What's On This Film?
Here are over an hour’s worth of vintage home movie films from the mid-1960s. These films document a middle-American family from the Detroit, Michigan area. Identifiable persons and locations are listed here in order to assist those interested.
00:14 “Spring 1964, Family, the front yard at Irwindale Drive”
House at 4851 Irwindale Drive, Pontiac (now Waterford), Michigan. Extended family filmed in front yard. This is mother’s side of the family, the Macdonalds. Cousin Tim Wangler exhibits yankee ingenuity by inventing “air guitar” in response to the then-current British Music Invasion. James (Uncle Jug, short for “Jughead”) Macdonald, Violet Macdonald Forrester, Mary Margaret Macdonald Wangler, Rhoda Macdonald Dundas, Elizabeth Macdonald Wrobbel, Mary McGarrity Macdonald (aka Nana, Nan, Mamie), Roderick Macdonald (aka Pa). The children/grandchildren: Beth Anne, Sally, Tracy, Dave, Jim, Jeff, Rick, Tim, Doug.
02:25
The family going in to dinner after church, Easter Sunday 1964.
02:50
Visiting the Grahams, Maceday Lake, Waterford Township. Blanche Graham, Gerry Graham, Gil Graham?
04:37 Calvary Baptist Church
Exterior of this church in summer of 1964 showing recent building and steeple additions. Located at 3750 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford, Michigan. The “dad” referenced in these films is pastor of this church.
05:02 “East Tawas 1964 • Heather”
Playing and posing on the beach at East Tawas point. Rick, Janet Carr, Patty Carr, Carol Carr, Dolores Carr, Beth Anne, Dave. Back at the cottage on Tawas point, Beth Anne, Dad (Henry). Walking on the beach.
08:36
Heather Forrester, Dave, and Jim Wangler at Warren, Michigan house of Rhoda and Chet Dundas. Doug Wangler, Tracy Forrester, Beth Anne.
09:40 “Christmas 1964”
Christmas tree inside the new family room of Irwindale house. Mother shows painting by Goldie Banta. Rick, Dave, Beth Anne, play with their Christmas gifts. Fluffy (the cat). Mother knitting.
12:00
Poor quality footage at Irwindale house. Mother, Aunt Georgette, cousin Joel, Beth Anne. Cousin Mark, Rick, cousin Paul, Dave. Exterior: Beth Anne, Jane Scott.
14:12 “Vacation 1965”
Opens with scenes related to a parade for Daily Vacation Bible School. Rick on his decorated Sting Ray bicycle. The family’s 1930 Model A Ford is also decorated for the parade. Dad and Beth Anne in the Model A. The parade lineup of kids includes Rick and ahead of him appears to be Mike Younger who later co-founded the singing group “The Gospel Enterprise” with Rick.
15:41
Nan (our grandmother on our mother’s side, Mary McGarrity) in Lake Huron at the beach at East Tawas point, cousin Ruth, Rick, Beth Anne. Back at the Waterford house on Irwindale Rick is seen in the garage with the Model A being prepared for painting.
16:55
Camping at Silver Lake, Michigan. Bicycle built for two. Rick, Dave, Beth Anne. Mother protecting the hair. The dunes.
18:38 “First day of school • 1965”
Continues the previous reel of Michigan camping with campgrounds at Metamora, Otsego, and/or Higgins Lake. Camping with the Wanglers, Uncle George, Auntie Maggie, Jim, Tim, and Doug.
20:52
First day of school, 1965. Dave walks to Waterford Township High School (class of 1968), Rick heads for bus stop to be taken to John D. Pierce Junior High School. Beth Anne walks to Della Lutes Elementary School with friends Jane Scott, Joanie Higginbotham, and Laura Higginbotham. A 1958 “interim” Chevrolet.
22:25
Beth Anne, Rick, Dave, and Dad in the back yard.
23:02 “‘Jocko’ • B.A. Birthday (9) • Christmas 1965”
Beth Anne’s 9th birthday lunch with Joanie Higginbotham, Jane Scott, and Laura Higginbotham.
23:35
Halloween party at the church. All kids in “disguise” so unfortunately hard to identify. Debbie Nelson, Gerry Graham. Nan has Beth Anne’s birthday cake, fitted out with trick candles that re-light themselves. Laura Higginbotham.
25:35
Christmas tree in the family room at Irwindale house. The new dog, Jocko. Christmas Eve with Rick, Dave, Beth Anne, cousins Paul, Ruth, Joel, and Mark, Uncle Harry (dad’s twin brother), Aunt Georgette, mother. If those cousin’s names sound like they are straight out of the Bible, they are. Rick was the first cousin on either side of the family not named after a Bible figure (Rick was named after a character on a soap opera, a radio soap opera).
27:21
The Christmas tree again, but this time it’s Christmas morning and the tree is all ready for the kids to descend upon it. The dog gets there first.
