Document text
STATE
Forms to be Filled out lor Eacn Interview
FORM N
Circumstances of Interview
New York State
NAME OF ktORFEft Terry Roth
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
47 West 69 St.
Nov. 29, 1938
STORIES OF A CABBY."
1. Date and time o interview
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
Nov. 27, 28
2. Place of interview Hack stand at 66th and Central Pk West;
also 59th S and 5th Ave.
3. Name and address of informant
Joe (French) Alexandrovsky
4. Name and address of person, if any, wno put you in
toucn with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accoLipanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
(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.)
FO?A'
Personal history Informant
STATE New York State
NAME OF V'ORKER Terry Roth
ADMESS 47 W. 69 St.
DATE Nov. 29, 1938
SUBJECT "STORIES OF A CABBY."
1. Ancestry
Russian
2. Place and date of birth
Russia (No further Information given)
3. Family
4. Places lived in, with dates
5. Education, with dates
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
7. Special skills and interests
8. Community and religious activities
9. Description of informant
10. Other Points gained in interview
FOLKLORE
NEI". YORK
FORM C
Tcsxt of riterview (Cnedi_ted)
STATE New "York State
NAN!E OF W0A<ER Terry Roth
ADDRESS
DATE
47 W. 69th St.
Nov. 29, 1938
SUWECT
STOR ILS OF I. CA7BY"
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
Things aint like they wuze Me, I'm a hack driver 25 years.
In them days there wu_indtlpendents„ no company hacks. A guy made
enough dough in three days, moretn they make in a week now. The
people think they got better pertection wid company hacks. Like you
take insurance. Guys think if they get hurt they kin shoot the yolks
on the company, whereto a independent, he ony got $2500 insurance to
cover any accident. But let me tell ya, what they don't know is that
cloy kin get that 2500 quickertn a wink, quiokertn you get 0100,000
from the companies. Yeh, en you used to get some breaks then too.
I had a man he was connected some way with ft. brewery. I had him
for one week straight, during that time I slept in the cab, I never
left the hack. He said, "wait fur me" and he means it too. So
waited fur him, At the end of dat week I had a bill around $250 'cause
on account the clock's always runnint. Lady, he wuz on a drunk then.
Drinkintwas his hobby. He'd go upstairs in a house and might come
out 2, 3 days later, but he paid me.
And Mae Murray, she wuz a good one. She'd call up for a
cab, she lived at 1 W. 67 then. You'd come around and she wouldn't
come out for four, five hours, but you waited and ya got ya dough, too.
w2.
There's a woman lives down the block. A little short,
stout woman, we calls her bundle of wash. About two years ago I
wuz standing on the corner when she come up. She gets in the cab
ant she's one of dose back seat drivers. I got her in the park
and 1 says, "Which gate you want, Sixth or Seventh Avenue?" She
says, "keep going, when I get there I'll make up my mind." I
didn't know which way to turn so I go to Seventh Avenue. "I
want Sixth Avenue" she says now. So 1 hadda take a chance of
getting siticket but 1 head to Sixth Avenue. Den she says, "drive
to 59th Street, Astor Plaza Hotel". So I go south on Fifth Avenue.
*Where you gone? she holl ors, "what a fine driver you are" I got
)4
her down to 54th Street and I couldn't stand her any more. I says,
"lady please, get off here. You're drivin' me nuts." Den I get
_
sick for a long time and six months ago I come back to hackinl. I'm
standint on the same corner wid some of the drivers and that same
bundle of wash, she comes up. "There's that crazy driver. He
don't know how to drive a car. Ya oughtn't have learners takin'
the lives of people" she seas to the rest of the fellers. Then
they tells her I'm hackint longer than any man there. She's nuts.
Imagine, that happened foist two years ago.
There's a man down the block has a private rental. He
/TN
ain't supposed to do work outside. He woiks with the doortmen.
For every run they get him, he gives them de tips, 10 cents, 15 cents,
whatever it is. Naturally the door/lMan calls him. Now he says we
try to put him out of business 'clause we go to the hack bureau about
it. Da noive of dat guy. He's supposed to do all business right
from the garage or from the telephone.
One day a nice gent comes over and says, "take me downtown."
On the way down he tells me he remembers when Murray Hill was a swell
hotel, and when I get him downtown he takes out his money and sari
he ain't got small bills, only big bills, I should take the change.
So I turn around and go back to my stand uptown. When I get there
there's the same man again. "Have you got my $75.00? "What $75.00"
I sez. "When I got out to pay you I lost my wallet with $75.00,
maybe you found it." Lady, if I found $75.00 I'd be on my way to
Albany or somewhere. I tells him no. Then I says, take
you back downtown again, maybe you find it." But he don't, so he
reports it to the police. The cop asks, "Is this the same guy what
drove you before? Where did you pick him up again?" "In the same
place" the man says. "'You're out of luck, mister" the cop says,
"he never found dat dough. 'You'd never find him on the same stand
if he did." That's a funny one, ain't it?
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