New York

One of the most beautiful Piano Concertos I’ve ever heard is Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which he’d written ending several years of depression and writer’s block. He dedicated the Concerto to Nikolai Dahl, the doctor who treated him. Decades later, Piano Concerto 2 would take an unusual “rebirth” in Eric Carmen’s ‘All By Myself’ (not the only Rachmaninoff piece he ‘rebirthed’). Strange, but true.

1918 wasn’t the first time Rachmaninoff had come to New York. Nine years earlier, he’d visited New York to introduce & perform the famous Piano Concerto No. 3, aka Rach 3 (and you thought I couldn’t get to use #3 to in this post, did you?). He’d rehearsed it on a silent keyboard aboard the ship that brought him here. The conductor, Walter Damrosch, who was known for his work as the conductor of Richard Wagner’s music. His, father, Leopold Damrosch, is one of the three people Franz Liszt ever dedicated a composition to. The other two, Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner. Leopold emigrated to New York in 1871 at the invitation of New York’s Arion Society, who, among many things, used to organize Summer Night’s Festivals in Lion Park over on 110th between 8 and 10 Ave. Can you imagine what it was like?

Pausing here for a sec. The Arion Society was a huge fan of Abraham Lincoln and had, 10 days after the death of the President, held a meeting to pay tribute to him, calling him “the liberator” and admiring “ABRAHAM LINCOLN, who had killed slavery, was a man who understood the people better than any other man”. The same meeting had a full-size portrait of the President and underneath a quote from a speech he’d given four years earlier: “Rather than sacrifice the liberties of the country, I would suffer assassination.”

Ok, back to Rachmaninoff. He had a successful career as a performer, not as a composer, during his stay in the States. Although he’d moved to New York in November 1918, Rachmaninoff didn’t become an American citizen until February 1943, almost two months prior to his death in Beverly Hills – four days before his 70th birthday.

Rachmaninoff was buried in Valhalla, New York, at Kensico Cemetery. Some of the biggest names in the entertainment and sports industry are buried in Kensico, Lou Gehrig among them. A portion of Kensico, in 1912, was sold to Gate of Heaven Cemetery, where Babe Ruth is buried.

Now now, I didn’t just drop in Richard Wagner’s name for nothing at the beginning. It has to tie in at the end, right? The naming of Valhalla, New York, where Kensico is located, was inspired by a fan of Wagner who shared the composer’s interest in Norse mythology.

Had fun? Good. I did. All the above came together simply because I found this doc on Rachmaninoff that started with him walking up to his apartment building in New York. Where the rest of the footage is from, I’m not sure.

This piece was originally posted on The Third Web Series blog.

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J. Stuart Blackton, a Brit in New York, is considered the father of American animation. Sent to interview Thomas Edison by New York Evening World in 1896 to demo the Vitascope (not an Edison invention), Blackton was sweet talked into buying one by Edison; Blacktone was filmed drawing a lightning portrait of Edison during interview which, if you think about it, when played back, may have sparked the first idea of drawing animation.

Within a year of purchase of the Vitascope, Blackton had formed Vitagraph Studios in Midwood, Brooklyn. ‘The Enchanted Drawing’ (1900) is the first film made by Blackton that put stop motion/animation to use. It shows Blackton interacting with a face he’s just drawn on a piece of paper.

“Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” (1906) is the earliest surviving American animated film, also by Blackton.

Vitagraph Studios was bought up by Warner Bros in 1925 before moving operation to Hollywood. Today the building in Brooklyn houses Shulamith School for Girls. When Warner Bros. was occupying this studio, it had renamed it Vitaphone, known for specializing in early sound shorts.

Blackton, btw, is also known for directing the first “serious” Sherlock Holmes film, Held For Ranson. Guess which Big Studio has been making Sherlock Holmes features recently.

Check out this collection on Library of Congress’s YouTube page that has a list of films made between 1900 and 1921…

“The films include clay, puppet, and cut-out animation, as well as pen drawings. They point to a connection between newspaper comic strips and early animated films, as represented by Keeping Up With the Joneses, Krazy Kat, and The Katzenjammer Kids. As well as showing the development of animation, these films also reveal the social attitudes of early twentieth-century America. “

Also check out this stop-motion work by Willis O’ Brien that led to his work on The Lost World 10 years later and King Kong in 1933 (Ray Harryhausen, a protege of O’Brien, is said to have done majority of stop motion on Kong).

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The former New York Giants, before moving to San Francisco in 1957, called Polo Grounds their home, as did many other giants of New York sporting teams. I’m sure fans of Baseball & Football will out-history me by a mile when it comes to New York sports history. I’m interested in that common… um… ground of their existence.

The New York Giants, after a good portion of the Polo Grounds in Washington Heights (aka Polo Grounds III) had burned down in 1911, were forced to share Hilltop Park with the New York Highlanders, ironically the very team the founder of NY Giants had opposed to settling in New York.

The photos you’re about to see below are of the New York Giants in 1913 – and a few from between 1909-1911 season, about 4 months after the Grounds were repaired – playing in Polo Grounds IV, via the Library of Congress Flickr pages. There’s no way a few paragraphs will do justice to the history of this part of Manhattan when it came to sporting teams. But the two of the most well known events in Polo Grounds history is: Shot Heard ‘Round The World, and The Catch.

Also, click here for some pictures of the New York Female Giants.

Hover mouse over pictures for caption. via Library of Congress’s Flickr.

Below are shot between 1909-1912

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Stumbled into them while posting photos of the New York Giants in 1913. Hope there’s a lot more to the history available of the New York Female Giants than this tiny  Wikipedia entry. The story of the team’s captain, Ida Schnall has the makings of a great story. Props to Richard Arthur Norton who launched both entries after seeing the photos.

Wonder who out there knows more about the team and its players. These photos were taken on June 28, 1913.

Did you know? The first women’s baseball team was formed at Vassar College in 1866?

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In late summer of 1613, Dutch captain Adriaen Block docked the Tijger (Tiger) near the present day Battery Park. Block had, by November, loaded the ship with merchandise (bartering with Lenape Indians), but an accidental fire destroyed the Tijger.

clipping from History of the City of New York

The crew of the Tijger managed to salvage pieces of the ship which were used to build Restless, a yacht Block’s crew built while living near the present day 39 Broadway.

When Restless (Onrust) was finished, Block ventured upward on East River, ultimately “discovering” and naming it for himself: Block Island.

Some of you may remember the recent discovery of a ship’s remains at the World Trade Center construction site. It caused quite a stir with historians and the public alike. Some suggest that the remains found were that of the Tijger, although no conclusions have been made.

One commenter on the NY Times post wrote:

RELATED:
A great article by Christopher L. Hallowell, “Disappearance of the Historic Ship, Tyger”

This piece was originally posted on The Third Web Series blog.

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