Retrospective 1929-1931
Retrospective 1929-1931
Retrospective of American life, 1929-1931. Prohibition, nightlife, entertainment, recreation, gangsters, crime, speakeasies, industry, factories, architecture, business, the Presidential election & Stock Market Crash of 1929.
Retrospective 1929-1931
MS elderly black man dancing, flanked by several African-American men & women dressed in rural Southern U.S. clothing, clapping. MSs two young white couples dancing to jazz on street. LS Times Square, neon signs advertising for Pepsodent, Chevrolet, others, night; superimposed over Times Square are nice CUs neon, twinkling lights. TLS/MSs chorus girls dancing, kicking on stage at nightclub; MSs young white people sitting at table in nightclub, drinking alcohol, having a ball; CU flapper smoking cigarette; CU waiter rolling bottle of champagne between palms; superimposed shots of alcoholic drinks being poured, room spinning uncontrollably; ah yes, the Jazz Age. MSs exhausted young white people competing in dance marathon, some partners mere limp rag dolls.
Retrospective 1929-1931
TLS Governor of New York AL SMITH (Alfred Smith) standing in parked convertible, waving hat to crowd on street; CU Al Smith smiling; high angle LSs large crowd waching motorcade; panning TLS Gov. Al Smith waving to crowd from open convertible. MSs U.S. President HERBERT HOOVER posing w/ var white people. H/a LS crowded floor during Republican National Convention, crowd waving small American flags; MS Herbert Hoover taking seat in gallery; sideview CU Hoover speaking. TLS/MSs President Herbert Hoover delivering Inaugural Address, Mar 4, 1929; MS crowd.
Retrospective 1929-1931
TLS tall mast schooner sailing in bay; TLS three police boats speeding through bay, small American flags flying from bow; TLS men loading bootleg booze (alcohol, bootlegging, rum running, rum-running). CUs secret knock on door of speakeasy, lookout peephole opening, eye peering through, latches being unlocked; MSs men entering speakeasy during Prohibition, standing, drinking whiskey at bar. MSs storefront of liquor store, woman walking out w/ bottle. LS large crowd gathered in street, police in FG; MS cops & detective w/ white female suspect; MSs cops loading body of (smiling) dead man onto wagon. High angle TLS bank robber walking to bank teller in busy bank, drawing gun; MS bank teller holding hands up; CU foot on emergency pedal; TLS vents of gas or smoke erupting, flooding the bank, foiling the hold-up. TLS police officer leading a train of men (criminal suspects) onto police wagon, although one man struggles, manages to get away.
Retrospective 1929-1931
MS/TLSs mob boss AL CAPONE (Alfonse Capone) exiting revolving door w/ attorney during tax evasion trial in 1931, getting into awaiting car, driving away. TLS/MSs Al Capone & cronies sitting in dugout at racetrack, betting on horses. TLS/MSs funeral procession along city street, young boys dressed in white carrying small white flower-laden casket on their shoulders; MSs large woman weeping uncontrollably at funeral, being held back by family members as crowd throws flowers into grave. Aerials of Lindbergh home in New Jersey; LS police detectives standing outside Lindberh home, shift ladder leaning against wall; MSs ANNE MORROW pushing Charles Lindbergh Jr. in stroller; CUs Lindbergh baby.
Retrospective 1929-1931
FI on LS archetypal grainfield, wheat; TLS combine harvesting wheat; TLSs tractors sowing field. MS man wearing moustache, comb-over, glasses, milking dairy cow. TLS/MSs cows on Rotalactor, designed by inventorThomas Edison, a machine that automatically washes & milks 50 cows at a time in 12 1/2 minutes. MS man shoveling coal into furnace. CU gears turning slowly. MS man sitting at desk, rolling cigarettes; MS machine rolling cigarettes. LS Ford Automobile factory in Dearborn, Michigan, nine smokestacks spewing smoke; TLSs workers on assembly line building cars; TLS inventor HENRY FORD sitting in ceremonial 15,000,000 Ford rolling off assembly line; TLS several Model T Fords rolling from factory, onto street. TLS crane lifting, placing old automobile (Model T) onto large pile of antiquated, junked cars; MS Ford T burning in junkyard, night. TLSs new 1930s model Ford cars rolling from plant.
Retrospective 1929-1931
Prints ads for luxury items like silk coats, strollers, tires, roofing. Panning LS suburban rowhouses. LS Empire State Building. LS/TLSs new buildings & skyscrapers, some art deco. TLS/MSs stock brokers & pit bosses working feverishly on floor of stock exchange. Newspaper headlines re Stock Market Crash of 1929-- inc Variety tag: "Wall Street Lays an Egg." Panning TLS industrialist HENRY FORD standing w/ fellow men of industry.
Retrospective 1929-1931
TLS/MSs white people playing miniature golf. MS/CUs unidentified older white men talking to or posing for cam (no audio, but the inference is that these are politicians and/or business men talking about a national topic of the time such as the Depression or Prohibition). MS hellfire & brimstone evangelist BILLY SUNDAY sermonizing to the cam, waving his arms about.