8mm Home Movies

Nana and Grandpa Wilson were inveterate photographers and shooters of 8mm film. Here are their collected works from the 40′s through just about 1960 or so; and no, I did not cut out any of the Ice Capades footage.

Admittedly, I don’t know who a lot of these people are: lots of friends and babies of friends, to be sure, along with all the brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, cousins, aunts and uncles. Will share the link to this page with my family in the hopes that they will add information in the comments.

Here are my brief annotations and guessings of the goings on:

Disc 1 | Chapter 1: Fellows in uniform with wives and babies (I think this is Ray & Laverne’s back yard); Laverne with unknown couple; woman in uniform salutes flag and gets the royal goodbye/good luck treatment; mother and infant; boy pushes baby in stroller; more babies; and more babies (twins?); party @ Ray & Laverne’s house, folks are pretty dressed up; Laverne in spangly gown; more little kids and unknown adults; and more; and more; night fire, whole building engulfed; daylight remains of fire (smoke); pan of field with sheep in autumn.

Here’s an image of Nana’s notes for this reel of film.

Click image for larger image.

Disc 1 | Chapter 2: Laverne and her sister Omie; Omie’s husband Abe (?) painting house with Gib (?); BBQ time with steaks, don’t recognize any of these folks; axe antics; pan of beach; one of Ray’s relatives; ships; kids; lake dock; more kids; fishing; resort (Pines) porch; driving shot of winter; Ray with family (his father?); sailor; rowboat; motorboat; bailing out the canoe; flyover of planes.

Disc 1 | Chapter 3: Gib, Laverne and Laverne’s sister Dorothy (Aunt Dodo), Ray tries to give Gib a cigar; pan down American flag to big building; Bill, Dick, Gib (in Amaca jacket) walk the walk for the camera; teenagers being teenagers; hunting and fire tower footage; celebration at DuBois football field with bunches of kids dancing performances; teenage hayride; Gib and Laverne pack the car; Gib in uniform with Laverne and Grandma Blair (all dressed up), and black and white dog (I have a still image of this moment).

Disc 1 | Chapter 4: Laverne with kids at lake in row boat; young man and Laverne in row boat; lake beach picnic shots with Ray, Laverne and friends; white and black dog opens screen door and goes in house; canoe shots of two young men; Omie (?) walks down dock; Laverne relaxes on dock; kids jump into lake from cliff; Gib, Ray and Aunt Dorothy; roses shots; Laverne, Laverne and Ray with rose bouquet; relative of Ray’s with infant; Aunt Omie with kids; Kane Manor Wayside Inn sign; people walking around; Austin Dam sign and shots of destroyed dam; Laverne mowing lawn and with friends/bouquet; more of Ray’s relatives; Laverne knitting @ Washington Avenue house; Gib rolling kids in wheelbarrow wearing vest and tie; bunch of kids; Grandpa and Grandma Blair, Gib, Laverne, kids @ Grandpa Blair’s birthday; pictures of giving of cake; Gib and Laverne embrace.

Disc 1 | Chapter 5: Birthday party with a bunch of kids playing ring around the rosie; infant on blanket in the yard.

Disc 1 | Chapter 6: Ferry boat shots; Red Cross ship (U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Consolation) shots; military vessel shots; restaurant at the dock; resort shot; pigeon on head; Laverne, Ray + ? in pedal rickshaw; The Brighton Hotel; riding down the boardwalk; American Hospital Association Meeting sign; Wildwood/Cape May sign.

Disc 1 | Chapter 7: Ray and some kids; bunch of kids eating cake outdoors; Laverne & Ray’s back yard; softball and picnic; gambling; bbq tent; nap; in the boat (Ray); water skiing.

Disc 1 | Chapter 8: Kids; yellow airplane is pushed on field; takes off from DuBois airport; bunch of folks around the aircraft; more kids; with Ray and black and white dog; nice shot of Ray; Laverne with dog; more of same unknown children.

Disc 1 | Chapter 9: Laverne with corsage and Gib in suit; Ray and Laverne embrace; Marylou & Ray; Bill ?, Marylou, Laverne & Ray at some huge, tall building; polishing car; Greenbriar Golf Driving Range sign; Ray & Bill @ driving range; Marylou; wedding.

Disc 1 | Chapter 10: Bunch of men in boater and other hats; Ray all gussied up; Great Grandpa Blair; family pan; family pass-by; kids play with makeup.

Disc 1 | Chapter 11: Ray and Laverne yuk it up silent movie style; you can see Ray’s organ in here. Golly neds they have some fun together. Will have to edit this as they might have imagined it to have been cut together.

Disc 1 | Chapter 12: Infant crawls in autumn yard; autumn pan; boy’s almost walking and pretty proud of himself.

