World's Fair Subway Special - TV commercial for NYCTA

[BlastedNetPhiend]

You know they still run an 11 car train........

[metroII]

holy crap what a nice video!!!

[larchmontmark]

Thanks for posting this!

And BTW.....I wonder if whoever WROTE the song was the same person who wrote the YOGI BEAR theme: youtube.com/watch?v=1pqyax6gwz­Q

You gotta admit, the 'style' is just about the same.....you can morph between them without really noticing. :-)

[alansafe5]

Boy, those two sure laugh a lot!

[JohnnyT002]

Thanks I remember this and it was only 15 cents to ride.

[SportsFreakfrom94598]

Ahhh, back then when white people still lived in NYC neighborhoods.

[sora1718]

@SportsFreakfrom94598 now its flooded with chinese people

[bebo2good1]

The IRT REDBIRDS (R26/28/29/33/36) ROCKS!!!

[Dankku94]

Great old times=!!!

[slicingwater]

Wait 15 cents just to ride the subway, what happened MTA?

[wiedep]

@slicingwater labor unions, aging infrastructure, mta board cronyism, graft, sweetheart contracts - the list goes on and on and on...

[indyfan22k]

@slicingwater Is Life Really 15 Times more expensive in NYC than it was 47 years ago ? That Seems to outpace US Inflation by more than 220% percent.

[clayton758]

When I was there in 2000 the platform is still there and the willits point sign was there and the Building that looks like a warehouse is now the metro maintenence for the trains.It was a great trip

[ACLTony]

Amazing. This was a good time to be alive and young in New York City. So saddening that just 10 to 12 years later these same trains and stations would be trashed with graffitti.

[R160BExpress]

15 CENTS? HOLY $#!T!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Genmike216]

Create your favorite dishes from your favorite restaurants...Chili's, Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse...all from home! - youtube.com/watch?v=6ktnVmKZXO­o

[Genmike216]

Create your favorite dishes from your favorite restaurants...Chili's, Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse...all from home! - youtube.com/watch?v=6ktnVmKZXO­o

[zetatauri]

That was fun to watch. I live in Sunnyside and the #7 is my line. I loved that shot of Shea Stadium and Flushing Meadows. I've seen those cars go from grafittied, dirty and sweaty to rebuilt air-conditioned Redbirds. Nice to see them in their prime. Thanks for posting!

[seebee077]

@zetatauri I agree it was quite amazing seeing the post WWII IRT cars go from filthy, graffiti smeared wrecks that barely functioned to reliable, bright, and spiffy looking redbirds. It was almost hard to believe they were the same cars.

[clubpenguin777]

:17 is he masturbating?!?!?!

[sonnyman2000]

@clubpenguin777 not every one is laughing while comming...

[svtxchinoy]

Wow, you don't see people that happy on the 7 train anymore

[WMATAvids]

lmao

[jewgirl43]

I feel so old, I was a baby 15 cents, lol my dad keeps reminding me about how much the cost of a train ride was back then. lol

[intercityrailpal]

@jewgirl43 Interesting how the only people who don't pay to cross the river are the thousands of people who use the east river bridges. While transit riders have to pay. You can see who is running the transportation policy still. It's the people who cut down the el's, discontinued electric streecars, and are working to make sure they don't come back. Like in 40 other american cities. I guess NY doesn't have enough people for rail but Minneapolis does. But drivers have to have free bridges.

[mtattrain]

So the R33WF/ R36WF trains were originally used to transport people to the World's Fair.

[ishouldntbeyoutubing]

Right. And they were the most modern cars on the system at the time and the only ones with "picture windows". BUT, like all other cars, they were not air conditioned. One March morning, the outside temp was 30 degrees F, and I dressed for that. That afternoon, the temp went to 80 degrees. The train was packed and probably 100 degrees. I had on a wool suit and overcoat and, when I got home, I found I had sweated through it all and there was a wet stain on the outside of my overcoat.

