by Jerome
The September 13, 1922
issue of Golden Age carried the following advertisement for the Kinemo Kit
Corporation. They had produced three films (and a projector to match) which
could be bought by Bible Students to show films in homes and small gatherings.
The managing director
of Kinemo was George Chester Driscoll (1858-1941). He had previously managed
the Pastor Russell Lecture Bureau and was one of the Bible Students involved in
the Mena Film Company’s film Restitution (1918) that featured on this blog a
few weeks ago.
In the August 15, 1920
Watchtower, it was announced that after a month long tour of Britain, J F
Rutherford would visit Europe, and then “he will also go to Palestine and
Egypt, and will be accompanied to Athens, Palestine and Egypt by Brother
Driscoll and other brethren with a moving picture apparatus for the purpose of
making moving pictures of actual scenes of...things of Biblical interest.” The
results would be used for witnessing, and readers would be able to purchase
both films and special projector in due course.
The October 1, 1921
Watchtower announced that the films had been duly made and exhibited in
standard format at a number of locations, and now the Kinemo Kit Corporation
(with Driscoll as manager) would handle orders for films and projectors. The
Watchtower commented: “While the Society cannot engage in the manufacture and
sale...yet it is the desire of the Society that every possible means for
teaching the truth be employed.”
There was then quite a
delay - nearly a year - before the above advertisement for films and projectors
appeared in the September 13, 1922 Golden Age. Public showings in 35mm had
obviously continued in the meantime because according to a report in the New
Era Enterprise for May 30, 1922, a 5-reel version of the Palestine film and a
3-reel version of the Imperial Valley film were shown to a full house of 1500 at
a convention session at Moose Hall, Philadelphia, on April 14, 1922. At the famous
September Cedar Point Ohio convention the films were shown out of doors in the
grove on a large screen, along with a tantalizing supporting feature. According
to the New Era Enterprise for October 31, 1922: “The pictures included views of
the Bible House and other organization buildings and offices in Brooklyn, the
Bethel Home, etc., the printing and binding of booklets and pamphlets etc.” Now
that would be footage worth discovering.
When the Golden Age
advertised the Kinemo films and projectors, George Driscoll wrote a two page
article in the same issue about the project entitled “Visualizing Fulfilled
Prophecies”. Most of the article is about technical issues. The films were on
safety stock rather than nitrate, which meant you did not need a fireproof
booth for the projectionist, and there was little danger of an audience being
burnt to a cinder in the privacy of their own homes.
It was planned to add
further films to the initial three, but nothing more appeared in the Watchtower
or Golden Age, and only one more advertisement appeared in the pages of the
Enterprise. In the October 3, 1922 issue the Instructo Cinema Services of
Chicago offered a 400 foot reel of highlights of the Cedar Point convention, to
be used with the Kinemo equipment. The advertisement was reprinted in the
November 28, 1922 issue. Again, that would be footage worth discovering if it
still exists.
Below are some frames
from two of the original Kinemo films. First is the film on Palestine, which
concentrated on the Jews returning to the land, and, as they saw it, fulfilling
prophesy.
J F Rutherford is seen boarding the latest in airplane technology.
Then surveying the horizon
...and visiting an estate manager's office.
And next some frames
from the film on the Great Pyramid, showing J F Rutherford exiting from the
pyramid. It was obviously rather hot in there.
So what happened to
Kinemo? There is evidence that Driscoll ceased fellowship with the IBSA at some
point. But probably the biggest problem was the size of film used. Kinemo used
a special system of 17.5mm film stock - basically standard 35mm split down the
middle. (Much like the amateur gauge of standard 8mm was 16mm stock split down
the middle with extra sprocket holes added.) Kinemo films needed their own
special projector to show them. And in 1923 the 16mm gauge was introduced for
small audience projection, which soon took over and blew 17.5mm out of the
water. (Between 1923-1925 the Enterprise ran a number of small ads from Kinemo
owners who were now trying to sell on the equipment and films.) When Pathe in
France tried to reintroduce 17.5mm film in the late 1920s, it was not
compatible with earlier versions, and soon died the death again. And by the
1930s the Watch Tower Society was no longer teaching that literal Israel or the
Great Pyramid fulfilled prophesy, so the subject matter would only appeal to
Bible Students outside of the IBSA.
Moving pictures bring
the past to life. It is hoped that modern audiences may one day be able to see
some of these early attempts in the wake of the Photodrama to use the medium of
film to spread their message.
9 comments:
According to the 1916 Watch Tower, G. C. Driscoll, then described as from Dayton, Ohio, was one of the speakers at Charles T. Russell's funeral.
Thanks Jerome, for the info.
Miquel
Jerome, fantastic research, I have no words. It is absolutely new for me the existence of this "movie". Great. And THANKS
We have one of the projectors in the Université Laval collections, in Quebec City, Canada.
Nice to know Musotte. Do they have any of the films? There was one extra film to those mentioned in the article - a short documentary from 1922 about a convention at Cedar Point, Ohio - at present a "lost" film.
Palestine movie is still on the projector. No trace of any other one...
Thanks for that information. It is good to know that some of this material still survives in more than one place. Perhaps one day the missing film will surface. Stranger things have happened.
Hello,
Do you have an idea for where I could acquire these films, please?
Probably the only way is to find them on YouTube and then use software to download them.
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