Disc 1 | Chapter 12: Marylou and infant very happy coming out of hospital (?); Marylou arrives and gets out of the car with baby; loading the plane with someone in a blanket at DuBois airport; unknown woman and two boys; Ray and little toddler.

Disc 2 | Chapter 1: Merry Christmas Everyone with boy in window; baby in yellow and white; baby in stroller ext with Laverne and with Marilyn (?) and with Ray; woman mows the lawn; Wilson cousins and Marylou (?).

Disc 2 | Chapter 2: Jan @ 119 North house, Mom pregnant with twins or Moire; family reunion @ Anita, PA; Great Grandpa Blair cutting hedges; Ray Wilson’s convertible sports car with Uncle Abe and Aunt Omie (Laverne’s sister); Jan with hoola hoop.

Disc 2 | Chapter 3: Jan writing in DuBois; Ray & Jan; Jan stairs and prayers; four Cousins in PJ’s go upstairs to bed, and Marilyn and Dick and Laverne.

Disc 2 | Chapter 4: 50th anniversary (?) congratulations — I think the older fellow is related to Grampa Ray; Ray; big, strange, treeless mountain (boney pile? rock?); snowy woods and guys in uniforms; digging out of the snow; guys fixing the car; driving shot; Florida; beach pan.

Disc 2 | Chapter 5: Unknown woman & infant; guy in uniform; Gib and another guy rescue a pigeon from the roof; cousin (?) in snow in DuBois.

Disc 2 | Chapter 6: Beach shots (where?); Laverne being silly with scarf and jeans; drive across bridge; urban gathering/shots; 2601 address; Marilyn & Dick with infant @ hospital; Marilyn, Dick and infant come home; underexposed Christmas.

Disc 2 | Chapter 7: Aircraft shots; flying (DuBois from the air); lumber; woody car crosses the creek. Don’t recognize anyone in this footage.

Disc 2 | Chapter 8: Military ceremony in DuBois (Veterans’ Day?); flower shots; Laverne dips kids in lake.

Disc 2 | Chapter 9: Somebody’s first birthday party with lots of guests; Paradise Falls; Paradise Falls PFG Camp sign; Ray yucking it up Hitch hiking in front of Stroudsburg/Mt. Pocono sign; Laverne waves bye and gets her bum wet; Ray feeds deer at Treasure Lake (?); ext. night pan.

Disc 2 | Chapter 10: The Gardens; Ice Capades. No family visible.

Disc 2 | Chapter 11: Didn’t upload another long reel of Ice Capades footage.

Disc 2 | Chapter 12: Kittens in baskets; bunch of people outside + infant; another baby home from hospital – it’s their neighbor from behind the house, across the bridge (the lady of the house was a nurse and I was very fond of her); baby christening; neighborhood baby parade for someone’s 1st birthday.

Disc 2 | Chapter 13: Fifty or so fellas and their guys’ day out picnic with softball and beer, horseshoes, etc. Don’t recognize anyone.

Disc 2 | Chapter 14: Unknown infant in basket; more people with infants (Aunt Omie?); blond baby boy manhandles stuffed rabbit; bubbles; infant boys in aluminum tub; little girl in blue with daffodils and hat (new walker) with her mom, a nurse.

Disc 2 | Chapter 15: Infant closeups; kids run (don’t recognize); Ray; Laverne; little boy walking; excavation shots; welding shots; unknown infant in stroller.

Disc 3 | Chapter 1: Moire’s first birthday party at Laverne and Ray’s with Wilson cousins and Jan; Jan and Moire post-Christmas with new faux kitchen set at Emmy Lou and Gib’s house; little bit of mostly Gib’s feet; quick shot of Emmy Lou.

Disc 3 | Chapter 2: Jan & Nana @ Christmas and going to bed; Gib giving out presents, Wilson Cousins, Ray C. Wilson, Laverne Wilson, Louise and Harrell Denmead, Fran Denmead, Emmy Lou McLaughlin; cousin on rocking horse; Dick Wilson.

Disc 3 | Chapter 3: Military pageant @ DuBois football field.

Disc 3 | Chapter 4: The window behind the organ at 119 East Washington; Jan @ DuBois pool; pan of kids at pool; Jan in autumn sweeping sidewalk; driving across bridge; ocean – drive to Key West; playing catch with dog; cousin Easter egg hunt; Grandpa Wilson’s car under autumn leaves; shots of Wilson house in DuBois.

Disc 3 | Chapter 5: Dick Wilson cousins’ Christmas; Ray; Dick; Halloween costume parade; Halloween dance.

If you make notes in the comments, I will update the post text to reflect corrections/additions.