Cinderella Senators: The Ottawa Senators Make a Brief Appearance in the Movie Cinderella Man


Senators in Cinderella Man

The picture is from "Cinderella Man", Universal (2005), starring Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock, the depression era boxer who was washed up, but came back to become world champion.

The picture shows Braddock at his lowest point, in late 1933, heading to Madison Square Garden to ask his former boxing associates for a handout so he can turn the heat back on in his dingy basement apartment and reunite his family. It comes at 39:28 into the movie.

What's interesting from an Ottawa Senators fan's perspective is the list of attractions on the marquee. It reads on the left:

HOCKEY TONIGHT
 AMERICANS vs
  SENATORS

TUES DEC 12TH
 RANGERS VS
 AMERICANS

BOXING FRI NIGHT

And on the front:

HOCKEY EVERY SUNDAY TUESDAY THURSDAY  AMERICANS vs SENATORS TONIGHT 8PM
BOXING FRIDAY NIGHT TONY CANZONERI vs EUROPEAN LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION CLETO LOCATELLI 10 ROUNDS

Starting with the boxing match, that fight took place on the 15th of December, 1933. Canzoneri had just fought as recently as December 4, 1933 (and November 23, and October 28 - they sure were tough back then). Locatelli was no slouch either. He had just won his European title on October 22, 1933 (actually regained it, he had won it earlier on July 17, 1932 and lost it on Dec 7, 1932). The winner of this fight was Canzoneri in a unanimous decision.

Now for the hockey. So what night was "TONIGHT", the Americans/Senators game? If hockey is every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and the next game is Tuesday, Dec. 12, then presumably "TONIGHT" is Sunday, Dec. 10, 1933. In fact it is, and the Senators prevailed 5-2.

Of course, the New York Americans were the first NHL team in New York, but they never won the cup. They became the Brooklyn Americans in 1941 in a last-ditch attempt to stave off financial disaster; that failed and they ended on-ice operations in 1942. (But were not formally wound up until 1946.)

This was the last season (1933-34) for the old Senators before they relocated to St. Louis (where they survived two years as the Eagles before folding). They finished 5th. and dead last in the "Canadian" division in 1933-34. The poor NY Americans were also in the Canadian division, where they finished 4th. and also out of the playoffs. So the game on the marquee is a real battle of losers - for the season and for the franchises.

However, the boxers are winners. Tony Canzoneri won a world title five different times, and held three of them at the same time. Locatelli is considered by some to be the best Italian-born and -based boxer of all time.

One wonders if this was an actual MSG marquee blurb, or was it constructed by the film's researchers using archive materials. And why that particular day and those events? Is there special significance to be attached to the people and teams, or is it just an attempt to create verisimilitude? In either case, the marquee appears for just a few seconds, so it's an example of the attention to casual detail that goes into making an effective period piece. And it's nice to see the old Senators live on, even if just for an instant.





Last revised: 2015.03.07                                       Send me a comment                                       home