Co-founder, Melissa, has begun collecting films which depict work parties be they retirement or holiday parties, the odd summer picnic. It has become a bit of an obsession perhaps because they are a bit hard to find! The captions in [brackets], whenever possible, include labels from the original item in “quotation marks.” We add estimated dates and other details. For best viewing experience, choose the 720p or higher setting on the player.
#140. [Dobeckmun’s 7th Annual company Picnic — “1937 Picnic Film”.] 16mm. B/W. Silent. Home movie shot on August 7th, 1937 during Dobeckmun’s 7th Annual company Picnic at Schluter’s Tavern in Westlake, Ohio. Dobeckmun was a manufacturer of cellophane bags, and after 1957, a division of the Dow Chemical Company based in Cleveland, Ohio.
#144. [Dance Party, Band, ca. 1965.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Woman (instructor?) dancing on stage, band behind, older guy joins her, people look on from tables, Black members of the kitchen and wait staff join the dance in the center.
#143. [“1964” — Work Party.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Work party depicting jovial, similarly dressed men (mostly around the bar). Very low ceiling and a very bright light on the camera! The camera moves around a good bit to take in as many co-workers as possible. Lots of spent bottles. Appears to be taking place in a rec-room of some sort (perhaps fraternal). Music at the end on stage and the Christmas tree give some indication as to time of year.
#600. [Couple on Arizona Trip, Movie Set for Drum Beat (1954, Delmer Daves), ca. 1953-1954.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Couple visits various sites around Arizona such as the Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater National Monument, Bonito Lava Flow, Petrified Forest National Monument, Coconino National Forest, and Meteor Crater.
A special treat: in Coconino National Forest they also seem to have stumbled upon the movie set (or perhaps are working there and are fitting in a vacation around it?) for the 1954 western, Drum Beat, directed by Delmer Daves. Here they shoot this scene, featuring actors Marisa Pavan and Anthony Caruso from this scene in the movie:
#280. [“Store Party, SBHS Cafeteria, Nov. 5, 1940.”] 16mm. Color. Silent. San Bernardino’s Harris Company Department Store employees at a Thanksgiving dinner party held in their honor in San Bernardino High School’s cafeteria. The film begins by documenting Harris family and managers around the head table, then the camera scans around the room to attendees, a band, a talent routine, and rests for a bit on a man who is likely a member of the Harris family and his wife. The department store was located at the corners of Third and E Streets, and you can see the exterior here. (Final frames cut off during digitization it seems.)
#862 [Behind the Scenes on the Set of A Distant Trumpet (Raoul Walsh, 1964), ca. 1963.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Location of this Warner Bros. movie set to be determined: Arizona or New Mexico (we think the latter). Keep an eye out for Troy Donahue!
#359. [Chrysler Company Picnic, ca. 1961.] 16mm. Color. Silent. A very nicely organized (everyone gets hats!) Chrysler Company Picnic. Event appears to be for the whole family as it is a very big group with lots of children. A western theme. Great shots of buffet line. Footage ends with pony rides for the kids!
#180. [“Baba’s Retire(ment) + Shop,” 1950s.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Footage of a large banquet with attendees in fancy dress, a speech, clapping and goofing, and images of what looks like a machine shop.
#375. [‘Xmas 1953 — Credit Club Xmas Party (Work), Xmas 1954, Crystal Lake Mountains — Snow 1955, Kussen (Johnson Dog), Beach, Memorial Day, Boys Choir (James), Ray’s Folks, Palm Springs, Calif.; December 1955-’56.”] 8mm. Color. Silent. On this long reel is a bit scratched up and dirty, but it starts out with a work/club Christmas party. It continues with road trips, and vacation footage of a group of young people hanging by a motel pool (help us identify!) in Palm Springs and exploring a bit. Cross-listed under “Our Region” and “Holidays, Special Events, Parties, & Weird Stuff.”
#264. [“Holly – Xmas ’72 at Sears, SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) Xmas Party, First Christmas in Our New House and The Bavins.”] Super 8mm. Color. Silent. Toddler Holly versus the Sears department store Santa, running around touching all the toys and dolls and stuffed animals, trying out a couple of different tricycles, checking out the decorated Christmas trees on display, and kissing plastic illuminated Joseph and Mary in a nativity scene. Holly in a fancy dress and Christmas necklace accompanies her parents (and grandparents?) to a SEPTA Christmas party for employees and their kids, Holly takes her gift from Santa this time and gives him a smooch, kids dancing in a circle (with Holly’s grandpa?) New scene: the family’s living room with its Christmas tree, tons of decorations and cards, then Holly coming down Christmas morning to open all her presents. Other family members join them later. Cross-listed under “Holidays, Special Events, Parties, & Weird Stuff.”
