating each time it was remachined and reloaded. An empty cartridge case is one thing, but if I saw someone had turned a shell into art the first thing I'd want to ask would be "that thing is inert, isn't it?" FlappersGet a load of those rolled stockings and bobbed hair on the gal on the left. She is probably thinking of the weekend, when she and her beau with slicked-down hair can dance the Charleston in a speakeasy. If wishes were newspapers.....I'd have that entire collection in my lap right now, reading the one about the golden and bald eagle. And if ifs an' ands were pots and pans... there'd be no work for tinkers! What are they doing?Seems to be alot of the same headline articles piled up, I wonder what they were clipping them for? [Mentions of the A.N.A. - Dave] Hair set upFunny, but I can put 3 current office girls that I know at work that have just about the same hairstyle and hairdo (including the one with the headband). Just not so much hairspray, but otherwise, they look modern to me. Well done, TerranceI was just admired all the stamp mail (including one or two stamped envelopes), nearly all of it machine canceled. So much different from the metered and printed indicia mail that is most of what's in my mailbox today. For those who love this stuff as I do: www.stamps.org [That Terrance does crackerjack work. - Dave] Golden Eagle or Bald EagleSomeone asks" "Golden Eagle or Bald Eagle as Emblem?" I wonder what brought that discussion on way back in 1925. Much of US coinage at the time featured different types of eagles, not the bald eagle. For example, take a look at the St. Gaudens designs that were in place from 1907-1933 -- those aren't bald eagles. So I suspect it was discussion about whether the depiction of eagles on use emblems such as coinage should be standardized to be the bald eagle rather than just a generalized heraldic eagle (usually the golden eagle, which has been used in heraldry since ancient Rome). LightsDave is right, early light fixtures also tended to look a bit flimsy by our standards, I grew up in an old house that was electrified in the teens and several rooms were lighted by hanging lamps just like those in the picture. Ours had a sturdy porcelain socket screwed into the lath overhead with a matching plug for the cord that securely locked them into place, they were quite safe when new although the cord insulation was getting a bit questionable by the '70s. It took some time for electric plugs to be standardized, before that happened electric cords with Edison threads, like the lamp, were in common use. My sister used to live in an old house that still had a few electric outlets equipped with a threaded "light bulb" socket. The wiring for that push button switch is inside the wall, they had a reasonably good quality for the era wiring job done, the truly cheap conversion jobs had the wiring running up the outside of the walls on porcelain knobs or cleats. OSHA wouldn't approveThis office was clearly remodeled from something else -- a private home perhaps. It's on at least the second floor, based on the stairwell in the background. The cord dangling from the ceiling fixture to power the hanging lamp shows a certain "muddle through" attitude. And the "screws into the socket" device on the wire at the extreme right, which may in fact connect to the bullet lamp, shows further improvisation. Add that nobody has a proper desk, and you can guess that the American Nature Association had a pretty modest budget. [The 1910s and 1920s saw many office buildings wired for electricity after conversion from gas -- often just for ceiling fixtures, with no wall outlets. Tapping a ceiling fixture with a screw-in adapter was a common practice for things like desk lamps. - Dave] Proper desks and the task at handThose tables may not be proper desks, but they were definitely standard office furniture for the period. The 1932-vintage federal building I worked in still had several around; they're intended to be all-purpose office work surfaces rather than executive or even secretarial desks. They offered a minimal amount of storage - each had at least one drawer and wider models had one on each side; enough to handle materials for limited, simple or transitory tasks. So what is this particular task? Obviously, a goodly quantity of individuals have sent envelopes to the A.N.A., and in return are apparently being sent clippings from a newspaper. Now, what prompted those incoming letters? Just to get a newspaper clipping? Or did the letters contain contributions, and the clippings are to accompany form thank-you letters because they report on some work the A.N.A. has done? The problem with this is that all those envelopes are incoming letters; the clippings wouldn't need to be at hand until