According to Guinness World Records, the world’s tallest cut Christmas tree was a 212 ft Douglas fir erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington in December 1950.
It had 3,600 Christmas lights on it. It could be seen from 0.6 miles away.
Tallest Christmas tree
World’s tallest Christmas tree arrives on Railroad Ave. in Bellingham, Washington. Photo Credit: Whatcom Museum
Postcard featuring the 14-ton Giant Underwood Master Typewriter on display at the World’s Fair. Photo Credit: Moore’s Postcard Museum
The 1939-40 New York World’s Fair was hosted in the Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. It was the first to be based on the future with the slogan “Dawn of a New Day.” An estimated 44 million people attended. At the Underwood Elliott Fisher exhibit in the Business Systems Building an unusual item was on display – a typewriter. However, it was not any ordinary typewriter but rather it was The Giant Underwood Master Typewriter.
Operates daily at the Underwood Elliott Fisher Exhibit in the Business Systems and Insurance Building at the New York World’s Fair. This huge machine, weighing 14 tons, is 1,728 times larger than the regular Underwood Master. It required 3 years to build. Each typebar weighs 45 pounds and the carriage alone weighs 3,500 pounds. Letters are typed on “stationery” measuring 9 by 12 feet, and the ribbon in the machine is 100 feet long and five inches wide. Two box cars were required to transport the Giant to the World’s Fair.
A man dressed as a cowboy studies a large letter in front of the massive typewriter. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
With her right foot poised on the “N” key, pretty Miss Muriel Davis is about to complete a message of greeting from Harvey D. Gibson, chairman of the board of the World’s Fair of 1940 in New York to visitors to the big exposition. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
A happy group, including a clown, poise with the giant typewriter. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
Frank Buck’s elephant and giant typewriter. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
Employees of twenty years who brought the 5 millionth typewriter to the fair exhibit sitting on the typewriter. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
Two woman and the giant typewriter. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
Women posing with giant typewriter at the Underwood Elliott Fisher exhibit in the Business Systems Building. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
This image shows the scale of the typewriter with a man and woman standing next to it. Photo Credit: New York Public Library
The story of how Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow’s actions during World War II made him the last Plains war chief.
A young Joe Medicine Crow. His grandfather was a chief of the Crow tribe. Photo Credit: PBS
Joseph Medicine Crow was born near Lodge Grass, Montana on October 27, 1913. The step-grandson of White Man Runs Him, a scout for General Custer and an eyewitness to the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Medicine Crow was raised by his elders in the warrior way. He grew up listening to stories of battles and of a time before tribes were sent to reservations. He was 11 years old when his grandfather died in 1925. Medicine Crow is the last living person with a direct oral history from a participant of the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Medicine Crow was the first member of the Crow tribe to attend college and, in 1939, he also become the first to receive a master’s degree. His thesis from the University of Southern California (“The Effects of European Culture Contact upon the Economic, Social, and Religious Life of the Crow Indians”) is widely utilized by historians and scholars alike. He became well-known for his work regarding the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Of the war, he once stated “No One wins. Both sides lose. The Indians, so called hostiles, won the battle of the day, but lost their way of life.”
Joseph Medicine Crow, about to enter the dance arena at the annual Crow Fair, holds a dance stick representing the horses he captured from German SS officers in World War II. Photo Credit: Glen Swanson/The National Museum of the American Indian.
Medicine Crow was working on his doctoral dissertation when the United States entered World War II. At the age of 34, he joined the U.S. Army, serving as a scout in the 103rd Infantry Division in Europe. Whenever he went into battle he would paint red stripes on his arms under his uniform. He also carried a yellow-painted eagle feather in his helmet to shield him from harm. During the war, Medicine Crow successfully completed the four required tasks to become a Crow war chief.
According to Crow tradition, in order to achieve war chief status, one must fulfill the following deeds:
Touch or strike the first enemy fallen, whether alive or dead
Wrestle a weapon away from an enemy warrior
Enter an enemy camp at night and steal a horse
Command a war party successfully.
He accomplished the first two deeds at the same time. His unit came upon a small town housing some German soldiers. Sent around a street and into an ally, Medicine Crow literally ran into a German soldier. After knocking the enemy’s rifle to the ground the two fought hand-to-hand. After going back and forth with the opposing soldier, Medicine Crow finally had his opponent in a choke hold but spared his life when the German started saying “momma.”
