The Sound of New York: May 1931

[LizzieMaine]

Footage shot off the back of a Metrotone News truck with live sound, crusiting around the Manhattan theatre district around dusk, May 1931. A quieter, gentler time, I don't think.

 

[2jakes]

Appears "jaywalking" was a way of life, even then.

This footage reminds me when Pathe's "Our Gang" series went to sound.
Besides animals, sounds like traffic for instance, was considered
funny or interesting to folks in the early years of comedy films.

 

[triple-d]

Footage shot off the back of a Metrotone News truck with live sound, crusiting around the Manhattan theatre district around dusk, May 1931. A quieter, gentler time, I don't think.

That's a wonderful video......the audio really add to it....thanks for sharing Lizzie

 

[GHT]

I want one of those yellow cabs.

 

[tonyb]

Appears "jaywalking" was a way of life,
even then.

I was visiting L. A. sometime ago.
Freaked me out when the traffic would
stop to allow me to cross.

A native told me it was by law to
allow pedestrians... "the right of way"
even in the middle of the street and
not at the corner stop & go signals.

I grew up where you would cross when
possible and made sure you moved
quickly or expect to be hit.

In some small towns in my neck of
the woods, it's common to see
drivers ignore the stop signs completely.

"Why stop if there's no one"....
is the mentality!

Should you find yourself motoring in Seattle and environs, you had better stop for pedestrians, especially where there is no ambiguity as to their right of way -- you know, at crosswalks and intersections. Enforcement is active and a stiff fine is all but certain should a cop witness the transgression. Drivers even stop for pedestrians standing on a sidewalk appearing ready to cross.

Not so in Denver. This past Dec. 21 the dewy-eyed bride and I came upon a scene where an aid unit had arrived mere seconds earlier to render assistance to an unconscious young woman lying on the pavement. We learned later that she succumbed to her injuries, sustained in her being struck by a car.

There's a public awareness campaign here called "Vision Zero," the quite wishful aim of which is to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. The campaign is fine as far as it goes, which, alas, isn't very far at all. What's needed is enforcement -- active, visible, firm enforcement. Almost all traffic fatalities are attributable to at least one party violating at least one part of the traffic code. Some people need a stern reminder of that.

 

[2jakes]

I want one of those yellow cabs.

" The Thinking Fellow Calls a YELLOW "

The Hass Act of '37 tried to clean up New York's taxicab
industry by regulating officially licensed cabs under a
medallion system.

The standardization became fully entrenched
with a 1967 ruling that all "official" New York
taxicabs be painted yellow --specifically
"Dupont M6284 or it's equivalent", according
to Allen Fromberg of the NY Taxi & Limousine
Commission.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's another Broadway tour with live sound, this time on the back of a *moving* Metrotone News truck as it drives around Broadway. It's the drizzly, raw afternoon of December 7, 1929, and as you'll see from the theatre marquees, the talkie musical is in its first full bloom. And if you're in the mood for Chinese food or a Nedick's hot dog and a glass of orange drink, you have several options.

 

[2jakes]

Here's another Broadway tour with live sound, this time on the back of a *moving* Metrotone News truck as it drives around Broadway. It's the drizzly, raw afternoon of December 7, 1929, and as you'll see from the theatre marquees, the talkie musical is in its first full bloom. And if you're in the mood for Chinese food or a Nedick's hot dog and a glass of orange drink, you have several options.

Lizzie, I noticed huge billboard sign, Moxie

Do you know if that was in reference to the
drink or was it for a movie?

I've looked at listing for 1929 movies
and cannot find it.

Thanks!

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's the drink. Moxie was still very popular in the Northeast in the 1920s, and was still heavily advertised.

 

[2jakes]

I also noticed that the director Lubitch
(not sure of spelling) got top billing
like the major movie stars of the day.

