Club Obi Wan

http://kottke.org/13/05/color-film-of-nyc-from-1939" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apologies if this isn't the best sub-forum for this post.

You'll have to keep your eyes peeled – they go by fast. The fedora at 1:35 looks especially nice.

Forget the fedoras... .05 cent Pina Coladas!!!!!!! WooHoo!!!!

That is hilarious... I noticed the 5 cent drinks as well. I also noticed the lack of any kind of barrier on what I think is the Empire State Observation deck! Don't have too many of those nickel drinks or you might fall over!

I'm surprised how many guys are hatless in '39. No more blaming Kennedy... looks like hats had been on a decline for a while.

Can't be 1939. Nickel or not - the Pina Colada wasn't invented until 1954.

. . . however at 0:55 there's a movie poster for Each Dawn I Die, which was a 1939 Cagney movie . . . so who knows? Compilation of some stock footage maybe?

Ridgerunner58 wrote:Can't be 1939. Nickel or not - the Pina Colada wasn't invented until 1954.

You may be on to something here. The shots are better than amateur as, is the editing and the music score is very nice -- 30's styling with a more contemporary beat-behind. Something looks a bit out-of-skew, to me. But it is a nice piece of work -- regardless of authenticity. W>

Interesting point about the piña colada! Perhaps the film contains footage from more than one decade. I don't think it's a fake, but perhaps the description and sourcing are incomplete.

michael wrote:Interesting point about the piña colada! Perhaps the film contains footage from more than one decade. I don't think it's a fake, but perhaps the description and sourcing are incomplete.

Could very well be, but the camera work itself is interesting and to my eye would suggest that most of the footage was shot by just one person (perhaps over a period of years), as there is a repetition in the way the scenes were shot thus giving me the indication that it was pretty much one shooter. Hey...didn't the 'Warren Commission' say the same thing about..... ...uh, never mind ! W>

Ok! Here is more! This hit Yahoo tonight. This explains a bit more and also adds to the credibility of 'one' photog! At least for now . W>

A newly released, captivating film clip brings to colorful life the streets of New York City—in the summer of 1939. You read that right: The color footage, which comes from Romano-Archives and was recently released on the Web, is 74 years old.

The description on YouTube states: “New York City, summer 1939. Rarely seen recently surfaced amateur movie, filmed by a French tourist, Jean Vivier, in 16mm Kodachrome. Great conservation state and incredible quality!”

That's for sure. The tourist video shows the hubbub of city life from downtown Chinatown to midtown to uptown in Harlem, and points in between. The men wear straw hats. Women wear full-skirted dresses. Pina coladas, advertised for 5 cents a drink, are being quaffed.

The elevated subway train, which no longer exists in Manhattan—part of the line on the city's west side has become the High Line park—lumbers overhead. Children splash about in the Washington Square fountain in the East Village. Double-decker buses pass by. The 30 Rock building looks unchanged.

Kodak amateur movie cameras had been available since 1935. According to the company’s website, “KODACHROME Film was introduced and became the first commercially successful amateur color film. It was initially offered in 16 mm format for motion pictures; 35 mm slides and 8 mm home movies followed in 1936.”

Although Kodak had introduced sound on film in 1937, the clip from the French tourist doesn’t have sound; a score was later added.

At the time this film was taken, Technicolor was being used on two classic and popular movies from 1939: “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

My Grandparents were living in Brooklyn at the time, they were teenagers then I don't even think they could afford to go into the city. I used to live in the NYC area and remember the city well, I still come back every year. I'm trying to recognize some of the landmarks and the shops. This film seems like yesterday, I can see my great Grandmother sitting on the steps of one of those brownstones. I saved this to my Youtube account. Great find, good stuff !!!