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These four swimmers represented Great Britain at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. They won the gold medal in the 4 x 100 relay. My research says they are Belle Moore, Jennie Fletcher, Annie Speirs, and Irene Steer, although I don't know which one is which. (I don't know who the dour lady in the middle is. A chaperon or coach, perhaps? She looks like a million laughs.) Women's swimming made its debut in these 1912 Olympics. The British team's winning time was five minutes, 52.8 seconds. By comparison, the gold-medal-winning time of the Australian team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was three minutes, 52.69 seconds--more than two full minutes ahead of the 1912 pace. The entire 1912 Olympic swimming program was contested in just one day.
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Olympics
swimming
British
women
Added: 21st September 2010
Views: 3861
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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This may be the most politically incorrect ad I've ever seen. Get a load of the little girl's quote: 'Papa says it won't hurt us.'
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guns
revolvers
ad
Added: 28th January 2011
Views: 1468
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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One of the most spectacular failures in toy history was the G.I. Joe Nurse figure. In 1967 Hasbro expanded its line of successful G.I. Joe toys. One was the G.I. Nurse Action Girl, a doll so rare that certain models in mint condition still in the box can bring up to $6,000 on today’s collectors’ market.
'The G.I. Joe Nurse is so valuable today because it was released for only one year,' says Sharon Korbeck, editorial director of Toy Shop, a biweekly magazine aimed at toy collectors. 'The figure didn’t do very well. Boys weren’t interested in a female doll, and girls weren’t interested in anything related to G.I. Joe.'
Sales also suffered because toy store managers didn’t know how to position the doll. Some put her with the G.I. Joe action figures, while others stocked her next to Barbie and her friends. Either way, 50 percent of the prospective market was lost.
There are actually two G.I. Joe Nurse figures: one has a dark-colored bag. The other has a white bag. An example of the rarer white-bag doll was highlighted on a season-four episode of Pawn Stars.
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GI
Joe
nurse
Added: 28th May 2011
Views: 14905
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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During the First world War, most of Canada's young able-bodied males enlisted in the military. As a result the quality of men's hockey dropped dramatically. For a short time, women's pro hockey took center stage--and Albertine Lapensee briefly and mysteriously became a superstar.
Nicknamed 'the Miracle Maid,' the 26-year-old Lapensee played for her hometown Cornwall (Ontario) Victorias. Her hockey debut came in January 1916 against Ottawa; she scored five of the six goals in Cornwall's victory. Immediately after her debut game, Ottawa players complained that she was really a man. Suspicions and accusations dogged her the rest of her brief career.
A week after her debut, Lapensee scored four goals in an 8-0 shutout against the Montreal Westerns before a crowd of about 3,000 fans. At one point the Montreal players yanked off Lapensee's toque to see how long her hair was. (She had braids that fell past her shoulders.)
The continuous rumors about Lapensee's gender prompted her hometown newspaper, the Cornwall Standard, to vouch for her. Miss Lapensee, it said, '...played more with her brothers and other boys than with her girlfriends, and this accounts for the masculine style of play she has developed.' Furthermore, 'Scores of people in East Cornwall have known her since her infancy.'
Albertine played on, indifferent to the rumours, and the fans didn't seem to mind too much either, as large crowds came to watch her play. In one game she scored 15 goals. When the Victorias agreed to play against the Ottawa Alerts, the Vics' manager had to guarantee Lapensee's appearance by contract. She even behaved like her male counterparts off the ice. She once refused to play until she had been paid, which nearly caused a riot.
Although scoring records for the time are incomplete, they indicate Albertine scored about 80 percent of Cornwall's goals in the 1916-1917 season. The next season, Lapensee led her team to an undefeated season.
Then, after two spectacular seasons, Albertine Lapensee vanished. There is no record of her playing hockey again--at least as Albertine Lapensee. Family legend says she went to New York in 1918 and had a sex change operation. She/he supposedly married and settled down to run a gas station near Cornwall under the name of Albert Smyth. There are no known photos of Lapensee. Her story is not widely known--not even in Canada.
