Miss Subways

Miss Subways was a title accorded to individual New York City women between 1941 and 1976. The woman who was "Miss Subways" at any one time appeared on posters placed on New York City Subway trains, along with a brief description of her. The program was run by the ad agency "New York Subways Advertising".^[1]

An advertisement for Miss Subways at the New York City Transit Museum.

To be eligible, a woman had to be a New York City resident and herself use the subway. Winners were usually chosen by telephone-based voting, from among a group of contenders whose photos were all placed on the subways; the nominees were chosen by John Robert Powers, a modelling agent.

Around 200 women held the title during the program's run. The first Miss Subways was actress Mona Freeman; the last was Heidi Hafner.

The first African American Miss Subways was in 1947; the first Asian American Miss Subways was in 1949.^[1]

Ellen Hart Sturm, owner of the New York diner Ellen's Stardust Diner, was Miss Subways in 1959; her diner features photos of many past Miss Subways on the walls.

Eleanor Nash was an FBI clerk described by her poster that hung in subway cars in 1960 as "young, beautiful and expert with a rifle."

In 2004, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in conjunction with the New York Post, brought back the program, now named "Ms. Subways", for one year only. A voting contest was held to determine the winner, Caroline Sanchez-Bernat, an actress who played a role in Sunday Brunch 4. The 35-minute piece of performance art was a full enactment of a Sunday brunch — including crisp white tablecloth, spinach salad appetizer and attentive waiter in black tuxedo — performed aboard a southbound A train in 2000. With subway riders looking on, the actors chatted amiably about Christmas, exchanged gifts and signed for a package delivered by a UPS man who entered the scene at the West 34th Street stop.^[2]

Posters of "Ms. Subways" appeared with subway safety tips instead of biographical notes.

Cultural references

• In the 1944 musical On the Town, one of the main characters falls in love with "Miss Turnstiles" after seeing her picture on the subway. Lyricist Betty Comden later claimed that the musical influenced the contest's selection process to include more diverse contestants, due to the casting of the half-Japanese Sono Osato as Miss Turnstiles in the original production.^[3][4]
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poetry collection A Coney Island of the Mind contains a poem entitled "Meet Miss Subways."

• Donald Sosin's 1972 song cycle "Third Rail" includes the entire text of a Miss Subways poster, but with the name of the girl and her school changed at her request.

• Cher's 1974 album, Dark Lady, featured the comedic song, "Miss Subway of 1952," written by Mary F. Cain, about a once-beautiful woman who has not aged gracefully.

• In the 1996 The Nanny episode "Tattoo" (Season 4 episode 9), Fran claims to have won the Miss Subways title.

References

External links

• The Miss Subways page on Facebook
• "The Miss Subways Reunion", WFUV (audio)
• "Saw You On The E Train", Fiona Gardner and Amy Zimmer, The New York Times, December 29, 2007 (photo essay)
• "Meet Miss Subways", link to artist Fiona Gardner's project focusing on former Miss Subways