bill pritchett Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 I found this on YouTube. Enjoy the old cars. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Great video. The best part for me was from 4:00 to 4:40 with the rich family in the car driven by the black chauffeur. The little girl in the front seat didn't look like she was enjoying the ride at all. Thanks for posting it.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S. Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Thank you for posting the video, bill. Lots of great shots of the Elevated trains, the Staten Island Ferry., horse drawn wagons, and cars. Streets look a lot cleaner in 1911 than they do now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Cool video. Did you notice all the hats everyone is wearing. Fast forward 100 years and all them hats are now cell phones. Everyone has one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keninman Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 I am really dubious about this being actual footage shot in 1911. I am skeptical of the high quality and there is no flicker of the hand cranked cameras of the day. It seems unlikely that even with modern technology you could not overcome all of the deficiencies of that era not to mention a 100 years of degradation of the film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Somewhere in that crowd was George Burns trying to break into vaudeville. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV Puleo Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 (edited) On 8/15/2019 at 10:05 PM, keninman said: I am really dubious about this being actual footage shot in 1911. I am skeptical of the high quality and there is no flicker of the hand cranked cameras of the day. It seems unlikely that even with modern technology you could not overcome all of the deficiencies of that era not to mention a 100 years of degradation of the film. Well, then when do you think it was? 1912? There are far too many details in that short film for it to be anything but from the period... do you think someone made a fake New York City and hired hundreds of actors - not to mention things like the steam tugs and horse drawn conveyances – in order to shoot a 5 minute black & white video? Look up the recent British film "They Shall Not Grow Old"... 100% original footage of WWI from the Imperial War Museum. It is simply astonishing how the speed and lighting was corrected. Edited August 17, 2019 by JV Puleo typo (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 How did those people survive? There was not one warning sign not to cross in front of traffic, no guard rails protecting people from trains, not even a stop sign to guide traffic! Oh, wait a minute, there was common sense, something that is lacking today. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 (edited) It certainly was an interesting film, and thank you for sharing it. One has to remember that all of the sound--the hoof-claps, the horns, the whistles and bells--is entirely a newer addition, since film was silent in those days. Thankfully, the title of the video makes that clear. One man, writing in the 1890's in The Horseless Age, called that period The Age of Noise. All of the carriages and wagons with grating steel tires, ball-bearingless axles, horses' iron-shod hooves, etc. made a lot of dissonance. He felt that the advent of the automobile, with its pneumatic tires and ball bearings, would quiet things down a bit. Edited August 16, 2019 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1912Staver Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 One other observation, only indirectly automobile related. Notice there are very few overweight people. Most regardless of age are reasonably slim. More exercise and less junk food in this age ? Greg in Canada 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Moskowitz Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 As far as the quality of the film , it was probably restored and digitized. Our library is able to take period films and put them in digital format and they look great. I am sure the film is authentic. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 13 hours ago, keninman said: I am really dubious about this being actual footage shot in 1911. It's certainly a film of good (and improved) quality. But it is definitely authentic, Ken. I see buildings there that haven't been around for many decades--and none of the tall modern buildings that have lined so many of the streets in the last 50 years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Being from the Museum of Modern Art, one can bet it was restored and digitized to the best standards to the point of perhaps making it appear 'unauthentic' to some. And they would not lie about its age. Craig 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 14 hours ago, JV Puleo said: Well, then when do you think it was? 1912? There are far too many details in that short film for it to be anything but from the period... do you think someone made a fake New York City and hired hunderes of actors - not to mention things like the steam tugs and horse drawn conveyances – in order to shoot a 5 minute black & white video? Good one! How many MILLIONS would it have cost a film producer for NYC to close the Brooklyn Bridge to traffic, install rails with operating streetcars and add some horse-drawn wagons to the mix? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LI_BENTLEY Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 The car with the no. plate on radiator shows a 1912 plate film made up out of many clips of era notice the two men eyeballing the ladies crossing the street 3/4 way in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzcarnerd Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Note the mechanism of the paddle wheeler right near the end. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill pritchett Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 I don't think this was taken by the same people who faked the lunar landing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locomobile Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 (edited) 13 hours ago, Roger Walling said: How did those people survive? There was not one warning sign not to cross in front of traffic, no guard rails protecting people from trains, not even a stop sign to guide traffic! They often didn't, fatalities from train and car collisions at crossing was almost a daily occurrence back then, pedestrians too. Even today there are about a thousand people per year that get killed by trains. Study old traffic laws, Most cities and states, Cars were required to stop at every cross road and alert any on coming cars to their crossing, fire a gun, yell loudly etc. There were no stop signs because the driver was supposed to stop anyway. Cities became jammed and that was the introduction of the traffic cop at the intersection to keep the traffic moving. Then someone invented the multi color stop lamp. I think the first ones were Green and red only. A green "Proceed" and a red "Stop", the traffic officer stood on the corner and operated it. Then someone invented the automatic control for it and added the yellow. Most cities had speed limits of 10-12 miles per hour, anything over 15 mph was considered "furious driving" There is a DVD video that is/was available on Amazon (Was on Netflix too) called "Merrily we roll along" that covers the early motor car, made back in the early 60's and narrated by of all people, Groucho Marx. It is a good comprehensive look at the early motor car and how the people of the day resisted it's introduction. It's on YouTube: Part 1 -Ron Edited August 17, 2019 by Locomobile (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locomobile Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 5 hours ago, bill pritchett said: I don't think this was taken by the same people who faked the lunar landing. I like how they faked installing and focusing that reflector on the surface of the moon during one of those fake moonwalks so we could shoot a laser from earth and have it bounce back to measure and monitor the distance the moon is from earth. It is still used to this day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Dobbin Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Yes the film was very clear as the Jay Walking was too. Al the people walking in the street would never happen in todays traffic. Also I was suprised to so many closed cars for 1911. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 On 8/16/2019 at 11:12 AM, 1912Staver said: Notice there are very few overweight people. Most regardless of age are reasonably slim. More exercise and less junk food in this age ? No McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Arby's, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, Wendy's, KFC, Papa John's, Dominos, Jack in the Box, etc.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broker-len Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 THANK YOU----------------------for posting this----------------I remember when I was a kit watching our TV with rabbit ears loved this piece the magic that Gouchoo marx brings to the dialog some where I have it on real to real magnetic tape Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jubilee Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 On 8/16/2019 at 9:12 AM, 1912Staver said: One other observation, only indirectly automobile related. Notice there are very few overweight people. Most regardless of age are reasonably slim. More exercise and less junk food in this age ? Greg in Canada My Dad was born in 1900. He use to tell me in his younger days overweight people were an oddity. Children were scolded for staring. He passed in 1993. I wonder what he think of the weight of the population now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ply33 Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 1 hour ago, Jubilee said: My Dad was born in 1900. He use to tell me in his younger days overweight people were an oddity. Children were scolded for staring. He passed in 1993. I wonder what he think of the weight of the population now. Not just 1900s. Prior to retirement I'd usually take a couple mile lunch time walk near work that took me past an elementary school. I noticed that the average weight child on the playground was as heavy as the "fat kid" that got teased/hassled when I was that same age back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Too much junk/fast food and too little exercise nowadays for the average child. Strike that "average child" and make it the "average person". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now