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From

1:00

PRX.

1:05

From PRX's Radio-topia, this is Radio

1:08

Diaries. I'm Joe Richman.

1:10

In 1947, a New York City bus driver

1:12

named William Sumillo became, for

1:15

a few weeks, the most famous bus driver

1:17

in the country.

1:18

I read a bunch of accounts of what he did, but my favorite

1:20

is from this TV interview. It unfolds

1:23

kind of slowly, but that's kind of why it's so great.

1:26

Pepsi Cola presents Fay

1:28

Emerson. Hello again. Do

1:31

you ever think of getting away from it all? A

1:34

bus driver had that same feeling, and

1:36

he made every headline in the country. So

1:38

I asked him to come up here and tell us all about

1:40

it. Hello, Bill. Pleasure

1:43

to meet you. Thank you. Come on,

1:45

sit down on that table. Hey, Charlie, got a couple of Pepsis

1:47

here for us? Pepsi's right here. Thanks,

1:49

Charlie. Yes, ma'am. Let me stop this for a second

1:51

and describe what's happening. It's black

1:53

and white footage. The set of the show

1:55

is a living room, a complete living room. Everything,

1:59

window blinds.

1:59

paintings on the walls, credenza. So

2:03

a butler hands the host, Faye Emerson, a silver

2:05

tray with a bottle of Pepsi and two glasses.

2:08

Then Faye pours her guest a drink. Will

2:10

you tell us what happened, please? I don't know, okay.

2:13

Wonderful. Well, it's one of those

2:15

things. I was on the job for about 20 years, and

2:18

I really got tired of it all, you know. Up and

2:21

down, every day, the same people, the

2:23

same stops, nickels, dimes,

2:25

transfers, and... Well, this morning,

2:28

I thought I'd try something different.

2:29

So I'd come out of my garage, instead

2:32

of making a right turn to go up to my route, I

2:35

thought I'd make a left turn.

2:36

And that was the first thought you'd really give him to it, just

2:38

to get it on impulse. So

2:40

I made this left turn, and I

2:43

went west towards George Washington

2:45

Bridge. It was a beautiful morning, sun

2:47

shining. So I got over here to

2:49

Santa Washington Bridge. It was in Jersey then,

2:51

and I stopped for breakfast.

2:55

After breakfast, Similo got back in his bus. All

2:57

this time, he was supposed to be picking up passengers

3:00

along his usual route from Gunhill Road to 205th Street

3:02

in the Bronx. Instead,

3:05

he headed south on U.S. Route 1.

3:09

Similo had been a bus driver with a service transportation

3:11

system of New York for 17 years

3:13

without any problems. He went

3:16

to work every day. People say he never complained.

3:19

In fact, in recognition of his long and committed service, Similo

3:22

had recently been given a brand new bus for his

3:24

route, bus number 1310,

3:26

bright red with cream trim. And

3:29

as Similo drove further away from New York

3:31

City and from his route, he switched

3:33

the destination sign from subway to

3:36

special. Hours passed.

3:43

I

3:43

kept riding before I knew what I

3:45

was watching. And I was riding in front

3:47

of the White House. Never

3:50

been to Washington before? Never

3:52

been there. Never. So I decided

3:54

to look around for 15, 20 minutes. When

3:57

I come back, there's a policeman standing

3:59

by the bus.

3:59

He says, what are you doing here with this great big bus

4:02

in a restricted parking area? Right in front

4:04

of the White House, right in front of the place. As

4:07

I'm waiting for a delegation of union

4:09

officials, they're up there on business. Pretty

4:12

fast thinking.

4:14

So, Similo kept driving south. He

4:16

even said he picked up a hitchhiker, a sailor,

4:18

who drove with him for two days. Then

4:21

on the third day, Similo and his bus arrived

4:23

in Hollywood, Florida, just north of Miami.

