#14: The Life

 

TIMES SQUARE CLEANS UP FOR PORN REBORN

No sooner than the neighborhood rid itself of filth, pimps and whores came dancing back into the hearts of Broadway. Composer Cy Coleman and writer David Newman discuss their hit musical in 1997.

#13: The Hooker Bus

 

A SAFE SPACE FOR SISTERS OF THE NIGHT.

Girls from all over the country gravitated to NY to make more money in street prostitution than anywhere else. Missionary Arlene Carmen ran a mobile van that gave them a respite from the cops, the tricks and their pimps.

 

#12: The Princess of 42nd Street

 

Caruso tipped her $5.

Fanny Gold ran her family’s 42^nd Street newsstand as an eight-year-old girl in 1915. Living in poverty one block away, she was enchanted by Times Square’s aristocratic era. And was mugged six times there as an old lady.

 

#11: The Man Who Booked the Movies

 

FROM CAGNEY TO KUNG FU.

Martin Levine, president of Brandt Theaters, booked most of the movies across 42^nd Street for 50 years. His office reflects the faded glamour of a once mighty theater empire now reduced to kung-fu, grindhouse and porn flicks.

 

#10: Uncle Lou’s Scrapbook

 

INNOCENT VICTIMS OF ADVERSITY.

That’s how Uncle Lou, a geologist turned chauffeur, saw many of the girls in Times Square, who affectionately called him Uncle. His scrapbook documents an era of burlesque queens and porn starlets, whom he remains loyal to decades after their careers ended.