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Buses in "Honeymooners" movie/1950's TV show
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

....on a somewhat related note, in the "BROOKLYN COOKBOOK" (Stallworth/Kennedy) there is an enticing recipe for "NEOPOLITAN KNOCKWURST", submitted by a member of "RALPH" (it certainly sounds good!) Wink

There is also mention of the original Kramden kitchen set (complete with the old icebox and Alice's circa-1922 gas stove!) that was purchased at a collectible show, back in the 80's, for $1500; "RALPH" then loaned the iconic kitchen set to the Brooklyn Historical Society.

According to the cookbook, this iconic dish was served up at the first RALPH convention in 1984......needless to say, there were NO leftovers.......(!!) Shocked

"NYO"


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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Speaking of a certain Mr. Kramden....... Wink

Given the marvelous examples of "photo shopping" these days, it would be neat to have someone create a "Ralph Kramden Bus Scrapbook", showing Ralph posing with the various buses he drove over the years, starting with the first, circa-1940.

Sometimes I like to imagine Ralph driving a MaBSTOA route until he retired; other times, I picture him driving a "Tee-Yay" route in his later years.

Imagine Ralph behind the wheel of a "Batwing" Fishbowl........ Wink

"NYO"
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traildriver




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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NYO--

He wasn't 'Ralph', but Robert DeNiro played a pretty good bus driver, in the film, "A Bronx Tale", driving both Old and New Looks, as the film progressed thru time...
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

traildriver wrote:
NYO--

He wasn't 'Ralph', but Robert DeNiro played a pretty good bus driver, in the film, "A Bronx Tale", driving both Old and New Looks, as the film progressed thru time...


Agreed! Wink

Robert De Niro's character, behind the wheel, gave an excellent little "trip through time", starting about 1960, and advancing into the later 60's; that would have been right about the time when the remaining Old Looks were indeed in their twilight years, just prior to 1970......

"NYO"


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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

....given the fact that a certain (fictitious!) bus driver by the name of Ralph once drove for the (fictitious!) MADISON AVENUE BUS COMPANY, we also think of how much of his (fictitious!) company was based on reality? (we've mentioned NYO several times!)

And, was the illustrious "Mr. Marshall" based on a certain real-life "Mr. John E. McCarthy"? Wink

In the "Classic 39" we seldom hear of just how Ralph commuted to and from work in Manhattan; I'm wagering it was via the BMT, with, possibly, a transfer at some point to the IND.......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just learned that the sweet Joyce Randolph ("Trixie Norton") has passed away at age 99; she was the last of the cast of that certain iconic 1950s show where she played the wife of the none-too-sharp sewer worker Ed Norton-whose best pal-of course-was the brash and bulky "Ralph"-who sat behind the wheel of a "Noo Yawk" bus for years; RIP "Trix"-and thanks for all the laughs! Very Happy "NYO"
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

She sure lived a very long life. I'd met her a couple times at Honeymooners conventions in the mid-1980's; she was the only one of the "Core Four" of that "Classic 39" cast to have even shown up. She was definitely gracious and classy. (F.T.R., I'd come to the conventions dressed up as Norton, such was my physique in those days. Now, if I were to do so, I'd still do it - given how, by the late '60's, Carney piled on the pounds to the point that by 1969-70 he was actually heavier than Gleason (who'd lost a good deal of weight in-between seasons).
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

WB: Indeed you were QUITE fortunate to speak to the always perky "Trixie"; Your's Truly always said he was going to join "RALPH" but-sadly-did not get around to it; Joyce's passing indeed brought about the end of an era for certain (next year it will be 70 YEARS since the show first aired!) Shocked Your's Truly's late brother (like this fellow) was always a die-hard fan; NO WAY could I possibly grow tired of watching the show on disc! Wink Your's Truly's phyqique (what there is of it) has leaned towards "Norton" for decades Rolling Eyes "Trix" was indeed a true "Noo Yawk" gal and I know her passing is being felt by legions of fans------i Crying or Very sad "NYO"

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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 10:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

WB: What "Tee-Yay" bus routes ran in the Chauncey Street area-circa 1955? Did PCC's run anywhere near? I would think that the "Brooklyn Battleships"("Standards") also ran through the neighborhood-back then--------"NYO"
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 10:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
WB: What "Tee-Yay" bus routes ran in the Chauncey Street area-circa 1955? Did PCC's run anywhere near? I would think that the "Brooklyn Battleships"("Standards") also ran through the neighborhood-back then--------"NYO"

I know one around the area if not from a distance would have been the 46 Utica-Reid.

