The Purple Rose of Ciaro – Our time in the Spotlight

In the winter of 1983-84, Woody Allen transformed Piermont’s Main Street into a movie set to film The Purple Rose of Cairo, starring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, and Danny Aiello.

The film follows a romance between an an avid cinema goer (Mia Farrow) who falls in love with a B-movie star (Jeff Daniels). Said B-Star actor subsequently leaves the screen to explore the real world. Allen was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay written directly for the screen.

With the help of art directors, designers, and carpentry crews, not to mention a fair helping of Hollywood magic, Piermont’s main street was sent back in time to America’s Great Depression. A time when people, like the film’s heroine, found solace in the darkened movie palaces all across the country. The fantasy played out on the Silver Screen allowed viewers to escape a world that had clearly fallen apart.

All of us who witnessed the magic of The Purple Rose of Ciaro, and traveled back in time, will not forget our time in the spotlight.