the outgoing envelopes were ready to be stuffed, and we don't see any of those here. Another interesting thing is that the clippings are from a Los Angeles newspaper. Is it possible that people were sending clippings to the A.N.A. for some reason? The light switchIn the mid 1970s I went to middle school in an old manor house that still had some of those pushbutton switches. For some reason they had transparent switchplates over the things. They didn't have enclosed points, and there was one in the science classroom which would simply explode with sparks every time you pressed it. John Steven McGroartyThe newspaper article being gathered is this: "Seen from the Green Verdugo Hills: A Page Conducted by John Steven McGroarty," published in the Los Angeles Times Magazine on Sunday, Aug. 30, 1925, about a week before this photo was probably taken. Would that have been enough time for the A.N.A. to send letters to its California members asking them to send in clippings of the article, and for the replies to return? I noticed there is already a copy on the wall, as if someone spotted it and put out a call for more copies. Why this specific item might have been of such interest to the organization is a little puzzling to me. The page is composed of smaller entries, and certainly there is a theme of gratitude for the gift of Nature. The first entry, "Things That the Saints Once Said," touches on the obligation to share what we have with those who need it. It includes a quote attributed to St. Ambrose: "The earth is the common possession of all and belongs to all and not to the rich," and another, attributed to John Chrysostom: "Are not the earth and the fullness thereof the Lord's?..." The second entry, "Singing Jimmy and his Large Invitation," recounts a neighbor's trip to Detroit, where he tried to entice the Kiwanis Clubs to hold a convention in the Verdugo Hills: So, what did Singing Jimmy Smith do but get up say, brothers, he said, I invite you to hold your next convention in the green Verdugo Hills. There's plenty of room in the chaparral and under the live oak trees. Our women folk will cook you plenty to eat. You can have goat's milk and cookies to your hearts' content. And all the neighbors will be right glad to see you... The third entry, "The Tale That a Big City Tells," begins with dismay at the number of people fed and housed by a mission in Los Angeles, then turns to an indictment of urban life: Here is the whole, beautiful, wide green earth, its vast vacant spaces of fertile lands, God's rains to water them, God's suns [sic] to warm them; the fruitful, plenteous earth with food for all and shelter for all. And yet we howl for bigger cities and more of them. Oh, brethren, there is something very wrong with the world. The generations to come will have a heavy burden to bear. They will have a fearful price to pay. McGroarty was a poet, author, and journalist; in 1923, he moved into a self-built home in Tujunga, Cal., in the Verdugo Mountains north of the city. In 1925 his main pursuits appear to have been his weekly page in the Times, and completing his doctorate in literature at the University of California. In 1933, he was named poet laureate of California. In 1935, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served two terms. Good point!I was so thrilled to figure it out, it didn't occur to me that they might be gathering an earlier column. Someday, I might go see if there's one that fits the A.N.A. better. From the Green Verdugo HillsThis was, according to various sources, a regular feature that John McGroarty wrote for the Los Angeles Times for many years. So there would have been more than one. Platen envyBoth typewriters are Underwood No. 5's, I'm pretty sure. I have a No. 5 that I use regularly. How I wish it was still as shiny as the one that girl is using! Artillery ArtMy grandmother told me how during WW2 servicemen would make presents out of whatever was on hand, like shells and such, and trade them with guys who could make something different. She had drinking glasses made out of some sort of shell. I have the "ugly goblets" that my grandfather commissioned from another sailor (don't know what was traded). They are quite obviously handmade and hideously ugly, but sentimental b/c my grandfather gave them to her during the war. Got a bang out of that lampThe artillery-based lamp appears to have on top a version of this fuze of mine, a PTTF (Powder Train Time Fuze) from 1907. It's about three inches wide by the same high, and is a brass mechanical fuze using a clockwork mechanism to adjust the time. The time is set by turning the dial from safe to the desired length of time for "bang!" The top unscrews so the one in the photo very easily was adapted for lamp duty on top of that artillery shell. Tens and tens of millions of these were manufactured for World War One. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, The Office)
