Raschi’s Arm Dims Yankees Hope
Chicago: Vic Raschi (r), New York Yankees’ 20 game winner and Yank manager Casey Stengel look melancholy today at the game with the White Sox. The arm trouble which took Raschi out of last night’s game, which the Yanks lost 4-3, may result in a knockout blow to the New Yorkers’ pennant hopes. photo Acme 9/20/1950

The news slug comments on Raschi’s arm trouble, yet in that 4-3 loss which Raschi did not figure in, he allowed only six hits and two runs over six innings.

On September 19, the Yankees held a half game lead over both the Red Sox and the Tigers for first place. Until playoffs came about in 1969, only each league’s winner would advance to the World Series.

But, Raschi would pitch again on September 24, winning his 21st game of the year against the Red Sox. On September 28 Raschi went eight and a third innings against the Philadelphia Athletics with the Yankees winning in ten innings. The Yankees 98-56 final record beat out the Detroit Tigers by three games to win the pennant.  Though Raschi had allowed five and six runs respectively in those previous two games, he was ready for World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Raschi would take the mound for game one. The Yankees scored one run on a Jerry Coleman sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and that was enough for Raschi, who pitched a complete game shutout allowing just two hits and a walk.

The Yankees swept the Phillies in the Series.

As far as Raschi’s career, World War II would delay his entry to the majors. Raschi was already 27-years-old in his debut season of 1946. From 1949-1951 Raschi won 21 games each season.  He finished his career at age 36 in 1955 with a 132-66 record.  His .667 winning percentage is tied for the 18th best all time.

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This magic lantern slide is from about 1915 and shows the ornate entrance to Coney Island’s Luna Park. Along with George C. Tilyou’s Steeplechase Park (opened 1897) and Dreamland (1904) , Luna Park (1903) was one of the big three Coney Island amusement attractions at the turn of the century. Luna’s founders,  Frederic Thompson and Elmer “Skip” Dundy took over Sea Lion Park which opened in 1895.

Dreamland was destroyed by fire in 1911. Luna Park would suffer a similar fate on August 12, 1944. Steeplechase shut down in 1964.

Having never been to Steeplechase or Luna Park I can only relate the tales of my grandparents who describe old Coney Island as a crowded, glorious pageant of exciting and colorful sights, unique smells and sounds that a person could indulge in on the cheap.

In 1915 the cost would have totaled about 75 cents a person for a day’s entertainment, including food and transportation. It was a great place to take your family or go on a date.

Luna Park 2026

The “new” Luna Park opened in 2010 nearby where the original Luna Park stood, which is now the location of the Luna Park Houses (1958-1962). This Luna Park has absolutely nothing to do with the original park.

I recently visited this namesake of Luna Park on a sultry, overcast Tuesday summer afternoon.  I had not been there for about eight years. After buying a couple of seven dollar hot dogs at the nearby iconic Nathan’s, I took a stroll with my friend and his daughter through the midway, game stands, rides and attractions that make up Luna.

The number of workers outnumbered attendees. There were literally no more than a couple of dozen patrons.

The new Luna Park is a poor imitation of what once was. The rides are banal. The main smells are greasy food, the urine of the many nearby derelicts who wander the perimeter and body odor.

And forget taking your family there if you are on a budget. A wristband to go on the rides starts at $75 for adults and children over four feet tall. As the charges mount for bad food and huckster games, figure a family of four will spend at least $400.

No you cannot bring back the past.

If this Luna Park befalls a fate similar to the old Luna Park it will not be missed by any old time New Yorker or me.

The post Old New York In Photos #199 – Luna Park Coney Island 1915 appeared first on Stuff Nobody Cares About.

Mary Helps Marilynn Primp Up For Her First Screen Appearance

Mary Pickford, the world’s sweetheart, is here seen assisting Marilynn Miller, her sister-in-law to put the final touches to her hair before taking her first screen test. Marilynn was recently given a test at the Pickford-Fairbanks studio, and it proved highly satisfactory. photo: Kadel & Herbert News Photos, October 1923

Marilyn Miller (born Mary Ellen Reynolds, September 1, 1898)  was a Ziegfeld Follies headliner before she was 20-years-old.

