Speed Graphic Film and Video | Hollywood Outtakes: Around Manhattan in Four Minutes @SpeedGraphicFilmVideo | Uploaded December 2022 | Updated October 2024, 19 hours ago.
This is the short, sped-up version of this video. To see the regular video, go here: youtube.com/watch?v=AsGwA3UChv8
One day in the 1930's, somebody from Columbia Pictures put a camera on a boat and took this film as they circumnavigated New York's Manhattan Island. Starting from a pier in New Jersey, they sailed across the Hudson River, around lower Manhattan, up the East River and the Harlem River, then down the Hudson again. The whole trip would have taken two or three hours. Who knows how much film they shot, but this 20-odd minutes of film is all that I can find in the archive.
0:00 The film starts from one of the big piers on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. I haven't been able to identify the small ocean liner tied up at the next pier over. A lighter goes by and, as the boat turns south, the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan swing into view.
0:51 South of the Battery now, with a view of Castle Garden and the ferry terminals. At 5:36 you can just see a Ninth Avenue Elevated train headed north, which indicates that this film was shot before 1940.
1:21 Now headed north on the East River, looking back towards lower Manhattan.
1:36 The shore is lined with coal-fired plants to serve the city's voracious appetite for power.
1:53 Still headed north on the East River, this time looking ahead towards the 59th Street Bridge and what was then known as either Blackwell's Island or Welfare Island.
2:06 On the Harlem River, looking at what was then known as the Harlem River Speedway.
2:42 Skipping well ahead, we're now on the Hudson River, passing under the new George Washington Bridge.
3:15 Looking at the Manhattan side of the Hudson again, we see Grant's tomb and Riverside Church in its original configuration.
3:31 In the final shot, we see the old piers of lower Manhattan.
The music is by Aaron Copland, from his Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2), written at about the same time this film was taken.
This is the short, sped-up version of this video. To see the regular video, go here: youtube.com/watch?v=AsGwA3UChv8
One day in the 1930's, somebody from Columbia Pictures put a camera on a boat and took this film as they circumnavigated New York's Manhattan Island. Starting from a pier in New Jersey, they sailed across the Hudson River, around lower Manhattan, up the East River and the Harlem River, then down the Hudson again. The whole trip would have taken two or three hours. Who knows how much film they shot, but this 20-odd minutes of film is all that I can find in the archive.
0:00 The film starts from one of the big piers on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. I haven't been able to identify the small ocean liner tied up at the next pier over. A lighter goes by and, as the boat turns south, the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan swing into view.
0:51 South of the Battery now, with a view of Castle Garden and the ferry terminals. At 5:36 you can just see a Ninth Avenue Elevated train headed north, which indicates that this film was shot before 1940.
1:21 Now headed north on the East River, looking back towards lower Manhattan.
1:36 The shore is lined with coal-fired plants to serve the city's voracious appetite for power.
1:53 Still headed north on the East River, this time looking ahead towards the 59th Street Bridge and what was then known as either Blackwell's Island or Welfare Island.
2:06 On the Harlem River, looking at what was then known as the Harlem River Speedway.
2:42 Skipping well ahead, we're now on the Hudson River, passing under the new George Washington Bridge.
3:15 Looking at the Manhattan side of the Hudson again, we see Grant's tomb and Riverside Church in its original configuration.
3:31 In the final shot, we see the old piers of lower Manhattan.
The music is by Aaron Copland, from his Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2), written at about the same time this film was taken.
