The next morning we woke up to a world washed clean – glorious blue skies! We had our very nice continental breakfast at the Holiday Inn and zipped up the river to West Point, where Brian had coached us to find a parking space with a dead meter for unlimited parking splendor (success). It pays to know a local, in more ways than one. Patricia pulled up, we were waved through security at the West Point checkpoint, and, since we were somewhat early for the band, headed back to the Trophy Point area. The video shows the view across the narrow part of the Hudson (where they put the chain across to keep British ships from coming up the Hudson – but that’s another story) to none other than Garrison. Actually, as the day went on, West Point and Hello Dolly got all muddled together, because, even though the movie was not allowed to show one sliver of the Academy when they filmed in Garrison, they actually filmed the closing scene at West Point. Permission was originally denied, but Senator Robert Kennedy somehow got the the commandant to reconsider, and the wedding scene was actually filmed right at the million dollar view.
See the concrete band platform with a shell (with awesome acoustics that Patricia demonstrated for us!)? The wedding chapel in the final scene stood on that platform, but West Point forbade any construction on site, so the building was constructed across the river in Garrison and helicoptered in! The site is not mentioned in the credits. Also they paid somebody to sail a pretty little sailboat in the background.
The following photo (from the museum exhibit we went to later) shows extras milling around that day, and over the gentleman’s hat you can see one of the stone balls at the Battle Monument.
Thank you, Patricia, for taking such an epic photo!
A faculty house at West Point. Yep, it’s definitely cute!
We soaked up the scenery, but meanwhile the band was assembling on the field.
Brian suggested we sit in the Superinendent’s reviewing box, since that’s the audience the band was rehearsing for. However, there were lots of tourists about, and out of respect for the institution we sat in the bleachers to the side.
Now, at this point, a normal person would include the stunning video they took that morning. However, the sun was shining brightly on my iPhone screen, and when I thought I was starting a video, I was actually stopping it, and vice versa. I got lots of swell footage of my feet on the bleachers with excellent audio. So, this is the one inadequate clip of the absolutely top-notch band. Brian is in there with his sax. When he’s not marching, he plays guitar and accordion with the dance band. They do a lot of receptions at the superintendent’s home, which has astounding gardens that Thea and I wanted to see, but some things are simply off limits, and I understand.
See this cruise ship coming down the Hudson? Remember it. It will show up later.
Eventually we said our goodbyes – among other things that day, we were driving to Cleveland! – and headed back to Garrison. Vandergelder’s Hay & Feed was looking much more photogenic.
After the filming, it reverted back to the mixed-use business building that it still is, but the etched-glass doors were apparently irresistable, and they are the only lingering vestige of the Vandergelder glory.
Next to the building is the barn where they sang “It Takes A Woman”. The tree is newer than the movie.
The buildings on Garrison’s main street down the the train station actually date from the early 1800’s and had to be modernized with Victorian gingerbread to fit the 1890 date of the story. The street was stenciled to look like brick. You can see the effect in the “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” scene. Click through the photos – there’s a vintage watering trough that figures prominently in the choreography.
The train station had several large towers added to it for Victorian atmosphere. It was a thrill for me to stand there, but today it’s just another commuter train station.
The park was added for the movie. You can see Vandergelder’s in the background. Thea is taking an interesting picture, because right across from us is the aforementioned cruise ship (a realio-trulio cruise ship, with individual cabins and balconies). West Point sits smack-dab across the river. The cameramen must have really worked hard not to show the campus, especially with the overhead shots as the train pulls out. It really is right there, and impossible to miss.
We had one more must-see stop, in Cold Springs, where the Putnam County Historical Museum was in the final days of its “Hello, Dolly!” exhibit. For me, it was the equivalent of a devout priest visiting the Vatican. I knew all the props and costumes! It was exciting to actually see them.
The museum exhibit and the year of festivities were all organized by a fan whose zeal puts me to shame, however, one Christopher Radko. He also curated this incredible book, which you cannot buy, but if you donate to the museum, they put a copy in your hands. It reads like a doctoral thesis of all things Dollyish. It even has arcane wonderments like who did what orchestrations, information that appeals greatly to me. Plus it mentions Uncle Art.
This is the original version of the poster design by Richard Amsel, a collage of cut paper, paint, and spirographs! It was the 60’s after all.
Interesting drawings of how they made the building into Vandergelder’s Hay & Feed.
And. oh, those costumes! Plus the notorious cans of chicken mash. This was the dress irene Sharaff designed for Ms. Streisand in the opening scenes of the movie. They say film costumes look best from afar, but the details on this one can withstand any closeup. Please click through the slideshow for more information.
Click through the gallery.
There were scripts, ledger sheets of expenses, Barbra’s original contract, etc. This page was perhaps the most entertaining of all – various actors who were considered for the roles, most of them gloriously wrong for the part. But then, that’s what they said about Barbra, too, isn’t it?
Eventually even I had had my fill, and we said goodbye to the museum staff (we were the only visitors). They were puzzled that we didn’t want to see the exhibit in the next room on the foundry that made the West Point cannons, but we did have to be in Cleveland that night.
For extra perspective on how Garrison and other locations were incorporated into the movie, I recommend this site, which also has other links you might enjoy visiting. Just as a bit of trivia, when I visited my Uncle Art and Aunt Mary Jane in Los Angeles in 1972, she drove me onto the Twentieth-Century Fox headquarters, which at the time still was the “Hello, Dolly!” set. I was there, but not fully appreciative at the time of the hallowed ground I walked upon. I have no memory of the day at all, except that it happened.
In a world where uncertainty and unkindness and tragedy are all too ever-present, the film “Hello, Dolly!” is escapism both at its most ridiculous and its most sublime, and at the same time, an assemblage of human talent that perhaps will never again be equalled, with infectiously mirthful music, dance, scenery, and spectacle, tied up a story of unending gaeity, creating a world where the worst crimes are white lies, and where all the complications resolve in a wedding with a million-dollar view. People are funny and swell, and boy, can they sing! It is a world to which I will escape with new understanding from time to time. I hope my sharing this journey helps you to do the same.