NYC taxi message
In 1996, the Taxi and Limousine Commission added recorded announcements in NYC taxis that would advise the customer when they got in the cab, to buckle their seatbelts and when the trip was over, to be aware of leaving one’s belongings and urging them to ask for the receipt for the trip.
A woman named Victoria Drakoulis, in a thick Long Island accent, did the voice recording.
“Don’t forget to check for yaw be-lawn-gings and please get a re-seeeet from the dry-vuh!”
It sounded like she was recording from the Bellmore Diner, while eating an egg salad sandwich.
A year later, they ended up luring celebrities to make the announcements. The first was Placido Domingo.
“Hello, this is Placido Domingo, reminding you to buckle your seat belt for safety because you are important.”
And when the ride was over, you’d hear,
“This is Placido Domingo, back to remind you to take all of your belongings with you as you leave the cab and please, remember to ask the driver for a receipt for this ride. I’ll see you at the opera.”
It was a huge success.
They were able to get Jackie Mason, Joe Torre, Ruth Westheimer and others.
“Hello this is Eartha Kitt. Cats have nine lives, purrrrrr, but unfortunately you have only one. So buckle your seat belt for safety.”
“Hi, this is Joan Rivers, can we talk? Listen, buckle up your safety belt. By the way, you look great today, that color is you.”
It became even more popular. The TLC was inundated with people wanting to record their voice for this program.
The second group of voices included Adam West of Batman fame, Ivanna Trump, hockey Hall-Of-Famer Rod Gilbert, Paul Sorvino and Sally Jessie Raphael.
The third group of NYC-centric celebrities, included Isaac Hayes, Paul O’Neill of the NY Yankees, Opera singer Beverly Sills, fashion designer Nicole Miller, Dennis Franz as Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blue and Mary Wilson.
“Hi this is Mary Wilson of The Supremes, asking you to STOP!!! In the name of safety!”
After this group, for some reason, the TLC stopped the program.
Yet they didn’t remove the recordings.
After a long while the tapes started to slow down and the voices sounded creepy.
Paul O’Neill sounded like his grandfather.
Beverly Sills went from a soprano to a baritone.
The longer this went on, the scarier the voices sounded.
The darkest transformation occurred with the incredible songbird Mary Wilson.
Her beautiful voice sounded like she was speaking from Hell.
“Hiiiiii… thisssss isssss Mear-eeee Willllsonnnn of the Sooooo preeeeeems. Askingggg youuuuu to STOPPPP
in the name of
SATAN!!!!!!!!!”
