Help date this home movie by the cars

[Guest winstrol]

This is a color film, but based on the cars I'm seeing that would be very early for color. This was a pretty wealthy town at the time, and unless this was just after WWII you would not expect many old cars. I'm hoping somone might spot the 'newest' of the late models and give a guess on the age of the movie.

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Thanks,

John

[Oldsfan]

I saw a '40 Chrysler, next to a '40 LaSalle. Further down the row was a '40 Chevy. So I'm going to say 1940. Prior to that I was going to guess 1939.

Paul

[Dandy Dave]

Some of the cars at the end of the film seem to be late 40's in vintage. Definetly after WWII. Lets see what the others say. Dandy Dave!

[Oldsfan]

In the black & white footage - that's a '41 Pontiac in front of a '41 Cadillac.

[Guest winstrol]

I think I came to the right place It is possible this is several years worth of film stuck together. If you happen to catch the run time on the film when you recognize a car it would help me date that part of the film... I'm more an MG/Jaguar guy so if you have any undated British film you'd like me to watch, I could help you there.

[Guest Mochet]

Great early color film. Kodak introduced Kodachrome in 1935, I believe. That's probably what this film was shot with. Some WWII Signal Corps films were also shot in color.

Phil

[ply33]

I think it is pre-WW2 but probably covers several years. Based mostly on the clothing and general appearances.

Several scenes with young boys in suits with knickerbockers. I'm pretty sure that that clothing style ended with WW2.

From all appearances the family involved seemed to be very well off. The wedding scenes show a pretty high class affair with matching outfits for the bridesmaids and groom's men which, I think, was unusual for working and middle class families of that era. The older women at the wedding are wearing what appears to me to be conservative clothing from perhaps the mid '30s to maybe the very early '40s. Some scenes show a very large yet private seeming swimming pool. Again unusual for the era for any but the most wealthy.

And the very fact that they had a movie camera and were willing to spend the money on color film and processing shows a certain amount of disposable income.

So assuming a wealthy family it is unlikely that their newest cars were very old and probably date the film very well. Didn't watch until the very end, but the newest car I saw was a '41 so I'd guess the scenes with that and earlier were from '41 and earlier.

On a technical note, I wonder if the film had been restored. Seems like early Kodachrome suffers from color shifting due to age. Yet I did not notice this. Could it have been a non-Kodachrome process? Or can faded Kodachrome be restored to that quality?

[Guest Commodore]

OK, at 9:47 I think I see a yellow 1942 Studebaker on the left and at 8:25 there is “four-stacker” or “flush-decker” Navy Destroyer. These served from 1917 to January 1947. I hope this helps.

[Dave@Moon]

The last scene is of the parking lot at what I believe is the country club shwon earlier. Obviously this is a fairly wealthy crowd, and pausing on those scenes almost every car is a 1940 or 41 model, with no apparent 1942s to be seen. This, combined with all the well dressed people in the wedding with none in military dress leads me to believe that this film is all from 1940 and possibly early 1941.

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Awesome home movies.

I would date it 1941. I saw a 1941 Buick in the country club's parking lot.

One thing is certain. This family was not hurting for money at the time of the film.

I wonder what the family is doing today and how it's descendants have continued.

[Marty Roth]

I saw a 1941 Cadillac, Buick and Pontiac, so it could be late 1940 and early 1941, but not into 1942

[Rusty_OToole]

Everything seems consistent with a late 30s early 40s date. The newest cars I spotted were 1941 models. Different films taken in different seasons suggest this could cover a period of several years. If you can identify the wedding couple you could look up the exact date they were married. It should also be possible to identify the country club, the town sign, and possibly the addresses if you know who the people were and what town they lived in.

Can you identify the children? Do the same ones appear, at different ages? Do you know anything about the film or the people at all?

Someone who is familiar with fashions could probably date the clothes within a few years or to the year in the case of the womens' clothes.

[drwatson]

1941, the latest for sure. Yellow car at 9:47 actually looks like a 1940 Chrysler maybe with a winter front? to make id harder.

Great film! It looks like not much quality was lost converting over to digital. Could you comment on how that was accomplished?

