A/V Geeks 16mm Lunch 1-20-2026

Hello everybody. This is Skip Alzheimer. Welcome to the AV [snorts] Geeks Lunchtime streaming show where we watch old 16 millimeter films. And I got something queued up. Let's give it a watch on the scanner. It is symbol of a bell. Enjoy. >> [bell and music] [bell] >> When the first building went up, a bell was installed in connection with it. And when it sounded for the first time, an old colored woman shouted aloud with joy. In all her life up to that time, the only bell she heard had been the plantation bell calling the slaves to work. Now, to have a real bell calling black boys and girls to school was an experience so profound and epic making as to be well worth shouting about. >> What is it that makes people shout? It is when the symbol of a bear ceases to be a symbol of slavery and becomes a symbol of liberation. >> Joel Harold and I plan to go to the field of history and politics. >> Dr. Joseph Graham Shaw, Rust College, class of 1905, graduate of Mahairi Medical College, practicing medicine for over 50 years. >> Shirley Jean Coleman, and after graduation, I plan to be a social worker. Mrs. Patricia Elaine Moore Smith, Bthun Cookman College, class of 1963, master's degree from Boston University, professor of history at Tuskegee Institute. Presently studying for doctorate degree in history at University of Maryland. >> Victor Brooks. I'm a biology and chemistry major. Upon graduation, I be planning to become a teacher of natural sciences. >> Bishop James S. Thomas, Claflin College, class of 1939. Attended Gammon Theological Seminary, Andrew University, Doctor of Philosophy degree in anthropology and sociology from Cornell University. Presently serving as bishop of the Iowa area, the United Methodist Church. >> Gratitude in our world is hard to come by. The mood is more of demand than of gratitude. Nevertheless, I speak in profound gratitude with no apologies. It is, you see, one thing to speak of investment as a professional. It is quite another to recognize a transformation made in one's own life because of the devotion and generosity of others. I dare to speak in this way because of a deep knowledge of the moving history of these black colleges and the profound sense of gratitude which it calls out in me. The great teachers and administrators I have known. The opportunities and exposures to the great and the good and the beautiful things in life. The treasured friendships which I have developed. All of these are at the heart of my self-identity and they were not achieved by my own attempts to find myself. They came because of the living drama of teachers who surrounded us in a time of hopelessness and kept us moving into a world where sentiment would not be enough. And when I look for myself and I speak for myself in the strange circumstances of a difficult history, this is where I find myself and the influences that made me what I am, whatever under God I am. Now, outside the United Methodist Church, few people have heard of Claflin College. And yet, I suspect any graduate of these colleges could say the same about his. But since I know Claflin best, let me conclude with this personal testimony about Claflin. Claflin is the embodiment of William and Lee Claflin. One being the governor of Massachusetts in 1869, the other being a son who literally invested their lives in the founding of that institution at the same time that they were founding Boston University. On the cornerstones of both institutions, the same name appears. Lee Claplin. That is who Claflin is. It is a tall and stately New Englander who came south for no other reason than to open the doors of enlightenment and wisdom and dignity to people whom he'd never seen before. And for 38 years, Lewis Marian Dunton walked that campus, joined the Black South Carolina Conference, became black in everything but pigmentation. He was Claflin. Now, when one talks about an institution like this, he remembers that this is what we support. This is that into which we place our investment. It was to such an institution that I came in 1935, green and afraid, sure of my high school background, forgetting that at that time my state provided only an 11th grade high school graduation, unsteady about what what college meant, what made the difference. There were those dedicated teachers who came and surrounded us and gave us no cause to seek an excuse for falling down on excellence. They guided us, disciplined us, prodded us, harassed us and taught us till we found a way to become scholars. This is the drama of investment. Claplin is a charter written in 1869, the most liberal in the state amid all the hatreds and separations of that time. And this, that charter, still enforced today, forbids exclusion on the basis of race or complexion or sex or religious opinion. It requires no romance to tell such a moving story now enshrined in a legal document. And I stand in profound gratitude