Food Group: 1942
September 1942. Batavia, New York. "Elba farm labor camp. Red Cross workers who fed the migrants on their ... What was in a name? Here we see the end of the New Deal experiment in housing and retraining migrant agricultural laborers. No ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/31/2022 - 2:59pm -

September 1942. Batavia, New York. "Elba farm labor camp. Red Cross workers who fed the migrants on their first day in camp." Acetate negative by John Collier for the FSA. View full size. Camps, migrants, volunteersWhat was in a name? Here we see the end of the New Deal experiment in housing and retraining migrant agricultural laborers. No one called them economic refugees -- in fact, this camp called them 'volunteers' helping with harvests in wartime. [They were volunteers -- schoolkids from West Virginia getting paid by farmers in upstate New York to harvest their crops. - Dave] The Library of Congress summary of this group of photographs describes them as "voluntary migrant labor from West Virginia and New York City relief rolls." [John Collier was photographing the West Virginia group, not the New Yorkers. Regardless, they were all volunteers who signed employment contracts with the Department of Agriculture. - Dave] Boogie Woogie BataviaI got a distinct Andrews Sisters vibe when I first laid eyes on the three ladies. Deluxe DiningDedicated damsels backed by 1940 Ford Deluxe 4 door sedan. (The Gallery, Camping, John Collier, Pretty Girls)
Amex: 1910
... me to guess that the city we're looking for is Kingston, New York. Still There Too! Here it is today. City Of Angels Downtown ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 5:23pm -

Circa 1910. "American Express Co., Main and Sixth." Just steps away from the Aseptic Barber Shop. Who can tell us what city we're in? View full size. Pacific Electric Building, Los AngelesThis is the Pacific Electric Building (or Huntington Building) at 6th and Main in Los Angeles, California. You can see intertwined Ps and Es in the column capitals at the cornice. And, amazingly enough, still there! Main & SixthIt's Sixth Street, not State, but I have no idea what city. On state streetthat great street, I just want to say, they do things they don't do on Broadway. Chicago? [I goofed in typing "State." Should have been "Sixth." - Dave] It's the Huntington BuildingIt's the Huntington Building in Los Angeles. "W.M.Garland & Company" was the clue." Pacific Power and LightPortland? Amex 1910 locationThe lampposts ("5-Globe Llewelin") indicate downtown L.A., unless the design was used elsewhere. But I don't believe so. West CoastI would guess Los Angeles as there is a Pacific Light and Power sign on one of the windows in the building. Dual gauge in L.A.It's Los Angeles. The tipoff (for me at least) is the dual-gauge streetcar track -- 3'6" for the city streetcars of the Los Angeles Railway; standard gauge for the interurbans of the Pacific Electric. I'm going to guess Los AngelesWe're on S. Main Street. Pacific Light and Power Company in one of the windows is a clue we're on the west coast. The real clue are the offices of W. M. Garland Company Real Estate. Mr. Garland was a commercial developer in Los Angeles. He was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to Los Angeles in 1932. That's my final answer. Los AngelesI believe this is the old Pacific Electric building on Sixth and Main. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric_Building In Los AngelesThis is the Pacific Electric Building in Los Angeles. Lazy AnswerMy limited research leads me to guess that the city we're looking for is Kingston, New York. Still There Too!Here it is today. City Of AngelsDowntown Los Angeles. The actual building was called the Pacific Electric Building. AlohaI'm going to guess Honolulu based on the "Pacific Power and Light" sign in an upper window. That Toddling TownI gotta say it's Chicago. InterurbanPacific Electric Building in Los Angeles, CA American ExpressThat building, I believe, is the one on Broadway in NYC. Los AngelesI think this is L.A. Could it besunny Los Angeles? The Magic 8 Ball saysLos Angeles. My bet is on San FranciscoThis is obviously just a local branch office, and a window on an upper floor says "Pacific". And, the number of streetcars. Los AngelesCorner of W. Sixth and S. Main, Los Angeles. All three buildings still there. We are in Los AngelesSixth and Main, Los Angeles. That is the Edendale streetcar line. Los AngelesThe building is the Pacific Electric headquarters at 6th and Main, in Los Angeles. More here. Sitting downBet there isn't a bloke sitting