KINEMO

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.

Addenda

Just to show that these films really have survived (with grateful thanks to Brian)

Lost Films

     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.

AT THE MOVIES

by Jerome

(Republished and updated from Blog 2)

The Bible Students embraced the new medium of motion pictures to spread their message. This article is about six examples that were released between 1914-1922. Some of this information has already been presented in more detail on this blog in years gone by, but this will present a brief overview and give links to where a modern viewer can see in whole or part, five of the six examples.

Photodrama of Creation

This approximately eight hour production, normally shown in four parts on consecutive weeks or evenings, will require no introduction to readers here.

There are a number of places on YouTube where you can watch it, including some surviving films of CTR in action. Sound was on disc so CTR mimed to the recordings, not always with complete success. There are also a number of places where you can buy a DVD set of the production. However, it must be noted that all the work of restoration over the last 40 years has really been performed by one person, Brian K. This has been a labor of love and the work is still ongoing, and an even better version in Blue-Ray will appear in due course.

Unfortunately, because the source material is out of copyright, others have felt no qualms about copying earlier restorations (perhaps from inferior VHS videos) and marketing them commercially. Leaving aside the ethics of this, if you want the very best version possible from surviving material, you really need to obtain one that bears Brian’s name.

Here is a link to one of the films of CTR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHpsUfzihjo

Restitution - Mena Film Company

This writer plans to do a whole article on just this film and its history one day. But in brief, the company was put together by Bible Students in 1917. It had no direct connection with the Watch Tower Society, although the original Photodrama was briefly sold to Mena by the Society before everyone thought better of the deal. Unlike the Photodrama this was commercially produced, and needed to be shown to paying audiences in a commercial setting to succeed. By all accounts, it didn’t. It was shown to a non-paying audience at an IBSA convention in Seattle in July 1918, but then with the difficulties of the day - the Society directors jailed, others leaving association with the IBSA - it sank. It was reissued commercially under a new title The Conquering Christ and by the end of the 1920s one of the former Mena directors, Leslie Jones, was selling off 16mm prints in seven minute segments as a serial, now rebranded as Redemption. Just one of those segments has recently been rediscovered.

The sequence is Herod’s plans to massacre the innocents. While still primitive by modern day standards, film technique had advanced considerably since the Photodrama of Creation. The director, who obligingly also cast himself as Jesus Christ, had worked with D W Griffith on his epic Intolerance.

But enough of such details for perhaps another time. Here is the clip that only recently has been put on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlGBMw45CBk&feature=youtu.be

Kinemo

Moving forward from 1918, we come to Kinemo. The Society produced a series of three films on the soon to be doomed 17.5mm gauge, and sold them to Watch Tower readers and the public in general via the Kinemo Company. Three were produced. The history and description of this venture, with its ups and downs, has been described in past articles on this blog and can be checked there. They were filmed over 1920-21 but not sold to the public until the fall of 1922.

Here are links to all three films. The Imperial Valley one is missing a bit of footage, the other two appear complete. All three films include footage of J F Rutherford. Perhaps the most entertaining is the end of the pyramid film. It must have been like a furnace inside the Great Pyramid, and JFR apparently ventured inside wearing a three-piece suit. Watch him as he leaves! (15:28 on the video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIClU8TQtM&t=11s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onCebb9bg6Q&t=24s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2snV8SyQVU&t=22s

Cedar Point

One final film completes this article, but alas, has not come to light. The Kinemo system of 17.5 mm film offered a film from the 1922 Cedar Point Ohio convention. The panoramic view of the audience out of doors hearing J F Rutherford speak includes a film crew. Here is a close-up from that photograph.

The subsequent films were offered for sale in the New Era Enterprise newspaper.

The same paper (October 31, 1922) also mentioned that the original Kinemo films had been shown on a large screen at the Cedar Point convention, along with footage 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.”

I know for certain that the modern Watchtower Society has no copies of any of this material, and I suspect had never heard of it until it was brought to their attention. While it would be silent footage, it would of great historical interest to see it. That is, of course, if it still exists.

Come on now. Anyone out there?

