Advanced Search
Domestic Scene
Master 1 - Tape 1 Domestic kitchen scene from the late 1940s (could pass for 1950s) in which two pretty young women stand by a stove (one wears an apron) waiting for the man to come in. He arrives with a 5:00 shadow (beard) and lightly hugs one of the women (his wife?). He kisses her on the cheek. She pulls something out of the oven. Wonderful cliched suburbia/domesticity/marriage scene of the period.
1940 Desoto
Master 1 - Tape 1 Large 1939 or 1940 DeSoto sedan, great 40s car with lots of chrome. Woman backs the car out of driveway. Dissolve to car coming down what appears to be a residential circle. The car stops and a black (African-American) doorman with a red cap opens the passenger-side door. Woman gets out, gives him some instructions, (she's wearing a great hat), and walks up the stairs to the UNION AIR TERMINAL. She goes in; doorman follows with luggage. CU of exterior door handle. Door opens from inside car, revealing long, sexy, 1940s women's bare legs underneath a skirt, getting out of car. ECU of grill of DeSoto, with hood ornament prominent. Car backs out of the frame (great shot). Then a few disjointed outtakes: woman in front of house, dissolve between two shots of house, closing front door, side view of the car.
1957 Thunderbird
Same as catalog #312090 Master 1 - Tape 1 Classic 1957 Pink Ford Thunderbird convertible drives up to hotel. Doorman (bellhop) meets the car as it tops in front of the hotel, opens the passenger side door. Man in white shirt drives, woman in blue blouse rides. Nice whitewall tires. Driver gets out of car and gives keys to the bellhop, who opens the trunk and begins taking out luggage. Shot of car driving past taxis. Wonderful rear shot as T-bird peels out from side of road, leaving us in a cloud of dust (hot rodding). Billboard in back for Old Forester Whiskey. Couple is shot from side in a parked T-Bird, as they look at a mountain range, as if on honeymoon.
In Tune With The Times
Master 1 - Tape 1 (partial transfer) Spanking new red 1958 Rambler arrives at a typical 1950s American household for inspeciton by the family. Car is two-tone, with white roof and white stripe. Nice conservative fins. This is a family car, and proud of it. Beautiful green lawn, well-kept, with trees in background. Car drives up to home, two little kids come running out of the door in excitement, to look. Mom then follows, more casual but still excited. Dad (in business suit) gets out of the door and takes off his hat, looking very proud. Mom (wearing heels) comes to him and gives him a little kiss (she even lifts one leg during the kiss). Dad starts to point out something about the headlights. Great 1950s Americana, Dissolve to a shot of man behind large-format still camera.
Model A Ford Assembly Line
Master 1 - Tape 1 Assembly-line manufacturing of 1928 Model A Fords. We see them near the end of the line, as the last pieces are put in place and they are driven off the line. Inspecitons. Nice shot of them driving one by one out of the factory and out into the world. Good turn of the century industrialization shot. The prettier successor to the Model T; "Henry's Made A Lady out of Lizzie!", etc.
Lindbergh Highlights
Master 1 - Tape 1 Compilation of Lindbergh highlights - in flight, arrival in France, back in the US, tickertape parade etc.
Dwight Eisenhower
Same as catalog # 311194 Master 1 - Tape 1 Ike at the white house, meeting the press after his recovery from his 1955 heart attack. President Dwight D. Eisenhower comes out of a small building with first Lady Mamie and meets the press. Ike is recovered from surgery. Great shots of still photographer pools, as these guys shoot lots of snap shots. Also good shots of newsreel cameramen with their cameras on tripods. Best shot is when Ike walks from the left to the right, stops, takes off his hat, and waves it for the crowd. Crowd waves back at Ike. He shakes the hand of the doorman, bellhop, and enters his limo. The car drives off.
Starts with scenes from the Human Pool Table...
Master 1 - Tape 1 Starts with scenes from the Human Pool Table in Atlantic City, near the Boardwalk. Children must maneuver their way off a gyrating, pulsing, bridge (it shakes them up). Silly stuff. LSs of the beach, of people swimming and sunbathing in the ocean. Then the contest: A line of women, each wearing a banner from her home state, begin the swimsuit competition. American images of women will never be the same. They carry parasols as they walk on the boardwalk. They pose in line for group picture. Old men fight over a pair of binoculars, trying to get a closer look at the women. Miss "AZIZ..." (Arizona?) leads a line of women wearing the banner "Miss Popular". Three women finalists stand with trophies at end of the ceremony. They drink from the trophies and flirt with the camera. Then they walk down the boardwalk in evening gowns. A woman with a banner stands on a rooftop smiling, probably the winner. Takes off her hat and mugs.
Chicago Auto Show 1959
Master 1 - Tape 2 Chicago Auto Show 1959.
Wild West Town
Master 1 - Tape 2 Center of small western town in the middle of the day. Outside courthouse or city hall. An American flag waves over the building, men walking on dirt roads, a covered wagon with four horses slowly making its way toward the camera. Probably re-enactment of western locale. A little out of focus.
Early Biplanes
Master 1 - Tape 2 Two shots: first, a good-looking Curtiss "Jenny" biplane flies overhead. Number underneath bottom wing reads NC2939. Plane flies over camera, pilot visible in cockpit. A different biplane shot from the air. Pilot very visible in open cockpit. Wheels down. Sign on side of plane says "AIR MAIL".
