The Marvel Editorial Offices have been in several places in New York City. The McGraw-Hill Building, The Empire State Building, 621 Madison and 575. Of course, many people knew it down at 387 Park Avenue South and now, of course, it is somewhere on Sixth Avenue and a banana peel [–because who knows how long it will stay on the East Coast… Bi-Coastal Brown]!
For a little while, 575 was primarily home to entertainment lawyers. Yeah; I know, a whole building full of them—I may be exaggerating but that’s what Billy, the Elevator Starter told me. What is that!? You may well scream at me. The title was another time and place when elevators were run by clanking mechanical relays and motors! When elevators came in groups or banks, they needed someone who understood the master control. And, yes, to start them first thing in the morning. Some form of security was needed and external controls for everything “elevator” was under lock and key. Hence the Elevator Starter! 575 Madison was open 24/7 but you did have to either be known by the staff or have an appointment. Not quite the computer age we are currently in but it worked pretty well.
I got to talk frequently with the starters, who were interesting fellows. For one, they got everywhere in the building. One time, Billy had to come into the Marvel offices to open The Door That Was Never Opened… What was inside were a giant series of pipes. He showed me a particular curly-cue and produced a wrench from a pocket, turned a valve stem and informed me that he had to divert the flow from this pipe to that pipe. He cut out a specific pipe, claiming that work needed to be done on a higher floor. That was the kind of fun details I enjoyed.
This fellow is Carl, he and Billy were the regular day guys. You may notice something missing from the background. A building! 575 faced directly to the new IBM Building, then going up.
From the outside, walking west on 56th St. this view, now impossible to see, showed the entire building.
This view was looking north at 56th St. on Madison Avenue. I was testing colored lens filters used on Black & White film. A yellow filter made the sky look a bit darker. Ah, my youth.
In sharp contrast to this spiffy midtown office building, the “new” offices down on 28th St. and Park, had a dismal hallway that led to two totally inadequate elevators. Two! For the whole building. Well, it was an industrial building from about 1895. And, the “rear” elevators were the business end and there were four of them! Alas, so uninteresting, I never managed to get a shot of either entrance.
What passersby would never suspect from even a lingering glance at this building, was that in here were the entry ways to mighty realms… Asgard, the Savage Land, the Negative Zone—even access to slightly different streets here on Midgar—er, Earth—er—I mean New York City! Dr. Strange’s Village mansion, Avengers HQ facing Central Park or Peter Parker’s digs out in Queens.
All inside past our own gatekeepers, Billy and Carl!