[mtattrain]

Sure.

[ishouldntbeyoutubing]

Do I detect a note of skepticism? If I remember right, I had ridden on the 1 train (also not airconditioned) from Washington Heights to Times Square where I got on the 7. Try standing dressed as I was in a 100 degree room for an hour and see what happens.

[Rayarena]

Yes, I remember those trains. You are right, they didn't have air conditioners, but then again, no train back then had air conditioners. Since it was a comfort that we didn't have, we didn't know what we were missing out on.

[RRSpectra]

Thats where the "WF" came from.

[mtattrain]

I know.

[3dartistguy]

that guy looks like he's high on something.

[thecopsofid]

the $4 fare was only for the JFK express. the regular fare was lower. and remember that when adjusted for inflation, the subway regular fare has always been at least around a dollar. and the 7 is called the "international express",btw.

[DrSurprise]

another thing i forgot to mention, if the subway fare was 15 cents in the 60s, then went up to $4 in the 70s, how did the MTA manage to lower the fare? usually, things like that go up in price!

[MrRik2]

Great video! But 20 minutes from GCT to Corona Park? Optimistic :)

[motorstorm78]

LOL FTW

[k3304]

now youre taking your life in your hands

[MiracleBaba]

HOW COOL IS THIS! Thank you for posting this video!

[spamdude060]

how cool witnessing the 7 train IRT Flushing Line in a 1963 perspective! thx 4 uplodin :-)

[crustyunderwear]

That was one ill video, dawg!!!!

[towringer]

Wonderful commercial. Too bad that at the time this tribute to the subways was airing, they were tearing down the most beautiful train station ever built--Pennsylvania Station in New York.

[slicingwater]

@towringer Its still there.

[towringer]

@slicingwater Not the original station. The original Penn station lasted from 1910 to 1963, when the MSG developers tore it down to make room for the present Madison Square Garden.

[1adamstephen]

fantastic video mate of an old subway advert first amarician advert i have seen as i am british 5stars

Adam

[LINY65]

15 cents???? Wow... what a difference 45 years makes!!!!!!

[wiishadow4]

agreed. now its 2 bucks.

[DrSurprise]

actually, $2.25

i know, it sucks! if i were the top person of the MTA, i'd work my ass off to lower the fare to at least $1.40 for a single ride and $55 for an unlimited monthly metro card. i'm only 17 though so i cant do anything now!

[thegreenhornet95]

I agree with you 100%.

[Akit317]

17 seconds: Creepy inappropriate laugh.

[Great0ne1]

ROFL!!

[psugeog11]

Did the same person who wrote this do "Meet The Mets"? The jingle sounds the same; they woulda taken the #7 anyways to get there.

[kenneth11361]

I cry when I ride the 7 train: the whole line has been racially clensed and you would think that you are riding the the new Santo Domingo subway.

[DrSurprise]

dude! i've seen white people on the 7 line all the time! the 7 is called the "line of the world" or something like that.

[JustCallmEJaX]

@kenneth11361 i dunno what your talking about it actually looks like the train to hong kong or lil seoul..i grew up in flushing...and its sad how one nationality can competely take over..i wouldnt mind it if they at least had stores that had signs i could understand...and hired people of different races but they only cater to there own...yea they brought back a dying city but only if you are asian can u actually live and enjoy it in flushing...

[Maserati7200]

now THIS is what i call advertising

[luckyshow]

Bob Crane was born in 1928, was already an established TV actor (he began in radio broadcasting, he was host of LA's #1 drive time show in 1950s. He was all over TV in 1950s, was on the Donna Reed Show playing a doctor for some 3-4 years before Hogan's Heroes began in 1965. It is not him in this TV commercial.

[dyinglikeflies]

Imagine being happy to be on the 7 train? Are these people on an early form of crack?

[7ajm777]

It's called ACTING! No wonder Bob Crane went on to TV stardom.