#374. [“The Albany Frosted Food Picnic,” “Vacation Atlantic City, May 1941,” “At Our Cabin,” “On the Beach,” “Candid Shots of Michael and His Playmates,” “Judy Cunningham and Michael, April 1941,” “A Picnic in May,” ca. 1941.] 8mm. B/W. Silent. Handwritten titles give us some of the details here. We begin with a company picnic for the Albany Frosted Food Company at Burden Lake, NY, Sept. 1941. Some shots of people arriving (the film’s “all star cast”). Setting up the tables, grilling, playing games. The Birdseye logo (with which we are likely more familiar) is fun to see. Albany Frosted foods, today, is Sysco, and Bird’s Eye (the original developer of frozen foods) was the vegetable packer for Albany. The Albany Frosted Foods Company was formed in 1933 by Herbert K. Liebich, and this picnic would have been in their heyday. The reel also includes a May 1941 vacation to Atlantic City with some classic boardwalk shots. The “Cabin” part of the film appears to find our vacationers in a court of such cabins, likely in Atlantic City also. These are uniform, breezy, white sheds reminiscent of the sort you’d see at camp, but with window boxes and other niceties. “Ends” with some more beach/boardwalk scenes. Michael and his playmates are captured in snowy scenes in the neighborhood. Mom sweeps the sidewalk. Good views of the neighborhood. Cute snow clothes. Judy and Michael play outside with metal toy trucks (woods in the background). Other kids and adults. Really great toy footage.
#395. [“Jacobson Office Picnic, June 1964.”] 8mm. Color. Silent. Jacobson employees hanging out and drinking beers in a picnic area by a lake.
#397. [“H.P. Picnic 1964.”] 8mm. Color. Silent. H.P. = Hewlett Packard, and this seems to be HP’s former campground in Little Basin in Santa Cruz County. People in fancy dress, and people on lawn chairs, kids on horses, clowns and perhaps a talent show. What else do you want from a company picnic?
#380. [“Baskets,” ca. 1970s.] Super 8mm. Color. Silent. We don’t know who these people are, how they are associated, and for whom they are posing with care baskets and then packing them into their trunks. We believe those are Illinois people, and think the baskets are for charity, but mainly we are definitely inspired by them.
#379. [“Go Go, Rest Up” New Jersey Jaycees Meeting, 1960s.] Go-go dancer on a platform performs for a room of New Jersey Jaycees at a conference in a hotel, Jaycees partying in a hotel room, and other group events.
#437. [“1961-1962 Xmas — Runa’s Party, Mother’s, Ginny’s, Home, Cosmos Meeting, Cosmos Kids Party.”] 8mm. Color. Silent. “Cosmos” refers to Cosmopolitan Club. Crosslisted on the “Holidays, Special Events, Parties, & Weird Stuff” page. Adults having a good time at a Christmas party, then a (different?) Christmas party with older adults: opening gifts, goofing off for the camera, Christmas dinner, kids and their toys, house decorations, family posing by the tree; the Cosmos meeting: women gathered in a common room, dancing, chairs and a projector screen in the background, a big Cosmos kids party with Santa giving out toys, women playing limbo. Description by Pathways Summer intern (2024) Janeth Delgado.
#499. [“Office Parties,” late 1960s.] Super 8mm. Color. Silent. Friends sitting around a living room wish Kathy a farewell, display a sign that reads “Arizona’s Gain is Our Loss”, opening gifts, sipping drinks, a toddler in attendance is featured, one woman shows off the Black Label button up shirt she’s wearing, goofing around, a man plays guitar; cut to view of Country Club Green apartments and the street, cars in parking structure, backyard trail, pond, community swimming pool, friends swim, smoke, go down the slide; cookout at house no. 1864, view of bar setup on folding table, friends lounging in lawn chairs in a lush, floral backyard, socializing; tiki torches in the dark. Description by volunteer Rio Maropis.
