Traverse City Record-Eagle

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March 1, 2010

Preserved film features vintage TC

BY LISA PERKINS

TRAVERSE CITY -- Black-and-white images of Traverse City in the 1930s flickered on the big screen during a recent program on preserving film presented by the Traverse Area Historical Society.

In addition to his step-by-step instructions for saving 16mm family memories to a digital medium, film preservationist Dennis Kent played a nine-minute film last Thursday showing local scenes including downtown Traverse City, homes on Sixth Street, a zoo that predated the Clinch Park Zoo and fishermen on the Boardman River.

The silent film, donated to the Historical Society by area resident Bonnie Bernhardt, has been copied onto a DVD by Kent, who is hoping that viewers might have some clues to the identities of the dozen or so men and women, as well as the now unfamiliar landmarks featured in the short film.

"This was a really special surprise, a great addition to the Historical Society's archives," said Kent, who is looking forward to seeing another film donated to the Historical Society by the Exchange Club of Traverse City.

The film, "We're in the Movies," was shot in Traverse City in 1940 by a company that traveled to locations to make movies featuring local residents in search of the next "Hollywood starlet." The Exchange Club produced the movie with proceeds from the showings at Traverse City High School benefiting the community.

"The idea was to get as many people from Traverse City into the movie as possible," said Kent, noting that there are said to be some 3,000 local people who make appearances.

Virginia LeClaire, of Traverse City, said she has been told that her grandfather, James "Toot" Dugal, has a part in the film, shot on location in the Park Place Hotel, local homes and on the streets of Traverse City.

"Hearing about this has really got me interested. I can't wait to see it," said LeClaire, whose grandfather was a co-founder of Brown Lumber.

Chrissy Gorzen, a member of the St. Clair Historical Commission, spoke about a similar film featuring her hometown and what restoring it has meant to St. Clair. The film, made shortly after local filming wrapped, has been professionally cleaned, restored and saved onto a digital disc by a Detroit-area company that scans each frame separately for maximum resolution.

"Our town had the unfortunate experience of going through an 'urban renewal' project with literally every building in the old town being torn down. This film gave us a chance to see that part of town as a living place," said Gorzen, noting that Traverse City is lucky to have the one-of-a-kind look into its past.

"This is the time to preserve this because some of these people, or at least their children and grandchildren, are still around to be able to identify them," Gorzen said.

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