Document text
Forms to be Filled out for Eaco interview
FORV
Circumstances of Interview
STATE NOW York
NAME OF WOHFEft Marion Charles hatoh
ADURESS 862 First Ave. Now York
DATE Dec. 13, 1936
SUI5JECT HAACIBSt STAiIES, (MIK, INS ALLM3N1.)
1. Date and time c" interview
Tuesday afternoon Deo. 13, 1938
Taxi Drivers Union of Greater New York
Union Siring Hall, 1947 Broadway
2. Place of interview
3. Name and address of informant
Stories by San Tafel, Ruby Moscowits, Max Brand, Jae* Ryan.
4. Name and address of person, if any, woo put ou in
town with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accowpanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundins, etc.
Boileau.* of the circumstances surrounding the collection of these
not, at present, filling out forms B and D.
If stories are published please ohankm names of infurmants.
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
stories I am
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FORM
Text of ItItervlw
STATV Now York
VAF OF WOnhF
Aarion Charles liatoh
(Unedited)
Al)DRE"862 First Ale., seer Took
DATENme 13, 1938
sTTJECTIXKiAl STME:63 fliD& Lh'j -ENT.)
7iT HAPPY APPLE POSER
Told by Max Brand
FOLKLORF
NEw iOR
lohael O'Brian was purked in front of the Hotel Me Alpin. The
doorman oallod him for are. The furu got into his cab and he told him
he vunted to co to Grand Central Station. It vas a poor night for Ulobaul
O'Brien and this fare looked like an apilm pusher (an outwef•towner.) So
MiGhael thoucht that he would take this man for a little sighti.seeing
trip. So ho started to ride him up Park Avonue, over the Queensboro Bridge,
through Long Island, through Brooklyn. Re COMO buck on the Manhattan ;41dge
and when he got him to Grand Central Station the passeni;er got out of his
ear and he aakod him how much vas on the meter.
Michael O'Brien, in the dark, looked at his meter and it registored
$5.70 and that's Wha' he told the passingar expeoting a aqua*. When the
passen,er heard that amount he said, "That's strane. The last time I took
that ride the driver ()barged me
#OVW.04, ,t-IWIr•...*********10,##;#**4.
DOG AD ALL
Told by Jack Ryan.
There was a lady milled up the Parnell, system for a crab. They sent
out this call to the nearest stand. Well the driver, when he got to the door,
rang the bell and the lady said she would be down in a few. minutes. So he went
to his cab and started to clean up* Whilst he was doing this a dog jumped in the
book of the cab and he abased it out. So the dog ran up the steps of the house
to the doorway and ens joinel there by another dog. Ast at the moment the lady
oame out. The two dogs ran down the steps of ahead of her and both jumped in
the bask of the eab.
The lady got in. Thinking the dogs belonged to the Cady, the driver,
closed the door. Hi took her to her destination and she paid him and thanked
him. The two dogs got out and she wont away and the driver wont book to his
stand.
This sane lady sailed the company and asked for a Gab again. She asked
them please not to send the young man that drover her the day before. Although
he was a very offieient and oourtsous driver she certainly didn't like the idea
of driving around in a eab with a man who earned dogs around with him whilst
be was working.
ONZ ON TI i COPS.
Told by Ruby Moskomiti.
This is one about those thick headed cops. Hi stops and asks me for
the license and proceeded to take damn the necessary information. When he got
to the question of where you were born I would say "Czechs elovakia." The
officer fumbles about, "Come onl Where were you born?* The driver gets serious,
"Yes Cseeho.slovakia." And then the *Moor, after a few seoonds, hands his his
license be* and says' "Comm on' get out of here. Don't fool around any morel"
1YDNKEL' STZIUU
Told by Jaok Ryan.
There's a zgy over in Brooklyn the *all 'Tonkel' Stadium. This is
haw he zot that name. He's either a ..ussian or a Lithuanian. The way he tells
it was that some man got in the cab and asked him to take him to the 'Tonkel'
Stadium. He wanted to see the ball Jame. He didn't know where the 'Tonkel'
Stadium was so he thought the best thine. to do was to start at one end of the
town. So he made his way down to the battery. After trying several places
around that vicinity he came ac:oss the aguarium. There, after askinE a
policeman, he vas put on the right way. When he finally arrived at the 'Tonkel'
Stadium the ball Jame was over, and there was 4:8.60 on the clock. Ever Since
then this guy has been called 'Tonkel' Stadium.
OFISET SCREW DRIVER
Told by Sam Tafel.
I had a helper several years azo. He wus the type they kid a lot.
We used to send him for a pail of ampere, a baskot•full of volts, a bucket -full
of steam and so forth. alas day. TJas ,.mrkin.,.; on a motor, an electric motor,
on the switch. There NES 7 -,bout tmo Inches of space between the buck of the
switch and the ,all, There was screws in there I had to J;et at and I didn't
have the riLht screw driver, I flooded a rijit.an:Je screva.driver, an offset
screw dri,,er. So he starts, my %elper, and than ntope awl turns around and
says, "No more of that baloney, bo7s, lo more of that phony stuff: "I couldn't
get him to o after it. I had to L;o and zet it myself.
"YOU SiE THAT LIGHT"
Told by Jack Ryan.
There was a driver picked a passenger up somewhere near Borough Hall
in Brooklyn. And he was told to drive to a dock out in 32nd Street or 34th
Street in Brooklyn to a ship. The passenger was drunk. It was a dark night,
snowing and a lot of ice on the street. When they got to the dock the driver
asked the passenger haw far he wanted him to take him into this place. It was
so dark he couldn't see. So the passenger said, "You so. that red light out
there" There was a red light out there blinking in the distance. "Go straight
ahead until you come to that lit" "The driver drove on and on until he finally
went up the roadway and crashed through the ice of the river. The cab sank
0: to its roof top in the river. The red light the passenger told him to
drive to was on a buoy in the middle of the river.
10*****
AIM THE MECHANICS
Told by Jack Ryan.
A Drivers This is how the moohanics treat you.
I co into a garage and tell the mechanic 'I'i in trouble. The engine
spits." The mechanic tells you. "Well, spit back at it and get out of herel"
Told by 4aok Ryan.
I was a mechanic at one of the Parmelee garages in Brooklyn. A fellow
told me his radiator was leaking. No water. So I went out with the wrecker
and found him on Fifth Ave. and Seventh Street, Brooklyn. An L pillar was
sticking through the radiator. He had hit an L pillar and pushed his radiator
back into the dash board. It was leaking all right.
.5-
ANOVER TIME
Told by Jack Rpm.
There vas a driver called in to say something mas the matter with his
rear end. The oar wouldn't move. When the mechanic got out there to see what
vas wrong with it he found some of the fellows on this line were playing a
joke on this buy. Whilst he was in the coffee pot they jacked up one wheel
about a quarter of inch from the ground. He vas sitting up in his seat
mondring why in hell the oar wouldn't go. Of course he oouldn't see that
little hand jack.