Color film from 1941-1942: American Small Towns

[AmateisGal]

Someone posted this on the Lounge's Facebook group and I wanted to make sure those not on FB had a chance to see it, too. It's really incredible to watch.

Here's the description:

This film is part of a series of films taken by H. Lee Waters titled Movies of Local People. The series captures residents of small towns across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia between 1936 and 1942. Digitized from DVD.

[video]http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hleewaters_rl10075dvd0006030/[/video]

ETA: I can't get it to embed here. It may not be supported since it's from Duke University's website.

This film goes inside the Cheerwine factory in this town, too, and shows how the soda was bottled. Also: a beauty shop where a woman is getting a perm - with electric rods!

 

[fashion frank]

I love the womens hair styles in that clip must have been shot in a movie show or a school , but awesome none the less .

Also the kid going backwards on his bike if you look you can see a steam train in the background ,I can remember them as a kid !
I wish there was someone on this forum that could read lips, it would be very interesting to know what they were saying.
All the Best,Fashion Frank

 

[AmateisGal]

I love that in this small town, they had everything they needed: drugstore, clothing store, grocery, barber, etc. My hometown (population 1,600) doesn't even have a clothing store anymore.

 

[Babydoll]

Fascinating. I kept waiting to hear them start talking, even though I knew they wouldn't.

 

[Hercule]

[video]http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hleewaters_rl10075dvd0006030/[/video]

OH MY!!! Thank you. I can't tell you how much I needed that.

 

[hatsRme]

I love that in this small town, they had everything they needed: drugstore, clothing store, grocery, barber, etc. My hometown (population 1,600) doesn't even have a clothing store anymore.

Thank Walmart, to some degree. In most cases when they open in a small town, as much as 2/3 of the Main Street businesses die within a few years. But there's always a Walmart within a 60 minute drive (or so they at Walmart say).

 

[AmateisGal]

Thank Walmart, to some degree. In most cases when they open in a small town, as much as 2/3 of the Main Street businesses die within a few years. But there's always a Walmart within a 60 minute drive (or so they at Walmart say).

Yep. I remember when the first Walmart came in our area - about 35 miles away. Affected a lot of businesses.

OH MY!!! Thank you. I can't tell you how much I needed that.

You're very welcome!

 

[AmateisGal]

Fascinating. I kept waiting to hear them start talking, even though I knew they wouldn't.

I love how everyone reacts to the camera. Some are shy, some ignore it completely, others ham it up. Human nature doesn't change a whole lot.

 

[Braz]

Interesting, and indicative of the time I guess, there is only a single very short glimpse of one black person in the entire 40 minutes of film.

 

[AmateisGal]

Interesting, and indicative of the time I guess, there is only a single very short glimpse of one black person in the entire 40 minutes of film.

I noticed that, too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have a 16mm reel of similar footage taken in my home town in 1952, and the feeling exactly the same -- people are either very self-conscious about the camera or make flamboyant gestures to it, and the feeling is very much one of honest, down-to-earth folks who don't have much, but are satisfied enough with what they do have. The cars are dirty and beat-up, except for one lingering shot of a Cadillac belonging to a local doctor, and the clothes are very, very drab. The footage was shot in late fall, so you see a lot of heavy wool coats and dark colors, with the occasional flash of color coming as a kerchief around a woman's head. You also see a lot of kids, waking two-by-two along Main Street with not a parent in sight.

And yes, the people are entirely white. I don't believe any African-American folk lived in our town until the '70s, although a family did live the next town over in earlier years. The population, in that respect, honestly hasn't changed all that much there, except that the population now is mostly wealthy white retirees from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, and you hardly see any children on the streets at all.