St. Trophime, Arles, France c. 1500. Paul Goldfinger. Tri-X film photo. Darkroom print. Blogfinger.net
SARAH BRIGHTMAN: “Pie Jesu” From her Classics album
Sarah Brightman Sarah BrightmanPosted in Blogfinger Presents | Tagged Carols King's College | 1 Comment »
Camp Ground c. 1870. Rev. Stokes is in black. Rev. Cookman is in white. Why is no street named after Stokes? Photo courtesy of W. T. Bell* Reposted from June, 2013 on Blogfinger.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
In an article in the New York Times, published on July 12, 1873, their “special correspondent” said,” On the eastern coast of New Jersey, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, there is not a more lovely spot, nor one better adapted for a Summer’s resort than Ocean Grove. The grove proper is situated six miles south of Long Branch, and contains 300 acres of forest land, bounded on the north by Wesley Lake, on the south by Fletcher Lake, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the turnpike road to Long Branch.”
Even though Ocean Grove was only four years old then, there were already 300 cottages built or under construction. That week of July 11, 1873, there was a beehive of activity getting ready for the week long “Union Seaside Convention” which was being held for the dedication of the Tabernacle, which was a “monmouth tent” open on the sides and able to seat thousands. The event was not only for Methodists. It was clearly for Christians, but a variety of sects were welcomed and were in attendance including Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Friends and Methodists.
“Crowds” were pouring into the Grove from Philadelphia and New York by train. “By noon the place was fairly overrun.” The tourists had to be resourceful in finding a place to stay. There were to be 250 tents erected, and workmen were rushing about trying to get them finished.
The article mentioned that 1,500 people lived in OG for the summer season, and 600 of those lived in tents. The tents were set up all over town—there were no special tent places. It was noted that there was a “bare strip of grassland” running near the beach, and many tents were erected there. Setting up was a family affair, and the process was considered great “fun” as people were moving furnishings and supplies around all over town.
In the Grove were a few boarding houses and “several very good hotels.” You could stay for a week in an “excellent” place for $10.00. The “season” extended from June through September, but the huge camp meeting week was held in August. People would come from the train and go to the post office to find out where they could get a room.
The Times observed that “there is no hurry about anything. Everybody takes his time.” No intoxicating beverages could be sold in the Grove or for 3 miles around. The main activities were “boating, bathing and fishing.” Some of the “boys” played baseball. Others played croquet, although it’s not clear if girls could join in.
Most visitors and townies showed up for the dedication of the Tabernacle where there were prayers and speeches. Note that the Bishop Janes Tabernacle was constructed in 1877.
A couple of interesting items were mentioned in the article. One stated that homeowners received a 99 year lease, but at the end of that term, the family heirs could “buy the lot unconditionally.” That sounds like something to look into.
Finally, a very special event was to happen that week. Rev. Osborn, the founder of OG, was to be presented with a $3,000.00 cottage on Wesley Lake.
It sounds like Ocean Grove became quite famous very quickly after the Founders first got together in a park over by Long Pond (later, Wesley Lake) in 1869.
JOAN MORRIS:
CREDIT: Photo from Images of America: Ocean Grove.* Thanks for permission from Wayne T. Bell, author.
See the Blogfinger article about the birth of Ocean Grove: ” Who’s Your Daddy?” The true story of the founding of Ocean Grove. (Scroll down a short distance) link:
Posted in Blogfinger News, Ocean Grove history | Tagged A day in the life of Ocean Grove, What happened in Ocean Grove on July 11 | 9 Comments »
OG from the sky. Drone # 2. A drone-master provides these photographs for Blogfinger.net. October 2026. Click once to enlarge.
JEFF BECK. “A Day in the Life.”
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Gasparilla Island, Fla. Paul Goldfinger photo. Click to enlarge
BOBBY PAGE AND THE RIFF-RAFFS. From the original soundtrack of The Green Book:
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Racing in the rain at Le Mans. This is the Ford -Shelby entry. Paul Goldfinger photo from the DVD/TV screen. Feb 2020. Click to enlarge.
RASCAL FLATTS “Fast Cars and Freedom.”
“I see a dust trail following an old red Nova
Baby blue eyes, your head on my shoulder..”
Baby blue eyes, your head on my shoulder..”
