Article: "THE REAL BEDFORD FALLS'; SENECA FALLS MAKES CASE FOR "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE' SETTING.(Local)(Column)

Byline: SEAN KIRST POST-STANDARD COLUMNIST

Walter Gable has the right idea. As always, a great historical debate rumbles beneath the surface of this weekend's "It's A Wonderful Life" celebration in Seneca Falls, whose civic leaders maintain their village is the model for Frank Capra's classic film.

Gable, the Seneca County historian, will put up a festival display honoring Antonio Varacalli, an Italian immigrant who died in 1917 while rescuing a Seneca Falls woman from the Erie Canal.

That story is often cited as possible inspiration for Capra's tale of an Upstate everyman who reaches an epiphany through a similar rescue. The Seneca ...

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