A Search For Movie History In Upstate New York

The following is excerpted from Every Time a Bell Rings, a book of essays about It's A Wonderful Life by Lauren Theisen and Emily St. James. It is available for purchase now. The bridge in Seneca Falls really does look just like the one that George and Clarence find themselves underneath in It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s short, accessible to pedestrians, made of steel beams that join together to form triangles, and stands just a little bit detached from the town’s main street. I knew when I started writing this book that Seneca Falls claimed to be the real-life inspiration for Bedford Falls, that this New York village with a famous feminist history hosted a festival for the movie every year, and as I started my work, I looked forward, specifically, to standing on that bridge. I knew, of course, that it wasn’t the real bridge, that any kind of location shooting was cost-prohibitive, and that the movie was filmed in California. But I was wondering if I might channel a little of George Bailey in myself, looking out onto the water, reenacting a great American moment of hope rediscovered. When I actually went to Seneca Falls and stood on that bridge, however, I found myself less interested in fiction and more attracted, instead, to a plaque that’s hung there for over a century, which commemorates a very real story.

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