I grew up in Denver following the D&RGW and CB&Q and rode the CZ a number of
times, often just to Grand Junction or Glenwood Springs and return. I was
also a member of the Intermountain Chapter of NRHS and a volunteer at the
Colorado Railroad Museum at that time, up to graduation from CSU in 1967.
I remember hearing the story about the infamous brochure several times, but
I never got one or saw one myself and thought about it as maybe a rumor. I
have four VHS copies of CZ videos, including an autographed copy of Richard
Luckin's award winning video, which I am watching this morning. I don't
remember noticing that in the video, but I'm going to watch for it. I also
have *Portrait of a Silver Lad*y and Hal Zimmerman's *The Story of the
California Zephyr.* I will do a little research for the story.
- John Manion
Denver, CO
On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 7:58 PM, smokyjoe66 <js08ws62@sbcglobal.net> wrote:rn
>
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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