A camera conception of New York, the city of inconceivable contrasts.

Bonney Powell

Manhattan Medley

New Skin on Old Bones

Looking at this series of images around New York City assembled into a 10-minute city portrait in 1931, I recognized a lot of them, because I&apos;m over sixty and I grew up with a backward-looking attitude to culture -- comfortable with movies and books back to the Victorian Era. But looking at this with a modern eye, I am astonished at how few of the surface details are left: a couple of skyscrapers, a couple of bridges, and the rest are gone; the streets are covered with tar, not cobble-stones and trolley-rails; no elevated trains rumble past Chinatown nor the new-built (in this movie) Empire State Building. Even the hansom cabs are gone.

Well, the hot-dog carts are still there. However, a wiener with sauerkraut and mustard will cost forty times as much as it did back them.

Looking at this series of images around New York City assembled into a 10-minute city portrait in 1931, I recognized a lot of them, because I'm over sixty and I grew up with a backward-looking attitude to culture -- comfortable with movies and books back to the Victorian Era. But looking at this with a modern eye, I am astonished at how few of the surface details are left: a couple of skyscrapers, a couple of bridges, and the rest are gone; the streets are covered with tar, not cobble-stones and trolley-rails; no elevated trains rumble past Chinatown nor the new-built (in this movie) Empire State Building. Even the hansom cabs are gone.

Well, the hot-dog carts are still there. However, a wiener with sauerkraut and mustard will cost forty times as much as it did back them.

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