JF Ptak Science Books Post 2821
New York Behind the Scenes, Uncensored--the UNofficial Guide Book the Real Low-Down on the Things You Want to Know (1938), certainly lived up to its name, especially at the cover price of two bits. Lee Mortimer (the author of Washington Confidential and other such works) promised inside dope on "Night Life, Rackets, Free Fun, Chorines, Celebrities, How to Tip & 1000 Others", and delivered on a number of them, though "1000" is a bit of an exaggeration in the 66-page pamphlet. [A "Chorine" by the way is a chorus girl.]
Found here are guides to theaters, movies, beaches, hotel, taxis, buses, nude shows, gambling, and that sort--there's also info on public rest rooms, also where to drink, find free dancing, how to talk to people, what to wear, and so on.
Also there are boxed pearls sprinkled throughout the publication, like: "How to Meet a Young Lady: visit a taxi dance hall, dance with a dime-a-dance girl' and following several other useful find-a-date bits, including the ancient "take your dog for a walk", a la 101 Dalmations.
And there are also the bon mots salted hither and yon like Patrick Star's Spongebobian sentence enhancers: "Pets: New York may not be a place for children, but for dogs its a paradise".
There's also a collection of "does and don'ts" though mainly don'ts: "DON'T swim in the Hudson River below the NYC line..." and "don't light a match to read your (theater) program, it may cause a fore and panic"; "You'll see the prettiest bathing girls at Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn" (where my mother used to go at about this time) among them.
And then there's just flat-out statements like "New York emphatically is not a children's town" and "If strange men or women come to you with offers of jobs in New York, call the police immediately". Welcome to new York!
Second only to the what-to-tip pages is the low numbers for New York license plates, which I've got to say I've never seen before. I like that Fiorello Laguardia's plate was "NYC", and that Ed Wynn's was "YY2", Walter Winchell's was "WW1", and for some reason FDR was "3". (Numbers 1, 2, and 16 were reserved for the governor, Herbert Lehman...I think I'd have to give the president the tag "1+".)
There is lot of info about neighborhoods in the city, though I wonder now how good the info is. (For example "Harlem, as night Mecca for New Yorkers, went into a decline immediately following the repeal...today, Harlem's clubs are patronized by local colored folk and by jaded down-towners who have nothing else to do", which seems a bit sniffy and stiff).
In the nude/amusement pages we see how relatively expensive it was to attend one of these venues--in addition to standard entrance fees, drink costs, and show and food charges, there was the tipping of the waiters (10%), headwaiters ($1-$10 for a good table), cigarette girl (20-25 cents), hatcheck girl (20-25 cents), wash room attendant (25 cents), and the doorman (25 cents to put you ion the cab). Don't forget the cabbie (10%), the doorman at your hotel (25 cents), and the elevator man (10 cents). I guess it added up...
Anyway what I wanted to share here was the tip chart, in case anyone is writing about social NYC in 1938 and needed some good stinking detail:
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