Remember him from "Sunset Blvd"
with Gloria Swanson & Wm. Holden.
(not sure if it's the same person)

I worked in Beverly Hills and some
of those scenes with regards to
the actors of the past rings true.
Although not as dramatic as the
film.
It was quite an experience of
how they lived.
I'm relating to mid 70s when I
worked for Jack Warner of
WB Studios!

Lizzie...
You could post a fire hydrant from 1937
and make it interesting with your comments.
I always enjoy what you post.
I'll never get tired of thanking you.
I am not alone in this!

 

[vitanola]

Lizzie...
You could post a fire hydrant from 1937
and make it interesting with your comments.
I always enjoy what you post.
I'll never get tired of thanking you.
I am not alone in this!

This too.

As far as Lubitsch is concerned, watch "The Love Parade" sometime, and compare it to any of the other talkies made in '29. I believe that he well deserves his top billing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That would be a pretty impressive week to go to the movies. "Sunny Side Up" is a delightful, technically-proficient picture with some first rate songs and one absolutely jaw-dropping production number that's never really been equalled for sheer, unadulterated outrageousness. "Gold Diggers of Broadway" was the highest grossing Warner Bros. picture of the next decade, in 100 percent Technicolor, and if the surviving fragments are to be believed, it was in terms of its tone and attitude was years ahead of other musical pictures of the day. "Hollywood Revue of 1929," seen briefly on the Astor marquee, is the first and one of the best of the "all star talent showcase" features, and "Disraeli" set the style for just about every historical biopic of the next fifty years.

The only real dog I can see advertised is "The Vagabond Lover," with Rudy Vallee. I'm a big Vallee fan, but he is not seen to good advantage in this picture, and even he was humiliated by how bad it was. There was a big fire at Consolidated Film Laboratories right after it was completed, and there were fears that the negative was destroyed -- Rudy was, till the day he died, very sorry that it hadn't been.

 

[GHT]

Lizzie...
You could post a fire hydrant from 1937
and make it interesting with your comments.
I always enjoy what you post.
I'll never get tired of thanking you.
I am not alone in this!

Couldn't resist looking this up, but then I realised, like UK phone booths, although they look similar there actually quite a few models made over the years, all with subtle differences. This link takes you to A.P. Smith, the manufacturer of New York fire hydrants, so many over the decades, but what struck me is how similar the cap of the hydrant is to the helmet of the firefighter. Can you pick out the model that was current in 1937?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Photo from 1942, but that plug's been there a lot longer than five years. Norfolk Street, just off Delancey, on the Lower East Side. The entire neighborhood has long since been leveled, but Google Earth reveals there is still a hydrant at that address -- it is not, however, the same one.

 

[vitanola]

That would be a pretty impressive week to go to the movies. "Sunny Side Up" is a delightful, technically-proficient picture with some first rate songs and one absolutely jaw-dropping production number that's never really been equalled for sheer, unadulterated outrageousness. "Gold Diggers of Broadway" was the highest grossing Warner Bros. picture of the next decade, in 100 percent Technicolor, and if the surviving fragments are to be believed, it was in terms of its tone and attitude was years ahead of other musical pictures of the day. "Hollywood Revue of 1929," seen briefly on the Astor marquee, is the first and one of the best of the "all star talent showcase" features, and "Disraeli" set the style for just about every historical biopic of the next fifty years.

The only real dog I can see advertised is "The Vagabond Lover," with Rudy Vallee. I'm a big Vallee fan, but he is not seen to good advantage in this picture, and even he was humiliated by how bad it was. There was a big fire at Consolidated Film Laboratories right after it was completed, and there were fears that the negative was destroyed -- Rudy was, till the day he died, very sorry that it hadn't been.

I like both "Sunny Side Up" and the "Hollywood Review of 1929", and find them (along with the other great of that year)to be supremely entertaining, but, to my eye, at least, "The Love Parade" is rather in advance of the other all talking, all singing all dancing offerings of that year. I have not yet seen "Disraeli", but after your reccommendation I intend to do so at the earliest opportunity. The surviving fragments of "Gold Diggers" do suggest 1930 or 1931 more than 1929, but alas, they are only fragments. What I wouldn't give to see Winnie Lightner sing "I Want a Mechanical Man"!