By 1924, Marilyn (sometimes spelled Marilynn) was one of Broadway’s biggest stars.  A phenomenal dancer and excellent mimic and  singer, Marilyn became the sister-in-law of film superstar Mary Pickford by marrying Jack Pickford in 1922.

Though Marilyn Miller made a screen test in 1923, she would appear in only three films, the first being Sally (1929) a reprise of her leading role in the 1920 Broadway smash.

Here is a clip of Miller from Sally, one of the first two strip Technicolor films.

Marilyn’s first husband Frank Carter died in an automobile accident in 1920 just shy of their first wedding anniversary.

Marrying Jack Pickford, would be a huge mistake.

Pickford, an alcoholic and drug addict had previously been married to another Ziegfeld Follies beauty and film star, Olive Thomas.

Thomas mysteriously died in 1920 after ingesting mercury bichloride (a treatment for syphilis) at a Paris hotel either accidentally, intentionally, or by force.

Though Pickford was in the the room when Thomas went to the bathroom and drank the potion, he claimed she did so accidentally and did not know how or why she drank it. Thomas died after five days of agony in a hospital, never regaining her voice to explain what happened.

Pickford and Miller divorced after five stormy years of marriage. Marilyn next married Jack Donohue in a 1928 marriage lasting less than a year. After divorcing Donohue married Chet O’Brien in 1934.

Marilyn would later have her own alcohol addiction issues and died April 7, 1936 at the age 37 after sinus surgery.

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After 25 Years Apart, They Didn’t Recognize Their Ex Spouse

There are stories that are so bizarre you think they cannot be true. This brief article from The Meridan Daily Journal ran September 1, 1906.  Several other newspapers including The New York Tribune (also reproduced below) and Washington Times would tell the tale as well.

Didn’t Know Suitor Was Ex-Husband

Divorced 25 Years Ago, Nearly
Married Again Without Recognizing Each Other

HARTFORD. Sept. 1.—Cupid’s work of a year was undone at the threshold of the altar here today.

Discovering that they had been divorced from each other twenty-five years ago, James Phelps and Mrs’ Ruth Harris, who were to have been married by the Rev. H. M Thompson, pastor of the Memorial Baptist church, renewed their old disagreement and separated just a few hours before they were to have been re-united in marriage. The two had not met for a quarter of a century until a little over a year ago Neither recognized the other. And it was not until they were ready to get their marriage license that the discovery was made.

Phelps, who has a farm near Rockville, is more than 60 years old and his bride is about ten years his junior. They were married thirty years ago. Quarrels almost immediately arose and the two separated, the bride going to live with relatives in the West.

Mrs. Phelps (as she was then) secured a divorce from her husband in the courts of Illinois five years later on the ground of desertion, and soon afterward married Harris, with whom she lived until his death a few years ago. Then she re(turned to Connecticut. Phelps met his former wife at the home of friends a year ago. Strangely enough the two did not recognize each other.

The NEW YORK TRIBUNE

FOUND THEY’D BEEN WED BEFORE.
Divorced Pair Fail to Recognize Each Other —Nearly Married Again.

[By Telegraph to The Tribune.]

Hartford. Conn, Aug. 31.—Discovering that they had been divorced from each other twenty (sic)  years ago, James Phelps and Mrs. Ruth Harris cancelled their preparations to be married last evening, and parted after quarreling over the subject that caused their separation a quarter of a century ago. The two were married thirty years ago, but soon separated. A few years ago Mrs. Harris came to Connecticut, where she met Phelps. Neither recognized the other, and it was not until Mrs. Harris told of her former matrimonial adventure that they learned they had been husband and wife once before.

There was no follow-up story in any newspaper. Apparently, James Phelps and Ruth Harris did not re-marry.

The question that will forever remain a mystery: how in the world did the pair not have a clue for a year while seeing each other that they were once married?

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Unfortunately this news photo. provides no location except that it was labeled New York City. In addition there is no date, credit or caption. However the automobiles in the background and the style of clothing date this photograph from the mid-1930s.

A boy works on the wheel of a soapbox racer as the girl awaits the adjustment.

Money was scarce during the Great Depression This is one of the creative ways kids entertained themselves back then by building things from scrap material. The vehicle relies entirely on scrap lumber, a wooden crate, wire steering, and discarded wheels .

Soon one child would be sitting on the crate while the other would push their playmate along the sidewalk.

