On the Bowery

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A docufiction film with the title On the Bowery. It consists of two (2) reels of 16mm black-and-white acetate film with optical sound. The film chronicles the lives of three men living in New York City's Bowery neighborhood over a three-day period. When Ray (Ray Salyer), a railroad worker from New Jersey, walks into Confidence Bar and Grill, he meets and is befriended by Gorman (Gorman Hendricks), one of the neighborhood's veteran alcoholics who frequently reminisces about previous times. Later, Gorman convinces Ray to sell some of his personal belongings for money but, unbeknownst to Ray, Gorman also steals some of Ray’s belongings from the suitcase.

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