Tags:
hockey
Albertine
Lapensee
controversy
gender
Added: 24th June 2011
Views: 2265
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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KO Magazine ('The Knockout Boxing Magazine,' as it was billed) was a boxing publication that at one time rivalled The Ring, the longtime stately 'Bible of Boxing,' for readership. It first appeared in 1980 as a monthly publication when pro boxing was experiencing a renaissance. KO quickly captured the attention of boxing fans with its well written stories, lengthy interviews--and especially its color centerfolds of prominent fighters. Its annual award issue was often filled with laugh-provoking absurdities. (One such kudo targetting TV's irritating boxing announcers was the Howard Cosell Talks A Lot But Says Nothing Award. The shortest TV fight of the year was given the Don't Get Up To Get A Beer Award.) Steve Farhood, who now writes excellent boxing pieces for Sports Illustrated, got his start at KO. KO eventually became a victim of boxing's declining popularity. It was eventually acquired by The Ring and absorbed into the latter. The last distinct issue of KO was published in 2006. Heavyweight champion Larry Holmes is shown on the cover of this issue from 1982.
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boxing
magazine
KO
Added: 12th July 2011
Views: 2264
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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[Note: This is a redo of an earlier post--with a photo that is undoubtedly Marisa Tomei this time!] One of the strangest Academy Awards stories ever focuses on Marisa Tomei's 1992 win for best supporting actress. She was awarded the Oscar for her portrayal of Mona Lisa Vito in the comedy My Cousin Vinny. Immediately after the ceremony, film critic Rex Reed made the stunning claim that presenter Jack Palance had read the wrong nominee's name as the winner. This was an incredible assertion considering that Price Waterhouse (the accounting firm that tabulates the voters' ballots) has two reps stationed near the stage who are empowered to interrupt the ceremony if such a mistake were to occur. (They've never yet had to intervene in the more than half a century of their presence.) Film critic Roger Ebert believes Reed owes Tomei an apology. Tomei herself says the ongoing rumor of her being the wrong winner has tarnished her lone Oscar victory.
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Marisa
Tomei
Oscar
controversy
Added: 19th August 2011
Views: 5023
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Former NFL defensive star Bubba Smith, who found a successful second career as an actor, has died in Los Angeles at age 66. Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Ed Winter says Smith was found dead Wednesday at his Baldwin Hills home. Winter says he didn't know the circumstances or cause of death.
Police spokesman Richard French says the death does not appear to be suspicious.
Smith spent five seasons with the Baltimore Colts and two season each with Oakland and Houston. He played college ball at Michigan State.
As an actor he played such characters as a police officer in the "Police Academy" series.
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Added: 3rd August 2011
Views: 803
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Posted By: pfc |
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In this dated ad from 1935, Jack Shea, a double gold medallist in speed skating at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, says that Camel cigarettes restore his pep.
Tags:
Jack
Shea
speed
skater
cigarette
ad
Added: 3rd September 2011
Views: 1144
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Here was a quaint custom that has sadly disappeared: Dance cards. A dance card was commonly used by a young woman to record the names of the gentlemen with whom she intended to dance each successive dance at a formal ball. They appear to have originated in 18th century, but their use first became widespread in 19th century Vienna.
Typically a card would list of all the dances for the evening and their style: for example, waltz, polka, or quadrille. Opposite each dance was a space to record the name of the scheduled partner for that dance. After the event ended, the card was frequently kept by the young lady as a souvenir of the evening. Typically, it would have a cover indicating the date and sponsoring organization of the ball and a decorative cord by which it could be attached to a lady's wrist or ball gown. From the 19th century until the First World War, dance cards for the elite of Austria-Hungary were often very elaborate, with some even incorporating precious metals and jewels.
In modern times the expression "dance card" is often used metaphorically, as when someone says "pencil me into your dance card," meaning "find some time to spend with me". Conversely, someone's "dance card is full" implies that even though they may be interested, they have no time for another person.
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dance
cards
Added: 3rd September 2011
Views: 2453
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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