80 Years Ago, Sinatra Sang on This Bridge

Sonny Rollins wasn't the only one to immortalize a New York span

Once World War II ended in 1945, Hollywood set to work on films centered on soldiers returning home. These included The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Till the End of Time (1946), The Razor’s Edge (1946), Nobody Lives Forever (1946), Crossfire (1947), Dead Reckoning (1947) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947). Most were somber, fictional examinations of marital re-adjustment, the struggle for normalcy and coping with PTSD. [Photo above of Frank Sinatra on the Brooklyn Bridge in the summer of 1946 during the filming of It Happened in Brooklyn]

One of them was a romantic comedy—It Happened in Brooklyn (1947), starring Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Peter Lawford and Jimmy Durante. In one famous scene, a freshly repatriated Sinatra rushes onto the Brooklyn Bridge, still in uniform, to sing of his happiness to be back home in Brooklyn.

Research shows that MGM’s production on It Happened in Brooklyn began on July 22, 1946, adding a second production stretch from September through November. The bridge is listed as one of the film’s official shooting locations, but no specific date has been found. So when exactly was he on the bridge filming the famous scene?

Estimates narrow the date to sometime between late July and August 1946, when the film’s New York location work would wrap and the production then moved to Culver City, Calif., for studio scenes. [Photos above of MGM filming Frank Sinatra on the Brooklyn Bridge in the summer of 1946]

As it turns out, Sinatra was on the Brooklyn Bridge only for a handful of shots. MGM combined actual location photography with the studio vocal of The Brooklyn Bridge, which he had recorded on June 6, 1946. Director Richard Whorf needed him on the bridge for just a handful of distance shots, one of the few MGM musicals of the period to use authentic New York locations v. a studio set.

On the bridge, Sinatra likely sang The Brooklyn Bridge a cappella or to his June recording played through speakers near the cameras. The sound you hear is the June 1946 studio recording. Many of the close-ups of Sinatra and more technically demanding shots were likely shot on the MGM lot in California, where lighting and sound could be controlled.

You’ll notice that Sinatra spends a good amount of time against railings, next to suspension cables and bridge elements rather than actually strolling the pedestrian walkway. These tight shots create the impression the entire scene was shot on the bridge. Welcome to the magic of movie-making.

So, 80 years later, here’s Sinatra on the Brooklyn Bridge, likely early on a warm summer Sunday morning, lip-syncing The Brooklyn Bridge for It happened in Brooklyn. The song was by Sammy Cahn (lyrics) and Jule Styne (music), and was released on a 78 in April 1947, shortly after the April 7 release of the film. See the clip that follows below for the flip side of the 78…

Here’s the The Same Old Dream (also Cahn and Styne). Out of uniform, Sinatra takes a job at a Brooklyn music shop playing piano for young customers considering buying sheet music. He was 31 at the time and, in the film, after years in the war, his character is out of touch with the hip younger set that had emerged, though he eventually wins them over with his crooning version…