"Inside the Archives"

Right now I'm watching my current favorite TV show, "Inside the Archives" on NYC-TV, the city's cable channel. In a nutshell, it's uncut footage from the municipal archives, including shows from WNYC-TV, and other orphan goodness. Tonight's episode: a kine of an interview with Robert Moses from 1963, about the upcoming World's Fair; and a 1957 training film for firemen about how to put up ladders. Best line comes from the segment on using the 35 foot ladder: "The men at the butt ends are called, 'butt men.'" They just keep saying "butt men" over and over. Alas, new episodes are few and far between, but these shots of men ritualistically raising ladders to a non-burning building have a strange appeal.