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The New York "bit players" we tend to ignore......
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 10:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More "bit" players of another era.....

Manhole covers that were made here in the States (most, if not all, nowadays, are made in India)

Mercury vapor street lighting

NEDICKS on almost every block

Checker cabs

IRT kiosks

Subway car marker lights

All so long ago, now......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 2:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awhile ago in this topic, we'd been discussing the magnificent old Times Square "spectaculars"of many decades ago.

Earlier today, I was watching a classic (and VERY entertaining!) animated feature from 1941 on dvd, "HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN" (Max Fleischer Studios) about a colony of humanized insects living in a grassy patch just off Broadway.

In one sequence (where the bugs have a jazzy night club down in a manhole beneath Broadway....GREAT swing music, as a bonus!) our grasshopper hero "Hoppity" gets entangled with shorting wires that control the traffic lights on Broadway (this, of course, wreaks havoc with the traffic lights!)

A VERY intricate sequence follows, where "Hoppity", now "electrified" by the shorting electric wires, goes through a series of dances, contortions, and gyrations, his body brilliantly lit against a black background, VERY reminiscent of the huge animated signs then emblazoning Times Square!

Every time I watch this part of the film (long a favorite in my family) I right away think of the "classic era" Times Square "spectaculars".......Wink

"NYO"

["TIMES SQUARE SIGHTSEEING LINES"]
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W.B. Fishbowl



Age: 57
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can't claim that in today's XSQ (the 'X' signifying the multiplication symbol a.k.a. 'times'), what with the soulless LED 'signs' that could have been (and often are) placed anywhere.

Incidentally, the box-office failure of Hoppity Goes To Town spelled the end of the Fleischer studio. In early 1942, Paramount Pictures pulled out the rug from under them (by then brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, the latter of whom directed their product, were no longer speaking to each other, so that plus their financial situation made them especially susceptible to the studio's machinations), put their core cartoonists under new contracts, reorganized the enterprise as Famous Studios, and within a year was relocated from Miami Beach (where the film was made) back to New York, a few blocks away not only from Times Square, but also the earlier Fleischer studio. Y'all remember Famous Studios, don'tcha? In the '50's, famous for the likes of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, Herman & Katnip etc.?
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B.:

Many of the Fleischer cartoons clearly were "Made In Noo Nawk" shorts; IRT subway kiosks, elevateds, tenements, etc., were seen in many of the Fleischer cartoons of that era.

The 1938 Betty Boop cartoon, "Riding The Rails", was a wonderful spoof on the the IRT (the trains were wonderful carictures of the IRT fleet of that era, even right down to the air whistles!)

The IRT was again spoofed in a later Betty Boop cartoon, "The Candid Candidate"; in an early Boop cartoon, "Betty In Blunderland", Betty (as "Alice") follows the March Hare down the rabbit hole, marked by a miniature IRT kiosk!

The New York Paramount cartoons, also, often had a distinctive "Noo Yawk" feel; in the late 1940's Coney Island-spoof, "SING OR SWIM" (a "Bouncing Ball" short), the jammed-packed trains running into Coney Island (sardine cans!) were highlighted here!

In an early 50's "Popeye" short, he and Olive are in Mexico City, on their way to see a bullfight.

We see an IRT kiosk(!!) marked "INtER-BURRO SUBWAY"(!!)

Awhile ago, I had mentioned a 1947 Paramount Studios' "Bouncing Ball" short, "MADHATTAN ISLAND", which (for a change!) spoofed the BMT (VERY realistic depiction of a "Standard", for a cartoon!)

Also, the IRT is (again) spoofed; the animation clearly depicts rush-hour crowds trying to squeeze aboard an IRT train at the City Hall Loop! (this station had been closed two years when this cartoon hit the big screen)

"Noo Yawk" was also featured in a 1940's "Tom & Jerry" short, "Mouse In Manhattan"; here (oddly enough) the BMT (and NOT the IRT) has a brief cameo; VERY realistic Grand Central "backdrop" when Jerry arrives in "Noo Yawk"!

The Lincoln Tunnel (complete with buses!) is also highlighted!

An early 1940's Warner Brother's cartoon, "LIGHTS FANTASTIC" focuses on nothing but the "Times Square Spectaculars" of that era (bus spoof spoiler alert, here!) Wink

I grew up in the 60's watching these classic cartoons, and, today, have many on dvd....NEVER tire of enjoying these classic animated shorts! Very Happy

"NYO"

["SHUTTLE-TIMES SQ"]
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2023 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Piccadilly Circus, London, from the 1961 British sci-fi flick, "GORGO".

You can indeed see much of what once made Times Square so "spectacular" electric signage-wise, 60-odd years ago (the buses in the picture are "RT"-types)..............

www.busesonscreen.net/screenim7/gorgo07.jpg

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["LONDON TRANSPORT"]
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2023 6:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
Piccadilly Circus, London, from the 1961 British sci-fi flick, "GORGO".

You can indeed see much of what once made Times Square so "spectacular" electric signage-wise, 60-odd years ago (the buses in the picture are "RT"-types)..............

www.busesonscreen.net/screenim7/gorgo07.jpg

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["LONDON TRANSPORT"]

Around that time, the "Circus" had a "spectacular" for fresh and canned fruits from Australia. I recognised the 7-high zipper font from a 1930's remote system called "Travelsign" that was marketed by a company that, by 1937, became James H. Betts, Inc. (before that it was Outdoor Lighting Co.). They had two types of display characters, 4 x 7 and 5 x 7; the Australia zipper used the former. The latter, in the late '30's, had been used at Times Square itself, right above the entrance to the Hygrade Beef stand near 46th and Broadway and on the 45th Street side above the third floor of the Loew's Building before moviegoers entered the Loew's State Theatre. It was a more compact alternative to the bulky "Motograph" systems put together by Frank C. Reilly, Ltd.

