I was born in 1949 and remember my dad and I, when I was about 7 years old, standing on the station platform in Newark, NJ watching those GG-1’s pull out of the station. Years later living near Metuchen, NJ, I would spend hours at the Metuchen station watching trains roll by pulled by those same GG-1’s. Thanks for this wonderful movie clip.
The first thing I noticed is how nicely everyone is dressed. My grandparents were young in '49. And Penn station is timeless. I remember the phone booths from my childhood and the footage of the GG~1 pulling into the station is outstanding!
Do you see those small square things on the floor in front of the phone booths? They were glass sky lights. Not only would few people today remember them, but most people today never heard of a pay phone, a phone booth, a rotary dial, calling an operator for long distance, etc.
@@Jeff-uj8xi But I do as I am a baby boomer who grew up in NYC during the Mad Men era. Notice the traffic signals are 2 colors, red and green. When both were on it meant you had to slow down to a stop. Then only the red light is on. Especially true in Queens where it took longer to put in new traffic signals.
Hermoso momento capturado en el tiempo de una época que nunca volverá .fotogramas con caras de personas que ya tuvieron su momento en este mundo y que tal vez muy pocos sigan aún con vida pero aquí serán eternos...
As a kid in the sixties I was in Penn Station around Christmas season andI recall a man from the Salvation Army on a pedestal singing Christmas carols. Our train took us to St. Louis and from there to Kansas City. Tragic to destroy that station and replace it with what resembled a department store bargain basement. Greetings from Port Saint Lucie Florida! Nice video !
I was born in 1945. I just turned 77 years old a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, I was in the old Penn Station in Manhattan before it was tragically destroyed. It was a sin to tear it down. By the way, I rode in the cab of the last GG1 to ever operate, in October of 1983. It was in service for N. J. Transit. I have photos of me in the cab, but no way to post them here.
As the Brits would say, TOP MARKS! Short films like this remind me of the beautiful tragedy that is NYC history. To think, just a few years later, Stanley Kubrick would shoot a short film inside that massive terminal to kickstart his directing career! 🇵🇷🇺🇸💘😎
I like when people saw and looked at the camera! The final scene, must have been filmed from on top of a truck parked in the middle of the road! 1949 in fine detail! Thanks!
It’s interesting how found footage becomes something for people to project their own visions on. People in the film are dressed the way people dressed when it was shot. If you somehow saw a film from Ancient Rome you’d see people in tunics and togas. It reflects very little beyond the fact that fashions change and people conform to them.
Loved all the scenes of cars, trucks, DeSoto taxis, and that huge chromed 2 door making a left turn at 0:50. I believe that was a 1946 Cadillac but not sure. The Pennsy passenger trains and the GG1 were classics. Thanks for putting the together and for your detailed descriptions and great musical score.
Checker made both taxis (with 2 fold up rear facing seats in the back), and a beautiful Airport Limousine with long wheelbase and a very station wagon look. Beautiful cars. I consider the loss of Checker as the day the automobile music died.
@@WildBillCox13 To me, the 1950s-style Checker cabs were akin to Ford's Model T: a well-designed classic that endured for decades. I remember them all over Manhattan whenever visiting there during the 1960s and 1970s. Roomy and comfortable inside, it's too bad no one explored the possibility of doing an engine refit on these cars so as to improve the Checkers' gas mileage, as poor mpg was a (the?) major factor in their demise.
@@michaela.chmieloski3196 Speaking of New York City cabs, it was a safe bet that 98% of the drivers spoke English. I love the Packard cab. My father and uncle bought and drove Packard cars back in those days. It was considered a fine car. But you didn't often see a Packard cab. I have seen Packard ambulances and even a Packard hearse in old movies.
@@WildBillCox13 If I recall correctly, those extra fold up seats were called "jump seats". And the back doors that opened forwards were called "suicide doors". Remember in episodes of The Three Stooges when a car with suicide doors would come flying around a corner with the back door open and scoop the Stooges up? LOL I always got a laugh out of that.
I give $1000000 to go back in time, life is pretty much little simpler then, you can understand the music, prices were way cheaper... People weren't in a hurry... The good old days.... People were dressed up...
The Men in Hats. I'd love to know for what purpose the U.S. Army needed to film what must have been a pretty big-budget movie with all this location filming. Was it a training film for aspiring Spies? It's certainly a cut above your typical Army instructional film.
The man at around 1:37 looks like James Gregory who people will likely know as Deputy Inspector Frank Luger from "Barney Miller." This isn't listed on his IMDb page, though, so might not be him.
My father worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad for fifty years he was a passenger conductor on the Congressional Limited when he retired in 1954. He met so many interesting people including JFK on his early run to Washington on I believe was the Senator which had cars originating in Boston. He was on a first name bases with the then senator I have a personal note sent to my father sighed by JFK .
The number of people that got off and then on the train at Newark Penn was amazing. Interestingly, all of the people were white. The film has a weird vibe.
@@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo Way better than my old eyes saw. I've seen some films shot in Newark streets in the 1920s that were very different from today's Newark. The streets were very busy with pedestrians and vehicles. Very different from today. See below. Go to 10:16 Check Broad & Market today. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B_xNuX3A6Zg.html
The Pullman porters were all black. Most of the dining car staff was black too. In the kitchens and serving the food. But I will admit, you never saw black conductors or trainmen. Nor did you ever see females in those jobs years ago. Women didn't drive buses or trucks either, years ago. Nor did they operate subway trains or streetcars {except during WWII }. I rode first class, named trains all over North America {including Canada} back in those days.
