Historical Society preserves footage of Gilroy before it is
lost
Memories can be fragile things and so is the film that has often
been used to capture them in years gone by
– it can be damaged by heat, dust, fingerprints and time. The
Gilroy Historical Society has completed the first transfer of 16
and 35 mm films shot in the 1920s and ’50s to DVD to keep the
memories of Gilroy’s past from disintegrating with the
celluloid.
The group premiered their first installment in the project,
called
”
Scenes from Gilroy Past,
”
Jan. 28 at the Gilroy Museum. The 30-minute DVD contained
footage of a championship football team and an Armistice Day Parade
from around the 1920s and the Gilroy Gymkhana rodeo from the
1950s.
Historical Society preserves footage of Gilroy before it is lost
Memories can be fragile things and so is the film that has often been used to capture them in years gone by – it can be damaged by heat, dust, fingerprints and time. The Gilroy Historical Society has completed the first transfer of 16 and 35 mm films shot in the 1920s and ’50s to DVD to keep the memories of Gilroy’s past from disintegrating with the celluloid.
The group premiered their first installment in the project, called “Scenes from Gilroy Past,” Jan. 28 at the Gilroy Museum. The 30-minute DVD contained footage of a championship football team and an Armistice Day Parade from around the 1920s and the Gilroy Gymkhana rodeo from the 1950s.
Since then Phill Laursen who is heading up the project, has already received historical footage from residents who want to contribute to the project. Jack Pate, a Gilroy Rotary and Chamber of Commerce member, offered videotape compiled by the Rotary Club in 1989.
“We thought it might be stuff we already had,” said Laursen, a board member for the Gilroy Historical Society. “But it turned out that it was all new footage.”
The clips provided by Pate include black and white scenes that date back to the 1920s or before of people who have left their mark on the city, including Henry Hecker, for whom Hecker Pass was named. Another clip is of a former mayor of Gilroy and the founder of the Milias Hotel.
“One of the clips is of George Milias, Sr. holding George Milias, Jr. as a baby,” said Laursen, a retired school teacher. “It’s funny to me because I thought of them as old when I moved here as a senior in high school and I got to see him as a baby.”
Justin Byers, who owned an auto repair shop in Gilroy during the first part of the 20th Century, shot the original 16 mm films compiled by the Rotary Club.
“He was interested in movies and had a 16 mm film camera,” Laursen said. “He and his wife went on the road and made educational videos.”
While some of the films are the work of Byers, the origin of other films is unknown, Laursen said. A city employee found a 35 mm reel, the size film used by professional filmmakers, in Wheeler Auditorium years ago and turned it over to a supervisor who gave it the museum.
Much of the footage from the premier DVD comes from the reel and Laursen said they believe it is from the 1920s. The canister marked the film as “1911 championship football team”, but Laursen has not been able to verify the date of the footage.
“The first scenes were of Armistice Day, a mock battle, with smoke all around,” Laursen said. “It shows a little of a game and a crowd scene. [The players] wore what looked like rugby costumes.”
While many of the people on the video turned over by Pate have been identified, most in the other films have not. As the project continues Laursen hopes people on the other films will be recognized as well.
“We want locals who might know the people in the films to come forward and tell us who they are,” Laursen said. “Then we can write narration and scripts to go with them.”
The Gilroy Historical Society’s project marked Laursen’s first foray into the world of film. He signed up for training classes with CMAP to learn about studio work and editing.
“But I wasn’t getting around to starting on the project,” Laursen said. “Then I looked at existing film [at the museum] and there was one canister that was just filled with red dust. That’s when I knew we had to do it.”
Laursen and the society applied for a $500 grant from the Gilroy Foundation for the cost of transferring the film reels to digital movies. The project hasn’t been without challenges. Cost is one obstacle for the group and finding equipment to view the films is another.
The biggest cost for the project is transferring the film to video, Laursen said, and the 35 mm reel cost more to transfer than expected so the group quickly went over budget on the project. The other cost is the expense of putting the films on DVD and printing them for use at the museum and for sale to the public. Laursen worked with Mark and Debbie Davis, who own Express Media Graphics, Inc. in Gilroy. The company offered a large discount on the first run of DVDs, Laursen said.
“We wanted copies that could be checked out and watched at the museum,” Laursen said. “They have a TV with a DVD player now that can be used there.”
The next set of films Laursen plans to transfer includes five reels of 16 mm footage found by Peter Burg. When he first found the reels, Burg turned them over to the Gilroy Museum but the technology to transfer them didn’t exist at the time.
“They were renovating the Milias Hotel and I found them there in the late ’70s,” Burg said. “I knew they would get bad.”
The reels were rediscovered in a cubby hole at the Gilroy Museum a few weeks ago. Laursen and the Historical Society members haven’t yet watched the reels since they do not have a 16 mm projector or editing machine available to view the footage. The group has been able to use equipment at San Jose State University with the help of Gilroy resident and SJSU lecturer Claudia Salewske, but they have to work around the schedule of the classes and students using the media lab.
John and Betty Clark, Gilroy natives who now live in the Davis area, donated to the project when Laursen told them about it. The Rotary video has footage of Clark’s grandfather and father, Jonas Clark and John Clark, Sr.
“It makes you feel a part of the town,” Laursen said. “The more you feel connected, the more you are apt to do for it.”
For more information on the project or to contribute historical footage, call 408-848-0470.