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Auditorium Pavilion. Paul Goldfinger photo.. Blogfinger.net 2022. Ocean Grove.
“Ruby, My Dear”
Thelonious Monk’s Septette
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Crew-members: Doolittle raid on Japanese islands, April 18, 1942. 16 B-25B bombers took off from the deck of the USS Hornet.
By Kennedy Buckley (late) of Ocean Grove, New Jersey (Re-posted from 2012; on Blogfinger.) Ken was a former writer for Blogfinger. net.
“I was 9, visiting Ireland, when the war started in 1939. To get home we embarked from Scotland, and Mom bought me some toy soldiers and a tank for the sea voyage home.
“The bombing of Pearl Harbor was what changed life in the US; now we were in the war instead of watching. Lots of small banners with a blue star in the center started appearing in front windows, meaning a family member was in the service. My two older cousins from Philly went in, and one would become an officer in the paratroopers (more about him later). Dad’s younger brother with no children was drafted — my dad not. Soon there were multiple flags in many windows.
“Nobody was allowed to go up on the roof of my uncle’s tall apartment building in Brooklyn because a spy could see all the ships in New York harbor awaiting convoy. All windows had to have heavy drapes to prevent light shining out. If light could be seen, an Air Raid Warden blew a whistle until you fixed it. Rationing books were needed to buy food and things. Tin cans and tin foil were saved and collected for the “war effort.”
“There was little car driving (gas and tires were rationed) so Esso (now Exxon) printed war maps instead of road maps on which you could follow the battle front as the Allies went through Europe and the Pacific. War news was really bad, defeat after defeat; however, our spirits were raised with very welcome GOOD news about a daring air raid on Tokyo by B-25 bombers flying off aircraft carriers. (The 70th anniversary of that raid just passed–in 2012.)
This family had 3 members serving. The service flag hung in many windows.
“As the war went on, many of the BLUE stars in the windows started changing to GOLD, signifying the death of that serviceman.
“Many of our neighbors in the tenements were Italian. Each family had a small storage room in the cellars. Italian families made wine there and stored it in big bottles. When V-E Day came, the celebrating started in the afternoon by bringing the wine to the street for huge block parties that went on into the wee hours. EVERYBODY drank. I was 14 and my buddies and I got falling drunk for the first time, rolling around in the street — nobody cared.
*Newsreels of color war footage of the island by island battles in the Pacific were shown in the movie theaters. The Japanese troops were so gruesome that when the atomic bombs were dropped, nobody complained — soon after came V-J Day. It was the end ….of that war.”
4 brothers from the Demby family of Bayonne, NJ (Paul Goldfinger’s family) returned home after serving in WWII. Three were in the Pacific, and one (Marty Litinger) was in the convoys that plowed through the North Atlantic with supplies for Russia and England. PG family photo. 1945. Front l to r. Ben Demby (Bronze star valor), “Duke” Demby (subs), rear: Al Demby on left (Sea Bees) and Marty Litinger (Coast Guard). Eileen’s Dad Bernard Harkavy served in Europe.
Postscript by Ken:
“The soldiers came back home in droves to try to begin a normal life. My cousin Jimmy, the paratrooper, was already back recuperating in an Army Hospital. He had jumped twice in Europe, D-Day in France and later in Belgium. He lost most of his men in the 2nd jump and was badly wounded. He never really resumed a normal life. He married (I was in the wedding party) a wonderful, beautiful woman, an ex-Rockette. He was in and out of Veterans hospitals until he died in his early 30’s.
“I fear for the returning veterans from our recent and current wars. Will they get enough care? I really worry.”
(Note: Ken Buckley died 2019 in Ocean Grove.)
Maxwell Air University: Regarding how to finish off Japan: “A policy of imposed starvation—of food, as well as materiel—would have weakened Japanese capabilities without reducing their resolve. Lewis estimates that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the extent that it induced Japanese surrender, saved the lives of roughly 30 million people.”
Civilian losses were not criticized.
Blogfinger: Perhaps 1 million American soldiers could have died if we had invaded Japan.
“Collateral damage” could not be avoided as we took Japan and Germany. And there were few complaints at the home front and around the Allied world. Paul Goldfinger Editor BF.