4:26

He said he went for a late night swim. I

4:28

enjoy that very much. Oh,

4:30

what a thrill. It what? At

4:33

this point, William Similo was 1,300 miles from

4:35

the Bronx, 1,300 miles from his bus route, from

4:40

annoying passengers, from New York City

4:42

traffic, and from the Daily Grind,

4:44

and he was almost out of money. He

4:47

went to the Gulfstream racetrack, as Similo

4:49

liked to gamble. It's unclear

4:51

how much money he put down, but he left the racetrack

4:53

with $2.60 in his pocket. That

4:56

day, he also went to the closest Western Union

4:58

and sent this telegram to his boss. With

5:01

disabled bus number 1310, stop. In

5:04

need of $50, stop. Send money

5:06

to Hollywood, Florida, stop. Similo.

5:09

So, I'm waiting at the telegraph office for the

5:12

money. Two policemen

5:14

come over. They say, you wanted.

5:17

I say, what for? They say,

5:19

for stealing a bus. I say, no, no.

5:22

I said, I didn't steal that bus. I say, they

5:24

gave it to me. Well, one way led

5:26

to the other. They said, you're still

5:28

arrested. In Similo's mind,

5:31

or at least what he said on TV, it

5:33

just wasn't that big a deal. He was taking a

5:35

breather from his regular life,

5:37

a three-day coffee break. You did what everybody

5:39

always wanted to do. Just get away from everything. That's

5:42

what I wanted to do. Talking about

5:45

getting away from it all, if you are planning

5:47

to get away from it all, you may like to know that no matter

5:49

where you go, you're almost sure to find

5:51

friendly, sparkling pepsicola

5:54

waiting for you.

5:57

were

6:00

sent down to Florida to bring Similo back,

6:02

along with his bus. The mechanic

6:05

drove the bus, but Similo told people later

6:07

the mechanic couldn't really handle it. His

6:09

driving made the detectives nervous, so

6:11

the cops actually put Similo back behind the

6:14

wheel. And then right before they arrived in New York

6:16

City, they switched drivers again. They

6:18

put the mechanic back at the wheel of the bus, and

6:20

Similo dutifully got into his handcuffs.

6:28

So here's what happened next. As the

6:30

bus pulled up to the steps of the Beach Street

6:32

police station in Manhattan, hundreds

6:34

of people had gathered, and they were cheering.

6:37

In photographs you see Similo being led through

6:39

the crowd by the cops, and he has a huge

6:42

smile. He's beaming.

6:44

Over the time it took to drive back from

6:46

Florida to New York, news had spread

6:49

about the bus snapping. William

6:51

Similo had become a folk hero.

7:09

That

7:14

was NBC. The Daily News

7:16

wrote, It must have been a wonderful trip, and

7:19

we hope Bill's boss will try to understand.

7:22

From the New York World Telegram, we know

7:24

just how he felt. Who hasn't yearned for escape,

7:26

for change, for fairer scenes? From

7:29

as far away as Michigan, the Traverse City

7:32

Eagle wrote, Across the nation today, thousands

7:34

of office workers and laborers went to their

7:36

humdrum jobs with hearts a little

7:38

lighter because of what William L. Similo

7:41

did to escape the same kind of boredom

7:43

that fills their ordered lives.

7:52

This episode of Radio

7:54

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8:40

Samillo was indicted on charges of grand larceny.

8:43

He was facing up to 10 years in prison. Samillo's

8:46

fellow New York City bus drivers, who you'd think

8:48

would be the least sympathetic people in the country to his

8:50

whole joyride, they organized a

8:52

fundraiser to pay his legal fees.

8:55

Letters and telegrams of support came

8:57

in from around the country. The court

8:59

of public opinion was delivering its verdict

9:01

and soon the Service Transportation

9:03

System of New York decided to drop the

9:05

charges.

9:07

Not only that, they gave him his job back. On

9:10

his first day back on the route, a line

9:12

of people waited to ride Samillo's bus.

9:15

One article reported that after school let out, 350 screaming

9:17

high school girls tried

9:20

to get onto his 44-seat bus, ignoring

9:23

three other buses. They wanted his autograph.

9:26

In the end, William Samillo was incredibly

9:29

lucky. He took a huge leap, fled

9:31

home, cut out on his job, committed

9:34

a crime, and he got away with it because

9:36

people loved the story. For

9:38

the rest of his life, he was that guy who

9:41

took a city bus to Florida.

