RFD Greenwich Village
RFD Greenwich Village is a short film from 1969 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
A couple tours around New York in this promotional short for corduroy clothing. Although the hippie ideal was fading in the late 1960s, marketers kept it alive. The Greenwich Village of RFD Greenwich Village tries to evoke a Bohemian subculture which, in reality, never looked anything like this.
| RFD Greenwich Village | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Cotton Producers Institute |
Production company | Cotton Producers Institute |
| Distributed by | Cotton Producers Institute |
Release date | 1969 |
Running time | 10:52 |
| Language | English |
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More Details
This representation of Manhattan is a tweak on Mayor John V. Lindsay's early-sixties "Fun City." The Greenwich Village of RFD Greenwich Village is filled with "countrified cosmopolitans" who, while they appear to be beyond work and money worries, belong to a Bohemian subculture (which never looked anything like this).
From the film's narration: "With a small town feel, Greenwich Village is an oasis of calm in the middle of New York City. It has a quaint feel, its architecture and other built aspects adding to its character. Residents take pride in their neighborhood. It is still cosmopolitan, with access to vibrant nightlife. Washington Square, the Washington Arch, and Bleecker Street Market are only three of the many sights and gathering places. It is a village rich in American history. Village life is cosmopolitan, yet relaxed and carefree. Pleasure is found in just being alive. Suburban living, on an urban landscape. A time to pursue personal pleasures, to find self-expression in comfortable clothing."
The film's title, referring to a suburban experience within the boundaries of the city, is apt: "In the shadows of modern Manhattan, surrounded by glass and steel, yet only a subway stop away from the seething city, with its crowds of people, hectic workday schedules, and the office routine . . . lies the sleepy village called Greenwich. A suburban oasis where one can gather thoughts and enjoy the wonders of nature or saunter through winding streets. . . . Here thousands of people live in an atmosphere much like the one they left in their own hometown."
The film is a soft sell for cotton, except for a single moment when soft sell becomes hard sell, and we are reminded who is behind the film: the camera zooms into the fabric of a corduroy coat worn by a woman at a sidewalk cafe. "Free from conservative business attire," the narrator tells us, "the modern Villager finds comfort in cotton corduroy, the fabric woven for the now generation."
The world of RFD Greenwich Village, like the cotton clothes it showcases, is rather boring. An artificial sex- and drug-free environment created by an advertiser, it is a scene without an edge and looks a lot like the suburbia it purports to escape. Even the nightlife, which is supposed to be "a world of contradiction, of paradoxes in life," is pretty tedious. There is nothing really to do. The "party in the garret of a Bohemian friend" features little more than out-of-date folk music and exotic Samoyed dogs.
Travel back to Greenwich Village and its bohemian lifestyle in the late 1960s. This film shows a community working hard to hold onto its hippy heritage while at the same time trying to project a more sophisticated air. You will get a great look at the Village and its people at that time in history as well as get an interesting sales pitch for cotton clothing as the clothing of choice for the carefree, non-conformist inhabitants.
Year of Release
Might be an echo chambers, but as of March 2022, sources reliably list this as 1969. A/V Geeks list it as "circa 1969."
Shot List
01:00:03:00 - 01:00:19:00 VS tall, New York City buildings in midtown Manhattan
01:00:19:00 - 01:00:24:00 VS cars driving and people walking along busy city streets
01:00:24:00 - 01:00:32:00 VS women working in an office; MCU silhouetted profile of woman typing (view of New York City seen through window in BG)
01:00:33:00 - 01:00:39:00 LS Empire State Building in the foggy distance; track out to New York City view as seen from a window (with Empire State Building in the distance)
01:00:39:00 - 01:00:50:00 MS woman in backyard of Greenwich Village apartment, watering flowers; woman walks over to a lounge chair, sits back and relaxes
01:00:50:00 - 01:00:52:00 MS woman walking down quiet Greenwich Village street past row of apartments
01:00:52:00 - 01:01:16:00 VS Greenwich Village streets and houses; beautiful old brownstones, period buildings and ornate facades; track through dark tunnel to MS flowers and trees
01:01:17:00 - 01:01:36:00 MCU woman hanging laundry outside on clothes line; MS man kneeling at base of tree, digging soil for plants; MS woman arranging flowers in a vase; MS man planting in FG and woman arranging in BG; MCU man cooking hamburgers on grill; MS man and woman sitting at picnic table, surrounded by trees, eating and talking; cat enters frame, walking around (title superimposed over last part of shot reading "RFD Greenwich Village")
01:01:37:00 - 01:02:06:00 VS pedestrians walking along busy city streets; VS people riding motorcycles, bicycles, food vendors, etc, along city streets; VS man and woman riding bicycles together
01:02:06:00 - 01:02:08:00 High angle CU rake cleaning leaves at base of tree
01:02:08:00 - 01:02:10:00 CU woman's hand holding pitcher, watering a flower
01:02:10:00 - 01:02:12:00 CU woman's hand holding sponge, washing window pane
01:02:12:00 - 01:02:14:00 CU woman's hands holding picture of a sailboat on the ocean, placing it on the wall
01:02:14:00 - 01:02:16:00 MS worker putting white paint on wall with roller brush
01:02:16:00 - 01:02:22:00 MS woman walking into a dry cleaning store (kids peaking in the window in BG); MCU woman outside dry cleaners, leaning against window and reading
