I fondly remember a TV show that I saw back in '91-'92,
called "Brooklyn Bridge".
I was the same age as Alan Silver (Danny Gerard), the 14-year old whose life the show followed. I could very easily relate to this character. But it was my much older brother that had a childhood very similar to this Alan Silver character.
This show was very nostalgic TV. Art Garfunkel's opening theme said it all.
A world of its own, the streets where we played,
The friends on every corner, were the best we ever made.
The backyards, and the school yards, and the trees that watched us grow,
The days of love when dinner time was all you had to know.
Whenever I think of yesterday, I close my eyes and see,
That place Just Over The Brooklyn Bridge, that will always be home to me.
It'll always be home to me.
Alan lived with his younger brother, Nathaniel (Matthew Siegel), and his parents (Amy Aquino and Peter Friedman) in a small apartment in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn; Alan's Russian-immigrant grandparents (Louis Zorich and Happy Days' Marion Ross) lived in the apartment downstairs.
The boys idolized both the Brooklyn Dodgers and turn-of-the-century labor organizer Eugene V. Debs; Alan pined for seemingly unattainable Irish Catholic girls while his imperious grandmother rolled her eyes in despair.
The dialogue was quick and filled with strong opinions and specific references, not just sitcom jokes. Ross' Sophie was a vivid creation-an overpowering grandmother who adored her grandsons but wasn't above instilling them with a lot of guilt and her own prejudices. When she tried to pry Alan away from his beloved, red-haired Katie Monahan, she wasn't kidding-she really didn't think a Jewish-Catholic romance was a good idea. But the show also wanted it's viewers to think past the stereotype of the excessively doting Jewish grandmother, to see this woman as someone both wise and ignorant. Ross embodied this woman beautifully, using a soft Russian accent, twinkly eyes, and a sour, downturned mouth-you'll never think of her as Happy Days' ''Mrs. C'' again.
This was the only sitcom on TV at that time that made education seem like a valuable, exciting prospect. Alan was the star of his class, but he wasn't a nerd. The characters in Bridge actually read books for pleasure; one of the best scenes in the pilot concerned Nathaniel's intense involvement in reading The Yearling.
In one episode Alan's parent's go to see Harry Belafonte in concert at the legendary Ben Maksik's Town & Country Night Club.
My Parent's went to that famous Nite Spot numerous times in the late 50's.
Two of the greatest performances they saw there were:
Jerry Lewis' going solo just after the split from his partnership with Dean Martin. http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/jerrylewis.html
Judy Garland in a rare performance there.
http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/JudyGarland.html
called "Brooklyn Bridge".
I was the same age as Alan Silver (Danny Gerard), the 14-year old whose life the show followed. I could very easily relate to this character. But it was my much older brother that had a childhood very similar to this Alan Silver character.
This show was very nostalgic TV. Art Garfunkel's opening theme said it all.
A world of its own, the streets where we played,
The friends on every corner, were the best we ever made.
The backyards, and the school yards, and the trees that watched us grow,
The days of love when dinner time was all you had to know.
Whenever I think of yesterday, I close my eyes and see,
That place Just Over The Brooklyn Bridge, that will always be home to me.
It'll always be home to me.
Alan lived with his younger brother, Nathaniel (Matthew Siegel), and his parents (Amy Aquino and Peter Friedman) in a small apartment in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn; Alan's Russian-immigrant grandparents (Louis Zorich and Happy Days' Marion Ross) lived in the apartment downstairs.
The boys idolized both the Brooklyn Dodgers and turn-of-the-century labor organizer Eugene V. Debs; Alan pined for seemingly unattainable Irish Catholic girls while his imperious grandmother rolled her eyes in despair.
The dialogue was quick and filled with strong opinions and specific references, not just sitcom jokes. Ross' Sophie was a vivid creation-an overpowering grandmother who adored her grandsons but wasn't above instilling them with a lot of guilt and her own prejudices. When she tried to pry Alan away from his beloved, red-haired Katie Monahan, she wasn't kidding-she really didn't think a Jewish-Catholic romance was a good idea. But the show also wanted it's viewers to think past the stereotype of the excessively doting Jewish grandmother, to see this woman as someone both wise and ignorant. Ross embodied this woman beautifully, using a soft Russian accent, twinkly eyes, and a sour, downturned mouth-you'll never think of her as Happy Days' ''Mrs. C'' again.
This was the only sitcom on TV at that time that made education seem like a valuable, exciting prospect. Alan was the star of his class, but he wasn't a nerd. The characters in Bridge actually read books for pleasure; one of the best scenes in the pilot concerned Nathaniel's intense involvement in reading The Yearling.
In one episode Alan's parent's go to see Harry Belafonte in concert at the legendary Ben Maksik's Town & Country Night Club.
My Parent's went to that famous Nite Spot numerous times in the late 50's.
Two of the greatest performances they saw there were:
Jerry Lewis' going solo just after the split from his partnership with Dean Martin. http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/jerrylewis.html
Judy Garland in a rare performance there.
http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/JudyGarland.html
