Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
June 28, 1922
The Guthrie Daily Leader
Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma
What is this article about?
Descriptive article on flamboyant souvenir shops along Broadway and 42nd Street in New York, owned by syndicates, featuring persistent Turkish salesmen who work long hours to sell trinkets amid noisy phonographs and musical performances. Shops cater to late-night crowds including chorus girls.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
SYNDICATES CONTROL NEW YORK SHOPS
Spend Hour Trying To Sell Toy Balloon; Lillian Russell Is Sincerely Mourned
New York, June 28.—Those showy little souvenir shops that screech their phonographic call to passersby along Forty-second street and Broadway are oddly detached from the usual flare of commerce. Cigarette puffing Turks' heads topped with a fez await the customer eagerly.
Nothing is too much trouble. They will spend an hour trying to sell a 10-cent balloon toy. And if they fail, they salaam graciously and escort the visitor to the door, bidding him call again. The windows are bulging with all sorts of jigumbobs from a pen knife to a bass drum.
The proprietors are merchandising specialists. What the usual store hides away on basement counters they put forth in gaudy dress to entice the buyer. There is about the souvenir shop the flamboyant atmosphere of the country fair. Blonde ladies thump the latest Tin Pan Alley ditties. Tenors, in seedy Tuxedos, sing the musical comedy hits. Two or three phonographs are running at once. Noise-making devices are tested by clerks and trick pencils explode with a bang. It is like a visit to some Coney Island Wonderland.
Most of the shops are owned by a syndicate. The salesmen have a salary guaranty—it takes little to live in Manhattan's Turkish quarter—but their livelihood depends on making sales for which they receive a percentage. That is why the clerks are so persistently tenacious.
They do not work by the clock. One of the clerks told me his hours were whatever he made them. As they are strangers in a strange land they come back in the evening and usually labor until midnight. The Broadway souvenir shops remain open until 2 o'clock in the morning to catch the chorus girl trade. Those on Forty-second street close at midnight.
Spend Hour Trying To Sell Toy Balloon; Lillian Russell Is Sincerely Mourned
New York, June 28.—Those showy little souvenir shops that screech their phonographic call to passersby along Forty-second street and Broadway are oddly detached from the usual flare of commerce. Cigarette puffing Turks' heads topped with a fez await the customer eagerly.
Nothing is too much trouble. They will spend an hour trying to sell a 10-cent balloon toy. And if they fail, they salaam graciously and escort the visitor to the door, bidding him call again. The windows are bulging with all sorts of jigumbobs from a pen knife to a bass drum.
The proprietors are merchandising specialists. What the usual store hides away on basement counters they put forth in gaudy dress to entice the buyer. There is about the souvenir shop the flamboyant atmosphere of the country fair. Blonde ladies thump the latest Tin Pan Alley ditties. Tenors, in seedy Tuxedos, sing the musical comedy hits. Two or three phonographs are running at once. Noise-making devices are tested by clerks and trick pencils explode with a bang. It is like a visit to some Coney Island Wonderland.
Most of the shops are owned by a syndicate. The salesmen have a salary guaranty—it takes little to live in Manhattan's Turkish quarter—but their livelihood depends on making sales for which they receive a percentage. That is why the clerks are so persistently tenacious.
They do not work by the clock. One of the clerks told me his hours were whatever he made them. As they are strangers in a strange land they come back in the evening and usually labor until midnight. The Broadway souvenir shops remain open until 2 o'clock in the morning to catch the chorus girl trade. Those on Forty-second street close at midnight.
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
What themes does it cover?
Social Manners
What keywords are associated?
Souvenir Shops
New York Broadway
Syndicate Ownership
Turkish Clerks
Sales Persistence
Late Night Trade
Where did it happen?
New York, Forty Second Street And Broadway, Manhattan's Turkish Quarter
Story Details
Location
New York, Forty Second Street And Broadway, Manhattan's Turkish Quarter
Event Date
June 28
Story Details
Article describes the operations and atmosphere of syndicate-owned souvenir shops in New York, where Turkish clerks persistently sell trinkets with elaborate displays and long hours, creating a lively, fair-like environment open late for theater crowds.