[xtypo_dropcap]H[/xtypo_dropcap]istory in film is dying every day; windows of yesterday’s world fading and decomposing into a fine dust, unusable and never to be seen again.
In the 1930s the film industry was booming, and more than 100 million Americans were going to the movie theater each week. In the time before TV, theaters were run much differently. Viewers would get several short flicks and maybe two movies; normally including a news reel, an entertainment short, and a feature film. [Click here to read the rest of the article]
[etssp 83]
To fill the demand, filmmakers were filling the reels with a flow of movies, and news coverage, which now composes some of the most thorough preservations of modern American history—preparations for World War II, scenes from the Great Depression, famous speeches, and cultures, which are long gone.
“What’s interesting about film is that half of all movies made before 1950 no longer exist, because of nitrate decomposition and just neglect. So there is so much of motion picture history and American culture history that is gone,” said Mark Punswick.
Punswick and his wife, Mary Riley, are the last remaining private owners of major Hollywood studio film libraries. From their Los Angeles home, the two formed Shields Pictures, and have made it their life’s work to restore and preserve their collection of nearly 200 short films.
The films, all surviving in their original 35mm silver nitrate print form, include the full libraries of Unusual Occupations, Speaking of Animals, and the iconic Popular Science series.
“I grew up having a love of film,” said Punswick.
He grew up in the '70s, which he regards as the “golden age of Hollywood renaissance,” at a time when betamax video was just catching on, there were just a few TV channels, and the Internet was still a little-known project.
Continued on Page 2…
