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Maybe more so than other holidays (if you consider it one), Halloween memories are often crystal clear. Something about wearing something uncommon and meaningful can make a memory vivid even decades later. Don’t let the memories fade. Happy end of October to all.
Janet Leigh, all rights to the owner. Getty Images
The opening sentences of a piece like this inevitably always begin with something like: “with the crisp fall air…” There is a reason for this, as baseball is a game of hope, repetition and reconciliation. Over the course of a six-month season, baseball fans go from hope springs eternal to there’s always next year.
Few teams experienced more “there’s always next year(s) than the Brooklyn Dodgers during the middle of the 20th century. Having lost four in a row during the late 1940’s and well into the 1950s, proved to be agonizing for the residents and fans of Brooklyn borough. This futility would also spawn a secondary nickname that was rather unflattering, The Bums.
In spite of an extended track record of losing, Brooklyn fans stuck by the Dodgers year-after-year and showed up in droves to the stadium in Flatbush. The Dodgers took their name, which eluded to pedestrians “Dodging” the many streetcars of Brooklyn in 1911. Owner Charles Ebbets began buying up lots along Sullivan St. in 1908 with plans to build a stadium on the site with construction beginning in 1912. The park at its largest iteration held only 35,000 fans, small by today’s standard.
We will no doubt revisit Ebbets Field and the Brooklyn Dodgers in future posts.
You can make the case that George Plimpton was one of the more interesting men of the 20th Century. A true East Coast Blue-Blood who could trace his lineage back to the Mayflower, George had the kind of prep lineage that seemed straight out of The Official Preppy Handbook.
Educated in the most exclusive and elite prep schools of New England, Plimpton benefitted from a privileged youth that most could only imagine.
A writer for the Harvard Lampoon and a reported original founder of the Paris Review, Plimpton’s main profession (if forced to pick one) would be journalist and writer. However, his list of side-gigs would be hard to count on two hands. Having appeared in numerous movies and commercials, George was a person many knew they knew, but often didn’t know from where. Knowing who George was like being in on a private joke.
Image property of Larry Fink Estate
George pioneered a style of journalism called “participatory journalism”, which was the act of putting himself into the activity being covered. Plimpton boxed, played quarterback in an NFL scrimmage, pitched in an MLB exhibition among many other notable events.
George Plimpton passed away in 2003.
Francis “Scott” Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul Minnesota in September of 1896. In a few weeks I will be older than he was when he died. I also share the same birth week as he did. I wonder if he celebrated his birthdays. Although he seemed like the type to celebrate all occasions both large and small.
Photo property of Fitzgerald estate.
During his short life he managed to write a handful of novels, one of which is considered THE great American novel. Although it was considered a failure upon its initial release.
He was a tortured soul to say the least. Never having done well in school, despite attending and subsequently dropping out of Princeton University, some 85 years after his death, he remains an enigma. We can never fully understand his genius nor his inner torment.
Photo property of Princeton University 1917
Fitzgerald’s exploits have been well documented, but it is not as well-known that he was named after Francis Scott Key, who was a distant cousin.
Fitzgerald is also credited with the first use of the word “t-shirt”, used in the novel “This Side of Paradise”.
Navigator Archive will continue to cover the life of Fitzgerald in future Field Guide posts.
Property of Janus Films.
Property of Janus Films.
While I can’t pinpoint exactly when in my 20’s I discovered the films of Federico Fellini, I can recall that it was via the landmark Criterion Collection library. 8 1/2 was the second of Fellini’s films that I watched, and it amazed me.
From its style and portrayal of Italy to the haunting, surreal and dreamlike quality of Fellini’s directing, 8 1/2 is a treasure. From the first scene, which puts you in the final moments of a literal dream, it is relentless in its hold on viewers many decades later.
During the middle of the 20th century few places in Manhattan operated with as much energy and enjoyed as much success as Toots Shor’s on 51 W. 51 St. in the Midtown neighborhood.
Before or after a sporting event, there wasn’t a more desirable seat than one at Shor’s circular bar.
Regulars throughout the 1950’s included Jackie Gleason, Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.
A series of unfortunate events (mostly comping more tabs than accepting payment for) led to Toots Shor closing forever in 1961.
Some people change the world.
Photo Credits, GettyImages
The Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena California is one of the most storied stadiums in all of sports. The building, which was completed in 1922 celebrated its 100th birthday this year. The venue has hosted more legendary sporting events in its 100 years than one could list. From the Super Bowl to its namesake New Year’s Day Rose Bowl bowl game, the venue is heavily entrenched in sports history.
Today, in addition to its sporting event hosting, the Rose Bowl is home to one of the best flea markets in the country. Buyers from many large brands including Ralph Lauren, Levi Strauss, send teams out to locate the best vintage pieces used to inspire new designs.
Happy New Year.
Dean, The Undisputed King of Christmas.
Photo Credit Sid Avery
In 1953, New Zealand native Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first two people to summit Mt. Everest. This incredible accomplishment of putting footprints on top of “the roof of the world” is one of the great feats in exploration history.
Hillary in a three-button tweed jacket, at an appearance with Sherpa Tenzing following the expedition. Getty Images
This success, which some at the time and previous doubted could ever be achieved, is a testament to what can be accomplished by pushing the limits of endurance. The summit was reached on the 1953 expedition, which was the ninth attempt to top Everest.
Towering over the range that is referred to as the “roof of the world”, Everest measures in at am imposing 29,032 ft along the border of China and Nepal. As the tallest mountain in the Himalayas, Everest had tempted mountaineers since the 1850’s.
The Rolex Explorer found its name after being marketed and designed to withstand such an expedition. However it is debated as to whether Hillary wore a Rolex to the summit or left it at basecamp and picked up the ref. 6352 on descent.
A look at the intimidating terrain of Everest.
Photo Credits, Getty Images