Happy Discombobulated Easter
Chicks on Stilts
Get a Load of This Easter Happiness
Advice to Vacationists–Take the Children with You
Please Send Home That Shirt You Borrowed
The Saucy Little Bird on Nellie's Hat
The Post Office at Ausable Chasm, New York, Sept.…
1er Avril Devinez-qui?
Poissons d'Avril
Recevez mes vœux de Bonheur
Je vous l'offre de bout cœur
1er Avril Le port est payé d'un baiser
1er Avril
James B. Tully, Florist, Binghamton, New York
A Carload of Corn
A Carload of Strawberries
Louis Klug
I Am Anna "Butch" Engle, Who the Devil Are You?
I Am Sam Kahn, Who the Devil Are You?
I Am ________, Who the Devil Are You?
Comic Imp Card: I Am ________, Who the Devil Are Y…
I Am C. Y. Young, Who the Devil Are You?
Who the Devil Are You?
Two Has-Beens, Asbury Park, New Jersey, 1934 (Back…
Reward of Merit Bookmark
Easter Greeting Bookmark, ca. 1880
Tales of Love
Theodore Roosevelt and the Roller Skate Craze
S. Elliott and Son, Dealers in Pure Artificial Ice…
The Modern Farmer
Apples–How We Do Things at Fearnot, Pa.
They Laughed When We Sat Down at the Piano
Pie Social, St. Paul's Reformed Church, Dec. 6, 19…
Erin Go Bragh, St. Patrick's Day, March 17th
The Wee Bit of Shamrock We All Love So Well
A Simple Little Shamrock That Grows on Erin's Isle
Good Luck to Dear Old Ireland
Wall of Stone Heads, Tiwanaku Semi-Subterranean Te…
Bennett Monolith, Tiwanaku Semi-Subterranean Templ…
Continental Congress Session at York, Pa., 150th A…
House of David Band, Benton Harbor, Michigan
Benjamin Purnell, Founder of the House of David, B…
May I See You Home?
5A Horse Blankets Are Great for Wear
Acrobats at the Interstate Fair, Athens, Pa., Sept…
See also...
" All types of historical transportation // Tous les moyens de transport historiques ...
" All types of historical transportation // Tous les moyens de transport historiques ...
" Cartes postales et photos historiques de partout dans le monde / Historische Postkarten und Photos aus aller Welt "
" Cartes postales et photos historiques de partout dans le monde / Historische Postkarten und Photos aus aller Welt "
Keywords
Authorizations, license
-
Visible by: Everyone -
All rights reserved
-
826 visits
Two Has-Beens, Asbury Park, New Jersey, 1934


A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park with a discussion of the flip side (what’s on the reverse of a photo).

Handwritten description on the back of this photo: "Morro Castle, H.B. L. H. Miller, H.B. Two Has Been's. Asbury Park, 1934."
I purchased this photo after noticing how the young man, identified on the back as "L. H. Miller," was posing in front of what seems to be an almost ghostly ship. I didn't really understand what "Morro Castle" referred to, but I liked how the location--Asbury Park, New Jersey--and year--1934--were written on the back. When I checked Wikipedia later, however, I discovered that Morro Castle was the ship's name, and I found out how it ended up at Asbury Park in 1934.
As the Wikipedia article explains, "SS Morro Castle was an ocean liner of the 1930s that was built for the Ward Line for voyages between New York City and Havana, Cuba. The ship was named for the Morro Castle fortress that guards the entrance to Havana Bay. On the morning of September 8, 1934, en route from Havana to New York, the ship caught fire and burned, killing 137 passengers and crew members. The ship eventually beached herself near Asbury Park, New Jersey, and remained there for several months until she was towed off and scrapped [on March 14, 1935]."
The burning ship drifted until it was just yards away from the Convention Hall pier at Asbury Park, where it became a macabre tourist attraction. An article on the History Bandits site, Dark Tourism and the SS Morro Castle as a Visceral Seaside Attraction, provides further details about the disastrous fire and includes aerial photos that reveal how close the doomed ship came to colliding with the Convention Hall.
Given such a terrible tragedy, though, it's hard to imagine why L. H. Miller thought that he was such a "has-been" that he could compare himself to the Morro Castle. Or could it be that someone else wrote on the back of the photo, intending it as a tasteless joke to suggest that Miller was past his prime?
Whatever the case might be, the photo reminds us of the fate of those who died or were injured aboard the Morro Castle more than eighty years ago and leaves us wondering what happened to L. H. Miller.

Handwritten description on the back of this photo: "Morro Castle, H.B. L. H. Miller, H.B. Two Has Been's. Asbury Park, 1934."
I purchased this photo after noticing how the young man, identified on the back as "L. H. Miller," was posing in front of what seems to be an almost ghostly ship. I didn't really understand what "Morro Castle" referred to, but I liked how the location--Asbury Park, New Jersey--and year--1934--were written on the back. When I checked Wikipedia later, however, I discovered that Morro Castle was the ship's name, and I found out how it ended up at Asbury Park in 1934.
As the Wikipedia article explains, "SS Morro Castle was an ocean liner of the 1930s that was built for the Ward Line for voyages between New York City and Havana, Cuba. The ship was named for the Morro Castle fortress that guards the entrance to Havana Bay. On the morning of September 8, 1934, en route from Havana to New York, the ship caught fire and burned, killing 137 passengers and crew members. The ship eventually beached herself near Asbury Park, New Jersey, and remained there for several months until she was towed off and scrapped [on March 14, 1935]."
The burning ship drifted until it was just yards away from the Convention Hall pier at Asbury Park, where it became a macabre tourist attraction. An article on the History Bandits site, Dark Tourism and the SS Morro Castle as a Visceral Seaside Attraction, provides further details about the disastrous fire and includes aerial photos that reveal how close the doomed ship came to colliding with the Convention Hall.
Given such a terrible tragedy, though, it's hard to imagine why L. H. Miller thought that he was such a "has-been" that he could compare himself to the Morro Castle. Or could it be that someone else wrote on the back of the photo, intending it as a tasteless joke to suggest that Miller was past his prime?
Whatever the case might be, the photo reminds us of the fate of those who died or were injured aboard the Morro Castle more than eighty years ago and leaves us wondering what happened to L. H. Miller.
, William Sutherland, Tractacus, and 2 other people have particularly liked this photo
- Keyboard shortcuts:
Jump to top
RSS feed- Latest comments - Subscribe to the comment feeds of this photo
- ipernity © 2007-2025
- Help & Contact
|
Club news
|
About ipernity
|
History |
ipernity Club & Prices |
Guide of good conduct
Donate | Group guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Statutes | In memoria -
Facebook
Twitter
Your beautiful capture is greatly admired
Historical & Architectural Gems
Historical & Architectural Gems
Sign-in to write a comment.