Archive

Tag Archives: 1940

“Heat-Wave Nocturne in Downtown New York”

August 4, 2022
1940, Naked City


“Heat Wave”; Ethel Waters; Berlin; Columbia (2826-D); 1933


Weegee, Herald Tribune, August 4, 1940

Heat-Wave Nocturne in Downtown New York


Weegee, “Naked City,” 1945


“Heat Wave”; Marilyn Monroe; 20th Century-Fox Orchestra and Chorus; Irving Berlin; RCA Victor (20-6033); 1955

“The Colors of a Nation at Peace on Another Armistice Day”

November 11, 2021
1940


“Magic Carpet”; Eddie Durham And His Band; Eddie Durham; Decca (8529 B); November 11, 1940



PM, November 11, 1940, p. 8 (Robert Moses’s Super-Roads)


“Fare Thee Honey Fare Thee Well”; Eddie Durham And His Band; Lem Johnson; Alston; Decca (8529 A); November 11, 1940


PM, November 11, 1940, p. 8 (Frank Lloyd Wright at MoMA)

Bomb-Prof City.. Wright Has It


“You Didn’t Steal That Kiss”; Orrin Tucker and his Orchestra; Bonnie Baker; Owens; Columbia (35914); November 11, 1940


PM, November 11, 1940, p. 19, (photo by Gene Badger)

The Colors of a Nation at Peace on Another Armistice Day


“PINEY BROWN BLUES”; JOE TURNER And His Fly Cats; Oran “Hot Lips” Page; Pete Johnson; John Collins; Abe Bolar; A. G. Godley; Joe Turner; Decca (18121 B); November 11, 1940


PM, November 11, 1940, p. 2


“627 STOMP”; PETE JOHNSON’S BAND; Don Stovall; Don Byas; Eddie Barefield; Oran “Hot Lips” Page; Pete Johnson; John Collins; Abe Bolar; A. G. Godley; Dave Dexter; Decca (18121 A); November 11, 1940

“Irving (‘Puggy’) Feinstein is…”

October 2, 2021
1940


“Life Is but a Dream”; THE HARPTONES; WILLIE WINIFIELD; Cita; Paradise (P-101-A); 1955



Life, September 30, 1940 (Weegee, [Weegee and Puggy], September 1939, “N.Y. Daily News – Acme, Int.”)

Irving (“Puggy”) Feinstein is the charred corpse under the carpet in the picture above…
Life, September 30, 1940


“Life Is a Beautiful Thing”; Evelyn Knight; Perry Botkin And The Rhythmaires; Jay Livingston; Ray Evans; Decca (27874); 1951


“Life Can Be Beautiful”; Harry James and his Orchestra; Marion Morgan; Adamson; McHugh; Columbia (37156); 1946


“Life Is a Wonderful Thing”; Sophie Tucker; Maurada; Montgomery; Shapiro; Mercury (5901); 1952


“Life Is Fine”; JIMMIE LUNCEFORD And His Orchestra; James Young; Decca (4289 A); December 22, 1941


The New York Times, September 17, 1940


“Life Is So Peculiar”; LOUIS ARMSTRONG and LOUIS JORDAN And His Tympany Five; James Van Heusen; Johnny Burke; Decca (27212); 1950


Life, September 30, 1940

Make Your Good Pictures Better…
Get a new GRAFLEX Anniversary ENGLARGER…
[$87.50 had “the same buying power” as $1,709.79 in August 2021…]
You’ll never know how good your negatives really are…


“Laughing At Life”; BILLIE HOLIDAY; N. & C. Kenny; C. & B. Todd; Okeh (5719); 1940

“Gangsters Convicted”

October 1, 2021
1940


“BODY AND SOUL”; Duke Ellington and Jimmy Blanton; Heyman; Sour; Eyton; Green; Victor (27406-A); Publication date: October 1, 1940


Poughkeepsie Eagle, September 20, 1940

GANGSTERS CONVICTED

New York. Sept. 19 – (AP) – Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss and Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein were convicted tonight by a Kings County jury for the contract killing of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein last September – the second dual conviction since the breakup of Brooklyn’s notorious “Murder, Inc.”

The jury deliberated one hour and 20 minutes and returned a verdict of murder in the first degree against both defendants. The death sentence is mandatory.

Poughkeepsie Eagle, September 20, 1940, Unidentified photographers


“MR. J. B. BLUES”; Duke Ellington and Jimmy Blanton; Duke Ellington; Jimmy Blanton; Victor (27406-B); Publication date: Publication date: October 1, 1940


Daily Worker, September 20, 1940

Strauss, Goldstein
Murder, Inc.
Killers to Die

Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss and Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein , Murder, Inc. killers, were sentenced in Kings County Court yesterday to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison some time in the week of Nov. 4.

Strauss, 33, and Goldstein, 34, were convicted last Thursday on first degree murder charges in connection with the strangling of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein, a minor Brooklyn gangster, in September 1939.

Daily Worker, September 20, 1940


“Sophisticated Lady”; Duke Ellington and Jimmy Blanton; Parish; Mills; Ellington; Victor (27221-A); Publication date: October 1, 1940


Weegee (1899-1968), [Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein], 1937, Screenshot


“Pitter Panther Patter”; Duke Ellington and Jimmy Blanton; Duke Ellington; Victor (27221-B); Publication date: October 1, 1940

“The Last Laugh on a One-Way Road”

September 30, 2021
1940


“DRUM BOOGIE”; GENE KRUPA and his ORCHESTRA; Irene Daye and Ensemble; Krupa; Elton Hill; Okeh (6046); Publication date: September 30, 1940


Peekskill Evening Star, September 30, 1940, (Unidentified photographer)

The Last Laugh on a One-Way Road

One laughing heartily, the other maintaing silence, Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein (left) and Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss enter the one-way gates at Sing Sing prison, Ossining, N.Y. The two graduate members of Murder, Inc., were sentenced to death for the murder of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein.