MUSIC from that era: A lot of the music was sentimental and often catered to the imaginations of homesick GI’s who literally spent years away from home and loved ones.
Here is Peggy Lee with the Benny Goodman orchestra with a song that undoubtedly reminded many GI’s of their girls back home. —PG
Posted in Blogfinger News, Feature article | Tagged Ken Buckley recalls WWII, Memories of WWII | 6 Comments »
A throwback to the 1950’s—even the name: “Tropicana.” Ft. Myers, Florida. Paul Goldfinger photo. Feb 2018.
THE MELLO-KINGS :
Editor’s note: The color scheme of the 1950’s was recreated by Francis Ford Coppola, 1970’s, for the Godfather movies, which were set in the ’40’s and ’50’s. He used special Technicolor film to provide authenticity when filming scenes in Little Italy, Havana, Sicily and suburban America. Check the two comments below:
Posted in Florida connection on Blogfinger, Florida photography | Tagged Photo: Tropicana lights series | 3 Comments »
Christian Bale as Ken Miles racing in the rain. Blogfinger.net. Paul Goldfinger movie still as are the other images below.
Diminished visibility and danger at LeMans, at night. in the rain, seen through the driver’s (Miles) window.
Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby holding his Ferrari stopwatch.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, film reviewer at Blogfinger.net.
This film is beautifully done and is directed by James Mangold. It received a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. It is about international car racing at a major French course called Le Mans, where national pride is at stake, but also competition among men with immense talent and skill.
Ferrari, the Italian royalty of car racing machines, usually wins the 24 hour challenging and world famous LeMans race competition. But the Ford company wants to wear the mantle of producing not only practical cars for every-man but also of crafting beautiful racing cars that can dominate the field and show up the arrogant elitists at Ferrari.
We meet the Ford executives who represent corporate America, and they, especially their leader Henry Ford II, appropriately are proud of their record up to the 1960’s, but they now want an extra measure of achievement.
They rightly can brag about what they accomplished in WWII producing most of the bombers that helped defeat our enemies, but Mr. Ford is eager to show the world what else the Ford company can do.
Henry Ford II enlists the help of two American racers/engineer/ designers: Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale.) Ford is willing to spend as much money as is needed to stick it to the Ferrari braggarts.
Shelby and Miles are typical can-do Americans, but they receive considerable flack from the up-tight Ford suits. Yet the determined duo manage to come up with the Ford GT 40, a powerhouse vehicle that can exceed 200 mph at over 7,000 rpm. This car, with Miles behind the wheel, can win in the rain and the dark of LeMans, a scary race venue.
Shelby is a successful driver and producer of fast performance cars for competition and for driving around town with his wealthy customers. He is no longer able to race.
Miles is a quirky and sometimes exasperating guy who knows how to win in dangerous conditions. He and Shelby make a determined team and they bring their car to LeMans with fierce resolve.
If you see this movie, be prepared to view a lot of racing scenes and hear a lot of car talk. But all of that is well done. Also, it’s too long at 2 1/2 hours.
However, the filming is masterful, and the race scenes are gripping and exciting. You want to hold onto your seats and you wish you had a seat belt.
Forgetting about the “win the race” story line, this movie can be appreciated at another level where intelligence, will power, cooperation, friendship and American values win the day.
Damon and Bale are wonderful actors. Bale lost weight for his role while Damon looked a little rotund. Bale, as Miles, flashes his British accent, but his entire auto career has been in America.
The film is PG13, and the beautiful Caitriona Balfe, as Miles’ wife, is dealt some dark moments, but nevertheless, she is quite sexy especially in an early scene where she shows up at her husband’s garage and they do some play acting together. It is a heated and well done love scene, done with humor, which proves that a film doesn’t require actual sex to be erotic. Many old movies make the same point. Caitriona is an Irish actress best known for her role in the “Outlander” series.
I found this movie at Red Box. This is a re-post, so disregard my dates of showing.
“Stout Hearted Men” by The Royal Artillery and Parachute Regiment Bands and Chorus: I learned to love this song at Rutherford High as a member of the Boys Glee Club.
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8/26/23. Paul Goldfinger. Sunset Ave Farmers’ Market 2023. Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net. Jersey corn still around as autumn approaches.