01:02:22:00 - 01:02:28:00 MS woman walking up stairs away from an antique shop; VS woman looking at merchandise through a window
01:02:28:00 - 01:02:30:00 MS 2 small village shops set side-by-side
01:02:30:00 - 01:02:33:00 CU books on a shelf (including "Rousseau and Revolution" and "Method or Madness"); woman's hand enters frame, removes a book from the shelf and opens it
01:02:33:00 - 01:03:03:00 VS people shopping at a street fruit and vegetable market; VS of CU berries, beans, peppers and oranges; low angle MCU woman weighing head of lettuce; VS different merchandise at street sale including flowers, canned goods and breads; MS woman walking down street carrying bag full of goodies
01:03:04:00 - 01:03:45:00 VS woman sits down at an outdoor cafe; MCU another woman sitting down and petting a dog; CU man's hands as he sketches woman and dog; MCU unique looking older man with grey hair, mustache and beard, sketching; waiter approaches other woman and gives her a menu; pan up to cafe window reading "O. Henry's"; MS woman reading menu; track in to ECU woman's corduroy coat; VS man walks to cafe and talks to woman; VS she smokes a cigarette as they converse
01:03:45:00 - 01:04:06:00 MS man in a shop, getting fitted for a jacket; MCU he looks at himself in the mirror as he straightens jacket; MS he walks out of store and down the street, carrying packages
01:04:06:00 - 01:04:32:00 MS woman walking up stairs toward boutique entrance; store is filled with mass-market knockoffs of mid-1960s mod and hip fashions; MS woman tries on hat as salesperson watches; CU hand moves dresses on rack aside revealing woman behind it, trying on a dress; track in to CU woman modeling dress; MCU woman puts on hair ornament and looks at herself in the mirror; high angle MS woman looking over her shoulder, talking
01:04:32:00 - 01:04:58:00 MS traffic on busy city street at night; CU yellow cab (taxi rates shown as 45 cents per 1/6 mile, 10 cents per 1/3 mile); VS Greenwich Village night life with lots of people and bright neon signs (including Garrick, Village Gate, Village Purple Onion, Steak Joint and Circle in the Square)
01:04:58:00 - 01:05:08:00 High angle MS spotlight moving across people in an audience; MCU men and women performing on theater stage; play looks vaguely avant-garde; VS cast members party after the performance
01:05:08:00 - 01:05:21:00 High angle MS man and woman entering "Ye Waverly Inn" restaurant; VS man and woman sitting at candle lit table, talking; woman holding a daisy, plucking the petals off (commercialized hippie "flower child" image)
01:05:21:00 - 01:06:04:00 MCU man and woman arrive at a party; VS people drinking, smoking and talking; CU people gathered around large, white dog, petting and kissing him; CU woman places 2 strands of "love beads" around man's neck; they hug and kiss
01:06:04:00 - 01:06:22:00 CU man's face; track out to MCU man sitting on park bench in Washington Square Park, reading; he suddenly looks up and catches a ball that's been thrown from o.s.; he throws it o.s.; MCU woman as she catches and throws ball, smiling; woman walks over to man; he puts his arm around her and they walk away; MS man and woman walk past spouting water fountain, holding hands
01:06:22:00 - 01:06:35:00 VS children playing in a city park (boy running, boys playing baseball, boy carefully walking through water fountain and girls climbing on a fence)
01:06:35:00 - 01:06:41:00 Low angle shot of sun shining through the trees; pan down to woman sitting under tree, reading
01:06:41:00 - 01:06:43:00 MS man and woman, in a park, laying on a blanket and looking around; little black dog barking and playing around
01:06:43:00 - 01:06:46:00 MS man and woman, in Washington Square park, sitting on a blanket and reading the newspaper, smiling
01:06:46:00 - 01:06:47:00 MS little black dog running in park, barking (people sitting on benches in FG)
01:06:47:00 - 01:06:50:00 MS woman and little boy sitting on the ground in a park; boy playing with toy car
01:06:50:00 - 01:06:56:00 MS group of older men sitting in a park, playing chess
01:06:56:00 - 01:07:05:00 VS musician playing instruments in a park
01:07:05:00 - 01:07:24:00 MS water fountain spewing behind an ornate stone arch (Washington Square Arch in Washington Square Park); VS of CU different carvings on arch; MS carved statue of George Washington
01:07:24:00 - 01:07:57:00 VS man and woman walking along city streets, talking and playing around; MS pan along beautiful old brownstones; MS apartment zoom in to MCU doorway
01:07:57:00 - 01:08:58:00 VS woman, wearing fancy green dress with pink bow, walking outside front door of old brownstone; she happily looks around as she walks down sidewalk; MS another woman, wearing fancy white dress and hat, walks along sidewalk in front of huge white apartment building, admiring flowers; MS another woman, wearing flowery dress and holding daisies, walking in park (beautiful old brownstones in BG); VS man and woman, nicely dressed, drinking wine as they walk around together (VS of city buildings in BG). Overall look is Renaissance Faire-like.
01:08:58:00 - 01:09:27:00 MS pan across row of Greenwich Village brownstones; VS beautiful old urban architecture including cellars, courtyards, ornate stair railing, restaurants and pan down old steeple
01:09:27:00 - 01:09:43:00 VS navy ships on water at dock; marines walking around in uniform
01:09:43:00 - 01:10:32:00 VS of life in the city including shots of "Isaacs-Hendricks House" plaque, statue of warrior, "Theater Delys" sign, store window, billboards, graffiti, mail delivery, man shopping, woman riding bicycle and people milling around in a park
01:10:32:00 - 01:10:37:00 MS people eating at outdoor cafe (titles superimposed over frame)
01:10:37:00 - 01:10:44:00 High angle man and woman walking along cobblestone street (titles superimposed over frame)
01:10:44:00 - 01:10:32:00 MS Washington Square arch at night (titles superimposed over frame)