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AFTER MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY, PHOTOS EMERGE FROM THE STILLGEBAUER LODE OF CLASSIC SHOTS FROM THE 1950'S.THIS IS WHAT THIS BLOG IS LIVING FOR! THANKS TO WILLIAM STILGEBAUER FOR MAKING HIS ARCHIVE OF PHOTOS TAKEN BY HIS FATHER HANK AVAILABLE FOR ALL TO SEE AND TREASURE.
WE WILL BE SHOWING A PICTURE OR TWO DAILY IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO: 1950'S PICTURES OF SALTAIRE CROWDS AT SWIM AND TRACK MEETS; THE GORE OF THE PIE EATING CONTESTS, FACES TO REMEMBER, BAYFRONT SCENES, AND SOME NEVER BEFORE SEEN CANDIDS FROM A CAPT AL SHIM SHACK PARTY.
"A classic Uncle Pete shot!"-- Jon Lyon
"Great pic. Interesting thing is that someone who moved in last summer would recognize the site immediately. The dock looked worse in ‘57 than it did in 2005! But Uncle Pete was as usual pensive and sternly anxious -- our side must’ve been only 20 points ahead or something." -Hugh O'Brien
"Stilge's picture of Uncle Pete at the swim meet got me digging through useless old slides for an image I knew I had 
and had never looked at closely, but I knew it to be a swim meet scene, ruined by overexposure, double exposure and totally out of focus. I found it. I was amazed. It is from 1961, 4 years after the Stilge picture. Like the Stilge picture, it shows a swimming meet. You can only decipher one figure in the 1961 picture: and it is Uncle Pete, standing in the water in almost the same place he had been standing in 4 years before at the start of a race. The only difference is in 1961 he was wearing a T shirt. Take a close look. We know that Uncle Pete did not stand in that spot for four years straight, because in those years he had also been in Pleasantville in the fall, one of the most successful high school football coaches in NY State history. But the man had drive. There he is in '61. Same spot.
--JO'H
6 comments:
Kudo's to SWILLIAM - great picture - I see what looks like Frank Min'a father on the dock - Paul Connolly's (in)famous ornage Cushman - I thought that the person wading in the water was Uncle Pete(replete w/zinc oxide on his nose). After staring it at for a few momnets longer I realized it couldn't be Uncle Pete - the person wasn't walking ON water!!
That guy was in great shape-- but I don't see the zinc oxide.
Two more votes(Hugh & Jon Lyon) that it is in fact Uncle Pete(a/k/a GOD) in the Stilgebauer archival photo - alhtough I still can't figure out why he isn't "walking on water" or like Moses "parting the Great South Bay"
Responding to JOH's post and picture of a 1961 swim meet - Jim -I must disagree with you - Uncle Pete very well could have stood in that same spot in the swimming area for innumerable years - he was a mythical, larger than life figure in our lives. Why ancient Greece and Rome erected statues that have stood for millenia honoring their gods - Why then should not Uncle Pete be honored in the same way. I propose erecting a large statue(stradling both the east and west dock) of Uncle Pete - much like that wonder of the ancient world - the Colossus of Rhodes. Think of it - Uncle Pete staring benevolently down on people as the ferry passes underneath his legs.
I have arranged for a Federally funded statue of your community idol, "Uncle Pete"to be included in the next budget bill that we prepare in Congress. It certainly does "take a village" to accomplish such worthy artistic goals. I will be out to Soltheir for the dedication, following my inaugural ball.
The previous posted message was forwarded to me by the current junior senator from New York, a counter-offer from Mitt Romney (funded with his own private cash) is anticipated.
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