Greenwich Village Story tells a rather stale tale by today's standards. Released in 1963, the film is loaded with cliches—an unmarried ballet dancer becomes pregnant by her wanna-be novelist boyfriend. Rather than seize an opportunity as a dancer, the female protagonist nests with the loser beau, who fails as a writer and cheats on her. And on and on. If the movie stinks, why post it? For the scenes of Greenwich Village in its folk heyday. The film was shot on location in 1961 in the Village and in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
The movie stars Robert Hogan, Melinda Cordell and Tani Guthrie. Here are some additional notes from Michael Simmons, who last week kindly reminded me of the film and sent along a link:
The coffee house scenes were shot inside The Gaslight Cafe, with cameos by John Brent (of the comedy album How To Speak Hip, with Del Close) and Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary. Future director James Frawley is the second male lead, and future Rocky director, John Avildsen, plays a beatnik painter and is the film's assistant direcor. There’s even a life model session with a funny twist, plus pot smoking, folk music in Washington Square Park and real beatniks on MacDougal Street.
Here's Greenwich Village Story, directed by Jack O'Connell...