MORE KINEMO

A previous article has shown frames from the two Kinemo films on Palestine and Egypt. The third film sold with the kit was Imperial Valley, a documentary about transforming part of California into paradise-like conditions. It was thought that J F Rutherford did not appear in this film as it was not part of his foreign travels in 1920-21. However, a close examination of what survives of this film shows one shot that appears to be him.

Now if only someone can find the film of the 1922 Cedar Point, Ohio, convention that was marketed by another company as compatible with the Kinemo system, that would be a real find. However, when Kinemo owners were all trying to sell on their kits up to the mid-1920s in newspapers like The New Era Enterprise, it was only the three original films, alas, on offer.

Home Movies

by Jerome

For some time I have been working my way through a visual search of the St Paul Enterprise newspaper (later named the New Era Enterprise) for Rachael. Some of the published life stories (and obituaries) in this paper take us back as far as the 1880s, and in a few cases even link up with early letters in ZWT. As a spin-off though, there is a lot of other interesting material to be found. Although more recent than the general timeframe of this blog, I found the following item which certainly interested ME.

The Cedar Point, Ohio, convention of 1922 is an historical milestone for the Bible Students who later adopted the name Jehovah’s Witnesses. What is not generally known is that a short “home movie” was produced of the proceedings and sold commercially thereafter.

Above is an advertisement that appeared in the New Era Enterprise newspaper on October 3, 1922. According to the pitch, anyone could purchase the film for home viewing, and perhaps see if they could spot themselves amongst the audience.

The film was made to be shown for home audiences with the Kinemo equipment. We know that the first three films made for this system - basically travelogs linked to J R Rutherford’s visit to Egypt and the Holy Land - have survived, even if currently unavailable. But has anyone out there still got a reel of film about Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1922?

There is an element of good news and bad news about these kinds of film. The good news is that film produced to be shown in private homes was generally not on nitrate stock. Unless stored under very specific conditions, nitrate tends to crumble to dust, unless it goes up in flames first. But safety film, although not having the translucent properties of nitrate, can survive a lot longer.

The bad news is that the Kinemo system used one of the very first “amateur” film sizes - 17.5 mm. Basically this film size started life as 35 mm stock split down the middle, and even then, different manufacturers had different ways of organizing the sprocket holes. It was only commercially available for a short time and was soon superseded when Kodak popularised 16mm and Pathé 9.5 mm. Ultimately 8 mm became the standard amateur gauge for home viewing.

So even if someone had the film, they would have great difficulty projecting it without very ancient equipment - and probably not just any 17.5 equipment, but specific Kinemo equipment. That is assuming Kinemo equipment still existed in working order and wouldn’t automatically chew up the product and spit it out in bits.

But back to the good news - many of the classics of the silent screen have only survived to our day because someone had the forethought to produce copies for these smaller sized film stocks that had the capacity for survival. In many cases, film archives have re-photographed them frame by frame to preserve them for modern audiences.

No-one is going to say that Cedar Point, Ohio, is a classic lost film. But does ANYONE know if it is still out there? Somewhere? The Instructo Cinema Service Company of Chicago must have sold a few at the time.

It Does Help if You Get the Basic Facts Right

In the Golden Age magazine for September 13, 1922, three films were advertised for purchase by the Kinemo Film Corporation. Back in 2016 there was a series of articles on this blog about them, the most detailed one being found at:

https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2016/08/kinemo.html                                                                               

The three films were made over 1920-1921. There was one on Palestine, one on the Great Pyramid and one on Imperial Valley, California. The latter was seen as an example of what could be done to cultivate land and make an area into a paradise.

There is quite an amazing review of the Imperial Valley one by Paul Johnson in his paper for September 1925.

"BRO. RUTHERFORD TAKING A TRIP THROUGH IMPERIAL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA"

"The picture shows Bro. R. and party in an automobile, ready for the tour. Then it shows them driving to some of his friends, to ask them if they would allow their son to go with him through Imperial Valley to take pictures. The boy's parents readily consented to let him go with the judge, though they were all prepared to start on a trip of their own through the mountains. The boy kisses his family good-bye, jumps into Bro. R.'s car, and away they go. Then the pictures go on to show Bro. R. passing through the valley on foot, examining fruit, vegetables and many other things grown there. According to the pictures, everything certainly was in good condition. Of course, the picture shows Bro. R. walking through these gardens, which takes up quite a time. On one occasion he is pictured as looking around and laughing as he turns over a very large pumpkin, saying: `It reminds me of the pumpkin pies mother used to make.'

