BusTalk

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

I've read that Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy") and her publisher husband maintained an apartment on "upper 5th Avenue" to at least 1970.

They would have seen FACL and MaBSTOA buses passing by their door.

Lucille Ball, after her divorce from Desi, maintained a high-rise apartment on Lexington Avenue (the Imperial House, on 69th St.); this would have put her right atop the IRT Lexington Avenue East Side line (recall, the "Lex" figured prominently in the classic 1957 "Lucy" episode, "Lucy & The Loving Cup".

Recall, also, The Ricardo's fictitious address "623 E. 68th St."(!)

In one "Lucy" episode, Ricky talked about the difference between Fifth Avenue buses:

"...one's a 'lakahl" and the other one's a " 'spress".......

"NYO"

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

You've got it; Lucy was then appearing in "Wildcat"; this was, of course, after both "I Love Lucy" and "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour".

I always thought it ironic that, in the "Lucy" episode where Lucy's eccentric and wonderfully ditzy mom ("Mrs. McGillicuddy") arrives prior to the Ricardos and the Mertzes leaving for Hollywood, and says: "the bus dropped me off right at the door".

Lucy: "Wait a minute, Mother, the bus doesn't come down this street."

Fast-forward several years to the classic "Lucy Meets Superman" episode (1957), where we see Lucy out on the third floor ledge "masquerading" as The Man Of Steel; when she looks down (stock footage used here) we see an Old Look stopping right downstairs!

(guess a route change had taken place since Mrs. McGillicuddy's visit, several years back!)

"NYO"

["RIDE THE SURFACE WAY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a still from the "Lucy Meets Superman" episode, showing the aforementined Old Look.......

https://pics.imcdb.org/11730/vlcsnap-2013-04-18-14h38m00s62.jpg

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

And...while on "I Love Lucy", the 1957 episode "LUCY & THE LOVING CUP" has Lucy and Ethel aboard a downtown IRT Lexington Avenue train, heading for Bleeker St.

The car interior was clearly a melange of IND "Arnine" and BMT "Standard", and the destination sign boxes were nothing like those used in New York; however, the overall "feel" was authentic "Noo Yawk".

Stock footage included "Arnines" on the "AA" (used in "PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET", and, also, the classic Superman episode "A SHOT IN THE DARK")

There were also stock footage clips of Lo-V's and R-12/14's (this last clip had the film negative backwards!)

Oddly, no BMT footage was used for this episode.......

"NYO"

["LEXINGTON AVENUE LOCAL"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

...........am curious to learn if the very earliest "Noo Yawk" Fishbowls ("Tee-Yay"/FACL/ST) had upholstered seating when new, or were they equipped with plastic/fiberglass seating as delivered?

I know that the "Tee-Yay" subway cars were being delivered with "hard seats" beginning in the late 1950's (if I am correct, the last subway cars to be delivered with upholstered seating were the BMT R-16's and the IRT R-17's)

Appreciate info....

"NYO"

["NYCTA"]

[traildriver]

My memory is not that sharp, but IIRC, the last of the TA "Old Looks" came with the hard seats. With the rear seats in a semi-circle, and the push to open rear door. On the other hand, Queens Transit definitely had upholstered seats in their first Fishbowls...

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Ahh, I see I was leaning in the right direction, regarding the original seating on the FACL/ST Fishbowls.

Recall, too, the R10/12/14's.....these cars were the very last to sport anything close to "true" rattan (these seats had the narrow green stripes in the material)

Here in "Joisey", any older buses that had upholstered seating when new retained them throughout their service lives.

However, I DO recall a number of Fishbowls having plastic seating....

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"Tee-Yay" era fiberglass seating.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155306

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155936

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155935 *

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY"]

*This photo shows the upholstered "U"-contoured seating in restored Old Look #3100 for contrast.......

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Fiberglass seating underground, "Tee-Yay" era (R-22/R-30)......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?3317

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?4679

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["LEXINGTON AVE EXP"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

........one group of Fishbowls that i can clearly remember carrying upholstered seating up until retirement were the ex-PSNJ/TNJ Z-300 series.

I rode these buses for many years (through the 1980's), and, after I began working in lower Manhattan in early 1979, virtually every day for long periods.

Too, I also recall plastic (pink) seating in the ex-ORANGE & BLACK "semi-suburban" Fishbowls; plastic seating was also common on many NHBL Fishbowls.

Strange, that (depending on routes used) METROS* had both hard plastic and upholstered (high back) seating.

NJT's articulateds through the years also had both hard and soft seating; MCI's, of course, have always had upholstered seating.

It would seem that (at least to me) that the "comfort factor" was (and still is) important on the "suburban" commuter runs.

*Way, way ack in my commuting days, I remember ACADEMY's #3200-series METROS having high-back, upholstered seating (on the "BOULEVARD EAST" rush-hour only runs) while those on the "#22 HILLSIDE" had hard seating.......

"NYO"

["22 HILLSIDE"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

.....seriously, it is VERY sobering, indeed, when one remembers that upholstered seating was "standard" in public transit vehicles for many decades (this, of course, does not include those streetcars and elevated cars that had wooden seats for their entire service lives), and then, one sad day, crime and vandalism became so rampant, commonplace that such comfortable seating had to disappear.

Who's in charge, here, anyway?

"NYO"