Category Archives: New York City

December 17, 2014 · 3:01 pm

How to Get a Job in New York City

How do you get a job in New York City? Especially when you’re an actress? In 1952, Rusty found a job as an NBC Guidette (or “Page” as they’re now called) by interviewing at an employment office.

All dressed up, in matching hats and shoes, Marialyce, Evelyn, and Billie Ann went to an employment office. “We asked, ‘How do we get a job? What can we do?’ The man [in the office] looked at us, turned around in his seat (trying not to laugh), got out his phone and called NBC,” Marialyce said. “We went to NBC to become Guidettes.” It was at NBC where someone nicknamed Marialyce “Rusty” for her deep reddish rust-colored hair. …

As an NBC Guidette, Rusty took tourists on tours of NBC studios. “We had all sorts of sound effects we used,” Rusty said. “We’d show them how to make the noises of horses clomping.”

From The Tucker – Tyler Adventure.

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Tagged as How to get a job in NYC, NBC Guidette, NBC Page

October 22, 2014 · 7:27 pm

What Was Life Like in 1954?

What was the world like when Rusty and Kit traveled to Europe in 1954?

Without the Internet, news was not as immediate and not necessarily instantaneous. What the average person knew about the world and current events was from the radio, newsreels, newspapers, books, and the movies. TV was just beginning to take center stage.

The average U.S. salary in 1954 was only $2,900, and the average rent was $85, but for 22 cents, Americans could watch movies, such as: Dial M for Murder, starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly, and Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.

Before The Tucker ~ Tyler Adventure took place, Kit and Rusty were both working at NBC in New York City, down the hall from Barbara Walters.

Single in New York in 1954

When you want to be an actress, living in New York City is a dream, especially for a girl from the midwest. For Marialyce Tyler, moving from South Dakota to the Big City in 1954 was exciting. With a couple of college friends, she lived in two different apartments on the Upper West Side of New York, right near Central Park, on West 74th Street and West 68th Street.

West 74th Street

Rusty described the apartment on West 74th Street as the old Borden Mansion. According to Rusty, they lived in what was the old library.

We were on the first floor, a 14-foot ceilinged room with a huge marble fireplace, tall windows draped in dark red velvet and then beyond a huge room that had three twin-sized beds, a very large and long dark mahogany dining table, chairs, etc., a small one-person-at-a-time kitchen, and beyond that a bathroom that had been made out of a closet.

From The Tucker – Tyler Adventure, written by Katherine Tucker and Marialyce Tyler and edited by Nancy Cowan and Tara Taft.

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Filed under Armchair Travel, Food, New York City, Tucker - Tyler Adventure, U.S.

Tagged as New York City apartments, New York City Borden Mansion, single in New York in 1954