1941: An Acclaimed Singer’s Drive through a New York City Tunnel Proves to be Both Momentous and Confusing

February 14, 1941

A formal acknowledgement — albeit one that had to be clarified — was accorded the person who drove the one-millionth motor vehicle through New York City’s Queens-Midtown Tunnel about three months after the debut of that structure. The office of William H. Friedman, commissioner of the New York City Tunnel Authority (now part of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority), publicly announced that the driver of that automobile was a Bronx-born singer named Bea Wain. 

The efforts of the New York City Tunnel Authority to highlight Wain’s millionth-driver status, however, led to what the New York Times characterized as “some confusion” and “a definite impression of a prearranged publicity stunt that went astray.” The official announcement indicated that Wain had driven through the highway tunnel at 12:01 p.m., but members of New York City Tunnel Authority’s staff had said earlier that day that her time of travel was actually 8:00 a.m. Nonetheless, there evidently was little if any disputing the fact that she was indeed the millionth driver to traverse the tunnel.

The 23-year-old Wain, who had established herself by that time as an up-and-coming Big Band singer (the popular song My Reverie ultimately became her signature piece) and would go on to an equally productive career as a radio personality, was given a free book of 100 toll tickets worth $25 altogether for the tunnel. Wain was “slightly flabbergasted by this unexpected bonus,” according to the official announcement, but also “rose to the occasion with an appropriate statement” praising the recently opened tunnel. 

The Queens-Midtown Tunnel, which is also known as just the Midtown Tunnel, remains a vital and heavily used transportation link between the boroughs of Queens and Manhattan. Over the next several decades following her well-publicized drive through that tunnel, Wain likewise continued to thrive. She died in Beverly Hills, California, in 2017 at the age of 100. (The accompanying photo of her was taken in 1943.)

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens%E2%80%93Midtown_Tunnel