Showing posts with label films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label films. Show all posts
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Pam and her folks go to Missouri
This one is from 1958 and shows a lot of Pam's Mom (who is usually behind the camera) along with her Dad and several other relatives.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Pam and the Rabbits
Hey all,
It's time for installment number one of the Pam films.
In this one, you'll see Pam when she was just shy of two years old in July of 1958.
She was so cute, wasn't she? I promise not to give a lot of unneeded commentary on the films but just to associate you with the people that you'l usually see: The man in the film with the rabbits and the lady that you see him wrestle with (he seems to do that a lot) are her grandparents on her father's side. They always seemed to have a lot of rabbit hutches so maybe they sold rabbits?
Pam's Mom will usually be behind the camera but there will be some films later on where we'll see a little bit of her too. The man smoking the cigarettes is Pam's father. The other two older folks in the video (the lady and man on the porch) seem to be the other set of grandparents. And you'll also see a smattering of other relatives as well. She seemed to have been a very loved little girl.
It's time for installment number one of the Pam films.
In this one, you'll see Pam when she was just shy of two years old in July of 1958.
She was so cute, wasn't she? I promise not to give a lot of unneeded commentary on the films but just to associate you with the people that you'l usually see: The man in the film with the rabbits and the lady that you see him wrestle with (he seems to do that a lot) are her grandparents on her father's side. They always seemed to have a lot of rabbit hutches so maybe they sold rabbits?
Pam's Mom will usually be behind the camera but there will be some films later on where we'll see a little bit of her too. The man smoking the cigarettes is Pam's father. The other two older folks in the video (the lady and man on the porch) seem to be the other set of grandparents. And you'll also see a smattering of other relatives as well. She seemed to have been a very loved little girl.
Monday, August 22, 2011
The Pam Films
The Mister and I spent yesterday watching and digitizing Pam's films. I figured I'd dream about her last night and I surely did. Though in my dreams, she was an adult. It may have been because I told the Mister during the archiving that I hoped that Pam was watching along with us in the next life and smoothly guiding the films through the projector's creaky old unpredictable mechanisms.
There are thirteen films that show tiny portions of six years of her life. In total, a mere fifty minutes of her story. There were so many times that I wanted to shriek out with glee over certain scenes but had to clasp my hands over my mouth so that I wouldn't be recorded along with the audio.
Since most of the scenes show her at family gatherings, I'm going to post one each Sunday. I remember Sundays as when my family always gathered together for food and laughter, watching the young kids play until dirty and limp while the relatives told the same stories over and over. Then we'd all pile into cars for home with our empty casserole dishes, exhausted but happy.
Without fail, the adults would yell out, "Y'all come go with us..." to those staying behind. Or an abbreviated "Y'all come! ". Then to complete the call-and-response, the answer would come back, "Nah...I guess we'd better stay here..". As a kid, I always wondered if anyone ever did jump in the car and come with - as I'd scoot sideways on the seat a little to make room for any possible stowaways. But as an adult, I realize that what made these visits special was not only the hellos.. but also the goodbyes.
Though I feel sad to have watched the last of Pam's films, I look forward to sharing them with you all. Y'all come...
Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha
There are thirteen films that show tiny portions of six years of her life. In total, a mere fifty minutes of her story. There were so many times that I wanted to shriek out with glee over certain scenes but had to clasp my hands over my mouth so that I wouldn't be recorded along with the audio.
Since most of the scenes show her at family gatherings, I'm going to post one each Sunday. I remember Sundays as when my family always gathered together for food and laughter, watching the young kids play until dirty and limp while the relatives told the same stories over and over. Then we'd all pile into cars for home with our empty casserole dishes, exhausted but happy.
Without fail, the adults would yell out, "Y'all come go with us..." to those staying behind. Or an abbreviated "Y'all come! ". Then to complete the call-and-response, the answer would come back, "Nah...I guess we'd better stay here..". As a kid, I always wondered if anyone ever did jump in the car and come with - as I'd scoot sideways on the seat a little to make room for any possible stowaways. But as an adult, I realize that what made these visits special was not only the hellos.. but also the goodbyes.
