Driving Around New York City

[Carlisle Blues]

This clip was dated 1928. The taxi is driven by Harold Lloyd. The stress (here caused by watching Harold and others careen down the street), and the volume of traffic will be familiar to the modern viewer. Moreover, Babe Ruth took a perilous ride, as well. You can see Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and Yankee Stadium.

The driving is much like the way I drive today in New York City so that has not changed. This is so much like my New York..

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[Dr Doran]

Fantastic!

 

[John in Covina]

I can't access the clip at this time but I can sure imagine.

Driving in NYC and many other urban canyons takes on a style of its own. Politeness is nearly exterminated and all manuvers are based on a balance of opportunity and bravado. Turn signals are used as a warning, diversion and or to confuse your opponents. Having driven a number of times in NYC and whenever I drive in downtown LA I revert to the NYC methods within minutes.

Many taxicab rides in NYC are closely related to real life bumpercars, I have been in the cab when sideswiped, hit nudged and bumped, no one ever stops to observe any niceties of the legalities, the object is to get where you're going in the shortest posible time without much bloodshed.

Hey I'm walkin' here!

 

[Tomasso]

Navigating Manhattan is a piece of cake as long as you can handle the frikkin Potholes!!!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Okay, somebody should point out that this mash-up includes sequences from two of Harold Lloyd's films:

The taxi and horsecar sequences are from Speedy (1928), which included location shooting in NYC. This was nearly unheard of at that time for a Hollywood-based film, but Lloyd was a huge moneymaker and he had the clout to make it happen. The horsecar's crash into the pylon was accidental, but was left in the film (in the next shot, Harold manages to quickly repair the car and continues his frenzied ride.) Some of the pickup shots in the sequence that don't feature famous NYC locales look alot more like LA than Manhattan.

The double-decker bus sequence is from For Heaven's Sake (1926), and was shot in LA.

Somebody should also point out that all the Lloyd sequences are vastly more entertaining in the context of their original films than in this silly thing...

 

[Carlisle Blues]

^^

Looks like you did..... But I think you missed the point of the clip. It is about driving in New York. It is a simple compilation to be enjoyed not a discourse on Harold Lloyd. However since you mention it, Even New Yorkers were impressed when Harold Lloyd shot a movie in their town. Speedy was filmed on location, with the Californian comedian using New York actors and landmarks in nearly every scene.

Lloyd’s cameras caught the city in one of its heydays. Speedy’s New York is attitude in motion, busy and gutsy. You’ll see the real Babe Ruth; Yankee Stadium, Coney Island and the subway, all as they looked in 1928. Some of the public scenes were filmed with hidden cameras, meaning the people you’re seeing and the fashions they’re wearing are real, too. Despite being a comedy (and often a broad, physical comedy) Speedy stylizes none of its surroundings—the city is vibrant enough to carry itself.

It also appers that the wonderful scene of Harold Lloyd driving Babe Ruth in his cab takes place first driving uptown on 5th Ave, with its traffic cop towers, in the 40s (5th used to be a two way street in those days!) And then cut to driving uptown on Amsterdam Avenue, in the low 80s, with its trolley tracks down the center of the Avenue. In the distance on the right you can see the church on the northeast corner of Amsterdam & 86th, and on the left, the Belnord Apartments on the northwest corner of Amsterdam & 86th.

I am loving the scenes from New York specifically Greenwich Village. In fact, what this small clip has done was spark some great memories for me regarding The Village and those who have gone to the same cafe I have frequented Cafe' Reggio.

Further, Cafe Reggio opened in 1927 and held the minds of Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel. It sits moments away from Washington Square Park. Sometimes Simon and Garfunkel played in Washington Square Park.

Point being, you may be factually correct, however, the spirit in which this clip is offered is in the mind of the beholder. I was reminded of the romance, the promise and the excitement that this part of New York has always held for me.

Not only did the clip supply a historical image of what was it provided continuum, a living history on what is reflected through today.

The clip did what it was supposed to for me.....


From film: Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976) - taken in 1975

John Huston

Niso Cavallacci - second owner of Caffe Reggio - 1963

Al Pacino at Caffe Reggio - 1989

1940-1941 Poet Kenneth , Anais Nin, unidentified person, Virginia Admiral

 

[Doctor Strange]

Okay, whatever. Excuse my protectiveness of Harold Lloyd - I hate seeing classic film moments repurposed without proper credit being given.

And I've logged a fair amount of time driving in New York myself over the last 35 years: while it can be a nightmare, it's not always like this...

I've been to Cafe Reggio too (I worked right around the corner for a few years). A classic place - you half expect to see Don Finucci looking under his hat at the next table!

 

[Jerekson]

Fantastic footage!

Maybe it's just the glasses, but that taxi driver reminds me a heck of a lot of our own Matt Deckard.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

These are photos of both cars and people used in the aforementioned treasure. It is believed that some of the following were candid shots of everyday people, some were of actors and some were background photos.

Two Packard's Both Twin Sixes - maybe as late as 1922.

1927 Indian Chief

Class: Bus, Single-deck

 

[Carlisle Blues]

1921-1925 Yellow Cab Model O-4

1927-1928 Yellow Cab Model O-6

Another early 1920's taxi

 

[The3RDMan]

Just Loooove Those Running Boards...!

High on my Bucket List is riding a beauty like this on the outside just like Doc himself did in NYC !

What a thrill that must be...especially the ride downtown after the cops put me away (!)

 

[Shangas]

I happen to know the fellow who created that YT video; he's a member of another forum that I'm a member of (Radio Dismuke forum, if anyone's wondering). He has a lot of videos on his YouTube channel about the 1920s and 30s. All of them a total joy to watch.

 

[Flivver]

Thanks for posting that great clip, Carlisle, and the stills from it. Thoroughly enjoyable!

If anybody cares, the double-decker bus at the end of the video is a Fageol Safety Coach that Lloyd borrowed from the Los Angeles Street Railway. It's not a movie prop, just a regular city bus taken out of service for the movie.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

^^
This is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mario]

Does anyone here know the name of the second tune in the clip (starting at 0:16)? I really love the melody and just had to transcribe it, but I have no name for it.

 

[Story]

The city’s oldest hack is Johnnie “Spider” Footman, a cigar-munching 92-year-old from Harlem who’s been on the job since Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House. * In 1945 he decided to get his license, first to drive a Checker, then a DeSoto Skyview.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/rollin_through_the_decades_XPTXNm7bf3VPq6ibqCM1tM#ixzz1qt0JetyP