Horses
Robert Osborne said at the beginning (on TCM) that you could see what NY looked like 59 years ago. Were there still horse carts in the street in 1948? When did the horse stop doing deliveries in NYC?
shareI am a native New Yorker (as were both of my parents) born in 1953, six years after the film was completed. I have memories of a junkman and a cutlery sharpener having their carts pulled by horses. This was on the "Upper East Side" (if that means anything to anyone) before it became the "UPPER EAST SIDE." We still had an elevated subway and a brewery in the neighborhood.
I miss that New York.
I'm just a casual viewer from Belgium and I was wondering the same thing when the horse-cart passed by. Great movie. What happened to the tennis courts next to the bridge?
shareGrowing up in Chicago during the 40's and 50's was probably very similiar to growing up in New York with a few exceptions.
I can recall the Ragmen on their wagons being pulled by several horse's yelling Rags For Sale, also the fruit peddlers using similiar wagons being pulled by horses. Sissor shapeners would come down the street pulling/pushing a big 2 wheeled cart with bid shapening wheels on it, they had a melodic ding/dong bell sound when coming down the street.
The metal street car rails in the pavement, in the summer all of the kids opening up the fire hydrants allowing the cool cool water to cascade out of the hydrants onto them and unsuspecting motorists passing by. Even though my eyes saw all the things in color back then, they still come back in my memory in black and white images.....Wish I could re-visit those times again...
The streets and neighborhoods of Chicago, as I am sure as in New York had a "certain" friendly smell to them. People were of course much more friendly, life was simplier back then. Each street had it's old buildings, corner stores, selling dry goods, mom and pop grocery/delicatessen's. The neighborhood taverns, which had a musty alcohol smell eminating from them.
Your neighbor's would report to your mom and dad if you misbehaved, sometimes even giving you a slight but gentle kick in the behind. One had to be home when the streetlights came on a dusk. When you wanted to play with your friends, you stood out in front of their house and yelled "Yo Ted, Yo Earnie"
These are the images I think of when I see the old film noir movies like The Naked Gun. The street scene's in this movie are PRICELESS. Sadly those days and people are gone and soon those from my generation will be gone, but these movies will live forver, and will always keep the images of this period of time available to all. I just had to buy the DVD of this movie. Thank you for this opportunity to write these memories.
We used to have peddlars (knife and scissor sharpeners, for example)passing through streets in Brooklyn and Queens, with their cart pulled by a horse, in the 1960s. Not at all so common, as they'd draw a small crowd of us kids if it happened to be a summer or non-school day. You'd hear the slow jingle-jangle of the bell perched atop the cart as the horse slowly made his way down the block.
The tennis courts are still there, covered over by tents nowadays, so they can be utilized 24 hours a day/365 days a year.
In Toronto suburb we have an old guy in a panel van driving slowly around the neighborhood jangling his bell, grinding wheel setup out the back door. I guess he remembers the old days (must have been a common trade everywhere) and it's something to do in retirement.
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