[dyinglikeflies]

Happy on the 7? Should get the Academy Award (while wiping something unmentionable off the bottom of his shoe).

[seebee077]

I wish i would have got a chance to ride the redbirds when they had that shiny blue and white paint. When I was a kid they were filthy and covered in graffiti.

[nycnando]

How depressing and oddly nostalgic it is for me to see this. I'm a teenager living just a few blocks away from the fairgrounds. 

I have committed myself to finding out everything there is to know about the Fairs of '39-40 and '64-65. They were such monumental spectacles and important events in the history of northern Queens, and yet no one seems to care. Several pavilions are in shambles, the pools are dry, and if it weren't stainless steel, the Unisphere would be a rusty globe.

[tjoceasde]

I heard somewhere that the New York Pavilion (the yellow observation towers featured in "Men in Black" for those who are unfamiliar) is finally being fixed up. Is there any truth to that?

[7ajm777]

I don't know about Judd, but the the guy with the girl sure looks like a very young Bob Crane of Hogan's Heroes fame later.

[prausch65]

Such simple times, I have seen many commercials from this era, and they all seem to use the same sound track or style of singing. The soon to be gone Shea Stadium appears, at :32 The United States Pavilion, which endured many years of vandalism after the fair was finally demlished in the 70's, and at the end the pool that appears with the statue is still there today.

[mucoliver]

I want the guy's hairstyle!

[swarlock]

15 cents a ride! Wow! What a bargain.

[aboozed]

dam not one mugger, im moving to america!!

[gtafanlol]

LOL!!

[alboman1]

15 cents a ride.... wow....

[MenefreghistaX27]

Wow, I think that's the first and last time I'll see people so ecstatic to be riding the subway! Wonder if my parents took this train to the Fair?

[thatDonOguy]

Thanks for posting this complete version! I've seen enough versions of this. 64/65nywf rules again!

[gli7utubeo]

How in the world did you dig this up?

It's awesome! Thanks.

(I used to take the #7 train to the fair

back in '65. OMG, I'm getting old.)

[tine214]

What really surprises me is that it was only 15 cents a ride!!!! but moreover, if anyone notices at 0:32-0:36 the original enamel Willets Point Blvd sign in the station. Its really a shame to see transit obscuring the old station signs--as if people cant read, or they dont convey the message. up to the late 90's one could see the original enamel signs for Grand Central on the Lex. line. What unappreciation!!!!

[pbatommy]

I am an IRT motorman--my very first run in passenger service had one of those very bluebirds on the point in it's original paint scheme! Ironically, it was on the #3 line out of 148th Street and Lenox Avenue, and NOT on the #7 line!

[DrSurprise]

"part of the fun of the world's fair is the subway special that takes you there!"

lol, what a catchy tune

[rayv142]

it's funny how nothing's changed over there since '64 except the R62As replacing the redbirds...

[paktype]

Robert Moses would not allow the city to rebuild the "World's Fair" line from the Queens Boulevard IND line to the Fair. That line had been built for the '39 Fair in the same location.

[Oldlionel]

Is it my imagination or is that Judd Hirsh doing the announcement on this commercial? If anyone has seen the 1964 New York World's Fair TV special from the mid 90s you will know that Judd Hirsh narrated the entire 60 minutes of that. This commercial sure sounds like him.

[vynilspinner]

Sweeet!!!!! Those R-33 and 36's never look so good. Did the song say 15 cents to ride? You know that had to be back in 64.

[Gramatan3000]

Thanks for posting. Where did you get this?

[PugetSoundPete]

Wow!! I remember singing this commercial when I was 4 years old! My dad was a construction laborer who worked on the Grand Central Parkway and roads around the fair before it opened. It brings back memories of when he and I took the "GG" train to 74th & Roosevelt to transfer to the train to Willets Point/Shea Stadium to see the fair. Thank you a zillion times for posting this!!!