Watch Tower History: June 2022

There are several “lost” films in the history of the Watch Tower Society. The 1914 Photodrama of Creation was a big success and since at least twenty complete sets were produced, the majority of it survived – both in private hands as well as official archives. But subequent Bible Student films have not fared so well.

There was a Photodrama “sequel" produced by Bible Students in 1917 called Restitution. It really needs its own article, but sad to say, only a few minutes have as yet been discovered. It was renamed several times in a troubled history and was finally rebranded as Redemption and sold in pieces on 16 mm film in the late 1920s.

Some film was taken by secular sources. In 1913 when CTR arrived at the Hot Springs, Arkansas, convention, his arrival was filmed (see 1913 convention report page 66). The Hot Springs New Era newspaper for June 7, 1913, also said that the baptism ceremony was filmed by the same cameraman. But at the end of the year (Hot Springs New Era for 30 December 1913) in response to an IBSA enquiry, there were recriminations between cameraman, studio and express company when the negatives disappeared in transit. So I wouldn’t hold your breath for film of Pastor Russell alighting from a 1913 train any time soon.

When the Chicago 1921 Pageant of Progress exhibition was filmed, the IBSA stand was reportedly featured (see write-up by Fred Franz’ brother Albert in New Era Enterprise for September 6, 1921). However, most newsreel material was very short-lived. Once shown, if shown at all, such films were usually melted down to reuse the silver and nitrocellulose base.

But returning to the Bible Students’ own endeavors, the bumper year for lost films seems to be 1922.

That year the Bible Students held a convention at Philadelphia over four days, April 13-16. It started in the Moose Hall and later transferred to the Metropolitan Opera House for the public meeting, where Joseph F Rutherford gave the public lecture. The review of the whole event as found in the New Era Enterprise newspaper for May 30, 1922, page 4, mentioned a special film show.

So on the Friday evening, at Moose Hall, to an audience of around 1500 people, 8 reels of moving pictures were shown. For that size of audience it would have been on regular 35 mm film and would have been the length of a modest feature film. The convention program showed what this film contained.

Whether this was raw unedited footage or a professional presentation we do not know, but what is obvious is that these films were soon edited down quite severely to make two one-reelers, one on Palestine, and one on Imperial Valley. This was as part of the Kinemo project, described in the New Era Enterprise for July 11, 1922, and also in The Watch Tower for May 1, 1922.

There were three films in total in the original Kinemo project, the two aforementioned and a third on the Great Pyramid. They were produced on safety film (rather than dangerous nitrate stock) on a substandard film gauge, 17.5 mm. They could only be seen with a special Kinemo projector, designed for home or parlor use. All three films featured Joseph F Rutherford in cameo appearances.

As earlier articles on this blog have covered, the three Kinemo films survived in private hands and have been painstakingly copied frame by frame, which is why you can see them on YouTube.

But the question we are left with is – what about the remaining six reels as shown in Philadelphia in April 1922?

The 1922 convention that everyone remembers today is the much larger event held later that year in September at Cedar Point, Ohio. This too provides a tantalising glimse of lost films.

First, most will have seen the Watchtower Society’s recent call for the footage actually taken at this Cedar Point convention. This is based on an advertisement in the New Era Enterprise over several issues in October and November, 1922.

This venture (or something similar) was suggested in the Convention Notes as found in the Enterprise for October 31, 1922.

It is hoped that someone somewhere still has this footage. In this 100^th anniversary year of this convention, it would be special indeed if it survived and could be restored. Extant photographs of the event show a full sized camera filming J F Rutherford as he spoke out of doors in “The Grove.” Time will tell. It should be noted that as well as the 17.5 mm Kinemo version, it was also possible to buy a standard 35 mm print from the same source.

However, motion pictures were also shown at this convention, which provides even more “lost” films to consider. Again from the Enterprise for October 31, 1922:

The views of Egypt, Palestine and Imperial Valley were obviously the current Kinemo trilogy in some shape or form, but what about the other films?

The description talked about “Views of the Bible House (back in Pittsburgh?) and other organization buildings and offices in Brooklyn, the Bethel Home, etc., the printing and binding of books and pamphlets, etc.” These films were shown on three evenings, Friday to Sunday.

But what happened to them thereafter?

Since the Society did not retain 1922 footage that was actually sold to the public at the time, this does not bode well for these other films ever surfacing.

But stranger things have happened.

We might end by asking why such films became “lost?” The Society’s experience during the Great War, and its view of the future, meant that archiving was not always a high priority, certainly not for material viewed as ephemeral at the time. Even when the Society produced a reprint of the first 40 years of (Zion’s) Watch Tower they had to appeal to private collectors to help them complete their file for the project. And who would know that a hundred years after these events there would be interest in these old moving pictures? We might easily make the same mistakes today in choosing what or what not to keep in our personal video DVD collection.

Material in private hands may survive for a while, but when people die their relatives may well throw out things because they don’t realize their significence. Like many collectors I have followed up leads only for them to repeatedly end this way. It is good that now there is now far more interest in preserving the past and that technology allows for greater sharing.

Some photographs have come to hand from around 100 years ago that feature well-known Bible Students. The photographs are courtesy of the Robert Riley collection. The photo book is entitled Cedar Point on Lake Erie.

The earliest photographs are from the 1919 convention at Cedar Point, Ohio. Many are of unknown groups of people and general views of the venue. But the following are those of named people many readers will know.