Joan Crawford at the Automat
From Sadie McKee (dir. Clarence Brown, 1934). Alone in the city and down on her luck, Sadie (Joan Crawford) visits the Automat.
Some Automats
There are thirty-eight Horn and Hardart Automats in the 1940 Manhattan telephone directory. This has been some of them.
The Automat on TCM
Lisa Hurwitz’s documentary The Automat (2021) airs on TCM, November 22, in the company of several movies with Automat scenes.
An Automat ad
A ghost ad in the Garment District.
Automat redux?
The Washington Post wonders if COVID might revive Automat-style dining.
An Automat documentary
The Automat, a documentary film.
How to Automat
From The Sleeping City (dir. George Sherman, 1950).
Lighted squares
A 1935 visit to New York lets us see Stefan Zweig as a spectator-tourist, visiting Radio City, the Savoy Ballroom, and “a self-service café” — no doubt the Automat.
The last Automat
The Automat appears again and again in Zippy.
Automat, archived
From the NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery.
“It’s Automatic”
Today’s Zippy channels a postcard explanation of what to do in a Horn & Hardart Automat.
Zippy Automat
Zippy pretends he’s in an Automat.
One more Automat
A 1943 photograph.
Automat beverage section
Automat coffee dispensers, same as they ever were.
New York, 1964: Automat
From Harold Hart’s Guide to New York City.