The state of streaming television in 2019 is one of flux. Netflix has lost the dominance it once had. Studios are launching their own networks in a bid to keep their content in-house. And corporate behemoths like Amazon have built networks from the ground up to encourage people to spend money on their respective platforms. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, now in its second season, is the result of the company wanting some prestige television to itself. And that is exactly what they got, because the show is spectacular.
The purpose of this post is to highlight nearly all the vehicles seen in the first two seasons. It will also serve as my extended review of the series. If you intend to watch the show at some point you may want to avoid reading this article as it may spoil some of the plot. Pictures will be numbered to facilitate discussion.
NSFW language
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is named after Miriam Maisel, and the show follows herself, her husband, their parents, and pretty much everyone else they interact with in the bustling metropolis of 1958 New York City.
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A substantial number of characters get their own sub plots throughout the show, but ultimately the focus is on how Miriam adapts to life after her marriage bursts into flames in pretty much the worst way possible.
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It’s when she’s scraping the bottom of the barrel that Miriam discovers her innate talent: stand-up comedy.
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The road to becoming a stand up comic is not a clear one, even today. Sixty years ago, the idea of a foul-mouthed female talking about sex and other taboo subjects was unfathomable. It was an uphill battle to say the least.
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Amy Sherman-Palladino, the primary writer and directer of the show, is acutely aware of the challenges Miriam faced in 1958, and not just as a woman.
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Comics could get arrested simply for saying something that audiences found distasteful.
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This comes up relatively quickly in the show, and it serves as an excellent introduction to the state of comedy in New York City as it existed at the time.
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Another smart choice was incorporating real life people and places into the series. In a lesser show, this would have come off as a cheap gimmick.
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But having Miriam bump into people like Lenny Bruce and Jane Jacobs helps reminds viewers of the brewing counter-culture movement that she may or may not be a part of when (or if) the show reaches the mid-to-late 1960’s.
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If The Gaslight Cafe, boundary-pushing comedians, and defiant urban planners are meant to illustrate the world in which Miriam has stumbled into, then the lives of her parents, estranged husband, his parents, and their wider social circle serve as a stark reminder of the life that Miriam possessed before the events of the first episode.
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This is where Maisel really shines. Miriam never hated married life; she was completely content with her situation until circumstances outside her control sent things crashing down.
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The people she identifies with are solidly middle to upper class Manhattanites who almost never venture to the outer boroughs.
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This is because her father is a tenured professor of mathematics at Columbia University and her “former” in laws are similarly wealthy and firmly integrated into the bourgeoisie society of 1958 Manhattan.
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Miriam’s perpetual shock at how the other half lives serves a larger purpose: it’s a window into the social circle she’ll inhabit if her career resonates with audiences beyond Greenwich Village.
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Her counter culture and comedy “Sherpa” is Susie Myerson, an employee at The Gaslight Cafe who eventually becomes Miriam’s manager.
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Susie is a bit of a mess.
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She is perpetually harried and fully aware that her station in life isn’t much better than a resident at Green Haven Correctional Facility.
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Alex Borstein, who plays Susie, has a way with swear words and exasperation.
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And the entire cast is great too. There is absolutely no way the show would work without Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Miriam, and she does an incredible job at really making you believe that the woman on screen is a budding stand up comedian.
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Tony Shalhoub steals nearly every scene as Miriam’s incredibly meticulous yet oddly aloof father, Abe Weissman.
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Michael Zegen expertly portrays the listlessness of Joel Maisel. And Kevin Pollack is great as his father, Moishe Maisel. Even the smaller roles are filled with quality actors.
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Maisel also boasts an incredibly high production budget.
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The show is shot on location in NYC and elsewhere, but even the places that serve as a stand in for now defunct resorts are top notch.
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All of the vehicles are era appropriate, and shots that feature streets in the background even have vintage cars on them.
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Even shows like Stranger Things can’t be bothered with those type of details, as I’ve routinely noticed modern vehicles in the background of quite a few shots.
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And the production company deserves credit for getting buses and work vehicles in the show too.
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The same goes for the fabulous outfits.
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Amy Sherman-Palladino again deserves credit for her expertise in writing and directing the show.
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I highly doubt Maisel would work if Miriam’s stand up wasn’t genuinely funny. This is what sunk Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a show ostensibly about comedy that wasn’t funny, but instead serious in a way that only Aaron Sorkin shows can be.