Then the picture changes. It shows Bro. Rutherford's party with a newspaper giving the picture of a terrible automobile accident. Then the auto is shown falling down the side of a steep mountain, the occupants falling out and all being killed—they were the boy's family. Thereupon Bro. R. is seen trying to comfort the boy. It also shows Bro. R. writing a letter and handing it to the boy, telling him not to open it until when in 1925 he would hear of Abraham being resurrected. Later, the pictures show the boy in 1925 reading a morning paper with large head lines: 'ABRAHAM RESURRECTED IN PALESTINE.' Suddenly it dawns on the boy to read the letter the judge had given him. He looks at the calendar, which shows 1925; then he opens the letter, which tells him to telegraph Abraham and ask him that his famliy might be resurrected and restored to him. Finally, the boy is shown very happy as he telegraphs Abraham in Palestine in 1925."

This would be a fascinating film to see with JFR in such a prominent acting role. It’s a shame the Oscars didn’t start until 1929. There is only one slight problem with all of this – the description and review is FALSE FROM START TO FINISH.

                                                                                                             

We can see the actual film today because a copy has survived, although missing a little footage at the end of the reel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIClU8TQtM&feature=youtu.be           

The Imperial Valley film is just a travelog, taking you around the area, showing roads being built, ditches beng dug and produce being harvested, as an illustration of what could be possible for the earth in the future. That is about it. JFR appears briefly in long shot looking over a field, a bit like an Alfred Hitchcock cameo.

When you read the small print Johnson tries to excuse himself:

“The Editor never saw these moving pictures, but sometime ago one of the brethren sent him a brief description of them.”

So that’s all right then. It’s someone else’s responsibility. 

Taking his words at face value, one of the brethren must have been just  “messing around.”                                                        

And none of his readers apparently noticed.

With grateful thanks to Zion’s Herald for bringing this amusing item to our attention.

For a revised series of articles on the ill-fated Kinemo project you can also use the search term: Kinemo, at:    https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/

Kinemo Films again

Recently on this blog, there have been two articles on the 1922 issued Kinemo films, all of which present the beliefs of the Bible Students at that time, and feature J F Rutherford - albeit fleetingly - in some of the footage. For those who would like to see the films they are now on YouTube, courtesy of Brian, who who has painstakingly re-photographed every frame and made them available again after all these years.

Imperial Valley

https://youtu.be/-zIClU8TQtM

                                             

The Great Pyramid

https://youtu.be/S2snV8SyQVU

Palestine       

https://youtu.be/onCebb9bg6Q

If any new readers want background information on these films which were marketed with the approval of the Watch Tower Society with a write-up in The Golden Age magazine, please punch in Kinemo in the Search box of this blog.

J F Rutherford talks 1920-1921

On May 22, 1921, at the now historic Kismet Temple in Brooklyn, J F Rutherford gave his famous Millions talk. Below is an advertising leaflet.

The Kismet building is still standing and below are two photographs of the exterior.

 

(The one in color is taken from Wikipedia and dates from 2013)

The leaflet provided some interesting information. JFR had just returned from visiting Palestine and Egypt. There he had been involved in two of the Kinemo films which were eventually given general release in 1922. JFR did a kind of Alfred Hitchcock cameo appearance in both of them.

The leaflet also mentions events the previous year (1920) when the same subject had been presented at the New York Hippodrome, and where the crowds had been so large some could not gain admittance.

Below is a postcard showing the exterior.

 

The Hippodrome was demolished in 1939. The reverse of the postcard describes its original capacity.

 

A photograph exists of the interior during JFR’s”standing room only” lecture.

 

All photographs and ephemera came from Tom’s collection.  With grateful thanks for sharing.