Another time Medicine Crow, armed with seven men and explosives, successfully placed the explosives along German positions on the Siegfried Line. This fulfilled another war deed. The last of the four deeds he needed to accomplish – steal an enemy horse – took place towards the end of the war. One day, Medicine Crow was scouting ahead of his company and saw Germans riding horses along a road to a farm. It was decided to attack the Germans in the early morning while they slept. Medicine Crow asked the Captain to give him a couple of minutes to take care of the horses. The Captain agreed. In the early hours, Medicine Crow and another soldier crawled into the horse shed. Fashioning an Indian bridle out of a little rope, they chased the horses out of the shed and over a hill. As he rode away, Medicine Crow sang a traditional Crow honor song. Around 50 horses were stolen from the battalion of German officers.
Medicine Crow, in his own words, describe the horse event during an interview with the National Museum of the American Indian:
In World War II, I managed to have captured fifty head of horses. These were not ordinary horses. They belonged to SS officers, you know? During the last days of the war over there, there was a lot of confusion, so a bunch of these SS officers got on their horses and took off … They were heading back to Germany. And here’s that old sneaky old Crow Indian now following them, watching them. So they camped for the night. I sneak in there and took all their fifty head of horses, left them on foot. So I got on one, looked around there and I even sang a Crow victory song all by myself. Crows do that when they think they’re all by themselves, they do things like that. So I sang a victory song.
President Obama awarding Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Photo Credit: Bacone College
Through his actions in World War II he is the last Crow Indian to become a war chief and, as he states, the last Plains war chief. He returned to the Crow Agency after the war and was appointed tribal historian and anthropologist in 1948. He received both the Bronze Star and France’s Legion of Honour on June 25, 2008. On August 12, 2009, Medicine Crow, at the age of 95, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. The Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the country. Upon hearing he was selected to receive the award, Medicine Crow said, “I am humbled and honored to join the ranks of the renowned citizens who have received this medal over the last 62 years.” Ken Burns featured Medicine Crow in the 2007 PBS series “The War.”
Medicine Crow lived on the Crow Indian Reservation in Lodge Grass, Montana. He was said to be the oldest living man of the Crow tribe before his death on April 3, 2016 at the age of 102.
Video of Dr. Joe Medicine Crow recounting his actions during World War II in Ken Burns’ The War.
Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, among others, honored in 2009 with the Medal of Freedom by President Obama. His sections appear around the 7:15 and 24.35 marks.
Crouching low in a DUKW for concealment and protection, men of the 89th division, U.S. Third Army, cross the Rhine River at Oberwesel, Germany. March 26, 1945.
“A snow roller pulled by horses owned by John Hamilton. The driver is Albert White. A road roller was an improvement over a snowplow because it packed down the snow on the roads to make a wide, hard, smooth surface. In a snow storm, banks made from plowing a road trapped the blowing snow and the road would drift in. The road roller did not make large snow banks. Rolled roads also were wider than plowed ones, allowing cars to more easily pass one another and did not confine teams of horses or upset sleighs, pungs or sleds. A road roller was made from planks bolted to a drum-like frame.”
Frank Sinatra signs his induction papers while Chief Clerk Mrs. Mae E. Jones helps out at local board No. 19 on 160 Danforth St., Jersey City in 1943.
Sinatra did not serve in the military during World War II. On December 11, 1943, he was officially classified 4-F (“Registrant not acceptable for military service”) by his draft board because of a perforated eardrum. Toward the end of the war, Sinatra entertained the troops during several successful overseas USO tours with comedian Phil Silvers.
Copa Room showgirl Lee Merlin poses in a cotton mushroom cloud swimsuit as she is crowned “Miss Atomic Bomb 1957.” Merlin was the last and most famous of the Miss Atomic Bomb girls. Photo Credit: Don English/ Las Vegas News Bureau/Las Vegas Sun
Lee Merlin, “Miss Atomic Bomb 1957.” Photo Credit: Don English/ Las Vegas News Bureau/Las Vegas Sun
Copa Girl Linda Lawson as “Miss-Cue” wearing an A-Bomb crown to illustrate another misfiring of the Operation Cue Bomb on May 1, 1955. She is surrounded by servicemen. Photo Credit: University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries
Nevada became the center of the nation’s eye during the 1950s after President Harry S. Truman authorized a 680-square mile section of the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range for nuclear bomb testing. As each atomic blast lit up the Nevada scenery public interest increased. So much so that Americans around the country witnessed the first televised atomic blast in 1952. Atomic bomb fever began to infiltrate every aspect of society, from household goods to football teams naming themselves the “Atoms.”
Inspired by the cultural phenomena, Las Vegas decided to combine two of its major attractions – nuclear bombs and showgirls – into a beauty contest. The first atomic pin-up girl, Candyce King, appeared on May 9, 1952 in the “Evening Telegraph” (Dixon, Illinois) and the “Day Record” (Statesville, North Carolina) papers. She was called “Miss Atomic Blast.” In the spring of 1953, the city of North Las Vegas chose Paula Harris as Miss North Las Vegas of 1953 and gave her the nickname “Miss A-Bomb.”