But it had also been revealed in recent years that Audrey Meadows (a.k.a. Alice), in terms of birth, was every bit as much "Noo Yawk" as Gleason himself, despite her parents at the time being missionaries in China (and sister Jayne being born there); at the time she was born, they were visiting the States. This would thus make, in the long history of "The Honeymooners," British-born Sheila MacRae (who played Mrs. Kramden between 1966 and 1973) to be the only foreign-born of the cast members that trudged through over the decades.
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 12:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

WB: I always thought that Shelia was up against odds when she played "Alice" in the later color episodes; how could she possibly portray the "always-quick-with-a-zinger"/"long-suffering" Brooklyn housewife "Alice" when in the shadow of Audrey? But-as we fans all know-she took the character of "Alice" and adapted her to her own "style"--------We always greatly enjoyed the color "core four" in the later 1960s (recall the songs were written by "The Great One"!) Wink Brooklyn 1955: The R-16s were the "new kids on the block"-as were the R-17's; Old Looks and "Pattons" ruled Brooklyn's streets (there were still TWIN "Oddballs" around)-plus-there were still PCC's running-as well as trolley buses and a couple of the old Els----recall also that Audrey's sister Jayne was the wife of a certain fellow whose own popular show was sponsored by "Greyhound"! Very Happy (Audrey and Jayne were also close pals with Lucille Ball); too-in 1955-you still had FACCo/FACL Old Looks and "Pattons" on the job-and the trolleys of the QBRy were still in operation-----------and-by 1955-the last double-deckers had then been gone for only two years---------"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2024 12:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had Ralph started out "behind the wheel" in 1940-and he retired after 30 years in 1970-would he be piloting a "bullet" Fishbowl or a "Dangerfield"-or-perhaps an "about-to-be-retired" TDH-5106 (with the front sign that sticks out)? Ralph would been long retired before the first RTS (aka "Torpedos") began running--------"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2024 12:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's also interesting when you think of a "NYO" bus being used in all of the publicity shots featuring the "Core Four" and NOT a FACCo/FACL bus; this is interesting also when you consider that Ralph certainly did NOT pilot an "NYO" bus! Wink It is also interesting to think of Ralph-with his lengthy seniority-in later years-bidding of different runs-----what route would Ralph choose that was less "strenouous" than his original run? Would Ralph's seniority also entitled to get first crack on a "Jetson" Fishbowl----or a "Dangefield"--------when buses of this type began enterring the fleet? "NYO"
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2024 3:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
It's also interesting when you think of a "NYO" bus being used in all of the publicity shots featuring the "Core Four" and NOT a FACCo/FACL bus; this is interesting also when you consider that Ralph certainly did NOT pilot an "NYO" bus! Wink It is also interesting to think of Ralph-with his lengthy seniority-in later years-bidding of different runs-----what route would Ralph choose that was less "strenouous" than his original run? Would Ralph's seniority also entitled to get first crack on a "Jetson" Fishbowl----or a "Dangefield"--------when buses of this type began enterring the fleet? "NYO"

If that "Core Four" publicity photo had been taken just a year later, that bus they were in WOULD have been FACL. Remember . . . the New York City Omnibus Corporation, as an overall entity (as opposed to the division among whose routes were Madison Avenue), officially changed its name to Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc., on June 1, 1956, while the first-run original run of the "Classic 39" shows was winding down. But it also emphasizes just how much the fictitious Gotham Bus Company for whom Ralph drove his bus was a thinly-disguised NYCO, given how his regular route was up and down Madison Avenue.

Incidentally, that bus was among those retired and then scrapped after the 480 A/C batwing "Bullets" for " 'stoa" arrived in early 1967. The "2969" paraded around during bus exhibitions for the last 40 years was and is an impostor, a dressed-up "Bee O'Tee" 5101 bus #4789 - built two years before THE bus the "Core Four" were in.

But yeah, Ralph may well have been on the "ground floor" so to speak in terms of "briving a dus" if that "dus" were the first of the "Shermans." Maybe, earlier in his career, a Yellow 740 or two.

Incidentally, there are now on eBay 1969-70 examples of student bus passes of " 'stoa" compartmentalized among "former New York City Omnibus lines" and "former Fifth Avenue lines." I may, in the past, have also seen on eBay passes that mentioned "former Surface Transit lines." Evidently this preceded the circa 1973 reorganization into Manhattan and Bronx divisions.

Passing through WorthPoint, I saw a pic of a green " 'stoa" bus on M101 traveling around the City Hall area. Opposite was a newly painted white and dark blue bus (the predecessor to the "ice cream dip" paint scheme). Imagine my shock when I saw the photo was dated 1978. Apparently some of the 100th Street lot were still green as of '78. But that would likely have been the cutoff for the last of the '60's " 'stoa" fleet to retain their original colors.
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2024 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

WB: Another EXCELLENT post----loaded with great historical "tidbits"-----thanks for sharing! Wink If indeed "NYO" was a thinly-disguised "alter ego" for the operation where Ralph "bribes a dus"-this operation was indeed a"big city"operation-by early 1951 "NYO" rostered nearly a thousand buses (newest were the 360 TDH-4509s) running out of four garages (19 routes)-----the oldest buses-the YELLOW 718s and rebuilt 740s-were assigned (as you know) to the downtown crosstown routes-while the newer 4509s held down the "posh" runs (so-it appears-that the 4509s were the last buses purchased by "NYO" while still an 'independent")--------"NYO"
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