One hundred years ago, the opportunity to witness events occurring in another part of the world was considered a miracle by many Americans, and newsreels were very, very popular.
To feed the nation's new obsession with watching history unfold, newsreel organizations directed their employees to collect footage everywhere they went. Some cameramen were given specific assignments such as sports events or speeches by government officials. Others had a "beat," or area of the country, to cover and would film anything they saw that seemed newsworthy. The images these photographers shot is called raw footage.
To feed the nation's new obsession with watching history unfold, newsreel organizations directed their employees to collect footage everywhere they went. Some cameramen were given specific assignments such as sports events or speeches by government officials. Others had a "beat," or area of the country, to cover and would film anything they saw that seemed newsworthy. The images these photographers shot is called raw footage.
As he filmed, each cameraman would
fill out a "dope sheet," which provided dates, times, and other details about the different shots on
that reel of film. Newspaper
clippings were attached to the dope sheets to help editors write the narration for each reel once the reels were mailed in.
Newsreels as a form of historical "text" can suggest how people living in a different historical period tended to view and think about events. As readers we can draw some conclusions about the evolution of (in this case) American culture based on those details. This video shows raw footage of the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and some behind the scenes shots of narrators reading scripts. You can also see an assembled newsreel at the end of the video.
Newsreels as a form of historical "text" can suggest how people living in a different historical period tended to view and think about events. As readers we can draw some conclusions about the evolution of (in this case) American culture based on those details. This video shows raw footage of the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and some behind the scenes shots of narrators reading scripts. You can also see an assembled newsreel at the end of the video.
Below is a cameraman's account of what it was like filming the Lindbergh kidnapping trial. What does the cameraman's story tell us about American culture at the time of the Lindbergh trial? What conclusions can you draw about how ordinary citizens reacted to the events of the time?
The town itself was so filled with souvenir hunters thinking they could a get a piece of the child’s clothes or something like that--but they did have souvenir stores. People were coming in from all over and some of the farmers in the area even came in with some of these hay wagons and stuff. When I wasn’t in the courtroom, I was out making cottage shots. We also made shots of the ladder being placed against the wall to the window where the baby was kidnapped. And while the hearings went on, you stayed there in the event something else happened. Who knew what would happen? Who knew whether or not somebody had got to Hauptmann and blew his brains out? Who knew what someone would do in reference to the jail? Whether they would stick a bomb under it and blow it up.
Question
What information in the cameraman's account points to a part of American culture that is still present today?
In the 1930s, Americans were obsessed with the lives of celebrities and with stories about gruesome crimes--they even sought out souvenirs related to these events.
