Entry in progress—B.P.
Wikipedia: Edward Bok
Edward Bok (born Eduard Willem Gerard Cesar Hidde Bok) (October 9, 1863 – January 9, 1930) was a Dutch born American editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He was editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal for thirty years. Bok is credited with coining the term living room as the name for room of a house that had commonly been called the parlor or drawing room. He also created Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida.
Google Books
High Adventurers
By Mary Rosetta Parkman
New York, NY: The Century Company
1920
Pg. 220:
“Don’t forget that good work lives and grows just as trees do. Soon happy lives make their nests in places where once there was neither shelter nor safety,” the grandmother would say; and then she would add, looking straight into the eager faces of the children, “Always remember that each of you must make the world better and more beautiful because you have lived in it.”
Edward Bok could not remember when he had first heard those words. it must have been long before he was really able to understand their meaning.
Google Books
Historical Traveler’s Guide to Florida
By Eliot Kleinberg
Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press
2006
Pg. 110:
This was Edward Bok’s idea. And despite the overwhelming growth of surrounding Central Florida, the process still works. “Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it,” reads a marker. Bok said it often; it was one of his grandmother’s favorite phrases.
Google Books
Trivia
By Juan Silverio
Xlibris Corporation (Xlibris.com)
2010
Pg. 90:
As a child he was told by his mother: “Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it”.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“I read old books because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
•“I study old buildings because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
•“Due to personal reasons, I’m still going to be fluffy this summer” (4/18)
•“Do not honk at me. My life is worthless. I will kill us both” (bumper sticker) (4/18)
•“Please don’t honk at me. I’ll cry” (bumper sticker) (4/18)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik. These are the Cookies and Privacy Policies.