on a stool in the intersection now. More importantWhy is there a man who appears to be holding a newspaper sitting on a chair in the middle of the street? Perhaps the officer is telling him to "move along now, nothing to see here." Trolleys left their markThe attachments where the various wires and cable were are still visible on the building. View Larger Map Follow the trolley toEdendale. AlwaysWonderful to know where you are! But who is that sitting on a stool, in the middle of the interesection, next to the policeman? And why? Pacific Electric Railway Terminal The National Magazine, 1908 The Huntington Interests The lines operated by the Los Angeles Railway Company, the Pacific Electric, the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway Company, the Los Angeles & Redondo Railway Company, The San Bernardino Valley Traction Company and the Riverside & Arlington Railway Company, which comprise the Huntington system, is undoubtedly the greatest system of street and inter-urban railways in the world. It consists of over 500 miles of standard gauge line, reaching from Alpine (Mount Lowe), a mile above the sea, to the south coast ocean resorts, and penetrates all the valleys in the beautiful country adjacent to Los Angeles. … The Pacific Electric Railway was the name adopted by the corporation managing the suburban electric lines of the Huntington system, Mr. Huntington having acquired the line to Pasadena and outlining the plan for an extensive system of suburban railways reaching out from Los Angeles in every direction. Since then there have been completed electric railroads to practically every city and town of importance in Southern California and to the thriving beach resorts tributary to Los Angeles as a center. … One of the most enduring monuments to his public spirit and enterprise is the mammoth Pacific Electric Building of Los Angeles, a building of nine stories, with eleven acres of floor space and which is the terminal station for the wonderfully perfect inter-urban system. This is the largest structure of its kind west of Chicago, and was completed in December, 1904. The American Architect and Building News, 1908 The Pacific Electric Building, and the Jonathan Club Roof Garden, Los Angles, Cal. The rooms and roof garden of the Jonathan Club, on the upper stories of the Pacific Electric Building, at Los Angeles, were an afterthought. At the time the external character of the building was determined by Mr. Thornton Fitzhugh, the architect, the contracts let and the construction work well advanced, no thought had been given to the adaptation of the upper floors for club purposes. This problem was therefore a most difficult one, not only because the changes involved were many and complicated, but owing to official dictation and limitations imposed, the result is one in many respects quite at variance with what would have been accomplished had the architect been allowed freer rein in his work. None the less the Pacific Electric Building presents characteristics that would entitle it to some measure of recognition if built in the largest cities. Its proportions for a city the size of Los Angeles are unusual and its equipment such as will meet every condition of a first-class office building. The building stands on a plot 285x211 feet, and is nine stories high. The total floor space is more than twelve acres, and exceeds in area the Broad Exchange Building in New York, which is 21 stories high. The structure was erected for the Pacific Electric Railway Co. The basement has a clear floor space of 58,000 feet and is designed for use as a freight depot. The main floor ceiling is thirty feet high, supported by cement columns. Through an opening sixty feet high, spanned by a cement girder eight feet deep, the cars enter the building. The upper stories from the second to the sixth inclusive are devoted to offices. There are ninety-nine offices on each floor, or a total of 594 in all. No office is less than twenty by fifteen feet, and they range in size to a maximum of sixty by thirty feet. All three still there!the building on the right looked very modern in 1910, all simple and light. Another vote for LAThe streetcar on the left side of the image says, "Edendale," which was a neighborhood in old Los Angeles. Imagine an LA with ..."completed electric railroads to practically every city and town of importance in Southern California and to the thriving beach resorts." I'll think of that during my commute. Familiar!It looks very much the same today, though I doubt the chap on the stool in the middle of Main Street would find his perch as comfortable today. Before the credit cardWhat was American Express' main line of business? [Express is short for "express mail." Express companies like Adams