for that college and all of her sister colleges and to all those who have invested in them over the years for what they meant and represented. So it was that people who deeply understood hundreds of boys like me insisted on our best achievement. They knew how easy it would be to sink back into apathy as indeed so many of my classmates did. But they gave us no cause to find excuses for our failures. The story must not be too long. This is the drama and this is my testimony for what they are worth. As long as this may have seemed to you, it is a mere hint of what really took place. Yes, a mere hint of what took place on the campus of one of our 12 United Methodist supported Negro colleges. There are many others who could give a similar testimony, a tribute to the success of over 100 years. But what about the present? And what about the future? In high schools all over our country, there are many students whose ambitions and dreams will not be realized if our Negro colleges do not continue to be maintained and upgraded. And that cannot be done without your help. The 1970 General Conference of the United Methodist Church called upon all of us to provide immediate financial aid, not for new buildings, but for rising operating costs, for new equipment, and for the hiring of additional faculty. By December 31, 1972, $8 million will be needed. Many of these high school students are among the 7,000 who have made plans to attend one of our Negro colleges. They will join the 9,000 students already enrolled. Approximately 93% of them are from the lower quarter of the income scale and 86% receive some form of financial aid from the college. If we don't support our colleges in this time of need, many of these students won't get a college education. I'm going to Dillard University and I hope to be a lawyer. >> I hope to go to paying college and become a doctor. >> What is it that makes people shout? It is when the symbol of a bell ceases to be a symbol of slavery and becomes the symbol of liberation. [music] >> [bell] [music] [music] [bell] [music] [music] [bell] [music] [bell] [bell] >> So, there's a historically black university basically across the street from the archive. Uh, it's St. Augustine's University and they have succumbed to basically they mismanaged them um for 20 years and so now they are in a very dire situation which is unfortunate because um I like being next to a university and um now all the buildings are empty and um it's just it's sad because they had they've been around 150 years and they just blew it. Hopefully they will come back but we will see. Uh this next film is silent so there's just a projector sound. Uh this is a path a news bits news segments. Enjoy. All right, so that's some Winter Olympics footage. Uh Babe Ruth getting out of the hospital, etc., etc. Um man, uh that tobogen footage or luge footage is so good. I'm a big fan. big fan. And I guess uh I guess Olympics are coming up, so we'll actually start seeing it. Uh excuse me. Um let's learn about theater and Shakespeare's time. Enjoy. [music] England in the 1560s. Elizabeth I is queen. Wandering troops of actors travel from town to town entertaining country people. They are the forerunners of the larger companies which soon will perform the plays of writers such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlo. >> Come on, boy. Come on now. The arrival of the troop creates a lively carnival atmosphere in the village. The actors set up a bare portable stage which they carry in their wagons. How would you want for that? They draw the audience to the stage with acrobatics and masks. [laughter] Hell, help. Helpless am I, for the heat here is so grave. This is a dungeon of misery that I'm put into. What has become of my fair nature? Now I am. >> There is no realistic scenery. >> The audience being close to the stage is actively involved in the play. >> My torment is ever burning. That makes me go howling and snarling. Oh, alas, I boil in misery now. >> I go mad with misery now. All our food is but filth. Vividly costumed demons reveal a flare for spectacle and symbolism in the popular morality plays. >> You have made us thus. Oh, wo is me now. Now it is worse than it was. You ch me in vain. >> Thou hast ruined us. >> You lie. Alas, I knew not that this war would befall. Out on you devils. You smother me in smoke. Horse play and comedy have long been part of the fun of playing in religious drama. >> Thou liest and thou shalt pay for it. Watch how I shall destroy you. >> Sometimes the actors find that the Puritan authorities are offended by too much play acting in religious matters. [music] This and the constas keep the players on the move. [music] [music] They often find these new audiences which begin to include the nobility in the teeming courtyards of the inns. At the same time, new plays from English history and ancient myths telling of kings, conquerors, and battles begin to replace