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irparis

06-28-2003, 11:39 AM

Hi Rizzbird,
I have a book on NY and I'll just type some info on why NY is called the Big Apple.

In 1909, it was coined by Edward Martin as a metaphor explaining the sentiment in the midwest that the city received its fair share of the nation's wealth.

In the 1920s, sports writer John Fitz Gerald heard it use amoung African American stable hands at the race track to describe the racing scene in NY, considering it the "big time" in successful big wins. In the introduction to his column from the February 18, 1924 issue Fitz Gerald writes: "The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple. That`s New York."

He like it so much he titled his racing column the Big Apple. The phase was again used by jazz musicians during the 30s and 40s as a metaphor for achieving success. Playing the theatres of Harlem and Broadway was the ultimate aspiration. When playing away from home they were in the branches ("the sticks") but when they were in NY they were playing the Big Apple.

Again, in the 50s and 60s the NY Convention and Visitor's Bureau used the phase as a compaign to attract tourist to the city, they use the Apple as before, to promote NY and its many cultural, ethnic, multi-generational upbringing and internationally base flavours therefore, using the apple as a four part section fitting perfectly together. Making the phase an international well known phase. Which is why people say, if you can make it in NY, you can make it anywhere.

1997, John Fitz Gerald's contribution to the phase earn him a plate on W 54th Street and Broadway, where he lived from 1934-63 as the "Big Apple corner" in commemoration of him and the coin he phase for NY.

Paris