I know kids still build and race these types of cars throughout the United States. The vehicles today are a lot fancier than they were in the thirties,

In my entire life I have yet to see a homemade soapbox car on the streets or sidewalks or playgrounds of New York.

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“They always did work faster in Michigan.” A news item reported that former governor Chase Osborn, a well-known big game hunter, killed the bear after a 20 minute fight. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized power in Russia in 1917, and by 1921, the country was ravaged by famine and disease. The cartoonist suggests that it took somewhat longer for Lenin and his government to wreak disaster on Russia. drawing by Clifford Kennedy Berryman via Library of Congress

With the passage of time there are news stories that do not age well. Contemporary attitudes towards activities, attitudes and  behaviors of the past often leave many readers aghast.

This example is from 105 years ago appearing on page six of  the August 24, 1921 New York Evening World. 

Chokes Bear To Death After Battle In River

Ex-Gov. Osborn of Michigan Subdues Animal With Axe As It Attacks Boat.

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, August 24 – Chase S. Osborn, former Governor of Michigan, was receiving congratulations to-day on the success of his fortieth bear hunt. The animal one of the smallest bears the former governor has captured, was choked to death by Mr. Osborn off his summer home on Duck Island, in St. Mary’s River, after a twenty minute battle.

Mr. Osborn sighted the bear from the shore and went out alone in a rowboat to meet it. He tried a shot with his pistol, but the weapon jammed and as the animal attacked the boat, the former Governor swung at it with a woodsman’s axe. Several times the bear was half over the side of the bout and threatened to overturn it.

A well-directed blow from the axe, however, caught the animal alongside the head. It was hanging over the side of the boat In a dazed condition when Mr. Osborn: dropped the axe and finished the battle by choking it to death.

Mr. Osborn, who is sixty-one years old has hunted big game in all parts  of the world. He said to-day the bear put up one of the most desperate fights he has experienced, but that he enjoyed it immensely.

The animal’s hide will be added to the former Governors extensive collection of trophies gathered in the Jungles throughout the world.

Today, a hunting story like this would surely upset a wide swath of people and probably cause a scandal. “The cruelty of pursuing and killing a poor little bear,” the media and masses would cry out.

Governor Chase S. Osborn photo Library of Congress

Back in the 1920s the majority of readers reaction would more likely be something like, “what a manly man,” or no reaction at all. This was all in a typical day back then.

Chase S. Osborn (1860-1949) was Governor of Michigan from 1911- 1913. Osborn’s estate, near where the bear choking occurred still exists with structural ruins. In 1927 Osborn donated his property on Duck Lake and Sugar Island to the University of Michigan. with the provision that he be able to live at his estate for the remainder of his life. Osborn died in 1949 and is buried at the estate. The remote property is now the Chase S. Osborn Preserve and is open to the public.

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I prepare my own food.

Maybe the food was contaminated before it came to me. But I have no vermin or roaches in my house. I keep my home clean. And I prepare food safely.

Unfortunately that is not the case for many eateries. And I don’t know the true cleanliness of most establishments, regardless of the letter rating restaurants are given to display in their windows.

This observation about health code violations should not be confined to fast food restaurants. I was eating at a fine steak restaurant in lower Manhattan when a mouse ran across my foot. So the notion that vermin only stake out fast food restaurants is not true.

But how does something like this occur? This tidbit is  from the West Side Rag –

Subway, the fast food sandwich chain’s location at 2508 Broadway (between West 93rd and West 94th streets), was shut down by the health department on August 13th after 63 violations were found upon inspection. Violations include: live roaches, filth, flies and pests in food and non-food areas, and failure to follow temperature control regulations for food. The full report can be found here. This is the second time this summer the Subway location was ordered to close after inspection; the first was on July 2nd, with 60 violations.

By the way almost every restaurant in New York has multiple violations. They still pass inspection.  If you go online and read the report for your favorite restaurant it might make your stomach churn.

As reminder of what goes on at night – there is this infamous viral Tik-Tok video from 2022 from Ricardo Land who delivered chicken to Popeye’s in Washington D.C..

Ricardo Land was fired soon after posting the video.

So much for being a whistle-blower.

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It will not come as a surprise to anyone who has ever seen an Esther Williams film that she was a swimming star before a film star.

