Category Archives: Video Archive

Today's keyword roulette

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It was dark and bleak this morning here so I found this utopian pre-war plea for community planning…
http://www.archive.org/details/CityTheP1939. Written by Lewis Mumford, narrated by Morris Carnovsky, music by Aaron Copland. Political, bleak, stylish, noir  and a really cool pancake flipper.

So to get out of this city, I searched the suburbs and ended up here…http://www.archive.org/details/IntheSub1957.

And who’s a better stereotype of small town America in this era than….http://www.archive.org/details/OzziePajamas. Pancake advertising callback…Aunt Jemima.

So I searched Madison Avenue Advertising and ended up here…http://www.archive.org/details/UNIVAC-AD-2. Love the letters bouncing around in the vacuum tube.

That’s it for keyword roulette today. -Jeff Kaplan

BloomEnergy, the Bloombox, Free Energy and Tesla

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A hot topic on the heels of the 60 Minutes segment last night. Is the Bloombox the long sought solution to cheap clean energy? Is Mr. K.R. Sridhar the modern day Nicola Tesla? At the risk of boring you all I found these bits of history on the search for cheap energy and the conspiracies to stop it.

Free Energy – The Race to Zero-Point
http://www.archive.org/details/FreeEnergy-TheRaceToZero-point

Tesla Work
http://www.archive.org/details/Documentary_Tesla_Work

BTW, I am powered by strong coffee. -Jeff Kaplan

Gumbasia

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I was making Playdoh from scratch which of course got me thinking about…Gumby! Hey, seemed logical at the time. Seeing as how Art Clokey passed away last month I thought I’d check to see if we had anything by him and came up with this abstract gem, Gumbasia (http://www.archive.org/details/Gumbasia). Apparently it was his first clay film, shot on a ping pong table in his dad’s garage. It got some attention from a producer, got him a short on Howdy Doody and led to the cultural icon and Eddie Murphy role model. Dig the drum sound track.
-Jeff Kaplan

Valentine's Day Ideas : Dogs, Dinosaurs, Spiders and Craters

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Valentine’s Day is this weekend so I decided to do a little rooting around the Archive. I found some very cool stuff but a stop animation that was brought to my attention was so cool I wanted to post it first. It is a twisted story of love and lust. Check it out, just amazing:

Duffy the Mascot (1934) – http://www.archive.org/details/Duffy_the_Mascot

Which got me thinking about stop animation in general. Turns out we have several versions of the first major film by the early master Willis O’Brien, “Lost World“: http://www.archive.org/details/lost_world

He was the inspiration for the great Ray Harryhausen. We have an early short from him: http://www.archive.org/details/mother_goose_little_miss_muffet

Finally, for your astronomy minded lover might I suggest NASAimages’ hearts of Mars: http://ia311025.us.archive.org/1/items/PLAN-PIA05296/PIA05296.jpg

Superbowl and New Orleans

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OK, I confess I was more interested in seeing if Pete Townshend would do some windmill leaps and trash his guitar at the end of their halftime show.

Still I thought I’d check up on some stuff about New Orleans at the archive.org

I first took a look at the space view of the Crescent City from NASAimages: http://www.archive.org/details/VE-IMG-17299

Then to set the mood put on a little music from The Radiators: http://www.archive.org/details/rads2010-01-02

And read a little of this old text from 1914: New Orleans Old and New: http://www.archive.org/details/neworleansoldnew00alle

From it I learned that Carnival season started in 1827. Here’s a slightly more recent view of Mardi Gras from 1941: http://www.archive.org/details/Paradeof1941

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints and all the people in the Crescent City.

-Jeff Kaplan

Unemployment Rate Jitters

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With the unemployment rate so high, cafes here in
San Francisco are extra busy with folks killing time, camping out at the tables nursing their one cup of coffee while online. Here’s a good old one for them to check out: http://www.archive.org/details/ThisisCo1961

Of course a little coffee overindulgence might lead to: http://www.archive.org/details/Brian_Wyrick_Sleep

That ending reminded me of Luis Bunuel’s Andalusian Dog. Youch! Speaking of surreal…if you should fall asleep: http://www.archive.org/details/TribuneA1924

So combine stimulants with driving and you get the Grateful Dead with  “Casey Jones”: http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-08-30.fm.jupile.12762.sbeok.shnf

Time for a cup o’ joe! Excuse me while I go get a lo-fo-half-caf-half-decaf-mochachino or better yet maybe just a good cup of drip! -Jeff Kaplan

Black History Month and Famous Banjos

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I found this radio interview with Rosa Parks just 4 months after she refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, AL. Her interview goes from 12:39-18:50. http://www.archive.org/details/dn2005-1025_vid

And here is an interview from the 1957 with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.archive.org/details/openmind_ep727.

Which naturally caused me to search for Dr. Martin Luther King’s I have a Dream speech from the rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Here is the audio recording of that speech: http://www.archive.org/details/MLKDream

I remembered that Pete Seeger performed at that rally. So I discovered this short video of Pete Seeger discussing how Dr. King and Rosa Parks inspired him. http://www.archive.org/details/HowDr.KingAndRosaParksInspiredFolkLegendPeteSeeger.

Notice the skin head on his banjo. It was on his banjo for over 35 years and is famous among banjo players and folk enthusiasts. On it are written these words “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender”.  Seeger recently put it up for auction on eBay to donate the funds for earthquake relief for Haiti. With the bid over $6,000, and expected to go much higher, he reluctantly withdrew it at the insistence of his family in order to donate it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Instead he is raising funds for Haiti through donations.  -Jeff Kaplan

Hula Dancing and other Risky Behavior

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So I was listening to a music in the Live Music Archives section of a local surf band, Mermen http://www.archive.org/details/mermen2009-07-31.m300.flac16. I was really liking “Big Day At The Bay”.

Which got me to thinking about surfing. A search got me to “This is your life Duke Kahanamoku (1957)”, http://www.archive.org/details/this_is_your_life_duke_kahanamoku. Kowabunga! The Hula dance! Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller)! Five Olympic games and world records! Rescue hero!

Which put me in the mind of skateboarding in the 60’s whereupon I happened across this gem: “Skateboard Sense” by Sid Davis, http://www.archive.org/details/skateboard_sense. The skating is kind of laughable but I was mostly looking at the cars and bellbottoms. Bug! Vega! Duster!

So I searched Sid Davis which took me to “Keep Off The Grass” http://www.archive.org/details/keep_off_the_grass. The three panel presentation of drugs  at about 11 minutes in is identical to the one that was used in my school in that same era. Ah, the nostalgia! Ah the flashback!  – Jeff Kaplan

Before, After and the writing quill

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Being a graphic designer I take a keen interest in typography. I came across a book explaining the origins of roman, serif and cursive letterforms: http://www.archive.org/details/freehandletterin00wils

I noticed it was copyright 1906. So, being from San Francisco it got me thinking about the 1906 earthquake and I came across two amazing films.

The first traveling by trolley down the length of Market Street to the Ferry Building in 1905, the year before the quake: http://www.archive.org/details/TripDown1905. The second is the same route in 1906 after the earthquake: http://www.archive.org/details/tmp_50168

By the style I assume it is the same photographer. Before…After.

Here’s one more :http://www.archive.org/details/SanFranc1906_3.  I really enjoyed see this moment in time when there was the transition from Horse and Carriage to Auto. In this film they share the  road with bicycles, horses and the occasional rifle carrying citizen.

-Jeff Kaplan