9:43

He had his day in the

9:45

sun. This is Richard Samillo, the

9:47

bus driver's son.

9:49

His dad died in 1975. He

9:51

felt like a star, I guess. He

9:53

was recognized wherever he

9:55

went. He wasn't just

9:57

another bus driver, you know?

10:02

He was somebody. I guess

10:05

that's what he felt. You

10:07

say it so begrudgingly

10:11

about him being a star. Because, you know, every time

10:14

we went out, every

10:18

place we went, there was always, you know, it

10:20

was like a movie star, let me

10:22

put it to you that way. You

10:24

know, and after a while,

10:28

I think my mother got tired of it. And

10:31

I got tired of it all. You know what

10:33

I'm saying? But he never got tired

10:35

of it.

10:36

Richard and his family never found the story

10:38

as charming as most New Yorkers did, starting

10:41

with the day their dad stole bus number 1310. Let

10:44

me explain something to you. I

10:47

was 12 years old at the time, and

10:53

if they come home from school,

10:55

my mother was crying, and I was, oh my,

10:57

why are you crying? And I said, well, you

10:59

know, he didn't come home. I wonder where

11:01

he is when he come home for supper

11:03

and all that. And

11:07

the next day, same thing.

11:10

He didn't come home, not a phone call. So

11:15

she called the garage.

11:18

Didn't know where he is. The bus

11:20

never come back to the garage. It

11:23

just disappeared. And

11:28

we used

11:30

to gather together at my grandmother's house,

11:33

my mother crying, my grandmother

11:35

crying. It was like a wake.

11:38

I mean, you're 12

11:40

years old at the time. What did you think might have happened?

11:44

Either the bus ran off the road someplace,

11:48

maybe it went into a lake. This is

11:50

me thinking, you know, maybe

11:53

it was a big accident that nobody knew about.

11:56

So I really thought deep down

11:59

that he might have

11:59

must have died.

12:06

It wasn't until his dad was arrested in Hollywood, Florida

12:08

that the family finally knew what had happened. In

12:11

newspaper articles at the time, Similo gave

12:13

reasons for why he took his bus trip. He

12:16

said the bus had started to feel like a squirrel cage.

12:18

The tinkle of the nickels and dimes being dropped

12:20

at the farebox was driving him crazy. He

12:23

said that one a lot. With a judge,

12:25

his defense was spring fever.

12:27

Some articles pointed out that he had gambling debts

12:30

and asked, is that why he took off so suddenly?

12:34

Richard says he never sat down with his dad and really talked

12:36

about why he did what he did, even

12:38

as an adult. Was it true his

12:40

dad just got the idea one morning to spontaneously

12:42

drive to Florida, like he'd said? He

12:45

didn't plan it at all?

12:47

Did he really think he'd get away with it? And

12:49

the biggest question. I don't know

12:51

if my mother ever asked, why didn't you

12:54

call? I never

12:56

asked. He

12:58

never called. Not a word.

13:02

You know, I looked up to him, you know, he's my father.

13:06

But after the Florida incident, I had problems.

13:09

I had problems looking at that.

13:12

That was a tough time. For

13:15

me. Even now, the

13:17

word he uses when he talks about his dad's bus

13:19

trip is embarrassing. There's

13:23

someone else in the family who has a completely different take

13:25

on this. Richard's younger brother, Dennis.

13:28

Quick heads up, their voices are remarkably

13:31

similar. It's a good thing to me.

13:34

To me, you know, he's still my

13:36

hero, you know? There's one simple reason

13:38

the two brothers see this so differently. Dennis

13:41

was just a baby when their father disappeared. He

13:43

doesn't remember any of it. He doesn't remember

13:46

his mother and grandmother crying. He didn't

13:48

think his dad had driven into a lake. Didn't

13:50

picture him dead in an accident.

13:52

Dennis's vision of the whole thing is closer

13:55

to easy rider,

13:56

if easy rider took place on a municipal

13:58

bus.

