Charl found the silver box under a window seat. The object was small and delicate; no more than three inches square and two deep, with a faded blue ribbon around it, tied in an elaborate bow. It had a floral design etched into its hinged top and the fine, curling tracery was tarnished black. The young tradesman looked at...
William Clifton Odger was a prominent figure in Helston life throughout the mid-19th Century. He was born in the town, circa 1797. His father, also William, was a watch & clockmaker and almost certainly an engraver. One of his productions – a beautifully engraved sundial – was presented to John Rowe in 1792 to mark the end of the fourth...
In my youth the street-lore of the Lower West Side (not to be confused in this instance with Greenwich Village) related that the last serious Irish/Italian war across Seventh Avenue took place during the summer of 1953. At that time the stretch of Seventh Avenue south from Greenwich Avenue to the Varick Street extension constituted the rough boundary between the...
A Profile of Tom Munnelly “Your immortality is assured,” wrote B.H. Bronson to Tom Munnelly upon the inclusion of another of Tom’s finds in Bronson’s Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. Tom’s comment: “I still can’t afford a copy of the damn thing.” Tom Munnelly is employed by the Irish Department of Education as a folk song collector. He is the only...
The Blue Anchor Inn is old. Everyone agrees that the house with the half-thatched roof at Helston’s No. 50 Coinagehall Street is old. The question for the historical enquirer is how old? And, further, for how long has it been a public house? As is often the case with venerable establishments such as the Blue Anchor – especially those with a...
Little Red in Spaldeen City When I was growing up in the West Village during the late ‘40s and early ’50 there were eleven movie houses within what I considered walking distance of my home on Bethune Street. They were, from south to north, the Waverly; Hudson Playhouse; 8th Street Playhouse; Art; Loew’s Sheridan; Greenwich; 5th Avenue Playhouse; Elgin; RKO 23rd...
The room was nothing, which suited Blake. It was small without being cramped, bare without being mean and tasteless in that no taste, good, bad or bizarre had been used on its space. The divan, armchair, two straight-chairs and gate-leg table were simply the accumulation of cast-offs from other rooms. In contrast stood a dour Victorian desk-bureau; the property of...
LAWFUL WEDLOCK On the basis of currently available information, one may only speculate as to the personal and professional relationship between James Fitzsimmons and John Wedlock. They were immediate colleagues for seven years. Fitzsimmons was the older by several years. Both were skilled tradesmen. Fitzsimmons had served in the British Army and, although no direct evidence has come to light,...
Little Red in Spaldeen CityTopping the list of essential items of sporting equipment in use during my West Village childhood were the pale pink hollow rubber balls – about the size and feel of freshly shaven tennis balls – that were known to several generations of New York City kids as spaldeens. Manufactured by the firm of A.G. Spalding &...
BASEBALL BEFORE WE KNEW IT: A Search for the Roots of the Game By David Block University of Nebraska Press 340p “The age-old debate over baseball’s ancestry has always been long on bluster and short on facts.” Thus begins David Block’s remarkable book, in which he travels many scholarly miles in redressing the imbalance. The work is without question the most...