I was going through my folders of random non-Disney scans looking for something - but what? I don't even know. But then I noticed that I had two vintage scans from Atlantic City from different eras and different seasons, and suddenly I had a theme. Hooray!
We'll start with this 1953 photo with the magnificent Steel Pier looming over the visitors. What is the Steel Pier? It is a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) amusement park built on a pier of the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Built in 1897 and opened in 1898, it was one of the most popular venues in the United States for the first seven decades of the twentieth century, featuring concerts, exhibits, and an amusement park. It billed itself as the Showplace of the Nation and at its peak measured 2,298 feet (700 m).
The slide was undated, but the film "Moulin Rouge" (directed by John Huston) is playing at the Virginia cinema to our right, and that opened at the very end of 1952 (meaning that this must have been sometime near the end of April, '53). Notice that Tony Bennett was performing at the Pier, he was only 27 years old at that point and had his first hit song two years earlier.
This next one is from 1970, and shows the boardwalk on an icy winter day. You have to look carefully to find the three people in this photo! The Steel Pier is in the distance to our right. I think I'll set my time machine to April, 1953!
I love the misty sea-air atmosphere in this photo. I see Ma and Pa Kettle (up front) are enjoying a day at the Pier. The guy in the white t-shirt, behind the Kettles, seems to have misplaced his family, "Hmm, I know I left 'em here somewhere!".
ReplyDeleteAll those marquees and billboards expounding Henny Youngman, Ronald Reagan, and diving horses make the place look kinda cheap and overly busy, but I love it!
This one makes me cold and shivery just looking at it. Dismal and dreary. But look! There's a Woolworth's! Let's pop in there; they probably have a lunch counter where we can get burgers, fries, and chocolate malted shakes. I bet they also have a pet department with a bunch of singing canaries in cages to brighten our day. And we can go downstairs to the basement where we can see what kinds of cool toys they have! I wonder what the 'old' Hotel Belmont was like?
Nice theme for our Saturday travelogue. Thanks, Major.
Major-
ReplyDeleteThe Virginia Theatre opened in 1914, seating 1,000. Later it became Atlantic City's premiere venue showing roadshow features in 70mm.
I was intrigued by the films showing across the Boardwalk at [either] the Steel Pier Theatre [or] the Steel Pier Ocean Theatre: Law and Order, starring Ronald Reagan and Dorothy Malone. Reagan (as [Marshal] Frame Johnson) '...having cleaned-up Tombstone, now hoping to settle down near Cottonwood...’ Plus The Big Frame, a 67-minute 2nd feature, starring Mark Stevens... described as "a good-looking, second-tier star during the 1940's and 1950's". Well, everyone needs 'a gimmick'.
Ah... those were the days - early 1953 - beginning with the Paramount Consent Decrees - deciding the fate of film studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres could show their movies. That followed the premiere on September 30, 1952 of This is Cinerama ushering in the wide screen era, with CinemaScope following-up about one year later with the opening of The Robe on September 16, 1953, then VistaVision’s premiere with White Christmas on October 14, 1954, and finally on October 11, 1955, Oklahoma! premiered in Todd-AO, permanently changing 'the look' of motion pictures forever.
Thanks, Major.
......it was one of the most popular venues in the United States for the first seven decades of the twentieth century
ReplyDeleteWhy is that? Did they have a show with an animatronic Walt Disney?
Henny Youngman was on "What's My Line?" just last night, as the show's "Mystery Guest." I remember when he joined Martha Raye, Danny Thomas, and Yvonne De Carlo, in a commercial for Polident denture cleaner. "Take my dentures.....PLEASE!"
Thanks, Major!
