Savoring wine, women... and a Jaguar!

A "THEN AND NOW" MYSTERY... SOLVED! Marc A. Hermann

Producing the "Then and Now" series of old New York news photos has been a learning experience for me. I've gotten a unique perspective on the change that the city has undergone over the span of decades, and having the ability to stand in the precise spots as my predecessors has taught me much about how they operated. It has also granted me the privilege of bringing some otherwise obscure or anonymous photographs back into the spotlight, and completing decades-old puzzles. This one was perhaps the most obscure and anonymous yet.

Recently, I found a cache of vintage photo prints on eBay, with the logo of Dispatch Photo News Service, Inc. appearing in the lower right corner. Not much is known about this company—there is no entry for them in the 1945 directory of the Working Press of New York City, however photos with their attribution from battlefields of World War II have surfaced. A 1952 ad from a Schenectady, New York insurance company boasts the unusual announcement that they have contracted with Dispatch in order to display the latest news photographs in the window of their office. For a company that seems to be known nationally, with an international scope of work, it seems odd to us nowadays that such a venture would concern itself with run-of-the-mill "local" spot news, but the status of such stories and the public interest in such photos at the time is very telling of the era.



Inherently frustrating about the photos attributed to Dispatch is that they come with no caption information. Similar photographs from agencies such as Acme Newspictures routinely featured slips of paper with complete date and caption information pasted to the reverse. Many of these photos, salvaged from defunct newspaper archives, may even feature handwritten notations from photo editors as to when the print was received, published, and even a tear sheet of its printing. Thus, a photo historian needs to find other clues when trying to determine the story behind the image.

So, in the case of the online listing for "Dispatch Photo News Service, NY, 11X14 BW Photo, 40's Era, Fatal Car Crash!" there was precious little information. At first glance, this was a picture of an overturned car resting near an iron fence, illuminated by a flashbulb at night, with no discernible landmarks. A man, likely an ambulance attendant, covers the victim's body with newspaper, and a police officer guards the scene. The seller's description was merely that "this particular photo shows a man with a badge pinned to his coat preparing to cover up a victim of a nasty car crash." However, a key piece of evidence in determining location was included: "On some of the pieces of the pole on the ground you can make out the emergency call box marked FDNY 1445."

The Fire Department assigns a permanent number to every location where a physical alarm box either is or once was. (The basic system dates back to the 1870s and, depending on where you are in the city, has been left essentially intact, upgraded, or removed.) Turning to the ever-helpful and informative website of FDNY dispatcher and longtime acquaintance Frank Raffa, it took all of two seconds to determine that each borough, except the Bronx, has a box location numbered "1445." Glancing at the list, the Brooklyn location caught my eye: 5th Ave. at 33rd St., a location (and iron fence) that I knew well—that of Green-Wood Cemetery. A quick Google Streets check verified the location, and confirmed that the modern counterpart of box 1445 (below) was still at the location, decidedly lacking the aesthetic appeal of the original 1930 cast iron Valentine Fendrich-style post, which was knocked to pieces by the crash.

With the location, I had enough to make a "Then & Now" photo, but that would leave me with a yet incomplete story. I had the "Where," but a few more Ws needed to be filled in. Fortunately for my research, the wrecked car's license plates are prominenty featured, and sport the registration year "51." Old issues of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle would, I hoped, reveal the rest of the story. After considerable searching, I located a page one standalone photo, or a "ROP"—"Run of Press," as we knew them at the Daily News—in the Saturday, March 3, 1951 edition. Right there, without credit or attribution, was the very Dispatch Photo News Service picture that I had. No story, but a brief caption accompanied the picture, the location's irony not being lost on the paper. "DEATH AT THE CEMETERY—Alongside his car, which went out of control, mounted sidewalk and overturned at Green-Wood Cemetery fence, lies body of John Gibbons, 38, of 41 Prospect Place. Scene is on 5th Ave. near 33d St. Gibbons was killed instantly."

And with that, what had been simply an unidentified print of a "40's era fatal car crash" now had a little bit more significance. Historians will pardon my alteration of an artifact, but I will be adding this information to the back of the print.

When I set out to compose the "Now" photograph, I decided to take it at night, as the "Then" had been, illuminating the sidewalk and fence with flash. The sidewalk had obviously been replaced in the decades since the accident, but one prominent feature remained—the FDNY-marked manhole cover in the foreground. Incredibly, although it must certainly have been opened in the intervening years, the orientation of the letters in the central ring was almost exactly the same as it was in 1951.

Spooky trailers in the desert.

Tremont St. Boston circa 1970s.

AMC Gremlin awaits state inspection late seventies.

Daimler-powered baby carriage. What fumes?

Can anyone identify the town or city? All we know is "Car in front of Shulman's Market on N at Union."

Giant showroom bus. More info needed!

Christmas, 1936 Ford style.

The most famous De Soto photo ever (below), showing model Shirley Buchanan and the De Soto “Fire Dome” hemi V-8 at the 1952, Los Angeles, California, International Auto Show. The photo was first published in the Los Angeles Daily News, on March 7, 1952. - See more at: http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=15&paged=6#sthash.M4dh6rwH.dpuf

Mercedes 300SL Gullwing from "Elevator to the Gallows."