Operation Cue, in 1955, drew much attention when it evaluated how well houses, items, food, mannequins, etc… would hold up from a nuclear blast at various distances. It was delayed multiple times because of high winds and was nicknamed “Operation Mis-Cue.” This inspired Sands Hotel Copa Girl Linda Lawson to be crowned “Miss Cue” on May 1, 1955. The title was “to illustrate another mis-firing of the Operation Cue Bomb.” Lawson’s ‘crown’ was a mushroom cloud.
Perhaps the most famous “Miss Atomic Bomb” was Copa Showgirl Lee A. Merlin. She was crowned, coinciding with Operation Pumbbob, while wearing a cotton mushroom cloud on the front of her swimsuit. The popular photograph by Don English was distributed nationally. She was the last “Miss Atomic Bomb.”
Pyramid of Captured WW1 German helmets in New York, 1919
Pyramid of Captured WW1 German helmets at Grand Central, New York – June 22nd 1919.
Taken in 1919, this photo shows employees of the New York Central Railroad at a celebration in Victory Way. Victory Way was set up on Park Avenue to raise money for the 5th War Loan. A pyramid of 12,000 German Pickelhaubes (spiked helmets) was erected at each end, along with other German war equipment. Underneath the helmets – sent from warehouses in Germany at the end of the war – is a hollow supporting structure. The figure at the top hasn’t been confirmed but it is believed to be Nike, the Goddess of Victory.
The “Charlie” Horse in the game “Operation” (Source)
Definition: A charley horse is the nickname given to a cramp or pulled muscle in the leg. The strong muscle cramp can sneak up suddenly and last for a few seconds to several painful minutes. The causes are not always known, but it can be caused by several things such as overusing the muscle through exercise or injury, cold water, blood flow problems, not enough potassium and even being dehydrated.
Origin: Just as the reasons behind getting charley horses are not always known, the origin of the nickname is debated. It dates back to the 1880s and was originally a American baseball slang term. When Bill Brandt, a baseball official, was asked about the origin of the term, he responded with a story he was told by Mr. J. G. T. Spink of St. Louis’ Sporting News of a lame horse used in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
They had a lame horse named Charley whose regular work was pulling things around the baseball park. . . . Charley’s performance was to limp around the grassless surface of the baselines on the diamond dragging a dust-brush. This picture was so deeply stamped in the ballplayers’ consciousness that when a member of the team developed a minor cripplement in the lower extremities due to a slightly pulled tendon or muscle bruise, his teammates called him “Charley Horse” instead of his right name.
Another sources states that the earliest known use of the term was on July 17, 1886 by the Boston Globe, but does not mention a horse but rather a baseball player who originated it himself. Another story states it was about a completely different horse not used for baseball. A 1907 Washington Post story, found by the American Dialect Society, stated that “charley horse” was used in reference to pitcher Charley “Old Hoss” Radbourne who often suffered with cramps during games in the 1880s.
Whether “Charley” was named after a horse, baseball player or a figment of someone’s imagination, the slang word stuck. So much so that it was included in the 1965 Milton Bradley game “Operation” (spelled as “Charlie”) and worth 200 points if successfully “removed.”
Sources
David Shulman, “Whence ‘Charley Horse’?, American Speech, Vol. 24: No. 2 (April 1949), 100-104.
Dave Wilton, “charley horse,” wordorigins.org
Michael Quinion, “Charley Horse,” worldwidewords.org
“Muscle Cramps,” webMD.com
Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn (top left in the photo) was the first documented public figure photographed “giving the finger.”
Nicknamed “Old Hoss”, Radbourn was a pitcher who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball. A butcher by trade, Radbourn made his MLB debut in 1880 with the Buffalo Bisons. He then played for the Providence Grays (1881–1885), Boston Beaneaters (1886–1889), Boston Red Stockings (1890) and Cincinnati Reds (1891). Baseball was not his only claim to fame. In a 1886 photograph of the Boston Beaneaters (Radbourn was their pitcher) and their rivals, the New York Giants, Radbourn was photographed extending his middle finger to the camera, the earliest known photograph of a public figure using this gesture.
Baseball pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn pictured giving the finger to cameraman, 1886. (Back row, far left). First known photograph of the gesture. Photo Credit: 19th Century Baseball
Detail from 1886 Boston/New York team photo. The only pitcher in the history of major league baseball to win 60 games in a single season, Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn extends his middle finger towards the camera. Photo Credit: 19th Century Baseball
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