Yvonne De Carlo had dentures? Who knew? Most people casually attribute "I'm still here" (Sondheim) to Elaine Stritch- because it fits...but it was written for, yes: Lilly Munster....and she did a bang up job singing it. That being said: "Steel Pier": another Broadway Show. Kander and Ebb: Cabaret, New York, New York...and many many other historic shows.... I didn't see it, but it has it's fans. The actual Steel Pier I have not been to, nor have I been to Atlantic City....I'm not sure it "checks any of my boxes"....but sometimes, those are the places you say afterward: "Wow...that was actually a fantastic place". I went down a Steel Pier rabbit hole, and when it was built it was quite the place. The era depicted in these photos seems to be why Walt Disney wanted his Disneyland to be scrubbed and not near a beach: where people may wander in in bathing costumes. There seem to be some "short shorts" in the distance: looks like "Alien Transmitting Girl" from yesterday was emulating a look 10 years prior. There seems to be quite a lot to do here in NJ: films, rides, Woolworths....a bevy of entertainments: even the "diving horses": which I guess they tried to revive, with much pushback from the general public. Thank you, public. I totally forgot that places like Woolworths had pet departments. We had "Newberrys" which also had it's wall of parakeets, and fish and hamsters and such. So fun to hang out there and the toy department. Factoid: Mouseketeer Cheryl married the Woolworth Heir and race car driving playboy. Upon his death (plane crash) she got about 50M in the early 70's. Cheryl is worthy of her own screenplay....from Generals daughter to Mouseketeer...to heiress...to wife of a drug lord....and there's more. It's a big rabbit hole....or in this case: mouse hole.... Steel Pier! It inspired many diversions this morning. Thanks Major!
ReplyDeleteI am surprised - flabbergasted, actually - that no-one has pointed out Dancing Waters on the marquee. That long-time staple of the Disneyland Hotel was brand-new and had just come across the Atlantic for the first time in 1953.
ReplyDeleteI find myself somewhat fascinated by the Steel Pier and other waterfront amusement areas like it, although they have a very different vibe from the curated look of a centrally planned theme park. I guess some of the fascination comes from my early exposure to Cedar Point, which is a modern theme park that evolved from a waterfront amusement area much like this, just built on a peninsula rather than a pier.
Thanks again, Major!
I’m not sure I can add anything to comments on the first pic, other than there is a kind of grubby energy about it that is invigorating. Few kids and fewer trash cans, no real theme other than “LOOK HERE!”. I don’t blame Walt for wanting something different, and it’s clear why his idea succeeded. I think it’s ironic that one of my favorite parts of DCA is Pixar Pier, reminiscent of these places that have disappeared, for the most part, and so Disneyland is where the genre lives on.
ReplyDeleteThere may be two ladies in uniform to the right? One is wearing a navy style cap and dark blue skirt. I can’t see her companion clearly for the crowd, but she is wearing dark blue top and some kind of hat as well.
Photo 2 is why I will never live on the east coast, it looks so cold. That hard bitter cold that gets in my bones and makes me hurt.
JB, I like your idea of touring Woolworths. I had forgotten the pet department with fish tanks and singing birds. The lunch counter would be open, we could get a chili dog. I bet it will be warm and smell of popcorn inside. Maybe one of those tables where the battery powered toys would scoot around, toy fire engines, monkeys banging cymbals, little barky dogs. See you there.
Thanks Major! What a great round of memories today, and I’ve never been to Atlantic City.
JG
It's funny they had to write "In Person" on the marquees, like if they didn't they could get away with setting up a record player or TV with the listed musicians. I see Mr. Peanut and a giant cocktail peanuts can in the first pic behind the Virginia. Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteJB, there is definitely a sort of romance to the old seaside piers, especially considering that they often went back to the late 19th century, or at least the early 20th. I kind of wonder if “Ma and Pa Kettle” were visiting from the midwest, or if they were from New Jersey? They do give off a midwest vibe. All the business probably was kind of exciting, like Times Square or Vegas. It must have been tough for businesses on the boardwalk in those frozen months, I guess they just had to plan for week after week of minimal (or no) customers. Grabbing a burger or club sandwich at Woolworth’s sounds pretty nice!
ReplyDeleteNanook, one of the fun things about old photos with movie marquees is looking up info about the films, since they are almost always movies that I am not familiar with. How about a 67 minute feature film?? Crazy. I listen to a podcast about movie history and movie restoration, and the Paramount Decrees come up often - I believe the Decrees were just abolished. Hooray.