BOB DYLAN. “Maggie’s Farm”
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Paris. Tuileries. Paul Goldfinger photo. Click once to enlarge. This was a challenge in the darkroom.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net
As a teenager I learned to love Broadway show tunes thanks to my mother who was a fine singer and she knew the score of every Broadway show.
“Till There Was You” was a favorite of mine—so beautiful and romantic.
It was performed in the 1957 Broadway musical “The Music Man” by Barbara Cook. And it is heard in the movie version 1962. The composer was Meredith Wilson.
The Beatles covered this song because Paul McCartney loved Peggy Lee’s version. Beatles fans usually are unaware of this Broadway ballad, but it was this song that got the Beatles their recording contract with EMI. McCartney sang the solo. Listen for the fine guitar solo by George Harrison.
THE BEATLES From The Music Man by Meredith Wilson (1961)
“Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew
“There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
‘Til there was you.”
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
‘Til there was you.”
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Brewer Burial Ground. Farmingdale, NJ. Paul Goldfinger photo. 2014.
By Paul Goldfinger, Photography Editor @Blogfinger.net
Jean Bredin just sent us a piece about a cemetery in New York State. So here is a local cemetery that interested me in 2014.
Photographers are sometimes drawn to cemeteries because they can be dramatic and lovely. But I rarely see a cemetery photo in an art gallery—I guess they don’t sell well. In my case, I almost never photograph in a cemetery because it’s depressing.
About the only time I get interested is if there is beauty and/or historical context, such as with this 18th century cemetery in Farmingdale. There is something mysterious and brooding about this place. I actually enjoyed walking around there trying to read the nearly obliterated inscriptions.
Brewer Burial Ground. James Johnson is there with his wife Rachel. He is 1764-1831. Paul Goldfinger photo. 2/14/25.
Paul Goldfinger photo.
This Brewer Burial Ground in Farmingdale, with its lonely setting, sitting forlornly by the side of a country road, seems wonderfully haunting. 7 historic veterans are buried there.
It is the final resting place of 1 veteran from the Revolutionary War, 1 from the War of 1812, and 5 from the Civil War.
The oldest grave there is of Pvt John E. Brewer, Revolutionary War veteran: b.1754 d. 1837.
Another veteran is Pvt. James M. Lippincott, 1841-1916, Co A, 14th NJ Volunteer Infantry.
I have visited cemeteries in Boston and New Brunswick which go back to the Revolutionary War, and they are absolutely fascinating if not beautiful.
Another gorgeous place is the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah where Johnny Mercer resides. You can take a ghost tour in Savannah. I have photos. (Remember the book/movie Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil—-set in Savannah?)
And we have posted a piece about the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond which goes back to the Civil War.
This Farmingdale cemetery would be great for HBO’s True Blood.
You can almost see the vampires coming out of the ground during the night to fly into Ocean Grove and seek some juicy jugular veins.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT from his album Want One
Posted in Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, Photographic Gallery: New Jersey, Photography: Jersey Shore Gallery | Tagged Brewer Cemetery, Jersey Shore cemetery in Farmindale, Jewel on Blogfinger | 4 Comments »
Steve Fitch. 1973. New Mexico.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net
This image is for sale at the Joseph Bellows Gallery in California. He loves to show vintage black and white photographs.
This Steve Fitch image is described by the gallery as a “Vintage gelatin silver print. 11×14”
The artist calls it “Motel Highway 85. 1973. New Mexico. Truth or Consequences”
Steve Fitch is now 77 years old. He is well known and has won many awards and has had many showings. He has taught at the college level.
I love his style of photographing vernacular subjects such as signs and motels on highways, as above. This image has a beautiful low contrast feel. Great photos don’t have to be brightly lit or sharply focused. I don’t know, but he may have shot this photo with a classic large format camera, a la George Tice.
As some of you know, I do admire subtle photo imagery in black and white, as in the “Blue Bird Court” above.
He and I are from the same era—Here are two of mine:
Tapatia. Asbury Park, NJ. Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net
New York Mail. Movie still. Paul Goldfinger. 2025 Blogfinger.net
To see some of my images, besides viewing Blogfinger.net, go to our home page and click on the photo gallery.
“Mamaleh”. Yaacov Shapiro from his “18 Pearls of Yiddish Songs.” (“Mamaleh” means “little mother”)
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