Though I feel sad to have watched the last of Pam's films, I look forward to sharing them with you all. Y'all come...
Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha
Friday, August 12, 2011
Pam
I love to collect other peoples' memories. Their painted portraits and photographs. Their slides and films. Their carefully penned letters and their scribbles on the fronts of cookbooks. I don't know why but I'm able to completely engross myself in their worlds even if I've never met them. I've always been really interested in people and their stories. Even if I can only get mere clues to those stories from the visual snippets that I find.
Recently, the Mister and I were walking around a really bad flea market and were not only near the end of the aisles but also the end of our ropes from the frustration of looking at horribly boring merchandise. It was then that I saw them - a large pile of 8mm films.
I went over to them and started reading the handwritten notes on the outside:
1963 Florida
Pam and I Decorating The Tree
Pam's Third Birthday Party
Pam and The Rabbits
Pam's Fourth Birthday and the Christmas Snow
There were thirteen films in all and they ranged from the mid-nineteen fifties to the mid-nineteen sixties. I was absolutely dying to see what was on those films. It felt like I was meant to find them and they had this incredible magnetic pull. Which was strange because I didn't even own an 8mm projector. And I'd seen 8mm films for sale before and had never taken them home. Before I knew it, I'd bought several of them and the weekend ended with yes, the purchase of an old film projector. Before long, Pam and her family's memories were playing on our living room wall:
Bit by bit, I went back and got the rest of those films. I've learned since that Pam, the sweet little girl on the films has passed away and that the items from her home were cast off.
Knowing of her early death, it's sad to look at her and her family in the happy times in these films. I feel like I know what's going to happen to her and I want so badly to leap inside of the movie's flickering reels and tell her to enjoy life to it's fullest - to soak it up and then when she thinks that she's had her fill, to soak it up even more. I can't help but wonder why her family didn't keep the films. Maybe it was too sad for them to see her there too.
I'll treasure her movies - her memories - and take good care of them and one day, her collection will merge into mine and be found by someone else - and to them, it will seem like she and I are family. Maybe that's why I found the films that day. In a flea market that I don't usually go to - on that last aisle, on the last shelf.
What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. ~George Eliot
Recently, the Mister and I were walking around a really bad flea market and were not only near the end of the aisles but also the end of our ropes from the frustration of looking at horribly boring merchandise. It was then that I saw them - a large pile of 8mm films.
I went over to them and started reading the handwritten notes on the outside:
1963 Florida
Pam and I Decorating The Tree
Pam's Third Birthday Party
Pam and The Rabbits
Pam's Fourth Birthday and the Christmas Snow
There were thirteen films in all and they ranged from the mid-nineteen fifties to the mid-nineteen sixties. I was absolutely dying to see what was on those films. It felt like I was meant to find them and they had this incredible magnetic pull. Which was strange because I didn't even own an 8mm projector. And I'd seen 8mm films for sale before and had never taken them home. Before I knew it, I'd bought several of them and the weekend ended with yes, the purchase of an old film projector. Before long, Pam and her family's memories were playing on our living room wall:
Bit by bit, I went back and got the rest of those films. I've learned since that Pam, the sweet little girl on the films has passed away and that the items from her home were cast off.
Knowing of her early death, it's sad to look at her and her family in the happy times in these films. I feel like I know what's going to happen to her and I want so badly to leap inside of the movie's flickering reels and tell her to enjoy life to it's fullest - to soak it up and then when she thinks that she's had her fill, to soak it up even more. I can't help but wonder why her family didn't keep the films. Maybe it was too sad for them to see her there too.
I'll treasure her movies - her memories - and take good care of them and one day, her collection will merge into mine and be found by someone else - and to them, it will seem like she and I are family. Maybe that's why I found the films that day. In a flea market that I don't usually go to - on that last aisle, on the last shelf.
What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. ~George Eliot
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)