Express and American Express were businesses similar to UPS or FedEx, relying mostly on the railroads for speedy delivery. American Express specialized in services to travelers -- travelers checks and money orders. The window gives some clues. - Dave] The loneliest man in the worldI love it when a shot of an old building includes a person looking out a window. This one's a classic. You should see insideI worked on a couple of movies in the late '90s inside the abandoned Pacific Electric building. What an amazing space. I wandered all through the building and stumbled into what I was told was Huntington's private office -- awesome, massive, with unbelievable marble stairways. In "Gang Related" worked on one scene right around where the streetcar is shown here coming out of the garage. In the scene was Tupac Shakur, who appeared to be somewhat inebriated. It wasn't too much longer after that that he was murdered in Las Vegas. Yay LAIt's great to see a photograph of Los Angeles on Shorpy. I will have to take a look at this spot this weekend and stand at this corner. There's a great restaurant down the street on 4th and Main called Pete's with great Mac and Cheese. No Traffic ControlWow, no stop sign or anything. I also like the seat on the front of the trolley on Sixth. Does one pay extra to be out in front? 610 South MainIt is indeed the PE Building, later the Southern Pacific’s general offices in Los Angeles. I worked there in the late 1970's and early 1980's when the Red Cars were long gone and the street-level station was turned into a parking lot. Our disptaching office controlled traffic betweeb Yuma, AZ and Fresno /San Luis Obispo, CA. Downstairs it was interesting to park one's car next to marble-covered columns. Working rotating shifts I sometimes had to step over a local citizen or two sleeping on the sidewalk. The building closest to the viewer on the left was the Santa Fe's offices and across the street out of view to the right was the Continental Trailways bus depot. The top floors of the PE building housed a handsome two-storey atrium - perhaps Mr Huntingdon's offices. We had a “Watch Inspector” (a man who sold and serviced approved railroad timepieces) in the building and I bought a Ball Trainmaster wristwatch from him for about $120. Years later it cost that much just to have it cleaned. Understand the neighborhood is much nicer now and this building is a condominium. StillWanna know what's up with the seated person in the middle of the intersection! (The Gallery, DPC, Los Angeles, Streetcars)
American Girl: 1922
... ... she appears in magazine illustrations, and in the new salon pictures -- also on butchers' calendars, soap ads, and so on." Five ... Small town girl from Erie, Pennsylvania goes to New York to make it big. While working as a secretary, is discovered in 1914, and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2012 - 4:56pm -

Washington, D.C. "Kay Laurell, 1922." The star of stage and screen, Kay (reclining) was "an American girl who leaped from stenographer to Queen of Bohemia in a night ... she appears in magazine illustrations, and in the new salon pictures -- also on butchers' calendars, soap ads, and so on." Five years after this photo was taken, Kay was dead of pneumonia at age 37. View full size. In the same boatThey're all beautiful -- back in a time where it was healthy for women to "have a little meat on their bones" (I just think they're healthy looking!) I love the girl who's playing the oar as a guitar -- something I'd do. Beauts in a boatIs the class clown on the end playing air ukulele? I can only imagine the comments this is going to generate from the male demographic. Yes, the swimsuits are unflattering. And yes, the real knockout is the one sitting behind the Queen of Bohemia. Proud to call any of 'em "grandma"They are all so lovely and charming and all the age of my father's mother. Sorry about the pneumonia, hope the rest had happy and fulfilling lives. Love the kooky hat, pinned-up suit, and the smoldering look of the second from left. Great picture. Farrrrr leftShe is the cutest loveliest thing ever seen on Shorpy yet. To each his own, but --The girl in the boat with the "Queen of Bohemia" is by far the hottest. Wowza! As a ManI appreciate the low standard established for us. It doesn't take much effort to rise above such a low bar. Wet and WoollyThey're all adorable, and I'm surprised how sexy those wool swimsuits look. To my surprise, I'm especially captivated by the buxom cutie standing up beside the boat with her hair covered. She looks like she gets all the BS about the queen of Bohemia and is fonder of the water than any of this nonsense. Most appealing though is the dark haired girl with bangs sitting in the boat. Her face is calm and