This documentary is so worth watching; it
brought the poem Howl into my consciousness and led me to read The Power Broker by Robert Caro after listening to the narrative of a city being destroyed by a crazed park planner with absolute power.
But I can't help mentioning the documentary's omissions. There is no mention of Coney Island in its heyday of the 1890's. It was literally the Disneyland of its day and the first mass amusement park. And there is little discussion of Broadway, fashion, Tin Pan Alley songwriters, or much of anything cultural at all. What about Vaudeville, the Ritz Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel from Queens, or the band KISS, also from Queens? And no mention of the mafia?? Or movies like The Godfather? Or fashion? I'm so interested to know why some of these omissions occurred. Did certain members of "The Mothers and Fathers Italian Association" make PBS "an offer they couldn't refuse?"
But I can't help mentioning the documentary's omissions. There is no mention of Coney Island in its heyday of the 1890's. It was literally the Disneyland of its day and the first mass amusement park. And there is little discussion of Broadway, fashion, Tin Pan Alley songwriters, or much of anything cultural at all. What about Vaudeville, the Ritz Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel from Queens, or the band KISS, also from Queens? And no mention of the mafia?? Or movies like The Godfather? Or fashion? I'm so interested to know why some of these omissions occurred. Did certain members of "The Mothers and Fathers Italian Association" make PBS "an offer they couldn't refuse?"
