Conversation so far:
How did director Woody Allen make Zelig look like the newsreels of the 1920s?
Zelig was photographed and narrated in the style of 1920s black-and-white newsreels, which are interwoven with archival footage from the era and re-enactments of real historical events.
Did director Woody Allen actually use any old footage?
Zelig's old footage was interwoven with archival footage from the era and re-enactments of real historical events.
Who appears in the old footage of Zelig?
Zelig uses cameo appearances by real figures from academia and other fields for comic effect.
Can you name some of the academic figures the film uses cameo appearances for in Zelig?
Essayist Susan Sontag, psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow, political writer Irving Howe, historian John Morton Blum, and the Paris nightclub owner Bricktop cameo in Zelig.
Are there any famous people of the era that appear in Zelig?
Appearing in the Zelig's vintage footage are Charles Lindbergh, Al Capone, Clara Bow, William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin, Josephine Baker, Carole Lombard, Adolf Hitler and others.

Question: Were the effects easy to pull off?
Self-contained rewrite: Were the effects in Zelig easy to pull off?