- Thirty years ago, downtown Piermont was the location for Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo."
- The village's storefronts were made to resemble the 1930s during the filming.
PIERMONT In the winter of 1983-84, this tiny riverside village was in the midst of a rough stretch.
It hadn't yet been transformed from a factory town into an enclave of luxury condos, boutiques, restaurants and art galleries that draw thousands of visitors each week.
Perhaps that's what drew Woody Allen to set his Depression-era film, "The Purple Rose of Cairo" in the village's downtown. The 1985 comedy-fantasy starred Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels.
"The joke was that Piermont was so bad that he had fix it up to make it look like the 1930s," said Bob Samuels, president of the Piermont Civic Association.
Photographer Sally Savage, who chronicled the shoot from start to finish, recalled the makeover the village went through to accommodate the filming.
Two facades arose opposite The Turning Point, including The Jewel Theatre — where Farrow's character goes to escape her dreary existence, and where an actor played by Daniels steps off the screen and into her life. Next to that stood the Wm. Ross & Son pharmacy.
A billboard advertising Sunshine Krispy crackers was erected to hide the M&T bank, Savage remembered.
"Perhaps the most fun was checking the unrecognizable contents of windows of our main businesses," Savage wrote in an essay about the filming. "The actual shop owners had to place sidewalk 'Open for Business' signs between filming shoots, so as not to lose trade."
Owners of the Community Market had to alert customers that the prices in the window were too good to be true (a 3-pound tin of coffee: 65 cents; 2 pounds of cookies: 25 cents; and a dozen eggs: 11 cents). And a real estate storefront advertised prime Piermont homes selling for a few thousand dollars.
Not all local business owners were thrilled by the arrival of Allen and his crew. The owner of Mom Miragilia's at the end of the main drag refused to cooperate with the famed director. So Allen had a freight car brought down to the end of Piermont Avenue, which still had tracks running across it, to block the restaurant from the view of his cameras.
When the filming was over, Savage remembered, an auction of various props was held in one of the village's former paper factory buildings.
"Although I have worked as a photo-journalist since the late 1960s, nothing was as much fun as photographing this event, which truly changed Piermont forever," Savage said.
Samuels said the filming was the kick-start the village needed. "A lot people people invested in property and it started to turn around. It really marked a turning point. "
The film apparently had a lasting effect on Daniels, who years later started the Purple Rose Theatre Company in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan.
On Sunday, the Piermont Civic Association and Piermont Chamber of Commerce are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the film's release with a public art installation followed by a panel discussion including production designer Stuart Wurtzel and art director Ed Pisoni, who gave the village its period look for "Purple Rose," as well as residents who were on hand during the filming.
"We want people to come and say, 'Oh wow' what's going on here.' " said the Chamber's Laura Straus.
- At 1 p.m., a flash mob dressed in period dress will disperse throughout the business district where there will be large panels displaying Depression-era photos from Piermont. Some 13 businesses have agreed to allow Nyack-based artist Kris Burns to install the images. In keeping with the mood, vintage cars will be parked along Piermont Avenue.
- Also at 1 p.m., an exhibit of Savage's photos from the movie shoot will open at Village Hall, 478 Piermont Ave. Prints and postcards will be for sale.
- At 3 p.m. at Village Hall, a panel discussion will include Wurtzel, Pisoni, John McAvoy of The Turning Point Cafe; Tim O'Shea, who was village police chief at the time; and Dave Gerhardt, whose family has owned Gerhardt's Automotive in the downtown since the 1930s.
- At 6 p.m. at Village Hall, a showing of the movie will be preceded by a champagne toast.
For more details, click here. See more on the installation here.
Robert Brum is a columnist and editor of The Rockland Angle, a nightly email newsletter exclusively for Rockland County news, features and other essential information. To sign up for The Angle, visit http://lohud.com/newsletters, check the "Rockland Angle" box and submit your email address.
Twitter: @Bee_bob
