Summary

FOOTAGE FROM THE ROARING 20'S

Source Archive Films by Getty Images
Title: FOOTAGE FROM THE ROARING 20'S
File Number: MSP-3 Beta SP
Color: B W
Type: Documentary
Year: 1920s
Description: B W 1920s Good round up of 1920's America with excellent Jazz Age material. 01:00:05:20 B W 1920s Large gates open, slowly, to reveal palace at Versailles. VS INT chateau de Versailles. VS fountains. Post-WWI France. EXT palace at Versailles as Big Four enter for peace treaty conference - Georges Clemenceau enters building, followed by Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Woodrow Wilson. INT, Hall of Mirrors - large hall full Treaty of Versailles delegates. The Big Four leave the building and pose for CAM. CU turning pages of Versailles treaty, wax seals on page. Large gates close, leaving misty scene behind. 01:02:16:20 B W 1920s MS Capitol dome, Washington, DC. Senators William Bora of Idaho, and Hiram Johnson of California, pose outside of Washington building. Pan senators opposed to League of Nations with MS of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. EXT White House with fountains in FG. President Woodrow Wilson climbs into carriage surrounded by people. Train speeds past CAM. Montage of Wilson mingling with the American public - parades, people waving flags. CU Wilson sitting in car, looking depressed. 01:04:00:28 B W 1920s CU President Warren G. Harding. Harding swings golf club - Harding's caddy is young black man. VS dormant factories symbolizing labor unrest, strikes - armed guards patrol plants. 01:05:08:29 B W 1920s Red scare, anti-communist hysteria - police arrest and beat immigrants, women and men, loading them into wagons. VS deportation scenes. Deportees board ferry to Ellis Island. Post-Russian revolution. 01:06:00:26 B W 1920s, 1940s Stone Mountain, Georgia, KKK activities with few shots of Imperial Wizard Samuel Green (some of this footage dates from the 1940s and not just the 1920s) MWA shot of Ku Klux Klan members walking through woods. Klan members walk in circle in wooded area, CU KKK parents holding toddlers' hands - toddler dressed in white hood and robe. Klan member holding American flag. Klansmen raise hands and bow as Grand Imperial Wizard makes appearance - CU masked (skull mask) Klan leader. VS KKK ceremony, imperial wizard performs ritual using American flag. VS initiation ceremony at night. Cross burning. VS huge KKK march on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC - marchers wear robes but no masks, carry American flags. 01:07:50:14 B W 1920s CU street sign, "MAIN ST." VS small town main street with traffic, man trying to cross road, pedestrians. Woman cleans hotel window. LS cameraman taking large group photograph. CU art deco sign, "International Optimist" Pedestrians on street, women eating ice cream cones, man fills tank at gas station, cop pulls in driver of Model-T Ford. Street sign, "MAIN ST. BROADWAY" 01:09:31:27 B W 1920s Sign, "WALL ST. Broadway" VS buildings in New York City financial district. Brief shot of crowded street. VS INT of stock exchange, busy trading floor. Special effect, ticker tape transposed, and running on diagonal, over negative film of trading floor, with insert of positive film of New York stock exchange activity on bottom right of screen. (This image is repeated throughout film as break) 01:10:22:03 B W 1920s Roaring Twenties montage - women (flapper fashion) sit and read newspaper, one applies make-up, one chews gum and one smokes cigarette, CUs. VS street scenes with women. CU theater poster advertising Norma Talmadge in Secrets. Two women enter barber shop, read newspapers while they wait for haircuts. Barber cuts woman's hair. Debauchery montage - young men wearing boater hats drink alcohol in car during Prohibition, woman and man kiss in front of car, gang of women and men party while driving. INT, college dorm as two young women, flappers, spray themselves with perfume before leaving for party. Lone student stays behind to study - wistful expression. Three women dance at club, Charleston, flappers, men join them, excellent. VS night club scenes, woman and man in passionate embrace, kissing. Musicians, dancing, CU woman's feet as she dances Charleston. Sex, alcohol, and gambling - party time. CU record spinning. 01:13:12:07 B W 1920s Jazz Age - George Gershwin plays piano with large orchestra. CU band leader, Paul Whiteman. VS black male jazz musicians and white audience. Women, and couples, dance Charleston. 01:13:53:22 B W 1920s BLANKED OUT to 01:14:20:00 01:14:20:01 B W 1920s Floor of New York City stock exchange with tickertape transposed across it. Prohibition montage - ship on water - men on board lift boxes of alcohol - smugglers, bootlegging. Illegal booze transported from ship to small boats at night and carried ashore. Cans of alcohol passed from hand to hand up stairs, disguised as oil. CU bottles being passed hand to hand. Liquor poured from can into funnel. CU hand knocking on door of speakeasy. CU pair of eyes, money passed through hatch for bottle of booze. 01:15:45:11 B W 1920s BLANKED OUT to 01:18:23:25 01:18:23:26 B W 1920s Chicago gangster montage - VS police arresting and escorting gangsters to cars and police wagons. Al Capone gets out of car and enters building, court ? Capone leaves court house with police and detectives and gets into car, throng of people on street. Mayor William Hale Thompson (Big Bill Thompson) poses for CAM with women. 