she seems really for real. Great photo. Playing at the Belasco Washington Post, Jul 6, 1922 Coming to the Theaters Belasco The Belasco Players, augmented by such notables as Kay Laurell, the famous Follies beauty, and Eleanor Griffith, late of "The Last Waltz," will next week present the Avery Hopwood comedy of turkish bath locale, "Ladies' Night," beginning Sunday evening. Water HazardI can hear their mothers saying, "Don't go out in those skimpy suits, you'll catch your death of pneumonia!" Carole HanelGirl second from right was Carole Hanel, a redhead. Knew her granddaughter. She's playingoar guitar Va va voomA boat full of women in bathing suits. What could be better? Kay in a NutshellTypical show-biz tragedy. Small town girl from Erie, Pennsylvania goes to New York to make it big. While working as a secretary, is discovered in 1914, and became a big hit as a Ziegfeld Girl in the "Follies" shows of 1914 and 1915. Then hits pay dirt -- marrying uber-rich movie producer Winfield Sheehan in 1916. Hits the zenith of her career in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, where a very intentional costume malfunction (as the partially exposed French Liberte in a patriotic wartime extravaganza) makes her an international sensation. Heads out west to Hollywood to make movies, like everyone else in the silent era. Gains a reputation of a hard worker, and tries to make the tough transition from chorus girl to "real" actress. Then it all goes south. Gets divorced from big studio sugar daddy in late 1918 or 1919. Unlike most other former chorus girls, she is unwilling to get ahead by way of the casting couch. Is in a serious car accident in 1919, running off the road at 1:30 a.m. and takes a pretty hard banging around, requiring stitches and hospitalization. Makes only one other movie after that, in 1921. Returns to New York to find stage work. A cast player in one play in 1923 that runs a respectable five months, and then one poor effort in 1925 that flops and closes overnight. Feeling washed up in both theater and film, she retires to London, where she dies of pneumonia in 1927. I hope she didn't own a dachshund. On the LeftCan those be shadows on her legs? Looks like socks with cuffs, or stockings, and then from beneath her suit legs to her knees? The world's weirdest sun burn? Or what? [Those are girdle marks. Just like your ankles might look after taking off tight socks. - Dave] Before the days of antibioticsHer story reminds us of the many greats in history who had everything but with one cold, TB or pandemic illness were struck down. Today her pneumonia would be easily treated with a shot of antibiotics and some bed rest. In some ways even the poorest of us has the ability to live longer because of cures offered by modern medicine. mehI love how any photo with women in it gets subjected to choosing which of them is the hottest. I'm sure the the same thing happens with all of the photos of men. Yep. [Stick around. - Dave] As a womanI still say the swimsuits are ugly. Now that no one else has asked, I simply must know what the strange round protuberance is near the nether regions of the second lady from the viewer's left. Anyone? A place to put a cork to help her stay afloat? Available drugsThis young woman's death is almost familiar to me. My grandmother died of pneumonia in the early 1930's, within three days of the onset of illness. My mother always noted, when speaking of her mother's death, that the best drug they had to fight the pneumonia then was quinine. The sulfa drugs didn't become available until the late 1930s. By the way, I disagree about the cause of the marks on the one girl's legs. I suspect that the rings were left by stockings rolled over an elastic garter. You Gotta Be Kidding MeWhat happened to slim and trim? Goose lard and whiskey A few years after Kaye Laurel died of pneumonia, my grandfather contracted double pneumonia. The doctors basically threw up their hands and said there was nothing more they could do. Well, his mother, one of the most bull-headed people who ever lived, showed up at the hospital with a jar of goose lard and a bottle of whiskey. Several times a day, she would go and rub lard on Grandpa's chest and give him a shot of whiskey. This was in about 1932. Grandpa was with us until 1992. Grandpa said it was divine intervention that saved his life. My great grandmother said it was the goose lard and whiskey. Maybe it was some of both! Cause of her deathWikipedia states she died in childbirth, which was initially reported as pneumonia since the child was out of wedlock. Wonderful descriptions of her Ziegfield tableaux in that link as well. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports)
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