A TRAVELLER’S NOTE BOOK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19202, 19 June 1924, Page 8

A TRAVELLER’S NOTE BOOK.

By Sm Geohge Fenwick.

No. NIL NEW YOKE CITY.

I have written about New York from the sUuuponu o. us sqnendid buuaings, mo vast iralhe v.bicn crowds its sums, ana lue cnorls Uxat are being made lu lelievc tue congestion m one or two ui tiio crowded parts. liut tue great "city bas most interesting aspects Dcyouu ll.eso —aspects wiucn the student ol human nature must ponder over u he is to look beneath the seriate of the teeming life of the city’s busy “up town ’ streets, ft is a city of gloat contrasts, lor, like ad the ocher big cities of tue world, it has areas where uumanity ot the poorer and more sordid type lues out its cheerless life, just as it has the splendid residences of the wealthy and of the other votaries of pleasure "whose butterfly existence cnecxs and deadens the love of a more reasoning and reasonable manner of living. And it has, too, its lull quota of the cultured men and women who are to be lound in duo proportion among all civilised peoples, its no less adequate share of the busy commercial and professional men who are not entirely absorbed m money-making, but find time to piay their ’part and take their share in things that make lor the betterment of the city of which they are so justifiably proud. suitably accredited visitor meets with many of such men and of the women who preside over their households, speak from a happy personal experience of much genuine hospitality extended to my wife and myself, much pleasant companionship and many courtesies of which we were the recipients, and wliich we slrall long bear in grateful remembrance. Under pleasant guidance we were motorea to most places of interest.—to the great buildings of the city, including a visit to the top of the Wooiworth building, concerning which 1 have already penned some notes, to Brooklyn, across the famous biidge, to Jersey City, to New York's fine central park and the- .Riverside Drive, and notably to a memorable automobile drive to view the palisades of the Hudson, and thence onwards to the Storm Ring heights, where close to the edge of the historical river, and elevated far above its waters, we had an inspiring view of river and mountain and picturesque homes in the distance. We reached a spot in this drive about 75 miles from our starling point—Half Moon, so-called —where at a quaint little house of entertainment we partook of the daintiest lunch prepared by a master in the art which Tv). Soyer did so much in days gone by to bring to perfection. Not the least interesting incident of this long drive was a visit to uew Yorks great prison, Sing Sing, situated cm the banks ot the river, where large additions were being built to admit of separate accommodation being provided for those inmates who are of a sub-normal type rather than that of the professional criminal. And the return journey—how it is enshrined in memory with that of the outward trip, passing as we did hundreds of homes of the wealthy, picturesquely situated in their beautiful grounds, through towns and villages—houses, houses, everywhere on our route, practically making one unbroken extension of the great city. Our host on this occasion was Mr Charles Francis, a one-time resident of Dunedin—in the golden days ol the “sixties,” when he was publisher of Dunedin Punch—to whom wo were indebted for many courtesies during our stay in New York. He has been a resident of the city for about 50 years, and has built up a’ very largo printing business known a.s the Charles Francis Press. After a drive which covered 147 miles, in the course of which we twice crossed the Hudson, we got back to the city just as it was assuming the electric brilliance which fascinates not only the stranger who is paying it a visit, but residents themselves who have occasion to pass through its wonderful thoroughfares at night. And how better can I close this sketchy article than by giving mv readers some idea of the splendid spectacle which some of those streets present after nightfall? For the purpose I draw on an article in the New “York Herald Tribune of April 6. WHEN THE WHITE LIGHT WHEELS GO ROUND. “One night in Hay, 1892,” says the writer, “Now Yorkers stopped to look up with amazement at a large electric sign on the uptown wall of the old Cumberland Hotel, at Twenty-third street and Broadway, where the Flatiron Building now stands. It was the first electric display sign to appear in the city. Sparkling letters had suddenly dashed upon the night, making the following announcement:—‘Manhattan Beach, Swept by Ocean Breezes.’ This sign was the forerunner of the brilliant area we now call the Great White vVay. "To-day the number of people who nightly behold the flashing brilliance of the spectacular electric signs on this famous thoroughfare is well past the million mark. Thousands of foreigners, visiting the United States for the first time, come to Broadway merely to sec the display —merely to read the ads! That is one reason why Wrigley, for instance, is willing to pay £IOB,OOO a year for the maintenance of the most famous sign in the world, the Wrigley Chewing Gum sign, at Forty-fourth street and Broadway. It is 200 ft long and 50ft high. It has peacocks with (ails 60ft long, and a fountain which shoots its jets of radiance 34ft in the air. Its vast importance as a medium of publicity was nationally recognised during the World War. when the United States Government was glad to accept Mr Wrigley’s offer to replace the words “The New Sugar Coated Chewing Gum’ with ‘Buy a Liberty Bond.’ “Gn that night in May, 1892, seated across Hie wax m ids room at lue I mil -avenue Hold, H. J. Heinz gazed thougi.itlully at lac uevv and ingenious sign. Auu not long alterward new Yorkers stood at tbe same spot looking up at auoincr electric sign, and tbe display helped to make xieinz s products now lamoas, not only throughout liie United states, but m the entire world. ■•from this beginning the animated signs originated, resulting in the almost uncanny real/ty achieved in the life-like representations of our present-day illuminated cartoons. "The actual mechanism which creates these dazzling pictures —the motors, automatic contacts, rolls of metal discs and other parts —are inclosed in a metal box situated directly behind the sign. The idea is to hash certain lights on and oil at regular intervals and others in regular sequence, and thus to produce the illusion of animation. The sign is lighted up automatically, and shut oft in the same way. regulated by a time clock. "How to" make the whip snap, the horses gallop, the man raise a cup to his lips and drink his coffee, the smoker indulge in a comfortable puff of his pipe, the° fountain gush, the rain fall—these are ingenious effects which cause you to wonder, but which are simple enough to produce. They are merely results ol scientific sleight, of hand. 'To-day 30,000d0l a year is paid for the electric sign privilege on the top of one of New York's prominent buildings. “Some of the large signs cost as much d .s 15,000d0l and more to erect, with an average maintenance charge of about 15,000 and more to erect, with an average maintenance charge of about 50,000d0l a year. But costly as they are, millions of dollars are invested in this typically American invention, and it would be difficult to estimate the loss to. American business if light permanently went out of electric signs!” * On the night before we left New York we took a green bus on Fifth Avenue, at ‘Sixtieth street, opposite the magnificent Plaza Hotel, and left it at the Wal-dorf-Astoria corner at 34th street. Thence we walked down to Broadway and Times Square. It is here and in the region of the theatres, near 42nd street, where thq most dazzling effects can be seen. Some nights previously, after we had witnessed & performance at.one of the theatres, and

were proceeding to our hotel m a taxi, we found we had emerged into a groat snowfall, and the contrast of the wondcrful lights with the whiteness all around us more subdued ambers and palest blues, with the great mass of pure electric light above that rivalled the snow-dad ground constituted a particularly charming fairyland. On our last night wc devoted our attention to the other attractive display, and it was with difficulty we could leave it in reasonable time, for we wished to have New York at night in all its attractive brilliance as one of the enduring memories of our stay. Next day we steamed away from the pier at which the Celtic had been berthed, and had a fine view of all the mammoth buildings that stretched skywards, of Bartholdc’s great Statue of Liberty, of the ferry boats crossing to Brooklyn and other features of the harbour, and ere the darkness had come down wc had passed Sandy Hook into the great waste of waters which lay between our recent home and our final outward distillation. Suffice it to say that the Atlantic proved itself to ho a considerable ocean, for day after dav we had fine weather and smooth seas, and the Celtic fully maintained her reputation as one of the steadiest of the White Star fleet. The previous articles appeared in our issues of April 19, May 1. May 7, May 12, May 14, May 17. May 24, June 7, June 11, June 13, and June 16.