01:19:34:00 B W 1920s British royalty, David, Prince of Wales is welcomed to America. He disembarks from ship and gets into waiting car as throngs of people, mostly women, surge forward. VS Queen Marie of Rumania on deck of ship, being welcomed by crowds with placards, walking down ship's gangplank. CU queen. VS wealthy Americans boarding luxury liners headed for Europe - waving from decks, people wave from docks. VS activities of wealthy on board liners - sitting and walking on decks, playing deck games, shuffleboard. Two men drink, standing at bar. VS chefs at work in kitchens. 01:22:23:22 B W 1920s Passengers arrive at train station in France and board trains for Paris. Steam train pulls out of station, enveloped in steam and smoke, nice shot. VS railroad tracks, POV tracks from front of train, INT passenger cars. VS Paris, 1920's, men selling maps and books of postcards on street. Porters carry luggage for wealthy tourists. VS Parisian traffic, traffic cop, cars, buses, POV from front of moving vehicle. Nun wearing elaborate head dress, wimple. Traffic passes tourist attractions including the Arc de Triomphe. EXT Ritz Hotel, doorman stands aside for entering guests. Shopping montage - EXT exclusive stores, INT woman tries on jewelry, good. INT Parisian fashion houses with models, couture, good. Paris at night - mostly neon signs. EXT entrance to the Moulin Rouge, lit up and neon. Sign for the "Folies Bergere" Josephine Baker performs - VS night club audience and night life. 01:26:52:27 B W 1920s VS Paris - Parisian skyline at night with Eiffel Tower in silhouette. Day time LS Eiffel Tower. Winding side streets. "62 Latreille" painted on wall. F. Scott Fitzgerald sits at table in garden, writing - CU writer. People browse through tables of books on street. Artist paints on easel on street. Artists sell paintings on street. VS packed street cafes, people smoking. Old man sells "Le Globe" Newspaper boys sells papers. Man sells "La Monde" Good Paris montage. 01:28:40:28 B W 1927 1927, Charles Lindbergh poses by airplane. Spirit of St. Louis takes off. Printing press. Newspaper distribution, piles of papers thrown from man to truck. Monoplane in flight - cut with people looking up. Fisherman in rain coat and hat looks up. Radio tower, CU hand tapping out code - teletype machine. Radio broadcasting, radio listening. Cloudy skies. Good shot of old man with white beard with hand cocked behind his left ear, listening. Selling newspapers montage - good. Moon in cloudy sky. Arc de Triomphe at night. Sign, "Rue du Petit Pont" VS as thousands of French people wait for Lindbergh at Le Bourget airport. Lindbergh lands and crowd runs across airfield towards plane. Lindbergh on cruiser, Memphis, on way back to America. Lindbergh disembarks and is greeted by huge crowd, lots of hand shaking. Excellent shots of New York Harbor when Lindbergh flies in. Lindbergh climbs from plane to boat - waves from deck of boat. AVs of ships, boats in harbor. VS New York ticker tape parade for Lindbergh, good crowd shots, police control, Lindbergh waving from convertible. Tickertape falls like snow. 01:38:10:04 B W 1920s Men on line to buy tickets, CU hand passes cash under grid and receives ticket. Boxing match between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey with knock out - Irish heavy weight boxers. Sports montage - tennis, golf, car racing. President Calvin Coolidge throws baseball to start game. Babe Ruth hits ball and runs. American football games with excellent footage of spectators. 01:40:17:11 B W 1928 June 1928, Kansas City Republican Convention. Herbert Hoover speaks, side profile. Democratic convention in Houston, Texas. Al Smith waves at delegates. Al Smith waves at crowds from back of car. Hoover standing at back of train, makes speech. Presidential electioneering. "Elect Herbert Hoover" advertisement on truck. Times Square, New York, at night, with election result announcements and portraits of Hoover and Vice-President Curtis in lights. 01:42:06:24 B W 1920s New York stock exchange floor, busy trading. Businessman at desk, smoking, checking stock prices in newspaper. Man reading tickertape as machine spits it out. Stock broker at work, writes on "BUY" pad while speaking on telephone. Stock prices flash on huge board. Stock buying montage with special effect of "BUY" notes, moving rapidly toward CAM, transposed over footage of busy stock exchange floor. 01:45:00:02 B W 1920s Wealthy America - fancy cars driven by chauffeurs on busy city street, good. CU Rolls Royce medallion on front of car. Consumerism montage with nice animation of coins and notes piling up higher and higher. Cash registers, money, buying, ringing up prices. VS Times Square at night with neon signs, lit up movie marquees, theater marquees. 01:46:09:29 B W 1920s INT night club show with women, standing on trapezes, and swinging from ceiling - fantastic! Sign, "Villa Vallee" Couples dancing. CU popping cork on champagne, pouring champagne. VS nightclub scenes, black and white jazz bands, people in party mood, (party animals) drinking, dancing, floor shows, dancers, speak easy, show girls, side profile cameo shots of four women dancing with canes and top hats (great) - excellent roaring 20's, jazz age montage. Decadence. (excerpts from feature films). 01:48:03:15 B W 1929 High WA shot of New York stock exchange floor during busy trading - VS trading stocks, good. Selling stocks montage - traders on phones, notes with "SELL" instructions transposed over activity at stock exchange, ticker tape machines, ticker tape, prices fluctuate, stock market crash, 1929. MS broom sweeping ticker tape on floor.
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