#741. [Wild Work/Christmas Party, 1970s.] Super 8mm. Color. Silent. Fun! Adults exchanging gifts and goofing off at a party held at their workplace. Fun! Crosslisted on the “Holidays, Special Events, Parties, & Weird Stuff” page. Description by Pathways Summer intern (2024) Janeth Delgado.
#510. [Sales Retreat “Brunch Tan-Tar-A” Resort, August 5th, 197?] Super 8mm. Color. Sound. Same filmmaker/group as #508 and #511. These seminar and retreat attendees seem to be salespeople gathered — post boozy lunch — to talk shop and encourage fellow salespeople back home. We don’t know what they sell! Same event as reel #511.
#511. [“Abbey (Resort), Les Giblin, Door County,” June 10, 1978.] Super 8mm. Color. Sound. Same filmmaker/group as #508 and #510. Big group brunch for salespeople at a seminar and retreat at The Abbey Resort in Fontana-On-Geneva Lake, WI, lead by Les T. Giblin, seemingly about principles in his book, How to Be People-Smart. (Note Vickie, whose husband says is sorry to miss the conference, is in reels #510 and #511, so this is another year.)
#508. [Sales Retreat on Washington Island (Door County/Wisc.), August 5th, 197?] Super 8mm. Color. Sound. Same filmmaker/group as #510 and #511. Cruise on a ferry, shots of nice houses on Washington Island, Yankee Clipper Gills(?) Rock, guy with microphone narrating on-camera, interviewing other passengers, POV of sea and island, moon, boat sounds, people sitting around living room – corporate trip/retreat – people talking about sales. Description by Pathways Summer intern (2024) Janeth Delgado.
#816. [“’59 Masters (and Wives), Zisser ’65 Halloween, 11 min.”] 8mm. Color. Silent. Masons partying. Family fishing scenes. A bit of golf practice.Some playing around outside and more fishing. Then the party for which the reel is titled begins…with a hand-painted sign. Nice buffet line shots. Attendees are wearing the names of celebrities on their backs. Hard to read most of them, but a few clearly visible… BING CROSBY. Camera seems to want to capture as many of these as possible. Some well-lit dining scenes give way to some stuff happening on-stage, some costumed attendees (mostly fancy hats). Singing, dancing, games. Crosslisted on our “Holidays, Special Events, Parties, & Weird Stuff” page.
#641. [Clubwomen Organize Christmas Party for Special Needs Kids, Chattanooga, TN, ca. December 1965.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Crosslisted on our “Melissa’s Obsession: Work and Social Club Parties” page. Clubwomen talk with Santa, set up for a Christmas party, show decorations they are contributing perhaps to a fundraising effort (wreaths, small trees, a handmade sparkly reindeer’s head), set up a book display table, announcements and close-ups of a number of Christmas trees with different decorations, a mannequin dressed up in vaguely Spanish or Roma attire, a monumental “Twelve Days of Christmas” cake decorated with construction paper, outside an inscription above the front door of the building reads “George Thomas Hunter Gallery of Art Chattanooga Art Association” (a former private residence donated in 1951 to become part of the Chattanooga Art Association), then (possibly in a new location?) children in costumes for a nativity play, Santa visits and gives toys to what appear to be special needs children (some still in costume) as the adults look on, children play with gifts, eat cupcakes, women and men too on, chat and have coffee. Description by volunteer Rio Maropis.
#659. [“Jay & (Page?), Bond Club,” ca. Dec. 1960s.] 8mm. Color. Silent. A Ted Sequin film. Pasadena, CA. Men in the (Los Angeles or Pasadena?) Bond Club exit building and stand around, meeting/drinks. Perhaps a luncheon. Note the red bomb shelter sign on the sidewalk. Crosslisted on our “A Short Drive” page. Further description forthcoming.
#705. [“Retirement Party. Retire – Oct. 1, 1974; Party – Sept. 28, 1974.”] Super 8mm. Color. Sound. Folks mingle and dance in a wood-paneled community hall decorated with paper streamers, guests gather around long tables. Description by volunteer Rio Maropis.
#863. [Amateur Nursing School Student Film: Clinical Supervision, ca. 1963.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Further description forthcoming.
#932. [Neon Sign Factory Tests #2, ca. 1971.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Kind of a party? Further description forthcoming.
#933. [Neon Sign Factory Tests #1, ca. 1966.] 8mm. Color. Silent. Kind of a party? Further description forthcoming.