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And the comedic elements outside of the comedy clubs works well too.
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Maisel also feels energetic due to the directing.
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The camera never stands still, and in certain scenes, it mimics the behavior of the characters.
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For example, when Joel dances around all the chaos of a block in the Garment District, the camera is right behind him, ducking around people and clothing just like him, which gives the scene added weight.
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The era of streaming television is no longer dominated by Netflix.
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Unfortunately, that means customers need to subscribe to a multitude of platforms.
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Amazon decided to throw money at a high concept show in a bid to become a credible source of quality television. They succeeded.
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With my review of Maisel officially over I can now comment on the pictures directly above my writing. Zachary Levi joined the show about half way through season 2 and he’s been great.
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I’ve never actually watched a full episode of Chuck, but from what I remember, Levi’s character always possessed a healthy amount of affable charm.
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This is also true for slightly off center doctor he portrays in this show, although here its more of a quiet intensity that doesn’t make itself apparent upon our introduction to the character.
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His introduction to Miriam is excellent. I won’t go into specifics, but their first interactions are delightfully awkward.
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These shots of the Plymouth were accomplished with a chase car and a helicopter, but I’m also convinced drones were used as well, because the camera pans completely over and around the convertible when we first see it on the highway.
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And it’s done in what looks like a single shot.
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In general, the cinematography for the entire show is top notch.
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I’m hoping we’ll see more of this Plymouth in season 3.
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Zachary Levi is also the star of the upcoming Shazam! live action movie. It looks great and I hope it does well.
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I initially thought The Legends of Lizzie was some sort of parody of Broadway, but it turns out that this play was real, and it ran for a total of two days and two performances in February 1959.
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Makes sense. Why would anyone want to see a play based on that story?
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Brownstones are timeless. And they also enable films and TV shows to easily transform a city street into whatever period they desire. Provided they have the right vehicles, of course.
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If I end up wealthy I just might buy a brownstone.
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Levi’s character lives in this neighborhood. He’s got a good taste in cars and houses.
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Does anything about this picture look familiar to you? Back in October, William Stopford shared some pictures he had taken of a bunch of period cars parked along a street in Greenwich Village.
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Turns out the pics were from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 2. Mystery solved! JohnC deserves a tip of the hat for being the first person to correctly guess which show was filming when Will snapped his pictures.
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And for those of you who complained about the Model A being too old a car to appear on the streets, just know that its conspicuous existence is part of the plot, and so are the Ohio license plates.
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I’d also like to add that older cars are much more common in NYC than you might think. I know that was probably less common fifty years ago, but today lots of car owners in New York purposely keep older vehicles on the road due to their likelihood of being banged up by people who can’t parallel park. This is probably more of an anecdote than anything else because it comes from my conversations with friends and family that own cars in the five boroughs.
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Here’s a question for those of you familiar with how things looked circa 1959: would a gas station have looked like that back in the day? I thought it looked a bit too modern for the show.
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The canopy looks era appropriate, right?
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I’m guessing the show runners have had to deal with these types of issues since season 1.
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After all, how many gas stations from fifty years ago are still standing? I imagine most of them have been knocked down in favor of the larger stations we’re now accustomed to.
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And how many gas stations will be around in 2069?
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Hollywood will probably have to straight up build some era appropriate stations or add some fake pumps to an electric charging station or something. Although in fifty years everything will probably be CGI anyway, which makes all this kvetching a moot issue.
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Now this picture is interesting. I feel like I’ve been to this place before. It just looks familiar. I highly doubt the crew filmed any scenes around Albany, but if they did, it was for this shot.
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Here’s a nice shot of the Model A in the rain.
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I feel like a lot of period pieces only shoot in decent weather, so its always a treat to see something like this in a movie or TV show.
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We’ve now arrived at perhaps the most vexing picture of the bunch. Is this really the Holland tunnel? I highly doubt the show runners were able to get the tunnel shut down for shots, but then again, this is real, right? Did they just flood the area with so many classic cars it naturally filled the entire area? I suppose it could be done at 2AM or something. It’s also possible this is just some Hollywood magic and they skillfully used CGI in lieu of actually getting cars into the Holland tunnel.
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These final screenshots are from a flash back, which is why the cars look older.
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I’m still making it a point to avoid spoilers as much as possible.
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All I’ll say is this: Amy Sherman-Palladino does a hell of a job with delivering emotional gut punches.
