I rarely watch movies more than twice. I saw Radio Days when it came out and I watched Radio Days once again today on cable for at least the fourth time.
I love this incredibly under-rated movie! Everything - the cast, their wonderful performances, the beautiful cinematography -and most of all for me - the location of my old home, Rockaway Beach, just keeps me coming back for more.
Some scenes from my Rockaway:
The opening scene (the building with the arches) is shot in a building that I called "The Front House" for many years. It was a summer rooming house owned by a family very dear to me a long time ago. The owner's son and I were (and should still be) great friends. We used the building for jam sessions, parties, and romantic escapes (not me and my friend!). I actually lived in the place for a few weeks between apartments. The owner's son had to paint the place every spring! Fun! We used to think the place was haunted. I disproved that when I lived there alone for awhile. The same folks would rent every summer - they had three bungalows and the rooming house. It was great when they all moved in every year - summer!! The front bungalow was occupied by a Polish family from Brooklyn - a longshoreman and his family. The middle bungalow went to an Italan family from upper Manhattan. I had a big crush on the daughter, Teresa.
The street where Joe carries the fixed-up radio is right outside the place. We played on that block for years. This is Beach 97th Street between the "el" and the boulevard, one block from the old Rockaway's Playland. The front house has since been torn down, as is the entire bungalow court and the owner's house. I could almost cry just thinking about it. Fun fact: the owner's name was also Joe. He was a retired NYC policeman. Rest in Peace, Joe (Mr. W----- as I called him).
Joe then walks under the "el" as we called it. It's actually the elevated train tracks of the subway - the Rockaway Line. Joe was on the Freeway which was a notoriously dangerous place for man or beast.
The teacher undresses above the old Abram's Hardware store on the corner of 115th and Rockaway Beach Boulevard. There are a few house shots from that street as well. One block up is the Atlantic Ocean, as indicated in the film.
As kids, we also watched for enemy subs off the beach! WW2 was long over, but we took no chances!
Rockaway in those days, in the area mainly shown in the film, was predominately Irish. There was also a large Jewish population, but mostly in Far Rockaway back then. It was a great place to grow up.
Thank you Mr Allen for a beautiful memory and a terrific film that I will visit again and again.
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Kinomachtfrei
16 years ago
What a nice, intimate posting! I remember my own wintry ramblings, twelve years old, with my big brother's lesbian girlfriend. Exotic. Wandering in the rain on the those beaches. To get to the end of the subway line you had two use two tokens. To a Manhattan kid it seemed like Canada.
There's nothing more beautiful than rain on cobblestones.
I suppose if anything validates nostalgia it's this film and its warm acceptance that perhaps things weren't how we remember them, but in the right hands those memories, washed in a sepia mist, can become art.
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speedolitec
15 years ago
This is is probably my favorite Woody Allen movie (that I've seen), but what's wierd forme is I only saw this for the 1st time when I was 8 or 9, and the events of the movie take place before my parents were even born, but I actually get a little nostalgic watching this, even now. Apparantly life was alot simpler during WWII.
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beepstein
9 years ago
The wooden roller coaster at Rockaway Playland was known for many years as the "Atom Smasher". After it was used in the 1952 film "This Is Cinerama" it became known as the "Cinerama Coaster". In the early '70's I rode it many times. I used it as a stepping stone toward riding the much more ferocious "Coney Island Cyclone".
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