 

[Fading Fast]

Footage shot off the back of a Metrotone News truck with live sound, crusiting around the Manhattan theatre district around dusk, May 1931. A quieter, gentler time, I don't think.

Great video, thank you for posting.

• The street cars appear to be on tracks, but how do they get their power as there are no overhead wires and I doubt the track was electrified with all that foot traffic - I feel like I'm missing the obvious (which is par for me)?

• No matter the year (except present day), it seems like every time you see footage of Times Square, you see "Bond Clothes -" that business had a heck of a long run

• You don't feel the Depression in these images

• Fun to see a Joan Crawford movie advertised and as "Her Greatest Picture..."

 

[Fading Fast]

" The Thinking Fellow Calls a YELLOW "
View attachment 103074

The Hass Act of '37 tried to clean up New York's taxicab
industry by regulating officially licensed cabs under a
medallion system.
View attachment 103075
The standardization became fully entrenched
with a 1967 ruling that all "official" New York
taxicabs be painted yellow --specifically
"Dupont M6284 or it's equivalent", according
to Allen Fromberg of the NY Taxi & Limousine
Commission.

Unfortunately, all it really did was create a state sponsored monopoly that was a corrupt exchange of campaign money and outright bribes from the taxi industry to the politicians in return for protecting their monopoly - with the regular people, the masses, all but priced out of cabs in NYC. Uber (and I am not defending Uber, just stating a fact) broke that monopoly and now normal people can actually afford to use a cab (Uber) occasionally.

For my money, these are two of the best looking cabs NYC ever had

and I love this paint scheme for the checker from "Breakfast at Tiffany's:"

 

[LizzieMaine]

Manhattan trolleys used an underground power line with a connection contact passing thru a slot in the track bed, sort of like a toy slot-racing car. The tracks themselves weren't electrified, which protected pedestrians. This was largely a Manhattan thing -- the Brooklyn trolley system was run, except in the downtown section, from the usual web of overhead lines.

These scenes were pretty close to the end of the line for Manhattan streetcars -- the entire system had been replaced by buses by the end of 1936, although trolleys would run in Brooklyn for another twenty years.

It is difficult to think of a more pre-code title for a movie than "Dance, Fools, Dance." Surprisingly, it's a gangster picture, not a musical.

Some of those DeSoto cabs were available with a sun roof -- they were usually advertised as "Sky View Cabs," an upscale variation on Amos and Andy's "Fresh Air Taxi."

 

[Fading Fast]

Here's another Broadway tour with live sound, this time on the back of a *moving* Metrotone News truck as it drives around Broadway. It's the drizzly, raw afternoon of December 7, 1929, and as you'll see from the theatre marquees, the talkie musical is in its first full bloom. And if you're in the mood for Chinese food or a Nedick's hot dog and a glass of orange drink, you have several options.

Another good one - thank you Lizzie.

• I know that there were plenty of people in the US not dressed in suits, ties, hats, overcoats (and women in fur-lined wrap coats) at the time, but you wouldn't know it from this footage. It is that attire, that I always think of when I think of the period.

• Fun to see Gloria Swanson's name up in lights

• Also, neat to see an early Walgreen's drug store

I also noticed that the director Lubitch
(not sure of spelling) got top billing
like the major movie stars of the day.

Remember him from "Sunset Blvd"
with Gloria Swanson & Wm. Holden.
(not sure if it's the same person)...

I think you are thinking of Eric von Stroheim playing Max Von Mayerling - fanfreakin'tastic role.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Washington DC has a similar streetcar conduit pickup. It avoided overhead wires, and some people found those an eyesore.

One unique power collection system was Cincinnati's two wire system. The negative return for direct current operation was via a second overhead wire, much like a trolley bus. They now have a new light rail system: single overhead with pantograph collection.