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And that wraps up pretty much all the cars from the first two seasons of this fabulous show. Here’s to hoping seasons 3 and 4 deliver just as much quality television and classic cars as the first two did.
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On Location Classics: Vintage Cars On Camera In Greenwich Village by William Stopford
One minor nitpick about the Checker taxis seen in the show: Yes, they’re technically era correct, just barely, as Checker introduced that style with the quad headlights in 1958. But I kind of doubt that in real 1958 Manhattan literally every taxi on the street would have been a nearly brand new ’58 Checker. I would guess most of them would have been earlier style Checkers. But I’m sure older ones are extremely hard to come by, so they have to make due with what’s available.
I think the earlier single headlight checkers are nigh on extinct, I guess the film makers had to work with what they could get
The one in the lead picture is especially new, given the parallel wipers. In 1958 parallel wipers were something rare and exotic, found mostly on foreign stuff.
Those Checkers are not era-correct for this show; they have amber front turn signals (nope, not ’til ’63); side marker lights (not til at least ’68), and the parking lamps stay lit with the headlamps (not til ’68). They also have that Chevrolet 2-legged A-shaped steering wheel hub bought from GM, and even GM weren’t using that until 1978.
The high percentage of cars with whitewall tires (including even the Simca Chambord and Renault 4CV in France) defies credulity for that era.
The only place they goofed was the Checker cab. It’s not the headlights—it’s the side markers—about a decade too early.
The gas station is a pretty standard porcelain-steel one, and those were definitely around in the 50s.
My family moved from outside Buffalo NY to southern Arizona in 1960. That was the first time I saw big roofs over the pumps at gas stations. Probably two reasons: things were newer in Arizona in general, and shade from the blazing sun was a really good thing and would probably get customers to stop there instead of at a canopy-less station. Not so much of an issue in the NE. And no one pumped their own gas, at least in the NE, so rain or snow were not a consideration either.
The roof shape is very Mid Century Modern, which is mid to later fifties. The station looks like it could be just post war. So possible, but not really likely. We need a gas station historian here!
Agreed. I do not remember canopies over the pumps in the east and midwest, but they were common in the sunny west.
The buildings are mostly good except for some modern windows and security features, but there’s one HUGE flaw in all of these scenes.
The streets and highways and sidewalks are clean enough to eat on. Hospital clean.
Litter laws didn’t get serious until the mid ’70s.
I noticed the cleanliness, too.
In addition to a lack of litter, New York City was much grimier in those days, from the smoke and exhaust particles that would settle on everything.
Watched around a half dozen episodes of the first season… well-acted and it definitely succeeds with the time and place angle. Whether watching old movies or a series like this one, I always find myself scoping out the cars, looking for that authenticity, lol.
Thanks for the hat tip! I think the cinematography/direction was even better in Season 2 than Season 1. Some of the shots and camera angles when they are in Paris, and the choices of color with costumes in relation to their surroundings are stunning.
There may be an occasional very minor flub here and there (you sometimes see what look like modern trash bags in cans on the street), but the amount of effort they put into being period correct is really impressive. They filmed in Paris and managed to come up with appropriate French/European cars as well.
Plus the show is hysterical, emotionally compelling and full of totally unexpected surprises. Just a treat to enjoy something that is so well crafted.
The blue ’56 Plymouth shows up in the Village, at the gas station, at the diner, and in the tunnel. The black ’59 Dodge is at two or three locations. But I’ve seen much worse in major films.
In Green Book the same ’62 Lincoln and similar year Imperial are seen up close in about three locations, probably in different states. That was really weird – a different white Falcon could have appeared in various places but they picked two very distinctive and low production cars. In Loving the same white ’61 Lincoln was in several places and once I think the government guys were driving it. Carol was really terrible. There was a two door sedan black Oldsmobile parked very prominently in about three states. Its paint was dull and it was missing some chrome trim, and would have been about a year old. I think it had the wrong hub caps or narrow white walls or something.
Often fifties cars in films have aftermarket rear fender skirts. This would make sense on a certain car owned by a certain kind of guy, but they are seen more than that, I assume because the owner thinks it’s a cool fifties thing. They should have known enough to remove them. In Far From Heaven, their 1955 or ’56 Buick station wagon – you know, the only car around then with full rear wheel openings – had them. This would have been extremely rare and only maybe on some hot rodder’s Buick, not an upper class family’s station wagon. The four door 1957 Chevy sedan here is similar: it has a Continental kit, which would have been rare to begin with and really weird on a four door sedan.