TokyoMagic!, they had a show with an animatronic Jerry Lewis! He’d do low-brow humor, followed by angry rants. Wow, I hope someday I will be in a Polident commercial, with giant whiter-than-white teeth!
Bu, I’ve seen plenty of photos of Yvonne De Carlo when she was a young ingenue, but it’s hard to separate her from Lily Munster. Wasn’t she in “The Ten Commandments” too? I have also never been to Atlantic City, or New Jersey (!), not that I have anything against Jersey. I feel like I can pass on AC, but maybe it has charms that I am unaware of. You’d expect shorts, even “short shorts” when people (hopefully just women) are at the shore; not so much at Disneyland! Yes, the diving horses sounds cruel, but maybe horses have no natural fear of heights, what do I know? Wow, good for Cheryl, I remember seeing photos of her when she went on to appear in shows like “Bonanza”, it’s nice to hear a story where a child star did not have a horrible adulthood.
Chuck, ah, until you pointed it out, I did not even notice the sign for Dancing Waters! Do you think that whoever put on the show in Atlantic City had anything to do with the one at the Disneyland Hotel? Or did somebody just “borrow” the idea (and name)?
JG, I feel like I would have loved going to Atlantic City during the summer, especially when it was in its prime. Tired of your boring home town? Go to the boardwalk, see big-name entertainment, catch hit movies (and lesser films too), watch feats of daring, buy some Planter’s Peanuts, And so on. We can only see part of the sign for the General Motors Exhibit, but that sounds fascinating to me. I would imagine that it would have been well-designed, much like the kind of thing you might see at a World’s Fair. I think people who live where it gets so cold just accept that it is a part of life. I lived most of my life in California, but we had snowy weather in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and liked it. Of course I was a kid who might get lucky to have a “snow day”, and I didn’t have to somehow open my car door that had frozen shut (this happened to my dad regularly). Walking through a genuine 1950s department store would be amazing - set that time machine!
Kathy, ha, good point. What else would it have been? I like the idea of them just putting a record on, and when customers complained, they could say, “We never said that Tony Bennett was ‘in person’!”
That hydrant looking thing across from Woolworth's was a person and will be again when they thaw. I read that the New Belmont was originally a Waldorf Astoria when built in 1899. Steak and Brew, a timeless combination. I am surprised at the showing of leg in public in 1953. I just thought they were more inhibited then?
ReplyDeleteI was going to use my time travel devise to go back to 1925 at the Steel Pier and be first in line for Snow White but it won't be there. I'll watch the diving horses instead and tell Tony he should go to San Francisco instead.
Thanks, Major, for the look at long ago NJ. Travel NE from here if you want to see the prettier parts of NJ.
Zach
Major-
ReplyDelete"... the diving horses sounds cruel, but maybe horses have no natural fear of heights..."
Last week, as part of a continuing flurry of movie-watching (which is why the title escapes me), there was a scene with a few [riderless] horses approaching a river. The drop appeared to be around 10-12 feet, and after momentarily assessing the situation, the horses unhesitatingly "dove" right on into the current, ferrying their way across to the other side, seemingly without a care. Maybe diving was a 'trick' that could be taught, or maybe it's innate to them.
Major, this Dancing Waters was done by the same company that did the later, permanent installation at Disneyland. Atlantic City was one of the first gigs when they brought a copy of the German original over to the States.
ReplyDeleteI want to go and see Henny Youngman whie his show is new and fresh. "Take my wife, please!" - hilarious.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he's doing a stint in AC before heading up to the Catskills for the borscht belt resorts.
If Kathy sees Mr. Peanut behind the Virginia, then it's likely that was the location back in 1954-1955 when I separated from my parents while being enthralled in watching the costumed Mr. Peanut do his thing on that boardwalk. I was no more than 5 and had no idea that my parent's thought they had lost me. Fortunately they decided I was worth the effort to retrieve! The memory of it is vague of course, but I can remember it being a busy, humid evening filled with signage lights. And Mr. Peanut was a good dancer too! KS
ReplyDelete