Color Footage of New York City, 1939

[Gingerella72]

Not sure if this has been posted anywhere yet but found this today on Gawker (of all places). Nice to watch, just wish it were longer.

http://gawker.com/heres-some-extremely-rare-color-footage-of-new-york-ci-510706981

 

[saxismyaxe]

Great footage. I could do without the accompanying hip hop beat version of The Man I Love, but the volume knob took care of that.

 

[Fletch]

Here's the right soundtrack for that clip - same tune by the Benny Goodman 4tet. Makes me wish I'd hit New York then and not 50 years later. Ai, yi yi...nostalgia for what you never knew.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=266P1AXHl9Y

 

[Widebrim]

^^Just saw this today on Youtube. Great footage.

 

[saxismyaxe]

Makes me wish I'd hit New York then and not 50 years later. Ai, yi yi...nostalgia for what you never knew.

I think many of us here would loved to have lived in a previous era.

 

[Fading Fast]

Not sure if this has been posted anywhere yet but found this today on Gawker (of all places). Nice to watch, just wish it were longer.

http://gawker.com/heres-some-extremely-rare-color-footage-of-new-york-ci-510706981

Nice find - thank you for the heads up. There is so much to enjoy here that it will require multiple watchings with much pausing along the way. That said, two quick impressions form my first look were a reminder of how much more dressed everyone was, every where and, seemingly, regardless of social / economic status and, two, how that time was rich in color, which - being a big fan of old movies - I sometimes forget as "that world" has become black and white in my mind. Oh, and the cars were gigantic.

 

[Story]

Good stuff, thanks for posting.

 

[Sloan1874]

Amazing.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

This even made ABC news last night all thou their ham fisted video booth tech totally screwed up when pressing the button to play the file.

 

[Miss Sis]

Thank you for this! I'll be coming back to watch it a few more times.

Funny, there is one lady in a dress that looks very like one I've just bought that is winging it's way to me from America.

 

[Gingerella72]

I had to laugh at one of the comments at the bottom of the page, "Even the fat people were skinny." It's true! Today's average size is so much more bigger than yesterday's "fat person."

 

[Fletch]

The way it was then, nobody, but nobody, was walking around Just A Little Overweight. Food was much more expensive in real terms and the word gluttony had real meaning. It is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, after all, and in everyday life probably ranked well above pride and wrath, which were a lot easier to pass off as piety in a pious age.

 

[Fading Fast]

Growing up in the 60s and 70s when food was still (as it is today) a meaningful part of a family's budget, one sensed that food was much, much more expensive to the average family in the 30s and 40s than in the 60s and 70s. My parents considered just "putting food on the table" to be a measure of success that many (thankfully) of us today don't think of that way. I understand that there are still many in this country who struggle to get enough to eat, but that obesity is a meaningful problem in low-income neighborhoods tells us it is different today. This can be seen in old movies where what appear to be middle class people are concerned about getting enough food and where meat is highly valued. There is a scene in "Holiday Affair" (my favorite under-rated Christmas movie) where Robert Mitchum's character discusses how he buys a piece of meat on Monday (and alludes to it not being a great cut) and manages to make it last all week. Also, how many times is a steak dinner referenced as a big reward or something very special in an old movie; whereas, I don't see that in today's movies. And my grandparents (who had enough money to buy all the food they wanted when I knew them and they were in their 70s) still treated food like gold - discussed it, were proud of having it and viewed offering you a piece of cake as a big treat (my parents didn't explain all the economic and social history to me - as they were from the never-talk / explain / just do as I say school of parenting - but they taught me to show great appreciation to my grandparents when offered, what in my house was, just a normal piece of cake or cookie). I think about this all the time when we hear on the news about obesity being a problem, etc., and it is, but it always reminds me of my parents' and grandparents' views about food.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The most important cultural change between then and now is the idea of eating as something you do *continuously.* Look at any footage like this and tell me how many people you see walking down the street eating or drinking something as you go. You might see the occasional pedestrian with a street-vendor hot dog or something, but the idea of eating being something you do all day, anytime and anywhere didn't exist. Try "dashboard dining" while driving a prewar car and you'll see how ridiculous the whole notion is. Or compare a nickel cup of diner coffee with one of those obscene, syrupy "Venti Triple Mocha" monstrosities you see people lugging around in the streets and you'll see where the fat comes from.

 

[Fading Fast]

LizzieMaine, you are spot on. Continuing with the theme of my parents and grandparents, they ate at set times - breakfast, lunch and dinner - and rarely snacked. My parents never bought food at a movie theatre in part because they "had just had lunch, would be having dinner," etc., (also, not in a million years would they have been willing to pay those inflated prices). And meals, while far from extravagant, had a bit of ceremony or at least structure that many families don't practice anymore. We all sat down at the same time, never had a radio on, and cleaned the kitchen completely before leaving the room; whereas, today, meals in some houses seem unorganized or haphazard with kids coming in and out, TVs and other electronics on and cleanup optional. I think this is, in part, because, eating is, as you so wonderfully put it, "continuous." I'm glad we live in a time when food is much more available and affordable to many, but think we've lost something in how meals are treated.