Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Wgbh Boston
• VHS Release Date: March 28, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304468083
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,839 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This affectionate look at the 1940s and '50s in Boston concentrates on some of the key places that gave the city its character then: Scollay Square, the Old Howard, the Boston Braves, Revere Beach, and the Totem Pole. Narrator Thomas O'Connor, a Boston College history professor, lets older residents tell their stories on camera and then segues into the history of the places using archival footage and sepia-toned photographs. The colorful operator of "Rosie's Cab" recalls taking fares to Joe & Nemo's on Scollay Square, where they could eat nickel hot dogs before taking in a show. Burlesque queen Ann Corio recounts the crush of a particular Harvard boy (and future president) on a fellow stripper named Peaches. The son of a newspaper sports editor remembers sitting in the Braves box and his short-lived days as a manual scoreboard boy, and 200 gray-haired couples gather to waltz and share memories at a "Relive the Totem Pole Days" dance. Although racial discrimination is touched on briefly in a segment on South End jazz spots, this hour-long tape is more light reminiscence than social history. The second volume (available separately) looks at the Boston Garden and the South End. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Product Description

Travel back in time to a unique time and place - Boston in the 30s and 40s. Memories and music tell a story about the treasures of the past - Scollay Square, The Boston Braves, Revere Beach, the Cocoanut Grove and the Totem Pole Ballroom.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Boston The Way It Was, August 19, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boston - The Way It Was: Vol. 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Nice visit to days gone by in Boston and Revere Beach Massachusetts. Wonderful memories and commentary by people who were there. Most enjoyable to senior citizens who remember the "old days". Not enough pictures, and although the "talking heads" were charming and lovable, we would have appreciated more visuals of our beloved old city, especially more old footage of Faneuil Hall and Revere Beach Boulevard.

A good effort, and worth seeing. Lets have more of this sort of thing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Boston The Way it Was Volume One, August 19, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boston - The Way It Was: Vol. 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an enjoyable look back at Boston in the "bad"old days. Especially enjoyed seeing Revere Beach Boulevard and Scollay Square. Would have liked more visuals. The "talking heads" were charming and lovable, but more footage of places like Faneuil Hall and the North End would have been appreciated. Especially appropriate for senior citizens and natives of Boston with need of a nostalgic experience.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Program, August 29, 2010

By 

Faust Freda (MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boston - The Way It Was: Vol. 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Perhaps the only program about Boston in the first half of the 20th century. Well documented and narrated. The VHS tape was new, as advertised, and delivery was within 2 weeks. I'm very satisfied.