Miles Davis in his 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4.

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly driving a Sunbeam Alpine in the 1955 Hitchcock thriller "It Takes a Thief."

Actress Joan Crawford and her 1931 Cadillac Fleetwood.

Actress Jvonne Craig and 1929 Duesenberg Model J Derham sport Phaeton in the role of Batgirl form the sixties TV series Batman.

Jeff Brouws, "Carmen Red" Daly City, CA 1991.

Flipped VW by Keith Davis Young.

"House of Tires" by Keith Davis Young.

Citroen or Peugeot 1950s snow scene.

Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson and Sewall Crocker were reputedly the first to drive an automobile cross country. And "Bud" accompanied them all the way.

Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet in, "The Party" directed by Blake Edwards in 1968. This Regency apartment building is still around located in LA.

San Diego drag strip around 1964.

Merle's Drive In, courtesy Huntington Library.

Donna Mae Mimms who worked for Don Yenko & raced a pink Corvair stinger.

July, 1964 cover of Super Service Station magazine, featuring "Pump Islands in the Jet Age."

This is the sample reel for the proposed full-length documentary "Aloha Wanderwell's Driving Passion," the story of a remarkable young woman who, starting in 1922, literally drove around the world in a Model T Ford.

For more information on Aloha Wanderwell's story, including a bio, photos, and exclusive material from Aloha's unpublished memoirs and diaries, please visit the official website at: http://www.alohawanderwell.com/

This video, utilizing the surviving nitrate films from Aloha's collection, was directed and edited by Alan Boyd for the Boyd Production Group, narrated by Tracy Landecker, with music by Maria Newman.

This project is being prepared in cooperation with Richard Diamond and the Estate of Nile Baker.

See also a related excellent article at http://theoldmotor.com/?p=90247

One of the most famous show rods of all time: "The Orange Crate" constructed by Bob Tindle by radically sectioning and chopping a 1932 Ford Tudor. Revell went on to produce a top selling model kit during the 1960s.

Jean Harlow with Cadillac.

Audrey Hepburn entering limo late 1950s.

Track testing.. GM Proving Grounds?

Brigitte Bardot on Whizzer Bike.

Victo Nagia image.

Ran across these images by Harry Horenstein of grassroots racing in the seventies. Great stuff!

Read this ad carefully. Yes, a Ferrari GTO for $8,750. A real one.

1961 Corvair pickup truck.

1965 Ford LTD interior shot fish eye lense.

BMW R12. The colour of motorcycle with sidecar is black with pinstripes and not in military design. the frame of the R12 looks like the frame of the KS750.

Early car phones were somewhat like the same-era AC units taking up boat loads of space and power.

"Cambridge" car phone of the early 1960s. Is there a market for cell phones with a retro look?

Evolution of the Jaguar XK series 120-150. Originally published in Profile #4, illustration by A.S. Murray, 1966.

Shot at the Way2Fast model car raceway in Canberra, Australia.
This is my first attempt at shooting video with a Canon 1100D DSLR using Canon 16-35mm f2.8 and a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 lenses.
The 1100D certainly doesn't have the range of its bigger brothers and sisters and my main issue was being able to find and check focus as the LCD screen is quite small.
All that said I had fun and have learnt a few lessons and I will post more about this shoot on videoontheroad.com.

On the way home from the Hershey Auto Show in Hershey, PA while traveling in my grandfather's 1914 Overland touring car. He's owned the car for 51 years, and we're following a more recent acquisition of the same year, make, and model.

Petersen Automotive Museum Aerodynamics Posters. the folks at Petersen automotive museum hired me earlier this year to create the poster/branding for their new exhibit "aerodynamics: from art to science". The poster features some of the landmark cars in the evolution of automotive aerodynamics; a 1996 GM EV1 (top), a 1938 Delahaye Type 135M Competition Roadster (middle), and a 1955 Ghia Gilda (bottom).

the illustration will be used on posters, brochures, web graphics, and a 30-foot tall banner on the outside of the museum. if you happen to be on wilshire blvd. in LA, check it out. The show runs from june 2012 to may 2013.

JFK in Berlin 1963, Mercedes 300.

When rear facing seats and tailgates had a useful purpose. 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 station wagon.

1950s era shot fashion model and Mercedes Benz 190SL.

1940s glamour girls seated in convertible.

Dune Buggy dragster.

Stylish late twenties model in open roadster. Right hand drive suggests a European marque.

Moto art, more often than not, is utterly terrible. I’m speaking in broad strokes here and mostly about the mass-produced pictures of plastic women draped across chrome choppers, or even just the kull/snake/flame/celtic-pattern garbage that is so often linked in some way to automotive or motorcycle culture. Much to my chagrin.

Fortunately there are some fantastic alternatives and this is a great example of them, it’s an illustration of a “Motor Wagon Cycle Car” from a 1909 edition of Meyers Konversations Lexikon Encyclopaedia. If it appeals to you, it’s available now on Etsy for a shockingly reasonable $10.

Like the Walking Dead.

Lancia?

Just the old days, even the photo has a 60 year look.

Wedding couple totally in the moment. 1951 Packard.

Sophia Loren and Gullwing.

Married!