'You may be pretty in your home town, but this is New York': Hilarious 1939 guide to being a young lady in Manhattan

By Brian Clark Howard
New York City has attracted young people for a long time, but it also can be a big, scary place.
So over the years, there have been many guidebooks to help ease the way, as well as hostels, aid societies, and more recently websites.
One such book, written in 1939, offers some gems of wisdom that are still as true as the day they were written - as well as some suggestions that are now hilariously out of date.
Lee Mortimer's New York: Behind the Scenes from 1939 was discovered by a Reddit user who was going through a stack of books.

Mortimer (1904 - 1963) was a newspaper columnist, radio commentator, crime lecturer, night club show producer, and author who, with Jack Lait, co-wrote a popular series of books on crime in major U.S. cities.
In New York: Behind the Scenes, a section on 'Young Lady in Manhattan', part of a larger 'Family in Manhattan' chapter, suggested: 'Young ladies should not come to Manhattan alone unless they have a return ticket and enough money to last their stay'.

The book quotes the Traveler's Aide Society as estimating that a girl can't exist on less than $4.00 a day, 'and that is just to keep body and soul together - it's certainly not enough to have fun on'.
Of course, with inflation and all, prices have gone up a bit since then. But the truth remains that the Big Apple is a relatively expensive place.
Mortimer warned, 'You may be the most beautiful gal in your home town. Your ma and your boy friend have drummed into your ears the fact that you ought to be in the movies. Sure we know that!
'But the movies and the Broadway stage and the model business are all crowded and there aren't enough shops in the world to provide jobs for all the ambitious little kids that drift into New York'.
Mortimer continued: 'So get this through your bonnet: If you are coming as a visitor, have plenty of chips, swell... But if you think you can earn your keep in New York - turn right back home.
'There's not a job here, and even those gals who come with the intention of of climbing the ladder through the sale of their souls will find the that the bottom fell out of the soul-market long ago in New York. Fresh souls aren't worth a dime.

'So we'll take it for granted that you are here with folding money in your pocketbook. Then you can have a grand time, depending on what you consider a grand time. New York has everything'.
The book has some practical advice that is still relevant today, such as suggestions to avoid going into parks alone at night and to avoid confronting someone who is 'annoying you' on a subway.

It's better to find a conductor or leave the car, rather than risk 'starting a riot'.
Mortimer advised women to avoid speaking to strangers in rail road stations, which is perhaps a bit forceful today, but it certainly pays to keep your wits about you.
Still true today - at least when it comes to official yellow cabs - Mortimer suggested that taxi cabs are safe for unaccompanied women. 'The gangster cab driver is as extinct as the dodo', he wrote.
Mortimer also warned women to avoid phoney employment ads, which are perhaps more common than ever on the likes of Craigslist. He also recommended several reputable chaperone services, which aren't exactly still around.
He wrote: 'You can go to a movie or get an ice cream soda - but for night life, well you've got to have that otherwise dispensable creature, man, with you'.
The author followed that with some suggestions on where to meet suitable young men, including churches, free dances, friendship services, bathing beaches or 'any cocktail bar during afternoon hours', provided you can 'hold your liquor'.
'Unless you have a pan that would stop a clock you'll certainly get an invitation to have a drink', he wrote.
It's perhaps still just as true as ever: If you can make it in Manhattan, you can make it anywhere