February 18, 2010
Rose-covered cottage with picket fence: Can you tell us about life depicted in 1940s film?
Editor’s Note: The UW Audio Visual Services Materials Library has more than 1,200 reels of film from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, documenting life at the University through telecourses, commercial films and original productions. Some of the short films are easily identifiable, but many more remain mysteries. Who shot these films and why? Can you help answer those questions? Faculty and staff can use the comments field at the end of the story to send ideas. Those outside the University can e-mail filmarc@u.washington.edu.
This week’s film depicts life in Union Bay Village sometime in the 1940s. In it, we see a young man get off a bus next to a sign pointing the way to Everett and to Wedgwood Park. He walks down the street carrying a bag of what looks like groceries and turns in at the gate to a white picket fence. His wife is sitting on the stoop with a baby on her lap and greets him with a kiss.
Next we see a truck arrive delivering bottles of milk. The truck has a sign, “Union Bay Student Co-op.” The driver gets out and takes the milk to the house. A little boy is seen drinking his milk. The film — which is less than a minute long — closes with a shot of men playing an informal softball game with Mt. Rainier in the background.
Film Archive Specialist Hannah Palin says, “While we know the basics about Union Bay Village, it would be wonderful to hear from anyone who might have lived there and can shed some light on life in this post-war housing.”
Palin got some good information about last week’s strange film, Moire Pattern. It was suggested that the inks being rolled onto an experimental subject’s chest probably contained metals that would be sensitive to electrical cardiac muscle activity. She welcomes more information on that film.
