MovieChat Forums > On the Town (1949) Discussion > Quite an opening itinerary

Quite an opening itinerary

posted 17 years ago by PR-7
7 replies | jump to latest

Yes, I know this story is fictional, almost a fantasy. But, just for fun, let's look at the opening itinerary:

Leave boat at Brooklyn Naval Yard, 6 am
Cross Brooklyn Bridge
Federal Hall (near south end of Manhattan)
Chinatown (north of Federal Hall)
Boat to Statue of Liberty (the dock is south of Federal Hall)
Columbus Circle (59th Street)
Grant's Tomb (122nd Street)
Saint John the Divine Cathedral (112nd St)
Central Park (between 110th and 59th)
Atlas Statue, RCA Building, and Prometheus Statue;
all at Rockefeller Center (50th Street)

After dancing in front of the Prometheus Statue, it's 9:30 am! They've seen QUITE a lot in just three and a half hours!!

.
Screwtape: "Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick."

[–] sfcivicchick 17 years ago

It was a pretty ambitious schedule wasn't it? Lol.

[–] susieq19 17 years ago

Thank you for giving that detailed account of the sailors' 3 hour spree of New York, I had always wondered just how spread out their route was!

Kiss Prudence

[–] Mitla96 17 years ago

I once saw On the Town in a revival theatre in New York City. When the "9:30am" scrolls across the screen, it got a big laugh-which was the intention!

[–] movibuf1962 17 years ago

That same thing happened to me when I saw this in the theatre. I hadn't been to NYC in a while, so I didn't get the joke right away that it's somewhat difficult, if not downright impossible, to tour Brooklyn, AND Chinatown, AND the Statue of Liberty, AND Columbus Circle, and Central Park, AND Rockefeller Center- and THEN say, three-and-a-half hours later, that the day's almost over and you haven't seen anything yet!!

[–] Bilwick1 14 years ago

As a native New Yorker I didn't take it seriously but in a way it was an exagerrated, satirical on how convenient NYC is to get around in. When I lived in Manhattan I could do A, B, C and X, Y, Z in just a few hours. Now I live in a Sun Belt "Edge City" with downtown that is mostly Ghost City on weekends, and everything is an expedition. Even with a car everything is so sprawled out you're have to pick A or Z and shoot for that.

[–] NewtonFigg 13 years ago

PR-7, sorry to be four years late but I just found this site after Betty Garrett died. To the opening itinerary I would add: after the Statue of Liberty, they walk under and then get on the 3rd Ave el. Then they're at Washington Sq., then Park Ave with the NY General Bldg in the background, then Grant's Tomb etc. The scene on the top of the RCA Building reminded me how terrible the smog used to be. It's a bright sunny day but you can barely make out the Empire State Building 3/4 of a mile away, and you can't even see to the Battery. It's much better now, especially since they stopped burning in the Jersey dumps and oil replaced coal as the principal source of heat.

[–] NewtonFigg 13 years ago

I made a schedule of their opening itinerary. If they started at 6AM and just stopped at each attraction long enough to look and didn't tarry (such as by climbing the Statue of Liberty) and made good boat, train and bus connections, the earliest they could have made it to the roof of the RCA Building was 1PM.