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Happy Birthday Harpo Marx, Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in film, history, tagged birthday, Coney Island, Harpo Marx, Ruby's Bar on November 23, 2011| 4 Comments »

Harpo Marx at Ruby's Bar, Coney Island Boardwalk. April 16, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i

“Harpo was exactly what harp actually means: Angel…,” George Jessel once said. “You know, there’s a church in Brussels, and on top are all little cherubs. And they all look like Harpo Marx.” The silent comedian and musician who made his stage debut at Coney Island’s Henderson Music Hall was born on this day in 1888. Last year we celebrated the occasion with quotes from Harpo Speaks and an assemblage of clips from Harpo’s film and television career: The Punch and Judy scene from Monkey Business, the mirror scene with Lucille Ball and other faves. You can watch the clips here.

Despite its rich association with vaudeville history, the Henderson was demolished by Thor Equities and a shopping mall is rising on the spot. If you’re looking for the quirky spirit of Harpo in Coney Island, look no further than Ruby’s Bar. His statuette has long stood guard by the cash register. He spends his spare time reading Charles Denson’s Coney Island: Lost and Found and eating Cracker Jacks.

Last time we dropped by, Harpo was still around, though almost everything else, including the wall of photos, was being packed up in anticipation of either a major rehab or closing down. Nobody knows yet which way it will go. We have the highest of hopes that Ruby’s summer family will be together for many more seasons to come and Harpo will keep his job.

Our Thanksgiving wish for Coney Island is that 2012 will bring plenty of sunshine and good fortune to all. Happy Thanksgiving to our readers. Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Video of the Day: “IT Girl” Clara Bow in Coney Island

Posted in film, video, tagged Clara Bow, Coney Island, IT Girl, Steeplechase Park on August 16, 2011| 2 Comments »

Brooklyn-born silent screen star Clara Bow was known as “The Brooklyn Bonfire” and “The ‘IT’ Girl.” What is IT? “Self-confidence and indifference as to whether you are pleasing or not and something in you that gives the impression that you are not at all cold,” explained Elinor Glyn, whose novel was the basis for the 1927 film “IT” that made Clara Bow a sex symbol.

In this scene from the film, Bow is a shop girl who goes on a first date with her boss to Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park. It’s fun to watch old-fashioned “date rides” like the Human Roulette Wheel and the Barrel of Love help them get acquainted. When the couple try the slide, “Mr. Waltham” jauntily wraps his legs around her and she asks him to hold her tight. But when he drives her home and tries to kiss her goodnight, she slaps his face and says “So you’re one of those minute men. The minute you know a girl, you think you can kiss her!”

Our favorite real-life quote from Clara Bow: “I’m a curiosity in Hollywood. I’m a big freak, because I’m myself!” And here’s a delicious bit of trivia from Matt Kennedy, the longtime executive secretary of the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce, who was born in 1905, the same year as Clara Bowtinelli: As a teenager, the future IT Girl sliced hot dog rolls for Nathan’s!

HBO’s Bored to Death Brings Susquehanna Hat Co. to Coney Island

Posted in film, Photography, tagged Abbott & Costello, Bagel Street, Bored to Death, Coney Island, Coney Island Beach Shop, Susquehanna Hat Company on June 6, 2011| 6 Comments »

HBO's 'Bored to Death'Moved the Susquehanna Hat Co. on Bagel Street into Coney Island's Oldest Building for Film Shoot. June 6, 2011. Photo © Charles Denson/ConeyIsland History Project

If you’ve ever seen Abbott & Costello’s Bagel Street routine about the Susquehanna Hat Company, you’ll do a double take when you pass by Surf Avenue and Jones Walk in Coney Island. The Jones Walk sign now says Bagel Street and The Susquehanna Hat Company–“Coney Island’s Greatest Hat Supplier”–occupies Coney Island’s oldest building, Thor Equities’ long-vacant Grashorn Building. The signage on the shop makes it look like it’s been there forever. But it’s a set for the HBO series “Bored to Death,” which is filming in Coney Island this week.

If the T-shirts and souvenirs in the window and inside the store look familiar, that’s because the props manager bought everything locally at Coney Island Beach Shop located behind Nathan’s. If you see anything you like at the Susquehanna Hat Company, you can buy it at the Beach Shop, which still has plenty of merchandise in their store as well as online.

The last time ATZ wrote about Coney Island’s oldest building, it had been rescued by Will Smith and “Men in Black 3,” who were filming in Coney Island in May. The MIB3 production crew fixed up the gutted interior of the building located at Surf and Jones Walk to use as their location headquarters. Now the spiffed up building and its interior are actually part of the story.

“Bored to Death” is an HBO comedy series featuring a Brooklyn writer who moonlights as a private detective. In this episode he is sent to investigate something funny that’s going on at the Susquehanna Hat Company. More than that we cannot say! Though it will be interesting to see how the script plays off the Abbott & Costello skit from “In Society” (1944). Will it solve the mystery of why everybody they meet flies into a rage upon hearing the name of the Susquehanna Hat Company?

Thanks very much to Charles Denson of the Coney Island History Project, who has been photographing the Grashorn building for decades, and we hope many more decades, for sending us these on location photos.

Susquehanna Hat Co. on Bagel Street Has Moved into the Grashorn Building, Coney Island's Oldest for Film Shoot. June 6, 2011. Photo © Charles Denson/ConeyIsland History Project