On the last day of each year, it has become a ritual for large crowds to gather in the brightly lit chaos of New York’s Times Square to usher in new beginnings. At 11:59 PM, a dazzling ball descends a pole, while attendees – and millions of people tuning in at home – count down from 60. At the stroke of midnight, the crowd erupts into a cacophony of sound, often taking their loved one in for a ceremonial kiss.
New Year’s Eve has its own set of rituals: drop the ball, resolutions and seal the New Year with a kiss. Credit: Bettmann Archive / Getty Images
The Times Square Ball has had seven different designs. Credit: RW / MediaPunch / IPx / AP
This is the first year since 1904 that crowds will be banned from coming to Times Square. Even though the ball drop was canceled for two years during WWII, people still came to observe the tradition and keep a minute of silence.
Over the past century, the symbol of the New Year – the luminous ball – has evolved from an iron and wooden cage decorated with light bulbs to a dazzling technicolor crystal object.
But how did this New Year’s Eve celebration begin, and why do we commemorate the occasion by seeing a ball descend past a pole?
Nautical inspiration
The Times Square ball started thanks to a Ukrainian immigrant and metalworker named Jacob Starr and former New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs. The latter had successfully drawn crowds to the newspaper’s new skyscraper home in Times Square through pyrotechnics and fireworks to celebrate the coming year, but city officials banned the use of explosives after just a few years.
In 1907, Ochs Starr, who worked for the sign-making firm Strauss Signs (later known as Artkraft Strauss, who served Starr as president) commissioned the creation of a new visual display.
Crowds gather in Times Square until December 31, 1938. The intersection has been hosting New Year’s Eve celebrations since 1904. Credit: – / AFP / Getty Images
The new concept was based on time balls, nautical devices that had become popular in the 19th century. As the time display became more accurate, ship navigators needed a standardized way of setting their chronometers. Every day, ports and observatories would simultaneously raise and lower a metal ball to allow sailors to synchronize their instruments.
Both Ochs and New York Times chief electrician Walter Palmer have been credited with the idea, reportedly inspired by downtown’s Western Union Building, which dropped a time ball every day at noon. But Starr’s granddaughter Tama, who joined Artkraft Strauss in 1982 and now owns the company, said in a phone interview that she believes it was her grandfather who came up with the idea that the ball was lowered at midnight and lit with the numbers. for the new year. .
One design of the New Year’s ball was an aluminum cage with light bulbs. Credit: David Glove / AP
“The idea was to … have it lit with the brand new electricity that had just come close,” said Tama, who spent years as a foreman at the Times Square ball drop. “And it was let down by hand … starting at one minute before midnight, and it was done like that for many years.”
“It was an adaptation of an old useful thing,” she added. “It was immediately popular. People just loved it.”
When the ball reached the parapet with a sign with the numbers of the year, “the electrician flipped the switch, turning the ball off and turning on the numbers at the same time,” said Tama. “So it looked like the ball that came down turned into the sequence of numbers.”
Artkraft Strauss, a sign company founded by Jacob Starr, was responsible for the design of the ball and its launch for nearly a century. Credit: Marty Leather Handler / AP
All of Times Square participated in the theatrical. In the first year, waiters at nearby restaurants and hotels wore battery-powered “1908” top hats that lit them at the stroke of midnight.
“People saw it as magic,” said Tama.
‘A minute out of time’
There have been seven different Times Square balls since the first descent, from a 700-pound iron construction equipped with 25-watt incandescent bulbs, to a lighter aluminum frame after WWII, to a ‘Big Apple’ during city administration . former mayor Ed Koch.
During the administration of Mayor Ed Koch, the ball turned into an apple as part of the “I Love New York” campaign. Credit: Leather dealer / AP
In 1995, when the ball got a glitzy update with rhinestones, strobe lights and computer controls, traditional sign makers were no longer needed – meaning Artkraft Strauss, the company that brought the ball to Times Square, was no longer needed either. Today’s Ball is a collaboration between Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting, using 32,256 LEDs that can be programmed to display millions of colors and patterns on the surface.
Still, Tama fondly remembers her years on the roof of One Times Square. She took turns supervising with her brother and played a timekeeper. As the last minute of the year arrived, the workers lowered the ball using a complex pulley system.
Using a series of tape marks on the pole, Tama was responsible for telling them to speed up or slow down. With every ounce of their attention focused on the task, even the team’s breathing would synchronize for the 60 seconds, she said.
For the millennium, the Times Square ball took on a new look, with a crystal design from Waterford Crystal and lighting from Philips. Credit: Kathy Willens / AP
By performing this ritual year after year, Tama sees an intrinsic connection between the countdown, which she calls “a minute out of time,” and making New Year’s resolutions.
“When you concentrate really hard, time seems to slow down,” she said. It felt like the longest minute in the world. It felt like you had time to wash your hair, call your mom, change your life. You can really change your life in one minute – you can decide to be different. That may decide to be kinder and better. “