City - Manhattan, NY - Here comes the girls 1953 Ceramic Tile

Colourized photo from 1953, December 29th Original title: Times Square at night III Photographer: Gottscho-Schleisner Location: 200 W 46th St, New York, NY Since 1905, Time Square had some kind of sign utilising light bulbs. They originally used hand painted light bulbs, and there were only a few signs. After the years moved on the signs got larger and larger. And many of them blink or animate. Billboards are constantly changing, the big companies keep their spots for 10's of years. Many of these signs were complicated, but fun to watch, and a static picture like this one one, doesn't give it justice. For example, the one on the right featuring that gentleman peanut, the sign would start dark, the logo would light, then the white would turn on. He would wave his stick, and the bag would animate some how. It would look like the bag was crinkling and the nuts would light up as they spilled out. Then that window would show a party mix, and I think he winked too. There were others that had cartoons flashing across a light bulb sign, and everything blinked a lot. There were also a tonne of movie theatres, some a bit slimy. For example, the Embassy were showing a "documentary" called the "Virgins of Bali". It was one hour of topless girls, that had no real educational value and was really an exploitative film. But because it was considered a documentary and educational , the censors allowed it. "Here comes the girls", was a musical comedy starring Bob Hope as a clumsy stagehand. Who ended up in a starring roll surrounded by bikini girls dancing on stage.