Tag: New Deal

Rush Hour 1938!

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1938 Detroit – shift change at Dodge Assembly plant

This roll illustrates a shift change at the Dodge assembly plant in Detroit in 1938. This film, shot by Academy Award winning documentary film director Pare Lorentz and Academy award winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby, was part of an uncompleted feature length docu-fiction film on unemployment produced for the short-lived “U.S. Film Agency”. The film, based on a radio documentary, was originally titled “Ecce Homo” was later named more prosaically as “Name, Age and Occupation”. The filmmakers wanted to emphasize that the unparalleled productivity of U.S. industry should make unemployment a thing of the past.

The film is un-described at the roll level in the National Archives Catalog and therefore inaccessible to all but those prepared for a “deep dive” into the film collections at the National Archives at College Park. I was able to identify the location based on advertising on one of the commuter buses and street signs. I was able to pinpoint the site as a street corner across from the Dodge plant (later the site of GM’s Hamtramck Assembly Plant) using Google Maps. Also depicted is a nearby suburb of Detroit.

Web search is not the same as research. Don’t depend on a production assistant or intern to locate the exact footage or stills that will add impact to your production or project. Hire an professional archival media researcher!

Heavy iron!

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Found at the National Archives and Records Administration, this footage consists of pristine 35mm black and white outtake footage for a New Deal documentary on unemployment directed by the great documentary film maker Pare Lorentz and shot by Oscar winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby. The footage shows vintage 1930’s heavy industry to emphasize the productive capacity of the U.S. economy, even while recovering from the Great Depression. Based on a radio documentary entitled “Ecce Homo” (Latin for “behold the man”), the production was later named more prosaically “Name, Age and Occupation.” Work stopped on the film when House Republicans de-funded New Deal film making.

As the work product of a U.S. Government employee, this footage meets the definition of a “U.S. Government work” in U.S. law, making it ineligible for copyright protection. A full production file for this film exists at Columbia University, but almost all of the outtake footage is at the National Archives. This footage, and hundreds of rolls like it, is not described on the Internet and has no content description available in the National Archives Catalog, effectively rendering it available only to those willing and able to do a “deep dive” into the available material. Don’t depend on a production assistant or intern to find the exact footage to add impact to your production or exhibit. A professional media researcher adds value!