It had to be better than aiming a video cam at a screen. Thx, Jim

[Guest]

I would date it at 1940-41. 1941 Pontiac, 41 Cadillac. 40 LaSalle, 40 chrysler, 1940 Buick. The four stacker destroyer is a flush deck built as a result of the 1916 Navy act ( a whole armada of them built 248+ according to Jane's American Fighting Ships ) and at the time of the movie would be a pretty rare sight because most were are already going or gone to the U.K. and other countries under lend lease. They were obsolete even by 1934 when the U.S.N. started laying down better and faster ships of DD's & DDE's type.

Edited December 30, 2012 by helfen (see edit history)

[Guest winstrol]

Thank you much for the definitive responses! This film is mostly of Maplewood, NJ. I just happened to come across it when looking for something else at archive.org. It comes from the Prelinger Archive, which would have done the conversion. I sent the link to the local historical society and they wanted to know if it could be dated... and you have achieved that admirably!

We do have a second film, post war, of the same town (also in color). There are some cars to see here as well. This is not the same family. It's just a film that I found on ebay. A friend had it converted to mp3 and did some constructive editing. The conversion is no where near as good as the Prelinger Archive material. Compared to how the film looked just projected on a white wall in my house was infinitely better than this darker conversion. It starts right off saying '1954-55' but we know it isn't all from that time.

At 1:29 there are some cars parked in Maplewood Center. This place looks the same today.

At 2:11 there is a car tanking up at Nelson's Esso, and another speeding by. Nelson's is still there, still looks exactly the same, just no pumps.

At 2:28 are some more cars in Maplewood Center, some of which are driving and others parked. Again, it all looks the same except the movie theater got a new marquee in the 70's.

If you're a train buff.. 2:51 is the Lackawanna "MU" cars which served the Morris and Essex line from the 1930's until 1984. Some of the cars were converted to electric in 1930's but actually dated from 1912 (these were the club cars, where you could have a drink on the way home from NYC after a stressful 9 to 5). These were some seriously old trains by 1984! The "bathroom" consisted of a hole in which you would crap directly onto the tracks. You could see the tracks going past when you lifted the lid... if it had a lid. I never had this experience.

At 3:20 you will again see the back of that country club where the pool from the first movie was also shot. Behind that is the Middle School. This is all still there, all looks the same. The pool was moved in the 1960's away from the clubhouse to it's own area. No cars.

At 3:30, there is another street scene, with a few parked and moving cars. The giant gothic tower is part of Columbia High School (still there too...)

The rest is from the 60's, no cars. The town pool wasn't open until the 60's so we know it's not 1954. He edited out some of the good stuff at the pool The last scene is "Leaving Maplewood" a companion sign to "Entering Maplewood" from the first movie.

It was a nice place to grow up! Aside from the cars, it looked exactly the same in the 80's/90's when I lived there.

-John

[Guest cben09]

Two minor points,,haha

Those dark mens swim trunks may be all wool,,and weigh about 10# wet,,,,DON't get out of water too fast,,

10# will pull em off,,,,esp small boy [me]

#2 The conductor locked the toilet door about a mile or two before reaching the station,,

Cheers,,Ben

[Marty Roth]

I suspected that it was Maplewood, NJ - a couple of scenes seemed familiar. I grew up in Linden, but did visit with friends in Maplewood at times in the 50s and 60s.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Marty Roth
typo (see edit history)

[Oldsfan]

I can not access You Tube videos at work - they have me blocked. But I do remember the house number as being 55. This is 55 Woodland Rd, Maplewood, NJ. Seems like the same house I saw in the video the other night, but can't be sure.

55 Woodland Road, Maplewood, NJ - Google Maps

Paul

[Oldsfan]

According to the 1940 census, the family living at 55 Woodland Road went by the last name of Cox. I think I remember seeing a sign for a Dr. Cox in the movie footage.

[Guest winstrol]

I was able to track down an email address for the owners of 55 Woodland Maplewood. They were very excited to see this 70 year old film of the house. The current owners tell me there is a tree next to the house where Dr. Cox carved his name. Thanks again everyone, especially Paul for checking the census.