After 1940 there were no new such "Travelsign" controls; wonder if their system was from a patent by Louis Casper which, by that year, was acquired by Trans-Lux, which served as the basis for their own "Flashcast" and "Adcast" systems that were on many a "spectactular" handled over the next three decades by Artkraft Strauss.

Starting before 0:35 . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1119jgJI3Q&t=34s
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2023 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B.:

MOST interesting historical information, for certain! Wink

(thanks for the great link!)

One cannot help but wonder, buried deep within the stonework/framework of those buildings at the "Circus" that once displayed these fascinating electrical "spectaculars" if any remnants of the old wiring/circuitry might remain.

Like our own Times Square nowadays, the huge, glaring displays that illuminate the area at night is quite stark, bland, and totally soulless........ nothing whatsoever to even give the slightest "hint" of what once was, so long ago...... Sad

""NYO"

["RT1406"]
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2023 12:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B.:

See.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly_Circus

Note photos from 1962 and 1970; also, note the section "ILLUMINATED SIGNS" (the original "COCA-COLA" sign first went into use in 1954)

As can be seen from the modern-era photos, the "Circus"is indeed a lot more barren and lifeless, compared to what it was 60-odd years ago.........

"NYO"

["72 EAST ACTON-HAMMERSMITH"]
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2023 7:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
W.B.:

See.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly_Circus

Note photos from 1962 and 1970; also, note the section "ILLUMINATED SIGNS" (the original "COCA-COLA" sign first went into use in 1954)

As can be seen from the modern-era photos, the "Circus"is indeed a lot more barren and lifeless, compared to what it was 60-odd years ago.........

"NYO"

["72 EAST ACTON-HAMMERSMITH"]

And some of those "soulless" LED displays both at the "Circus" and the "Square" come from the same firm: Brookings, SD-based Daktronics. Whose entré into "XSQ" came in 1986 when their Venus series was used to control the "zipper" at One Times Square after New York Newsday began operating it that year.
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2023 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B.:

Earlier, you'd mentioned a Piccadilly "spectacular" for fresh and canned ("tinned" would be the proper term in Britain!) fruit.

A number of the vintage photos I have in my extensive library on London buses depict posters on "hoardings" (groups of large, colorful advertisements posted along busy thoroughfares and at many bus stops) that feature ads (pronounced "ad-vert-tizments" in Britain) for "New Zealand Butter"

Certain ads would, indeed, be considered QUITE "sexist" today; for example:

"JOIN THE PALENSTINE POLICE-A MAN'S JOB!"]

As the ROUTEMASTER era was dawning, many LT double-deckers carried this ad:

" 'TRICEL'-THE FIBRE MADE BY MAN WITH WOMEN IN MIND"

Speaking of ads, car-card wise, oddly enough, only a small number of ad cards were displayed inside of LT's buses; however, inside the Tube cars, ads were plentiful, to say the least, just as they were here in "Noo Yawk", hawing everything from "VENO'S COUGH CURE" to "TY-PHOO TEA"]

Back in the olden days, again, a la Times Square, the "Circus" never displayed a shortage of buses; by 1960, the LT double-deck fleet was standardized with "RT" and "RM" types.

The first rear-engine/"OMO" buses entered LT service in the early/mid-1960's; these were also the first London buses to dispense with both conductors and open-rear platforms.......

"NYO"

["2 GOLDERS GREEN STN"]
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2023 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B;

Enjoy the article (and the pics!) Wink

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jan/16/piccadilly-circus-lights-switched-off

["HOP ON A BUS"]
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2023 12:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did a little more research, and came across the following* (much of historical interest).....

https://mktoolboxsuite.com/piccadilly-circus-advertising/

*(The buses seen in the vintage b/w photos are of the "STD"/"ST"/"RT" classes; note, also, that the first b/w is dated 1930. This is incorrect; note the "RT"-class buses in the view. The very first did not appear until 1939, and then in very small numbers. It was not until after the War when the "RT"-class began to become more commonplace in the LT fleet)...............

["159 MARBLE ARCH"]
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2023 2:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also of interest (some interesting trivia and historical facts are to be found here)..........

https://londontopia.net/culture/london-alert-iconic-lights-piccadilly-circus-turned-back/

["19 UPPER TOOTING"]
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2023 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Today's bland, overblown, insipid "spectaculars" in Piccadilly Circus indeed have this in common with the hi-tech buses that now pass through it,"soulless"............. Sad

Many of the modern double-deckers (and single-deck buses) that pass thropugh the "Circus" now have front ends that are far more worthy of the term "Fishbowl" than the famed GM product of decades ago......I HATE these!!!!!!!!!!! Sad Mad Mad Sad

Back in the day, who could have perceived a future where the "spectaculars" that made both Piccadilly Circus and Times Square so exiting and breath-taking, would be no more......so much for "progress"....... Sad

'NYO"

["24 HAMPSTEAD HEATH"]
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2023 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-decker_bus

(Here we have a good number of photos, representing both the old and new; I'll take any of the classics, any day........most of the modern buses are simply too bizarre and ugly for my traditional-minded tastes)......... Razz

["406 KINGSTON"]
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