'The Real Bedford Falls': Seneca Falls makes its claim for 'Wonderful Life'

Seneca County historian Walter Gable poses for a picture on the Bridge Street bridge in Seneca Falls. Seneca Falls is believed by many to be the inspiration for the movie classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life." He's with a plaque honoring Anthony Varacalli, who drowned on April 12, 1917 while rescuing a young woman who was drowning in the canal. (Stephen D. Cannerelli |
Sean Kirst | By Sean Kirst | The Post-Standard
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on December 07, 2007 at 11:20 AM, updated December 13, 2013 at 11:28 AM

Walter Gable has the right idea. As always, a great historical debate rumbles beneath the surface of this weekend's "It's A Wonderful Life" celebration in Seneca Falls, whose civic leaders maintain their village is the model for Frank Capra's classic film.

Gable, the Seneca County historian, will put up a festival display honoring Antonio Varacalli, an Italian immigrant who died in 1917 while rescuing a Seneca Falls woman from the Erie Canal.

That story is often cited as possible inspiration for Capra's tale of an Upstate everyman who reaches an epiphany through a similar rescue. The Seneca Falls-as-Bedford Falls theory has grown in prominence for years, since Fran Caraccilo, a former village planner, began pointing out what he saw as striking similarities.

Not everyone accepts it. Film historian Jeanine Basinger, a friend of Capra's who now oversees his archives at Wesleyan University, said she knows she comes off sounding like Mr. Potter.

To her, the Seneca Falls idea simply does not fly.

"I knew Frank Capra really well, he came to classes and talked and talked about the film, and he never once mentioned this connection, " Basinger said. Despite local accounts that maintain Capra may have come through Seneca Falls en route to visits with an aunt in Auburn, Basinger said Capra's diary and papers offer zero support both for that story and any lore of relatives in Auburn.

She doesn't mind Seneca Falls presenting itself as a universal example of the kind of town on which Bedford Falls was modeled. What bothers her is basing that claim on what she says is shaky history at best.

"They should pitch it differently, " Basinger said. "Instead of claiming it was fact, they should acknowledge the fiction: "We weren't the inspiration, but we could have been."'

In an emotional sense, Seneca Falls certainly works. The movie is clearly set in this part of the state, with specific references to Rochester, Elmira and Buffalo. And the centerpiece of the film is a distinctive bridge. Karolyn Grimes, who as a child played "Zuzu" in the movie, became a believer after visiting Seneca Falls as an adult.

When she arrived, she recalls, "the snow was falling and the town was all lit up." Then she saw the bridge over the canal. For Grimes, it was a visceral experience. The bridge seemed identical to the one from which George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, leaped into freezing water to rescue a drowning man.

"It's just very powerful, " said Grimes, who will be in Seneca Falls this weekend. "It captures a sort of spirit that runs through the whole community, and all the people who visit there."

Even so, the greatest story about the bridge involves documented history, which is where Walter Gable comes in. Every December, as county historian, he puts together a display for "It's A Wonderful Life" weekend. This year, he focused on an overdue tribute:

George Bailey gets the attention. Antonio Varacalli was real.

According to Gable and other historians, the tale goes like this: On April 12, 1917, Varacalli - a worker with the state Barge Canal system - heard the screams of a despondent woman who had leaped into the water near the bridge. Varacalli, who could not swim, went in after her. He drowned, but only after pushing her to safety.

While Varacalli's death certificate listed his age as 22, family friends maintained that he was 17 and that he changed his birthday in order to get a job, Gable said. With his father, Varacalli had left Italy to find work in Seneca Falls, where they were saving to bring Antonio's mother and sisters to the village. In appreciation for his sacrifice, residents placed a plaque in his honor on the bridge, then raised the money to help his kin travel to Seneca Falls.

Residents seeking to prove their village is "the real Bedford Falls" have long argued that Capra, while passing through, must have seen the plaque. Based on Capra's travel records of the time, Basinger says she doesn't see how that is possible.

What really matters is how Varacalli gave his life for someone else.

Adrienne Emmo, a co-chair of this year's celebration, said the organizers are talking about "doing something in the future" to permanently recognize that courage. The story certainly transcends any debate about the festival, whose organizers might want to contemplate this thought:

For many in struggling cities across this region, "It's A Wonderful Life" embodies a wistful fantasy, a vision of an Upstate industrial town where downtown booms, old houses get restored and young folks put down roots.

With its bridge, its layout and its geography, Seneca Falls remains the logical place to commemorate the film, even if Bedford Falls was a compilation of small town life, as Basinger says. Considering that, as part of the festival, why not hold a competition to see if students or researchers can nail down definitive evidence to explain why Capra - or one of the screenwriters - chose this region as the setting for the film?

While Capra died in 1991, tantalizing possibilities exist, in addition to the Seneca Falls theories. The husband-wife team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, for instance, is credited with writing the script along with Capra and Jo Swerling.

Goodrich would certainly have known about the region. She had been married to Hendrik Willem Van Loon, a writer and historian, who attended Cornell and later was a lecturer there. Was that enough to cause her to set the film Upstate? Maybe not, but the theory is as good as many others.

Most important, whatever the result, one truth would stay the same. Seneca Falls fits Capra's vision. If you need proof, just walk the bridge.

- Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Post-Standard