the morality plays. [cheering] >> Here is a scene from Shakespeare's Henry V. Once more. Unto the bridge, dear friends. Once more. Or close the wall up with our English day. In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility. But when the blast of war blows in our ears, >> the stage is still very simple with little scenery and few props to come between the actor and his audience. >> Summon up the blood. An actor becomes a warrior king leading his people to battle by merely wielding a sword and wearing the proper costume. >> A sign transforms the stage into a battlefield. The brow as fearfully as the darling rock or hang and juty its confounded base swistful ocean. Now set the teeth and >> for the audience the Elizabeth and theater is a showplace of excitement >> not a mirror of everyday life is full height on you novelist English >> I see you stand like greyhounds and the slips straining upon the start the games are foot follow your spirits and upon this charge cry god for Harry England and St. John. >> Here, as in earlier plays, the audience enthusiastically responds to what happens on stage. So close are the people to the actor in the stage. [cheering] [cheering] Elizabeth and aristocrats also support the actors, sometimes arranging for performances in their own mansions. The educated noble's influence is felt in the deep emotions and rich poetry of the plays of Marlo and Shakespeare. [music] >> [music] >> Such a play is Marlo's Dr. Fostess, >> the tragedy of a man who signs away his soul to the devil in exchange for power. >> Now I will make an end immediately. >> What will I not do to obtain his soul? Consumato, this bill is ended, and Fosters hath bequathed his soul to Lucifer. >> Eventually, most actors are attracted to London, which has England's greatest concentration of people. Along with the usual urban pollution and poverty [screaming] and carrots and carrots and carrots. By 1600, several public theaters appeared on the outskirts of the city, >> attracting Londoners, but avoiding the open displeasure of Puritan businessmen and politicians. Shakespeare's playhouse, The Globe, was on the bank of the Tims River across from the city. Elizabeth and public playhouses were open air and most were round. Though London audiences were larger than those in the villages and inns, they were still closely grouped around the stage, on the ground, and in galleries and balconies. The stage remained bare with only a few movable prompts allowing vigorous rapid action. Two doors led from the backstage or tiring house to the platform stage. Though the platform was the main acting place, a curtained area sometimes served as an inner stage and the gallery over the platform as an upper stage. We can see the use of all these areas in a scene from Shakespeare's McBth when McBth tries to find out about his future from the witches. I come to you by that which you profess. However you come to know it, answer me. >> Thyself >> through a trap door, demons and spirits appear [crying] >> in the tiring house. Sound effects are created by shaking metal. >> Here's another more potent than the first. MacB >> had I three ears I'd hear thee >> be bloody bold and resolute laughter to scorn the the >> power of man >> the power of man for none of Woman shall harm McBth >> and ghostly kings which the witches have conjured to haunt McBth move across the upper stage of seven eyeballs And my hair though under a gold bound brow is like the first of the filthy f. >> In the tiring house, a pig's bladder full of blood is concealed under the actor's clothing. >> Well, now you keep your face towards me. Oh, there may seem more than pig's blood tonight. >> Yes, sir. But I pray it's young seaword and not myself who lies dead at your feet. [laughter] [music] They've tied me to a stake. I cannot fly, but bear like I must fight the course. What's he that was not born? Once again, we see the actor playing directly to his audience. >> Oh none, >> what is thy name? >> Thou be afraid to hear it. >> No, though thou calls thyself a hotter name than any is in hell. >> My name's McBth. The devil himself could not pronounce a title more hateful to my near. >> No, no more fearful. Thou liest of holy times and with my sword I'll prove the lie thou sweets. >> Elizabeth and audiences do not expect realism in the modern sense but exciting action and meaningful characters who create a vivid experience in the theater. They take hearty pleasure in the actor's craft >> just as earlier audiences did around the portable stages. >> That way the noise is tyrant show thy face. A period of buffoonery which usually concludes even serious performances keeps alive the audience's participation and shows the variety and vitality of the Elizabeth and theater. Its spectacle, its exuberance, its fascination with evil, its seriousness and its fun for the members of the audience. >> [cheering] >> Everybody. [music] Yeah, that was