The woman who recorded the voice behind the iconic phrase “watch the tram car, please,” more than 50 years ago is suing for a cut of the money made from the Wildwood boardwalk trams. NBC10’s Karen Hua reports.
If you've been to the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ, at any point over the last fifty years, there's no doubt you've heard the iconic "Watch the tram car, please," warning that is played by the public transportation tram car as it moves along the boards on any given day.
And now that her voice has become ubiquitous with the Jersey Shore community after being in use for decades, Floss Stingel, the woman behind the warning, is suing the town and others claiming her voice has been used without her consent.
In court documents, she also claims she hasn't been justly compensated as the warning she recorded back in 1971 is now being used to promote tourism and sell memorabilia -- including toy tram cars that play the phrase on command.
According to court documents filed Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, Stingel's attorneys allege that for over the past 45 years, those targeted in the suit have profited from Stingel's voice recording without providing her with any compensation.
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Stingel's attorneys note, in court documents, that her "Watch the tram car, please" phrase has long been used to market the community for tourism, has been used as a recorded phrase in stuffed animals and toys sold by those named in the suit and was even included in an episode of "Sex in the City," all without compensation for Stingel.
In fact, as listed in the court documents, Stingel never received any compensation for the iconic recording -- aside from "occasional free tram tickets."
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"She has not received a single dime from this while they've received millions of dollars," said Emeka Igwe, Stingel's attorney.
The lawsuit was brought by Stingel against the City of Wildwood, the Wildwood Business Improvement District, the Wildwoods Boardwalk Special Improvement District, the Wildwood Historical Society and George F. Boyer Museum, Morey's Piers & Beachfront Waterparks and St. George's Stores.
According to court documents, Stingel recorded the phrase for the tram cars that regularly run a two-mile stretch of the Wildwood boardwalk -- from Cresse Avenue in Wildwood Crest to 16th Avenue in North Wildwood -- in 1971 onto a tape recorder as a favor to her then boyfriend.
Since then, Stingel's attorney's claim, the recording has become tied to the community and it's heard as many as 6,000 times a day as the tram cars play it repeatedly along the boardwalk.
"Our goal is to allow the voice to continue because we don't want to mess up the culture and the fabric of Wildwood," Igwe told NBC10's Karen Hua. "All we're asking for is for the defendants to compensate her and then they can continue to use the voice."
Court documents do not list an amount that Stingel is seeking in this case.
The City of Wildwood, the Boardwalk Improvement District and the Wildwood Business Improvement District all said they had no comment on this case.
Others named in the lawsuit were contacted by NBC10, but they did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
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