As ridership grew, the Twentieth Century expanded both in size and amenities, adding manicurists, telephones, and air conditioning. Dinner was business formal, with freshly-prepared gourmet meals served on china and white tablecloths. Cocktails were delivered to private rooms. Mail cars were added: postal clerks sorted and stamped “fast mail” on the swaying train.
One could secure an upper or lower berth for the trip, which meant an open seat during the day that converted into a curtained-off bunk at night. Toilet facilities were shared and featured “dental lavatories.” Going up in price, one could get a walled off roomette with private toilet, a bedroom with upper and lower berths and private toilet, a compartment with two berths, a sofa, lounge chair, and private toilet, a drawing room with three berths, a wardrobe, sofa, movable lounge chairs, and private toilet, and finally, a double bedroom or bedroom suite with two adjoining bedrooms, each with private amenities.
The Twentieth Century became known as the “train of tycoons” and catered to the biggest names of its time: Marshall Field, Walter Chrysler, and William Wrigley, Jr. Hollywood celebrities rode the Twentieth Century. Despite all this, ridership was declining by the late 1930s, and the NYCS commissioned industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss to give the train an art deco makeover.
PULLMAN CARS
The new train debuted on June 10, 1938. Lighter and faster, it made the trip to Chicago in 16 hours. The train’s exterior had a streamlined shape and was two shades of gray with a blue stripe—colors chosen to match the urban environments of New York and Chicago. At night, the train’s two dining cars (which featured radios and “automatic record changing phonographs”) were converted into the Cafe Century nightclub.
After the redesign, the NYCS began rolling out a plush red carpet on the platform in Grand Central Station. This touch of hospitality is the origin of the action “walk the red carpet” and the phrase “the red carpet treatment,” both of which entered the lexicon as fans gathered to watch celebrities disembark.
After WWII, train travel in the United States went into decline as air travel and car trips became more popular. The Twentieth Century Limited made its last run on December 3, 1967.•
The Pullman Palace Car Company was founded in 1857 by George Mortimer Pullman and Benjamin Field. Legend holds that Pullman spent an uncomfortable night on the train from Buffalo to Westfield, New York and realized there was a market for comfortable sleeper cars. The first Pullman cars had cherry floors, damask curtains, and furniture that transformed from parlor benches into sleeping berths. Soon, Pullman was producing dining cars and parlor cars as well. The ornate cars were expensive to produce, but the company turned a profit by leasing the cars and through the on-board services to railroads, for which passengers paid a required charge above their ticket price. Each sleeping car came with a Pullman Porter to assist passengers, handle baggage, maintain clothing, fill built-in thermoses with ice water, act as a waiter and valet, and provide security. By the 1920s, the Pullman Company was the country’s largest employer of African-American men. Porters were overworked and underpaid but played a crucial role in the development of the Civil Rights movement. They distributed information and African-American owned newspapers across the country, and in 1925 they founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, an influential union.
ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY UPSTAGE GUIDE 15
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