27:53 “Christmas 1965 • Y.P. Banquet 1-66 • Memorial Day 1966”
The Christmas tree again, the presents up close.
28:20
The Macdonald side of the family meet at the Forrester’s for a Christmas hosted by Uncle Don and Auntie Vi. Uncle Chet & Auntie Rho debut two new Dundases, the twins Jani and Jami.
29:07
Beth Anne in her new ballerina outfit.
30:15
A “Young People’s” banquet at Calvary Baptist Church. Donna Branch, Susan Harrell, Peggy Harrell, Bob Taylor, Art Kilmer, Randy Reith, Linda Sangster, Linda Barrie, Dave Galloway, Barbara King, Nancy Ross, Billy Walker, Bill & Phyllis Putty, Ruth Jackson (one half of the notorious singing duet Al & Ruth Jackson), mother, a singing quartet, Skip Torok, Gary Pullins. Mrs. Laidler and Maybelle Evans.
31:55
Macdonald family annual Memorial Day picnic, 1966, at Marshbank Park in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
32:35 “Memorial Day 1966 • Boat to Mackinac Island”
Memorial Day picnic continues. Jim, Doug, and Tim Wangler, Diane Macdonald, Jeff Dundas, Beth Anne. Volleyball with Uncle Jug (Jim), Uncle Chet, and the cousins. Dad would be in there too but he is taking the movie. New cousins Jami (James Dundas), and Jani.
34:51
On the boat to Mackinac Island with the Wanglers.
37:00 “Mackinac Island • Silver Lake ’66”
On the island with the Wanglers, sight-seeing, eating fudge and riding bikes. Missionary Bark Chapel, Fort Mackinac, the Mackinac Island Ferry.
40:00
Dave mows the lawn at Calvary Baptist Church, summer 1966.
40:20
Camping at Silver Lake, Michigan. The Phoenix trailer. The dunes at Silver Lake.
41:33 “Silver Lake - Higgins Lake • Vacation 1966”
More sand dunes at Silver Lake. Lake Michigan. Dad. Slower, more deliberate footage with mother at the camera. Higgins Lake.
45:40
Christmas tree and gifts, 1966. Another big haul for the children.
46:00 “Christmas 1966 • Big Snow • Vacation, 1967”
Opens on the Christmas tree again. Dad liked to document the loot. Kids growing faster than ever with Rick at 13, Beth Anne at 10, and Dave at 16. The Wanglers, Nan and Pa.
48:14
The Big Snow, 1966. Big. Around the neighborhood at Irwindale Drive. The Scott, Wright, and Pace houses. The giant icicle.
49:28
Jani Dundas, Dave, Auntie Vi, Nan, Sally Forrester, Auntie Rho, Uncle Chet, Uncle Don, Tracy, Jami Dundas. Camping in Clare Michigan. Continued on next reel.
50:24 “Eastern Trip • Clare to N.Y. • July 1967”
Clare Michigan continues from the prior reel. I still remember this episode pretty well. My father never wore a toupee but always wished he had a full head of hair. Auntie Vi somehow had a hairpiece in her possession and proceeded to put it on dad, drawing big laughs all around. This brought out the movie camera and it was universally agreed that he “looked like a movie star.” So Auntie Vi’s daughter, my cousin Sally, in the spirit of the thing and taking a cue from the fan magazines (I can only imagine) inexplicably stages a movie-star kiss. At which point our father, ever the jokester, goes her one further by squeezing her bum. This elicits prolonged shrieks of laughter from everyone there and produces a lasting family memory that is never mentioned again.
51:04
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Civil War battlefield. Cannons, Little Round Top, monument to a union soldier, monument to the infantry.
53:04
Camping, probably at Gettysburg.
53:49
Camping on the asphalt in New Jersey, near New York City. Heading into New York on the George Washington Bridge.
54:54 “Eastern Trip • Plymouth & Maine • July 1967”
We seem to like dunes! Here we are on the dunes at Cape Cod. Views of the Cape. Walking in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Lots of tourists. Staircase inside The Pilgrim Monument. Views from atop the monument of the surrounding land and water.
59:28 “Eastern Trip • Cape Cod • July 1967”
Camping in Plymouth Massachusetts. The National Monument to the Forefathers (1889), formerly known as the Pilgrim Monument. The Mayflower in the harbor at Plymouth. Coastline at low tide, Maine. Camping at Bar Harbor, Maine. View of Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park. The “rocky coast of Maine.” The lobster story.
1:03:47 “August 1967 • Out East • Maine • Vermont • New Hampshire • New York • Sold Model A”
The same coastal scene that is on previous reel at low tide, here at high tide. A covered bridge in New Hampshire. Road scenery in Vermont. Rock formations galore. Crossing Lake Champlain on the ferry. Some beautiful waterfall in upstate New York.
1:07:16
The day we sold our 1930 Model A Ford and it is driven away down Irwindale Drive. Neighbors houses: Freeland, Blanchard, and Shafto.
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