Often details are overlooked: A shot through the windshield of someone driving a supposedly couple year old car will show cracks in the steering wheel, or a headliner will be stained or tattered, which should be obvious to any art director or cinemetographer. And the film (or Mad Men) could certainly offer to have an upholstery shop redo it for $500, or just shoot a different angle.
In several films the writer wants to make some point so they have the car quit running. Then reality is out the window.
In Green Book, the new Cadillac suddenly starts squirting steam straight through the grille. If that actually happened (highly unlikely) that would be it for the car. You could refill it and the same thing would happen in a few miles. Instead he pulled a giant water can from the trunk, filled it and sailed on. Even my friend with no car knowledge pointed out that there was no room in the trunk for that, and why would they be carrying it in the first place.
In Hidden Figures her 1957 Chevy stops running on the road and won’t start. If I remember correctly it wouldn’t turn over. This could be a dead battery because the generator wasn’t working, in which case it would be hopeless. Or something with the starter. She fixes it in a second with a wrench under the hood and it fires up. This makes no sense, and if there was a problem with the starter the car wouldn’t have quit running in the first place. Imdb goofs have a lot of other car related mistakes in that film, some of which I noticed. And a lot of computer and rocketry and math speak and other things wrong.
In general, in films costing many millions of dollars you would think that they would spend a few more bucks on getting some advice from someone who knows something about the world and events they are showing – at least as much as imdb commenters. And just pay more attention to things you are showing close up in general.
Sometimes close is the best you can reasonably do, and that’s understandable. In a commentary on Mad Men he talked about the use of Selectric typewriters in the office a bit before they were actually out. They knew it, but on their pilot budget they couldn’t get that many carriage typewriters for a big office typing pool, particularly ones that worked. And moving carriages would make continuity a nightmare. So, OK.
Mrs. Maisel does generally look pretty good and it’s obvious they spent the bucks. The misaligned trim on the side of the 1957 Plymouth is very accurate. Misaligned everything was the norm before the Japanese showed you can mass produce a car accurately. They just don’t throw them together like they used to.
OP mentioned Stranger Things, one thing that stood out to me in season 2 was a scene at the Hawkins Lab parking lot where, apart from Hopper’s police Blazer every single car one of the handful of cars was pre-1972, while the high school parking lot had enough newer early/mid ’80s cars to have put in the Lab lot. It wasn’t a matter of what they could get, but an issue of distributing the resources they had.
All those cars look so dated versus modern cars. Yet in the context of the show, the ’57 Plymouth manages to look amazingly modern compared to the background cars. Probably made that same impression when it was launched.
Ditto for the Checker. Unlike the period correct Plymouth, the Checker really is newer. Few younger viewers would likely notice. Most have no personal memory of what a Checker was.
Even when they get the cars right the yellow lines between lanes with opposing traffic came out when, early 70’s?
Good eye and great question. A quickie search shows yellow was used in curves and hill areas for a long time but it was not standardized until the 1961 edition of the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices. It’s published by the Federal Highway Administration and with the amount of federal funding that goes to state DOT’s, the MUTCD has a lot of influence.
Prior to that black was commonly used (it contrasts nicely with white concrete) as was white.
Here’s what I found out about it:
https://ceprofs.civil.tamu.edu/ghawkins/MUTCD-History_files/MUTCDmarkingcolorevolution.pdf
But what about the ghastly paint jobs? Where did the green colour on the Packard come from?
factory Golden Green!
I binge watched both seasons of TMMM while recovering from surgery after Christmas, and while I enjoyed the storyline, a couple of things bothered me.
First, the bright green ‘57 Chevy with fender skirts and continental kit doesn’t strike me as something that would be owned and driven by Midge’s father, a mathematics professor at Columbia and researcher at Bell Labs. No, something like a Rambler seems more fitting for an academic of that era.
Second, I’m definitely no prude, but I find it difficult to believe that people of this caliber used so much profanity in the polite company of highly educated, observant Jewish families. Sure, people have always cursed, but this show takes it to a gratuitous level, where it doesn’t add to the story, or to the authenticity.
I don’t like to nit-pick, as finding the right vintage vehicles is of course difficult. But there were no “New Look” buses in 1958 (image 4).
#10: nice to see a ’58 Ford—not the prettiest face of its time.
