Uploaded February 2010 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is silent (no audio) 16mm amateur home movie footage taken back in 1957 in New York's Times Square at night. You get to see a lot of the famous electric signs of that time, including the most famous of them all: the smoking Camel cigarette sign, featuring a picture of actor Phil Silvers blowing real smoke rings. You also see a brief sequence of the people on the street, passing under a theater marquee, and also a somewhat out-of-focus sequence of someone tossing a pizza.
I used motion stabilization software to remove the shake from the hand-held footage. This makes it look more professional, but I assure you it simply home movie footage, although it was taken with a very good 16mm camera, and was perfectly exposed, something that was tough to do back in those days before auto exposure.
Enjoy!
This is silent (no audio) 16mm amateur home movie footage taken back in 1957 in New York's Times Square at night. You get to see a lot of the famous electric signs of that time, including the most famous of them all: the smoking Camel cigarette sign, featuring a picture of actor Phil Silvers blowing real smoke rings. You also see a brief sequence of the people on the street, passing under a theater marquee, and also a somewhat out-of-focus sequence of someone tossing a pizza.
I used motion stabilization software to remove the shake from the hand-held footage. This makes it look more professional, but I assure you it simply home movie footage, although it was taken with a very good 16mm camera, and was perfectly exposed, something that was tough to do back in those days before auto exposure.
Enjoy!
