In movies and cartoons, you will sometimes see a down-on-his-luck fella who is walking the streets at night in the big city, with a jazz soundtrack playing and neon lights flashing/floating all around him. Signs like “No Vacancy”, “Girls Girls Girls”, “Wine and Spirits”… where did this scene first originate, and in what different movies, shows or cartoons has it been used?
There’s a variation of this in the silent movie Sunrise (1927), in which a rural couple walks through the big city, while various emblems of urban life appear around them in a multi-image shot. It’s daytime, though.
According to Wikipedia the “drunk walking down a street with neon signs tempting him” meme orginated with The Lost Weekend.
This is only loosely related, but the paintings of Otto Dix and several other post-WWI artists often depict a crippled, destitute veteran hobbling down the street, surrounded by neon signs, jazz clubs, prostitutes, and all the debauchery of Weimar-era germany.
That scene exists in roughly 87% of all films noirs.
Just a normal night in Bangkok.
“One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can’t be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me.”