Last week, Heidi transferred several reels of film documenting "overseas activity" in the summer of 1941. Nestled among shots of city streets and training exercises were playful scenes depicting a facial hair contest at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines. If a beard contest doesn't scream "put me on the Internet" I don't know what does, so … Continue reading The Great Beard Contest of 1941
In an effort to provide information on recently declassified motion pictures and sound recordings the Motion Picture, Sound and Video Branch will publish a quarterly list of newly declassified records. This quarter's list consists of one film, MB-1 Documentary showing testing of the Genie missile. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m06SdXAbJ7c Local Identifier: 342-USAF-29521/National Archives Identifier: 68126 From January … Continue reading Declassified Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings – 2nd Quarter
This post was written by Marcia Kolko. Marcia is an archives specialist in the National Archives Motion Picture, Sound and Video Branch. September represents one of the holiest months of the year for members of the Jewish faith, as it includes the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day … Continue reading A Mitzvah to Serve
Today’s post was written by Burton Blume, a brand consultant/creative strategist based in Tokyo, Japan. He contacted us last year when we featured footage shot by his father, Lt. Wilbur T. Blume. In part one of this series of posts, Blume traced his father’s story up to when Lt. Blume was assigned the task of producing a film about the … Continue reading The Reel Catch-22, Part 3: The War Diaries
Today’s post was written by Burton Blume, a brand consultant/creative strategist based in Tokyo, Japan. He contacted us last year when we featured footage shot by his father, Lt. Wilbur T. Blume. In part one of this series of posts, Blume traced his father's story up to when Lt. Blume was assigned the task of producing a film about … Continue reading The Reel Catch-22, Pt. 2: Joseph Heller and Training During Combat
Today's post was written by Burton Blume, a brand consultant/creative strategist based in Tokyo, Japan. He contacted us last year when we featured footage shot by his father, Lt. Wilbur T. Blume. We were intrigued by additional information Burton Blume was able to add to previously unexamined motion picture records. In this series of posts, Burton Blume relates stories of … Continue reading The Reel Catch-22, Part 1: Lt. Wilbur T. Blume, Combat Cameraman
This post was written by Steve Greene. Steve is the Special Media Holdings Coordinator for the Presidential Libraries System. Previously, he was the audiovisual archivist for the Nixon Presidential Materials. Despite being cataloged, described, and housed at the National Archives for decades, the films created by the U.S. Military during World War II still hold … Continue reading The First D-Day Documentary
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, marking the official start of the Second World War. Sixteen days later, Russia invaded Poland from the east. By the end of September, Poland had succumbed to the dual attacks. The nation was divided between Russia and Germany according to boundaries established in a secret clause of a nonaggression … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The Invasion of Poland, 1939
What would you do if you were a popular general in the United States Army, a tireless advocate for military aviation, and instead of getting a promotion to Chief of the Air Service, you were demoted and sent halfway across the country? If it was 1925 and your name was Billy Mitchell, you might just have a giant barbecue, complete with a … Continue reading Billy Mitchell’s Boozy Barbecue Send-Off, 1925
The story of the North Platte, Nebraska canteen reads more like a Frank Capra movie rather than an Army film production. As the story goes, a rumor had started that a train carrying troops from Nebraska would be arriving at North Platte on Christmas Day 1941. About five hundred townspeople came to greet the train bearing food and … Continue reading Supporting Troops on the Homefront: The North Platte, Nebraska Canteen
