This is off-topic and may well have been covered in previous discussions, but
last night I heard an interesting anecdote about the California Zephyr which I
had never heard before. I don't think it is apocryphal, or a joke. There was
documentary evidence supporting it.
Late last night about 11:30 p.m. the PBS television station in Kansas City,
KCPT, broadcast a documentary specifically about the California Zephyr. It was
extremely well done, well- garnished with film/voice commentary from officials
of the CB&Q., D&RGW, and WP. The name "Lukin" appeared prominently in the
production credits.
Anyway, the documentary contained a story about a brochure publicizing the
amenities and services aboard the California Zephyr in the late 1940s-early
1950s. It was the sort of brochure one sees in travel agency racks full of
tourist promotions. Unfolding of the brochure one would see a timetable and
many photos of people enjoying the Vista Domes and the services aboard the CZ.
One of the photos showed a white-coated black waiter serving diners seated at a
table. An unfortunate arrangement of table items and lighting produced shadows
in the image which seemed to show the black waiter's penis hanging out of an
unzipped fly.
So soon as these brochures were published they came to the attention of the
various railroads' presidents who went apoplectic. They immediately sent their
vice presidents hither and yon to gather up so many of these brochures as they
could lay hands on before they were in general circulation. They must've been
pretty successful, because I have never seen one nor have I heard this story
before. But this incident was discussed in the documentary, and briefly showed
the offending photo.
I'm hoping that someone on this list who knows something more about this
incident will comment on it. Does anyone have the brochure? Does anyone know
where I could get one of those brochures. I told the story today is some
retired Burlington men whose careers spanned that era. They had never heard
this story before but were naturally enough amused by it.
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