pretty good. Rollicking. Rollicking good time. I [snorts] think I learned about that in freshman English and then in college at some point. Um, you know, we all drew or made a model of the Globe Theater. All right, this next film is So tonight I'm showing uh religious films at the Alamo Draft House live and we've shown some of them on here. Uh this one I scanned. I love but it didn't make the cut. It's a Christian film with puppets and we love Christians film with puppets, right? Enjoy. [music] [music] How do you do? I'm so glad you are here. I want to tell you a story. Two puppets I made. Puppets, you know, are just empty dolls. There is nothing to them but a head, two hands, and a shirt. They can't do anything by themselves. But when I hands inside them, they come alive and can do all sorts things. Now, when these two puppets first started to move, they thought they were doing it all by themselves. In fact, they know I was here. >> I'm like you. You're like me. We're like each other and it's fun to bee. [laughter] Ah, well, what shall we do today? Would you like to build something with miping blocks? Oh, I don't know. You build something with my blocks. [laughter] Well, it really doesn't matter who builds with what as we are. Yes. Isn't it nice we both have the same kind of head? Yes. And the same kind of hands. Yes. And the same kind of shirt. Yes. And the same kind of spots. [music] What' you say? I said it's nice. We are both painted with spots. Who's painted with spots? We are. You mean stripes? We're painted with stripes. Well, I hope you give me credit for knowing the difference between spots and stripes. Not if you say we have spots. We have stripes. Spots. Stripes. Spot. Spot. I mean stripes. Don't be silly. Look at yourself. How can I look at myself in a mirror here? Hey, I do have spots. That's what I told you. We're painted with spots. No, no, just me. You have stripes. Look. Hey, I do have stripes. That's what I told you. Yeah. And they're very handsome, too. He doesn't have stripes. Only I have stripes. There must be something special about me. I don't know that I ought to have any more to do with him. Oh, you beautiful doll. He's different from me. I'd better watch him. You can't trust people who are different. They might try to put something over on him. I'll just not have any more to do with them. Instead, I'll play with my blocks. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> there. And you stay on your side of the wall. I don't allow anybody over here unless he has stripes like mine. Well, who cares? [music] I wouldn't come over there if you begged me to. Stripes. Stripes are nothing. Anybody can have stripes. Chipmunks have stripes. Skunks have stripes. Ow. He did that on purpose. Well, I can make as much noise as he can. [music] How'd you like that noise, Fox? What's the matter? You jealous or something? What's that? Sounds like a machine gun. It is a machine gun. He's getting ready to fight me. I don't want to fight him. What am I going to do? If I could just scare him off, I I know. I'll get my Halloween mask and put it on and scare him and then he won't dare hurt me. How'd you like that noise stripes? It's too quiet over there. He's up to something. He's probably getting ready to hurt me. I don't want to fight him. I don't want to fight anybody. If I could just scare him off, I could uh I know. I'll get my Halloween mask and put it on and scare him and then he won't dare hurt me. [screaming] I am a dragon. When old Spot sees this mess, he'll run like a [ __ ] [clears throat] Oo, I am a ghost. >> When [clears throat] Stripe sees this mask, you'll fall in a faint. [laughter] I guess I better practice making some scary noises. [music] Boo. [screaming] >> [music] >> He's He's got a great big dragon to help him. I can't fight a great big dragon. I'm too little. I need help. There's nothing to me but my little head and my little hands and my little shirt and Ooh. Who are you? I'm the toy maker. >> What do you make? >> I made you. >> You did? >> Yes. [snorts] >> Well, then uh [laughter] do you like me? >> Yes, very much. Well, if you like me, you must be on my side. And you're so big, too. Much bigger than my friend Stripe. My enemy Stripes or his dragon? Wait till I go get my fighting clothes on and I'll show old stripes who's more important around here. What am I going to do? I'm outnumbered. I can't fight no ghost. I know what I'll do. I'll hide. Here's a hill. I'll climb up in the hills and hide. What are you doing? I'm climbing this hill. Wait a minute. Hills can't talk. See here, you're no hill. >> No, I'm the one who made you. >> Well, when did you get here? >> Oh, I'm here all the time. >> Well, I never saw you before. >> You never looked, but I'm right with you every minute. >> Is that so? >> Well, then I can beat the spots off of spots. Uh, you will be right behind me. Oh, I'll be closer than that. Good. I wonder what he meant