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Parade in New York

0629 PA8770 [Parade in New York] 16 Koda orig pix


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: need meta

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Mattcpa - - September 15, 2009
Subject: "New York at War Parade"
This is the "New York at War Parade" held on Army Day, June 13, 1942. It was the largest parade ever held in New York up to that time, lasting some 11 hours and going up Fifth Avenue from Washington Square to 72nd Street. This footage was shot opposite the main reviewing stand on the steps of the New York Public Library.

Almost all of it is reversed, which can make watching it somewhat of a challenge. You can date the footage from the reversed "Victory in 1942" float appearing at 11:31.

I believe that's Mayor La Guardia marching at a brisk pace at 3:40. And the Cowboy appearing at 6:26 is Roy Rogers riding Trigger.

Aside from the frustration of the film being reversed, I actually found this quite interesting, once you realize what you are looking at.

There were something like a half-million people participating in the parade, with another 2.5 Million watching it. This was a huge display of solidarity 7 months after the US entered WWII.

You see representation from what seems like every facet of the NYC economy, including what I believe is a contingent of Accountants wearing green eye-shades and carrying (inflatable) pencils the size of rifles across their shoulders as they march.

Also interesting is the cross town traffic on 42nd Street crossing 5th Avenue every time there is a break in the parade. I love the color footage of the old Street cars.

The film is also somewhat out of sequence. The parade went on until 9PM, and ended with a torchlight parade. It shows up here someplace about 2/3's of the way in, and then cuts back to daylight.

Despite its flaws, I think it's worth giving this one another shot.

Reviewer: a300mech - - March 30, 2009
Subject: silent color footage
This appears to be a war bond parade. I would place the date as mid 1942 based upon the uniforms, and equipment shown. My suggestion is put on some suitable music, and enjoy this glimpse into the past.

Reviewer: ERD - - December 29, 2005
Subject: 1945 New York Memorial Day Parade
From what I observed of this film, this is the New York Memorial Day parade of 1945. Obviously a large portion of this film is in reverse, and the editing is bad, but it is still historically interesting to watch.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - June 2, 2005
Subject: Everyone loves a parade
Curious little amateur film that features a big grand parade, has to deal with the war, not too sure if the war was over or not (signs point to it indeed being over), and they something like a 'Troops Of Many Nations' thing happening. It's sort of fun, though it really tends to drag after awhile. The unique thing about this, is that this looks to be have shot with a brownie or a wind up film camera, as we only see 9-10 seconds of footage at most at one time before it fades out. Really unique for a little while, but then that also gets a little boring.

Reviewer: MrMovie - - April 26, 2005
Subject: Urgh!
First off, this is silent not sound. Secondly for the most part it somehow was run backwards (not that the film is running backwards, but rather the film was turned the wrong way when projected).
As if this were not annoying enough, the fade in-outs are enough to make one dizzy. Then there is of course the unanswered question: When was this? From the looks of it, this could have been either just after the start of WW-II, during the height of WW-II or toward the end of WW-II possibly after V-E Day. There are lots of shots of various army vehicles and watching a marching band without sound is like listening to the sound track from Brain DePalma film without seeing the picture. Then there are the endless shots of the people in the parade from army soldiers, nurses and what appears to be the entire police force of NYC at that time. Finally after watching about 12 minutes of this 21 minute agony I decided to give this two stars: One for the color and one for possible stock footage although you'd have to somehow reverse the image so that the signs on the trucks and floats are not backwards. Now I'm going to chew some rolaids.