Is the real Bedford Falls in Seneca County, New York?
Was the upstate New York village of Seneca Falls the inspiration for the design of Bedford Falls in It’s A Wonderful Life?
Karolyn Grimes, the actress who played Zuzu, one of the children of George and Mary Bailey in the American movie classic, thinks it was.
“When I came around the corner and saw [Seneca Falls’] main street, I gasped and said, ‘This is Bedford Falls!’” Grimes then saw the steel bridge that leads over the canal: “It is nearly a replica of the bridge where George Bailey went to end his life.”
Physical similarities between Seneca Falls and Bedford Falls are striking. In addition to the architecture along the main street and the steel truss bridge, Seneca Falls has many Second Empire Victorian homes (like the large, old house George and Mary owned in the movie). Both towns have a canal. In 1945, when the movie was shot, Seneca Falls was a mill town, just like Bedford Falls. Seneca Falls had the globe street lamps seen in the movie and even had a median on a portion of its main street.
There were also similarities in the towns’ characters. Both had a large Italian community and both had a neighborhood where people of modest means could live comfortably, courtesy of the generous terms of a community leader. In the movie it was “Bailey Park,” named in honor of George Bailey’s family building and loan; in Seneca Falls it was “Rumseyville,” named after the owner of one the town’s large pump manufacturers.
So why does Seneca Falls think it is Bedford Falls?
Seneca Falls’ claim begins with geography. It’s hard to dispute that Capra set Bedford Falls in New York State. Rochester, Buffalo, and Elmira are mentioned in the script and referenced as being relatively close. All three are an easy drive from Seneca Falls. And, a reference to Cornell University in Ithaca, just 40 miles south, was taken out of the script by the studio’s rights clearance lawyers.
Capra’s Bedford Falls has a Genesee Street, and that is a common street name in Upstate New York. Seneca Falls has a Genesee Turnpike.
The final proof offered for the town’s claim is the story that Frank Capra visited the town in late 1945. He was going to visit an aunt in nearby Auburn and stopped in Seneca Falls and had his hair cut. Barber Tommy Bellissima didn’t know who Frank Capra was at the time, but when the movie came out, he recognized the name of his famous patron on the poster. He remembered Capra because the two had talked at length about their lives in Italy and common experiences as immigrants. The name stuck with Bellissima because capra in Italian means goat.
So is it just a coincidence that Seneca Falls is practically identical to Bedford Falls?
Consider this:
It is documented that Capra was in New York City in November 1945 trying to talk Jean Arthur into the female lead in It’s A Wonderful Life. A check of historical maps shows that the most direct route in the ‘40s from New York to Auburn, where his aunt reportedly lived, would have been west across NY Route 17 and then north when he got to the southern Finger Lakes region – a route that would have taken him through Ithaca and then Seneca Falls.
Leaving Bellissima’s barbershop, Capra would have gone over the steel truss bridge on Bridge Street to get to the main part of town. On that bridge was a plaque honoring Seneca Falls resident Antonio Varacalli, who had leaped into the icy waters of the canal in April 1917 to rescue a girl who had just attempted suicide by jumping off the bridge. Varacalli saved her but he was overcome by fatigue from the rescue and drowned.
Here on the bridge in Seneca Falls was a real story similar to the opening incident in his upcoming movie; Capra certainly would have been inspired.
Capra was still in the early planning stages of It’s A Wonderful Life when he visited Seneca Falls, having just signed the contract a few weeks before. Not only did the bridge over the canal and the guardian angel match the plot of “The Greatest Gift,” but Seneca Falls also had the size, look, and personality of the town depicted in the story. It’s not hard to imagine that he would have wondered into town and started taking notes…
Whether by design or by extraordinary coincidence, when Frank Capra created Bedford Falls, he replicated Seneca Falls.
Similarities between Bedford Falls and Seneca Falls
Seneca Falls and Bedford Falls are both mill towns.
Seneca Falls had a grassy median same as the one George runs down in Bedford Falls with a movie theater located off to the side.
Both communities boast Victorian Architecture and a large Italian population.
The location is perfect: George’s sister-in-law’s father owns a glass factory in Buffalo, NY.
Bailey’s friend Sam wants to build a soybean processing plant outside of Rochester.
The bank examiner wants to get back to Elmira on Christmas Eve.
The train ran through Seneca Falls just as it did in Bedford Falls.
The Bedford Falls High School was dedicated in 1927 the same year as the old Mynderse Academy was dedicated.
In the film, the Bailey’s Savings and Loan Association builds low cost housing called Bailey Park. In Seneca Falls, 19th Century factory owner John Rumsey helped immigrant workers by lending them money and building low cost housing. It is still known as Rumseyville today.
A local businessman named Norman J. Gould owned Goulds Pumps, and was one of the richest men in town. He drove his car with license number NJG1. Norman Gould also had great control over politics and economics of the area. Much as Mr. Potter did in the movie. Norman could send someone to fight in the military or retain them for his factory.
Historic Pictures from Seneca Falls —
or is it Bedford Falls?
Main Street Seneca Falls in the 1930’s.
Bridge over the Erie Canal - just off Main Street in Seneca Falls.
Victorian house, typical of many in Seneca Falls. George Bailey “wouldn’t live here as a ghost”…
