Old New York and Coney Island (1925)

I suspect that I am rapidly becoming a Time Travel Addict-but these little micro-vacations keep me sane, so let's spin the dial! Hmm...clear air, tang of salt, busy streets...is that a Brooklyn accent? Let's check my luggage for a bathing suit!

I am told that this lovely short film is not the result of any film crew or company, but shot on a 16mm hand camera by a 'Dutch couple on vacation'. If this is true then I envy the technical skill and composition of this amateur photographer-the images are clear and well blocked, camera movement is remarkably fluid and stable (even in a moving car!) and the changing lighting conditions are corrected for manually and within moments. Our mystery Dutch couple treats the audience to bits of both Manhattan and Brooklyn, tantalizing us with shots of early automobiles, the stray horse-drawn wagon, cabs, foot traffic and early elevated trains, the Woolworth Building and the Metlife Tower. Included is a vast amount of footage of 1925 Coney Island, including the beaches full of vacationers, scenes of the ocean and the swimmers below, far off boat traffic, the Boardwalk and many of its stalls, the famous Thunderbolt roller coaster, and the tourists strolling the park on foot or by rickshaw...

This nine-and-a-half minute feature languished in relative obscurity (and an amazing state of preservation) until film enthusiast MichaelRogge released this copy-complete with an added 'soudtrack' of effects to simulate background noises-back into the world for our enjoyment! My thanks to him for letting us into this lovely slice of History...B&W, Soundtrack.