This Is The Real Bedford Falls
Or Is It?
“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
If you watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” half as many times as I did, you will recognize the quote above. The 1945 movie is about a man beset by troubles who says to his guardian angel that he wishes he was never born. So the angel shows him what would have happened to his town and its people if he were never born.
The character, George Bailey, lived in Bedford Falls. The town, of course, is fictional. But the inspiration for the movie supposedly was Seneca Falls, New York. This is not documented but is extremely likely.
In the movie, George Bailey attempts to end his life by jumping off a Bedford Falls bridge into the icy water. He is saved by Clarence, his guardian angel.
In April of 1917, a Seneca Falls woman named Ruth Dunham was “despondent” according to newspaper accounts. She jumped from a bridge into the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. She screamed and Antonio Varacalli, who was working nearby, heard her. He rescued her but drowned doing so. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission honored him posthumously and the town put a plaque on the bridge. It reads “Here, April 12, 1917, Antonio Varacalli gave his life to save another.” Ruth Dunham’s granddaughter said that…