#53: I’m no Gas Station Historian, but will try to search through some old photos. The building looks fine, but the canopy iffy.
Overall, the 1950s cars look too “clear-coated” to my eyes, but I’m no authority.
I haven’t viewed the series at all, but perhaps should. What I can’t know is how this looks through the eyes of younger folk (that being a relative term, I know)–especially those with no memory of a non-internet, non-cellphone way of life.
Gas Station Canopy Report: As flat-topped extensions of the main building, they show up in photos back into prewar years.
1950s I see freestanding pedestals that just cover the “island” with the pumps—I believe they have fluorescent lighting in them.
BUT, the #53, lower-in-the-middle style, seems to appear no earlier than about 1964. Here it looks “just right” (to my adolescent memories) with the Mustang and Chrysler:
^^^^Canopy-photo didn’t appear—I’ll try again:
The diner is not in Albany but rather, it is Biscuits and Barbeque in Mineola, NY on Long Island. I live close by it and their website proudly states that they filmed an episode of Mrs. Maisel there. As someone who has been there more than a few times, I can say that they did have to remove signage from the outside of the restaurant however the inside is just about exactly as is as in general, the place is a time warp. Great food as well
Ah, thank you for chiming in. I thought it might be in the Binghamton since they did shoot there for some of season 2, but it makes way more sense that they’d find a place in Long Island since they film in Manhattan.
I was born in 1945 and grew up as a car nut. I think they did an excellent job with a few exceptions. Some of the paint colors were not accurate such a the Father’s Chevy and the Dr’s 1957 Plymouth. My Father had a new white 1958 Plymouth convertible which also had some misaligned trim. It was not as bad as his 1960 Dodge convertible. My first car was a 1957 Dodge, and the build quality was much better than the 1958 or the 1960.
I enjoy the show and appreciate the effort they exerted in fining period appropriate cars
The 1957 Plymouth’s color looks very close to a color offered by Plymouth for 1958 – royal red. This was a darker red than the more traditional “toreador red” (“Christine’s” color).
Plymouth did offer “carnival red” for 1957, which almost matches this color.
I own the 57 plymouth and its the correct carnival red ! It might show lighter on film . Not to be confused with 1958 Toredor red from Christine fame!
Haven’t seen the show, but I’ve noticed the same thing among my friends. You think they’ll be offended when their ethnic group is parodied, but often they love it.
I’ve seen ads on Amazon for this show for a while, and this post may have been just the nudge I needed to check it out. So, thanks!
never saw the show. just scrolled through the snaps. as is typical, not a spot of rust or even a haze of dust on any vehicle. musta been a free car wash on every corner in that town. i’ll bet there’s even almost full tread on all the tires too. historical accuracy? keep tryin.
Ohio license plates? Utah!
I have enjoyed viewing this site about the cars of Season 1 & 2 of ‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ TV show. I’m looking forward to Season 3. I have a 1954 Chrysler Crown Imperial 4-door, 8-passenger Formal Sedan. For Season 3, this car is being used in 2 of 8 episodes of the show. Only 23 of these long wheelbase Formal Sedans were made in 1954. The car is painted Everglades Green which was the original color for this vehicle.
In picture #7 , that is a blue ’53 Packard on the left.
I’ve been catching up on this show since getting a free month of Prime (with a Chrysler minivan book!)
– Susie’s Model A has the bones for a much better city car than the late-’50s domestic norm. High H-point, good sightlines, short overall length.
– It’s also the only Ford driven by a main character. Whether Fords are too rural for the Manhattan bourgeoisie or the Jews hadn’t forgiven Old Henry yet, they drive GM, Mopar and independents in rough proportion to market share but every (then) modern Ford is either a fleet car or just in the background.
– Nobody in NYC seems to have bought an import yet. All those European cars are from the Paris trip early in S2 which is why they’re overwhelmingly French.
– Comedians as TV characters have been dominated by hacks doing stylistic suck for so long that it’s really refreshing for a fictional standup comic to actually be good at it. The fact that they’re writing for a late 2010s/early 2020s audience sometimes shows up in just how blue Midge works, but they also have a knack for writing jokes about a world that’s simply *gone* in a way that resonates (see: Midge’s set from the Concord about Catskills resorts).
– That ’58 Plymouth in red with the gold-and-white trim is so Shazam/Captain Marvel looking that it can’t be a coincidence that they gave it to Zachary Levi’s character to drive.