There’s More Than Art In New York’s Museums

Screen star Myrna Loy reputedly said, “If you’re bored in New York, it’s your own fault.” Part of the city’s appeal is the sheer variety of attractions. Its museums range from the venerable Metropolitan Museum of Art to collections that appeal only to the most dedicated aficionado. Here is a small sampling of sites off the Museum Mile.

When famed TV talk show host Jack Paar died in late January, Washington Post critic Tom Shales wrote, “Nearly every performer who gets a talk show even now makes a pilgrimage to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York to look at tapes of Paar at work.”

Ordinary television fans also check out tapes of Paar’s old shows, as well as television classics such as “I Love Lucy” and “Your Show of Shows,” for viewing on individual TV monitors. The museum’s collection consists of more than 75,000 programs and commercials.

Staff develop curated series that make use of the museum’s resources. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance in the United States, the museum offered a gallery exhibit and rare radio interviews with the four emerging stars.

In May, American pop will be featured with a survey of televised popular music from “Your Hit Parade” to MTV.

The American Museum of the Moving Image is housed in Queens in part of an old movie studio that once was used to film comedies with W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers.

“Behind the Screen,” a two-floor installation, is a serious effort to show how movies are made. Interactive exhibits enable visitors to create their own animated shorts and to try sound-effects editing. Film editors and animators give daily hands-on demonstrations of their work.

The museum is also worth a visit for the movies themselves, which include American classics and international films. Screenings often are introduced by directors, actors, and critics.

New York City firefighters received national homage after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Arlington, Va. The work of their predecessors is celebrated in the New York City Fire Museum, located in a renovated 1904 firehouse in the SoHo district of Manhattan.

The museum houses a collection of fire-related art and artifacts from the late 18th century to the present. Visitors will find pre-Civil War fire engines and fire-fighting vehicles that were drawn by horses, as well as helmets, parade hats, and fire-fighting tools. Contemporary firefighters willing to share stories likely will also be on hand.

The New York Transit Museum celebrates the work of another profession that is indispensable to the city’s safe and effective functioning. The museum is housed in a historic subway station in Brooklyn Heights.

“On the Streets: New York’s Trolleys and Buses” includes nine segments that depict the history of surface transportation from the early 1800s through the start of the 21st century. The exhibit features a child-sized trolley, refurbished 1960s bus cab, a simulated traffic intersection, and audio interviews with bus personnel.

Fifty detailed models of trolleys and work cars include a painstaking depiction of every trolley that ever ran in Brooklyn.

“Steel, Stone, and Backbone: Building New York’s Subways 1900-1925” includes pictures taken at the time of construction, historical artifacts, and period films. For the die-hard fans of the subway, there is an exhibit on fare collection, which features a 50-year history of the subway token. ▪