Peekskill Evening Star, September 30, 1940


“HOW ‘BOUT THAT MESS”; GENE KRUPA and his ORCHESTRA; Irene Daye; Krupa; Eldridge; Carpenter; Okeh (6046); Publication date: September 30, 1940

(Mourning) Els and Oysters

September 29, 2021
1940, PM


“Elevated Trains”; Major (5031 B); 1960


“Subway Trains”; Major (5031 A); 1960

ART

Artists Mourn a Fascinating Model: Manhattan Els

By Elizabeth Sacartoff

Early in October they expect to start junking the 72-year-old Ninth Ave. El. Later in the month, the Board of Transportation hopes to get rid of the 60-year-old Second Ave. El between 59thand 129th Sts. With the Sixth Ave. El already gone and the fate of the Third Ave. line practically sealed, Manhattan’s homeliest landmarks soon will have vanished.

Whatever ugliness the elevated lines have pressed on the growing city, whatever stigma of noise, grime and poverty clings to them, they have been as natural on the face of New York as a birthmark. As the El pillars go down, recollections of past eras will depend more and more on recorded history. And the El’s most vivid historians have been the artists…

PM, September 29, 1940, p.50


“Thirty-One Miles for a Nickel The Subway Serenade”; Deek Watson And His Brown Dots; Deek Watson; Bill Tennyson; Manor (1005 B); 1945

MOVIES

Eisenstein Film, Lost 8 Years, Comes to N.Y.

PM, September 29, 1940, p. 52.


“The Subway”; New York University Glee Club Varsity Quartet; Harry Price; Frank Pike; John Folly; William Wolf; Roger P. Bird; New York University Book Store (1 B)

Oystermen Get Strange Hauls

Margaret Bourke-White set out to photograph an oyster fisherman’s work and found that what makes it interesting is not the oysters but the things that come up from the sea bottom with them. Here you see strange creatures the oysterman meets daily…

PM, September 29, 1940, p. 56, Photos by Margaret Bourke-White, PM Staff.


“You’re Not the Only Oyster in the Stew”; “Fats” Waller and his Rhythm; “Fats” Waller; Johnny Burke; Harold Spina; RCA Victor (20-2218-B); May 1947


PM, September 29, 1940, p. 2 (Photo by Mary Morris)

Family Album

Elizabeth Hawes…


“The Subway Glide;” Walter J. Van Brunt; Gillespie; Norman; Victor (17112-A); 1912


PM, September 29, 1940, p. 60

It’s Neither Abnormal Nor New for Women to Wear Trousers

By Elizabeth Hawes


“The land where the women wear the trousers”; Billy Williams; “Cinch” (5042); 1913

“Hurray for me!”

September 28, 2021
1940


“HOORAY FOR LOVE (¡Viva el Amor!)”; Benny Goodman and his Orchestra; Helen Ward; Jimmy McHugh; Dorothy Fields; Victor (25011-B); 1935


“HOORAY FOR SPINACH”; Van Alexander and his Orchestra; “Butch” Stone; Johnny Mercer; Harry Warren; Bluebird (B-10158-B); February 16, 1939


Buffalo Currier Express, September 27, 1940

2 TRIGGER MEN
OF MURDER, INC.,
TO DIE IN CHAIR

Goldstein screams as he hears
judge pronounce sentence;
Strauss remains glum

New York, Sept. 26 (AP) – Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein – who once struck terror in his victims’ hearts as executioner for Brooklyn’s bloody murder-for-profit syndicate – screamed today as a judge decreed his death in the electric chair.

“The same to you and members of your family,” he yelled hysterically.

As the 33-year-old Goldstein yammered, beside him sat his fellow-gangster, silent and glum-eyed – Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss, described by the state as a “cruel killer.”

To Die in November

Both were sentenced to die the week of November 4th by Brooklyn County Judge John J. Fitzgerald, for the “contract” slaying of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein on Labor Day in 1939. They were convicted six days ago.

As the clerk asked if he wished to speak before his sentence was pronounced, Goldstein leaped to his feet and cried:

“I want to thank the court for the charge that is sending us to our death and I only wish that the same happens to you and members of your family.

“If you can’t go to your death in a nice way, you might as well go in a bad way. I was found guilty on perjured evidence and if I die, I want to die like a man. Now go ahead.”

Third and Fourth Convicted

Solemnly, the judge decreed the sentence, and as he reached the words, “where during the week of November 4th you shall be – ” Goldstein screamed, “put to death in the electric chair.”

Then, with his voice rising to a screech, he shouted, “Hurray for me. I’ll be better off than a lot of you.”

The convictions were the third and fourth obtained by District Attorney William O’Dwyer, since he began smashing the ring which holds responsible for 83 underworld slayings…

Buffalo Currier Express, September 27, 1940


“Hip Hip Hooray”; Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy; June Richmond; Henry Nemo; Milt Ebbins; Decca (4366 A); 1942


“Hooray, Hooray, I’m Goin’ Away”; Beatrice Kay; Skylar; Mitchell Avres; Columbia (37922); 1947