13:59

I could just see my father putting

14:02

the pedal to the metal and just going, let me keep

14:04

on going. In the joy of just

14:06

looking out the window and driving and the

14:09

way my father was, being carefree and saying,

14:11

you know what, I'm just driving, I have nothing on my head,

14:13

I have no pressure today, I have nothing going

14:16

on. Let me keep on going. Dennis

14:19

has a collection of memorabilia about the bus trip. He

14:21

pulls out a large manila folder. On the front

14:24

it says, Dad's Event. There are

14:26

dozens of old photographs and articles and

14:28

a videotape with footage from 1947.

14:29

We go down

14:32

to the basement to watch it. This

14:35

is from an old newsreel that was

14:37

taken at the time. It's

14:41

really short. That's

14:44

the bus coming in. It's his dad

14:46

arriving back in New York. And right

14:48

now he's being escorted into the courthouse,

14:51

going in front of the judge and being arraigned right now.

14:56

That's it. Now Richard, the older brother, he had

14:58

told me about this same newsreel. He

15:01

had seen it the week it was actual news in

15:03

a movie theater when he was 12.

15:05

I'm sitting there and all of a sudden, boom,

15:09

my father's picture is up on the screen.

15:13

And I'm looking there, I was stunned.

15:16

You see your father as a kid handcuffed,

15:21

detectives on both sides of him bringing

15:23

him into the courthouse. I

15:26

don't know anybody that would feel proud

15:30

of something like that. So

15:32

that's the older brother, Richard. But here

15:34

in the basement with Dennis, his take on this?

15:37

I enjoy every minute of it. It

15:39

just makes me idolize him. I wish

15:42

I could do things like that sometimes.

15:44

In a way, a small way, Dennis

15:46

has done that. He sees himself

15:48

as a free spirit. He says he got that from

15:51

his dad. He doesn't worry about things

15:53

too much. He likes to gamble. He

15:55

started his own businesses distributing beer

15:57

and soda. He was his own boss,

15:59

which matters.

15:59

no pension, no paid vacation, no

16:02

security, no guarantees. He

16:04

says it's different from the life his brother chose. And

16:07

Richard, the older brother, would agree with that. The

16:10

lesson Richard took from his father's story was to

16:12

be a responsible person, to think

16:14

about the consequences of his actions.

16:17

Richard worked all his life as a fireman, which

16:20

oddly he calls a safe job. He's

16:22

retired now, but as it turned out, when I

16:25

interviewed Richard, he and his wife were getting ready

16:27

to drive to Florida. As he said,

16:29

the legit way.

16:39

So

16:58

you wish you didn't

17:01

worry as much?

17:27

I wish I could have lived that. Yeah,

17:30

I wish I could not worry.

17:33

After Richard's dad, William Similo

17:35

got his job back in 1947. He

17:38

went on to drive a bus in the Bronx for the next 16 years,

17:42

with no detours.

17:43

Once a reporter asked him, did he still think

17:45

about hitting the open road, turning left,

17:48

and heading across the bridge again? Similo

17:50

said yes, he thought about it. But

17:52

when you tell somebody a joke, he said, it's

17:55

never as funny the second time.

18:00

D tour, there's a muddy road

18:02

ahead, D tour, paid no

18:04

mind what it said,

18:07

D tour,

18:11

all these

18:27

bitter things I find should

18:29

have read that

18:31

D tour side.

18:33

This story, Busman's Holiday, originally

18:35

aired on This American Life, thanks to

18:37

Ira Glass and the entire staff for their help. Radio

18:40

Diaries is produced by me, Joe Richmond, with

18:42

Nellie Gillis, Elisa Escarce, Micah

18:45

Hazel, and Lena Englestein. Our

18:47

editors are Deborah George and Ben Shapiro. Radio

18:50

Diaries is part of Radiotopia from PRX. You

18:52

can hear all the shows at radiotopia.fm.

18:56

We have support from the National Endowment for the Humanities,

18:58

National Endowment for the Arts, NSCA, and

19:00

from our wonderful listeners, like you. And

19:03

thanks this week to Patti Page for giving us

19:05

this version of the song, D tour, there's

19:08

a muddy road ahead.

19:09

I'm Joe Richmond, thanks

19:12

for listening.

19:33

Radio Diaries

19:36

from PRX.