Stock Market/Crash
Master 1 - Tape 2 B/W footage, re-enactment of stock market crash, black thursday, 1929. Men inside a trading pit shout and wave their arms during crazed trading frenzy. Almost fighting with each other. Commerce. Finance. Wall Street. All of them start throwing their arms into a pit at once. Overhead bird's eye shot shows them like a geometric pattern, a la Busby Berkeley. Although billed as 1929 crash, could also be used to show early stock market activities.
History/War (Reel 1 of 2)
Master 1 - Tape 2 Attack on Pearl Harbor, WWII.
Rocket And Astronaut
Master 1 - Tape 2 First, a rocket (possibly manned) at a launching pad, night. Lifts off in a cloud of red smoke. Saturated color. Hard to make out much of anything once it is off the ground. Closer shot of lift off. Bref CU of astronaut - head in bubble helmet.
Vietnam War Demonstration
Master 1 - Tape 2 Demonstrators (in front of white house?) holding signs. Lots of police in uniforms. Signs say: guinea pigs for guinea professors", "War Erodes the Great Society", "Stop the Bombings", "Honor Peace: Respect the 1954 Geneva Accords", "Bring the GIs Home Now". Lots of different types marching, adults, students, children. Pickets. Not a cliched demonstration: these early protestors walk in a circle, calm. Peace movement, anti-vietnam war. An elderly woman carries a sign "Chicago Women for Peace"This is an excerpt from a much larger roll that includes both pro and anti-war demonstrators in Washington, D.C.
Various Battle Scenes from WWI
Master 1 - Tape 2 Somewhat random sequence of shots: Minefields exploding. Men in gas masks and in helmets, kneel by machine gun on tripod. Portable warfare, as they move it up to the front. Soldiers stand in trenches. Cannon fire shot and landed. People walking through towns. Soldiers firing from foxholes. Line of rifles from behind ditch. Bayonets. Large bombs exploding. Biplanes in the sky. Cannons pulsating, firing. Come CUs. Military truck with tarp over back drives through muddy roads, flanked by soldiers. Ground to air fighing--CU machine gunner as he shoots at the sky. Direct hit on dirigible/blimp/barrage balloon: Bursts into flames and falls. Lots of burning towns. Bombed-out villages. Group of soldiers with gas masks marches in a trench, holding their rifles over their shoulders. Bombs bursting in air, more firing from trenches. Soldiers run down railroad tracks. Group of soldiers run on a battlefield, smoke all around.
Middle-class Life
Master 1 - Tape 2 1920s middle-class life: man tries on new suit at a tailors; men around him compliment him. He struts, smiles, looks pleased and confident. Fashion. Cut to a man walking out of his home, down his front sidewalk, and dissolve to him getting into his late-1920s Buick coupe (in the passenger side, and scoots over. Another man leaves an old classic car, shutting the door, and walking up the steps of a building.
F.D.R. Speaking
Master 1 - Tape 2 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) delivers speech before Congress. Lockdown shot.
Various Depression Scenes - Segment from Focus on the 30s
See catalog #492872 for entire film. Master 1 - Tape 2 Some 1930s depression scenes: People at a neighborhood grocery store/shop. A man (grocer/butcher) in a white apron hands a package to a woman. Sign: "Never Mind the Holiday. We Will Trust You". The man looks very satisfied with himself, happy, charitable. Cut to another sign: "You don't need money/WHAT HAVE YOU GOT?/We Will Take Anything." Man walks up to a butcher with a guitar case, presumably to barter it for food. Grocer inspects guitar. At 02:19:09: more shots: a street riot, violence, police try to control mob scene. A bread line on the sidewalk of an urban street. CUs of people in breadlines, both white and black. Old man with rumpled hat/clothes. The poor look directly into the camera, pathetic, beaten. FDR gives a private talk, probably a fireside chat. A house falls into a river (disaster, flood, collapse). Very striking angles on the poor, homeless: standing in lines, etc. Series of shots of work, 1930s/Great Depression. Work camps for the WPA (Works Projects Administration), could be prison camps. Lots of emphasis on african-american workers. Construction job, with tractors; possibly homes. Cut to construction in urban areas. Men in overalls pull planks of wood, saw on sawhorses. Women (again, African-Americans) file away 3 x 5 index cards. Secretarial, clerical, office. Line of women workers. Men and women sitting at desks, writing. A woman at a laundry hands some clothing to her boss. People at work, earning a living. Recovery from the depression.
1984 Democratic Convention: Jesse Jackson
Presidential hopeful and candidate Jesse Jackson delivers a passionate speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention. Jesse Jackson at speaking at podium. African American male and female delegates in the audience, smiling, applauding, nodding their heads in agreement.
Oak Forest Hospital and University of Chicago Hospital
Master 10 - Tape 1 Video-original footage of Oak Forest hospital. Interview with hospital pharmacist who describes her job and duties through repeated takes, interminable. Various hospital work situations: clerical, good shots of various women working on computers, drugs, pills, pharmacy, dispensing pills, IV's, writing prescriptions, etc. All audio nat sot. Hospital exteriors, rainy fall evening. University of Chicago Hospital exteriors (57th & University sign), also a rainy fall evening.
1950s - Arabic Signs - Middle-Eastern Man and Arabic Signs
Adult Middle-Eastern man looking at camera; looking up and speaking to someone off camera. Various signs in Arabic; do not enter sign and building façades.
Writing Through the Ages
Tall ships docked at harbor. Historical recreation of Caucasian man in Renaissance-era clothing, hat, goatee, writing with a quill pen on parchment. Monk in habit, writing in large book. Illuminated manuscript.
1910s, 1920's Sanitation Problems
Master 10 - Tape 1 B/W footage of garbage/sanitation c. 1910s-20s: gross. Tenements, slums, disease.