BAREFOOT IN THE PARK

The NYC TV & Movie Tour and the Central Park TV & Movie Sites Tour are some of the guided tours that visit various locations that have been used in numerous TV shows and movies offered by On Location Tours.

Barefoot in the Park, the film based on the Neil Simon play of the same name. The movie is about a newlywed couple who moves into their first apartment in Greenwich Village.  Although the interior of the couple’s apartment was on a soundstage, tour-goers on the New York TV and Movie Sites Tour will have the opportunity to get off the bus in “The Village” to get a taste of the trendy neighborhood.  The apartment is small, on the fifth floor of a walk-up, has a hole in the ceiling that snow and rain come through, has a faulty heating system, and costs too much.  Besides dealing with these apartment problems, uptight lawyer Paul and free-spirit Corrie have to learn to adjust to married life while also contending with their crazy neighbor, Victor Velasco, and Corrie’s nosy, though well-meaning, mother.

The original production of Barefoot in the Park, directed by Mike Nichols, opened on Broadway in 1963 and starred Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley as Paul and Corrie.  Replacements later in the run included Tony Roberts, Robert Reed, Penny Fuller, and Joan Van Ark.  The play ran for 1,530 performances, making it Neil Simon’s longest-running Broadway show.  Mike Nichols won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Play, and Tony nominations also went to Neil Simon and Elizabeth Ashley.

The play was revived on Broadway in 2006.  It ran for 109 performances.  The production starred Patrick Wilson as Paul, Amanda Peet as Corrie, Jill Clayburgh as Corrie’s mother, and Tony Roberts as Victor Velasco.

In addition to Greenwich Village, the film made use of several other New York City locations.

The very opening scene of the film shows Paul and Corrie in a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park, with Corrie shouting out to the world that they’ve just gotten married.  The Central Park movie tour spends two hours walking around Central Park, the setting for not only the opening scene of Barefoot in the Park, but also hundreds of other films.

The carriage then brings the newlywed couple to the Plaza Hotel (the most filmed building in New York), where they spend their 6-day long honeymoon.

The exterior of Paul and Corrie’s walk-up apartment building is 111 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village, just steps away from Washington Square Park.  And, of course, the famous “barefoot in the park” scene at the end of the film was filmed on location in Washington Square Park.  This scene happens after Corrie and Paul have a fight about how Paul won’t ever “let loose,” and Corrie claims she cannot be married to a “stuffed shirt.”  She kicks Paul out of the apartment, and he in turn gets incredibly drunk and goes to walk barefoot in Washington Square Park.  It is here that Corrie finds him and they make up.  Washington Square Park is a stop on the New York TV and Movie Sites Tour.  Tour-goers, if so inclined, can walk barefoot in the same place as Robert Redford did in the film!

Barefoot in the Park received several awards and nominations.  Mildred Natwick, who played Corrie’s mother in the film, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Barefoot in the Park.  Jane Fonda was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress, and Neil Simon also received recognition from the Writers’ Guild of America. Check out this award-winning film on your next visit to the Big Apple!

* In an effort to stay current, we are constantly updating our tours with new locations and cannot guarantee the presence of locations mentioned on our site. If you have a particular interest in locations from a specific TV show or movie, please let your tour guide know and we will do our best to accommodate your request.