Miss America 1927 on film.

A special treat for fans of my blog. An actual film of the 1927 Miss America contest including a boardwalk parade, the baby parade and the coronation of Miss America 1927 .. Miss Illinois

Enjoy
Emil

Bathing Beauties

The Miss America Pageant was born in Atlantic City as an intercity beauty contest. The key to its early success was that the newspaper editors pushed their local city beauty contestant, like Miss Jersey City or Miss Brooklyn, and the pageant and resort benefited. The public loved to follow their local beauty. As it grew in popularity it was decided to have the states compete.
The Miss America Pageant was huge during the resorts heyday but as the public taste changed the television ratings went into a free fall and the organizers eventually moved the contest that will always be connected to the Jersey shore.
Emil

The Original Salt Water Taffy ???

The story of the creation of saltwater taffy is legend in New Jersey.  A candy merchant, David Bradley, forgot to cover his Atlantic City boardwalk cart one summer evening in 1880 when a summer storm covered his sweet treats with ocean waves.  The next morning Bradley was cleaning up the mess when a pretty little girl said, " Mr. do you have any taffy, " a frustrated Bradley in a sarcastic tone replied, " you mean my saltwater Taffy. " My favorite version states that Bradley's mother. and or his sister, heard the little girl telling friends on the beach that her taffy was "special..it was saltwater taffy," and an industry was born. 

The saltwater gimmick had wings though David Bradley did not. He disappeared into the history books. I say gimmick because we all know there is no saltwater in saltwater taffy.. don't we :)

The industry really took off when two different young entrepreneurs, one a local from Atlantic City; Joseph Fralinger, and another, a transplant from the Midwest, Enoch James, went head to head manufacturing, selling and both claiming that their taffy was the "original." This was a big boardwalk business and these two guys and their heirs went at it for over a century. 

BTW..the real innovation besides the name was the packaging of taffy in souvenir boxes for tourists to mail or take home.  Before that taffy and other candies were sold loose and packaged in bags. The success was in the variety and the packaging.

By the early 1920's both Fralinger and James had hundreds of competitors though the two companies held most of the market share. Each has a few secret flavors and just like Ford and Chevrolet some families were Fralinger's  families and others were James.  The battle went to the high court of NJ where they ruled that no company out of the hundreds could make exclusive claim that they were '"the original ." As you can see by this beautiful Fralingers brochure both companies still used the "original" word by trademarking stylized logos that included it. They could just not claim to be the only.

Where does the battle stand now?  Well when I began to research Boardwalk Memories, Tales of The Jersey Shore..I interviewed the owner of both companies. If you can beat them..join them

Emil

Hey Moe

Atlantic City was a magnet for celebrities when the resort was America's Playground. Some of the people posing for the cameras were Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, WC Fields, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Abbott and Costello, Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason, Bing Crosby..just to mention a few and of course Moe, Larry and Curly :) Many historians feel that Atlantic City made stars like John Philip Sousa.

Lots of fun...

Welcome

Glad to see the blog has gained so many followers in one day.

Thanks and please pass along the blog info. I'll do my best to keep it interesting and fresh. 

It appears based on the site analysis dashboard that approximately 100 FaceBook fans are reading each blog which is nice to see.

Cheers,

Emil

Spring Lake - 1947

A beautiful summer day in Spring Lake in 1947 and folks are strolling on the old traditional wooden boardwalk. Looming in the left hand corner of this photograph is the Essex and Sussex Hotel.
Today the "boardwalk" is composed almost completely of recycled plastic. The 1.8 mile commercial-free walkway is a favorite among joggers and those seeking a peaceful seaside promenade.

The Iron Pier - Long Branch

The two original resorts on the Jersey Shore were Cape May and Long Branch.
They both prospered in the era before there were a reliable rail and road systems because they had a water monopoly. East access from the ocean.

Long Branch catered to Manhattan tourists by building large piers that could accommodate steamships like the monstrous Plymouth Rock. In 1879 Long Branch christened the 3rd pier-the Iron Pier- as the others were lost to storms and accidents. For 60 cents - the round-trip fare from New York City to Long Branch a tourist could spend a week or just a day. The day of the day-tripper had arrived. A flag would be hoisted on either side of the pier depending on which way the wind was blowing so the ship captain knew which side of the pier to dock and a small cannon was fired to alert the town that the ship had docked. Must have been a heck of a celebration.

The Plymouth Rock was owned by the flamboyant Jim Fisk, who kept 250 canaries in gilt cages, each named after a wealthy friend. The ship and resort were so popular that the New York Times reported on July 5, 1880 that on a smoldering July weekend the Plymouth Rock was forced to return to Manhattan " laden down with persons who had intended to stay over the 4th and 5th, but who were unable to find accommodations anywhere." The ship was described as a 345-foot floating luxury hotel.