The caption from our news photo reads:

Time Out To Pose
Los Angeles, Calif. – Photo shows (left to right) Iris Cummings, National 220-yard breaststroke champion: Billie Steitz, Pacific coast backstroke titlist and Esther Williams, freestyle star, as they pose during a practice session. The trio will take place in the Southern California swimming and diving meet within a few days in the Los Angeles Athletic Club pool, as well as the National Championships next month. Credit Acme Photos; March 22, 1938

Williams first major film role was in “Andy Hardy’s Double Life” (1942). Did it really take four years from the time of this photograph to discover Esther Williams?

How did Esther Williams (b. August 8, 1921) get discovered? One story says an MGM talent scout saw her working in a Los Angeles department store. Another story is that MGM executives noticed her at the 1939- 40 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, while swimming in Billy Rose’s Aquacade show.

Esther Williams won three time United States National Swimming Championships. With her photograph frequently seen in newspapers, you would think some Hollywood casting genius would have noticed Esther by 1938

Of course Esther’s swimming skills and (bathing suits) were highlights in many of the 30 films she would make.

Occasionally, Esther would be given an excellent non-swimming role. For proof see Esther’s films A Guy Named Joe (1943), The Hoodlum Saint (1946) and Take Me Out To The Ballgame (1949). But these were the exceptions. When the public went to an Esther Williams movie they expected to see elaborate choreographed swimming sequences. And that’s what the public generally got.

Esther Williams died at age 91 on June 6, 2013 in Los Angeles of natural causes.

The post Classic Hollywood #196 – Future Movie Star Esther Williams appeared first on Stuff Nobody Cares About.

This magic lantern slide view of the Brooklyn Bridge is from around 1890.

On the right is a train and on the left we can get a glimpse of the Brooklyn Bridge shuttle station. Trolleys and horse drawn vehicles are on the outer roadways as  pedestrians cross the span on the bridge’s central walkway.

At first I was unsure if this image was reversed. The steam engine’s smoke is visible in the foreground. Would a steam engine be pulling into a station on the right side? Unusual. But it is possible.

Looking closer, there is a policeman nearby. His badge is correctly on the left side of his coat. Also I mistakenly thought this was the New York side of the bridge looking towards Brooklyn. But examining other photographs from this period I did not see a station platform on the New York side of the bridge.

In addition, the New York side of the bridge has a much longer approach to the tower and roadway than seen in the view. So, this is definitely the Brooklyn side of the bridge with a somewhat hazy New York in the background.

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Originally this illustration appeared in the January 26, 1922 issue of The New York Times Mid-Week Pictorial magazine. We colorized this birdseye view of The Battery showing lower Manhattan crowded with ships and skyscraper buildings.

It also shows something that never came to be.

On the left is a series of uniform buildings stretching along the Hudson River waterfront. Today this area is the site of Battery Park City.

The Times description of the illustration says this view shows “a system of docks proposed in the designs submitted by Joseph Miller Huston, a Philadelphia architect. The docks would really be great loft, factory or office buildings and the ships would thus be at their very doors, saving time, labor and trucking charges.”

Editorializing the Times continued, “There is a crying need for greater dock facilities. In order to take full advantage of the magnificent possibilities of one of the greatest harbors in the world, and while no definite plans have been adopted, the Port of New York Authority is giving earnest attention to the matter of port development.”

Joseph Huston Miller

Joseph Miller Huston (1866-1940) was the architect of the Pennsylvania State Capitol (1902-1906). This grand building would lead to Huston’s downfall. Huston was made the scapegoat and go to prison on a charge of conspiracy to cheat and defraud the Commonwealth, in the “Pennsylvania State Capitol Graft Scandal.”

Huston served a six month sentence at Eastern State Penitentiary in 1911. After Huston’s prison stint his architectural career was essentially over.

How did Huston’s New York dock proposal come to the attention of the Times or Port of New York Authority?

Searching news, architectural and city periodicals of the era, there are no other mentions or details of Huston’s dock plans.

This is a case where not building was certainly the right choice. If Huston’s buildings had been constructed, they would have become outmoded with the decline of Manhattan as a shipping port.

January 26, 1922 New York Times Mid-Week Pictorial Huston Dock original article and illustration

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