On November 5, 1929, Movietone sent a crew over to Times Square to film the crowds watching the election results come in. They brought a movie camera, a microphone and a large spotlight. It's unknown what the expected to get there, since not much newsworthy actually happens. Instead, they got an eight-minute snapshot the moment--the crowd (mostly men, a few women, a few boys), the police, the brougham cabs, the streetcars, the lights of Broadway, the random conversation of people near the microphone. Times Square was a popular gathering place on election night because you could watch the results on the Times Tower's electric news ticker. Unfortunately, the camera does not show the building or the ticker, just the crowd's reaction. The big contest in 1929 was the New York City Mayoral election, which Mayor Jimmy Walker won handily, trouncing Fiorello LaGuardia and Socialist Norman Thomas. LaGuardia got the last laugh, though, when Walker had to resign in disgrace three years later. LaGuardia won the 1933 mayoral election and held the post for the next 12 years.
