Month: October 2015

In the course of my research about Blackwell’s Island I come across snippets like this in the thousands. The is from a December 18, 1872 article in the New York World (a newspaper that stopped publishing in 1931). I forget what I was searching on, but this is one of the pieces that came back.

Now I’m haunted by it. What kind of business was Mrs. Smith running? I’m guessing a disorderly house (what they called houses of prostitution). But then they would have arrested her as well, unless she was paying off all her local policemen. Maybe it was just a bar.

She clearly loved that little girl in any case. Did she ever get her back? I’m not sure which court to go to for the records. Did they have a family court back then? I’m guessing not. And of course her name has to be Smith. I’m not sure if I’m going to purse this one though, since there is no indication that anyone here ended up on Blackwell’s Island. It’s just a sad story, and I’d like to find out if she ever got her little girl back.

Facebook told me it was time to put up a more recent profile picture, which was RUDE. I thought I had a recent picture up there, because that was the author photo for my last book. Except my singing book came out in 2013, which means I would have given them that shot in 2012. So yeah, it is old.

Then I discovered the self-timer on my camera isn’t working. I had to take this by getting my face right up to the camera so I could reach the shutter release. I decided I liked that and cropped even closer for the final version.

Now I have to finish my book really fast so I can use this for my author photo.

I’m not entirely sure which year it was! I apologize for the poor quality of the video, but I was so proud and happy about this event. It’s explained in this short video, but you’ll see people celebrating New Year’s Eve in Grand Central Station and for many, they are also getting their first introduction to the internet.

Thank you Dan Biederman from Grand Central Partnership for giving us permission to do this!

“What would really stop a bad guy with a gun is the bite of a cobra. We need a live cobra for every student in every school.”

That was tweeted by my friend Sandra Newman, author the recently released novel The Country of Ice Cream Star. Says it all for me.

Passing through Union Square on my way to choir practice. That’s the Grace Church Spire in the background, above the sign. I was going to say “above the sign held by the crazy religious person,” but I thought that might seem intolerant. That sign is the height of intolerance though. So much of religion reads that way to those of us who don’t think there’s a god (I’m agnostic, leaning towards atheism). I’m not anti-religion. Live your life however you want as long as your beliefs don’t infringe on the civil rights of others. Also, for the record, I support his right to hold up that sign. And my right to comment on it.

I watched House on Haunted Hill last night. This movie terrified me as a child, and I still feel unease watching the scenes in the basement, when the gaslights go out one by one. I wonder where that was shot? I know the outside of the house is a famous Frank Lloyd Wright house (the Ennis House), but I couldn’t find where the basement scenes were shot.

I started googling the actors, and found a few sad stories right off the bat.

Carolyn Craig, who played Nora, killed herself when she was only 36! I can’t find anything about her death, but she got a divorce earlier that year. Maybe that contributed? She’s buried in an unmarked grave which makes her death even sadder.

Richard Long, who played Lance, died of a heart attack when he was only 49.

Alan Marshall, who played the doctor who planned to murder the Vincent Price character, had some sort of “chronic nervous condition which ended his film career.” That part got to me. I wonder if he also got anxiety attacks? He died when he was 52.

Carol Ohmart, who plays the wife who conspires with the doctor to murder her husband (played by Vincent Price) didn’t have an easy life, but it looks like she had a happy ending. Good for her!

Leona Anderson, who played the terrifying floating ghost who turned out to be the blind housekeeper, doesn’t have a particularly sad story, as far as I can tell. She was a former silent film actress, who later made a career out of pretending to be a terrible singer. She lived to 88 and died on Christmas day in 1973.

This is another laundry shot. I took this because this guy waited forever to get a cab. I became utterly fascinated by him, because anyone else, I think, would have searched for a better spot. He was only a couple of blocks away from a much busier corner.