by that. Oh, well, with him behind me, what can I lose? Who turned out the lights? Come out. Come out, wherever you are. Oh, there you are. Stand up and fight like a man. I defy you. I I uh Oh, well, it's just a good thing I wasn't him, boy. Or I'd have given him a right to the right and a left to the left. And I' I'd uh uh You do what? Well, you better not hit anybody with that stick, boy. Ow. Ow. Ow how. Put it down. [screaming] Oh, no. How? Here. No. No. Let me not. No. No. No. Let go my ear. Let go my ear. No. No. [screaming] No. No. [screaming] die. [music] [music] [clears throat] What happened? Something went wrong. What became of the toy maker? >> I'm still right here. >> Well, I thought you were on my side. >> I am? >> Then why didn't you help me beat Stripes? >> Because I'm on his side, too. >> You are? >> Of course. I made you both. And I love you both. And I couldn't take sides against either of you. After all, you are both the same thing. >> No, no, we're not. We're very different. Entirely different. I have nothing in common with him. Well, let's see if that's so. Stripes, go over and hit Spots. >> Now, wait a minute. Be still, Spots. I just want to show you. Go ahead, Stripes. Oh, boy. [laughter] Oh, what's the matter, Stripes? I don't feel so good. Why is it when I hit him, I don't feel so good? That's what I want you both to understand. Do you know what you are? Sure. It's my little head and my little hands and my little shirt and my um and your arms and your shoulder and you then I'm part me and part you. Yes, but there's more than that. Keep going. Well, then there's your other shoulder and your other arm. And then there's spots. Hey, spots. We're all one thing. You, me, and the toy maker. Then when you hit me, it hurts you because because I'm really hurting part of myself. >> That's right. >> But wait, I have spots and he has stripes. If we are both the same thing, why don't we look alike? >> I never make any two things look exactly alike. else. How could anyone tell them apart? But you are really both the same, for you are really part of me. Hey, Spots. Yeah. If the toy maker is always with us, then we need never be afraid or angry or lonely. Gee, you can play with my blocks anytime you want to. Thank you. That makes me very happy. And that makes me very happy. [laughter] [music] I am you. You are me. We are each other. And it's fun to be >> [music] [music] >> Yeah. So, that didn't make the cut for the films, the crazy uh religious films that I'm showing tonight. Um, so that show starts at uh 7:15 tonight at the Alamo. It's mostly sold out, but what happens is I would say two hours before the show, a bunch of tickets pop up because people are like, I can't make it. So, there you go. All right, one last film. Uh, yeah. What I'm going to show you? What I want to show you? Um, [clears throat] so we showed uh we've been showing some of these uh biblical period films about what it's like what it was like to live in ancient times during Jesus during the Bible. And this one is we saw one about I think school, one about the workplace. This one's about the home. Enjoy. Holy one [singing] of God. [singing] [singing] >> [music] [music] >> On the east of the Mediterranean lies Palestine. It is a small country. From north to south, Palestine is only 150 mi long, but this little country has played a vital part in the early history of the Near East. It lies near the meeting place of three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa. 2,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Christian era, it was a part of the Great Roman Empire. In Palestine, as in all the other parts of their empire, the Romans built wonderful roads. One road ran from Acre to Damascus and was called the Way of the Sea. Another called the way to the south, ran from Egypt and joined the Way of the Sea near Capernium. In the hills of Palestine, near these great roads, were many small towns and villages. Most of them probably looked something like this. In the 20 centuries that have passed since the time of Christ, life in these villages has changed very little. In the early morning, the main street of a Palestine hill town would have been almost empty, but gradually the inhabitants would begin to wake up and to appear. Here on the left comes the village carpenter to look out at the weller. Inside his house is built on two floors. The lower one is used as a stable and on the upper one his family are still asleep and have to be woken up. When they get up, they roll up their beds, which are just mattresses on the floor. The rolled up mattresses are stored away in a special elco during the day. Another al cove is the ladder. Here they help themselves to breakfast. Breakfast is just a piece of bread and a handful of dried fruit. Now the carpenter and his son get ready to go out on their day's work. All night the donkey has been tied up in front of the manger. On the door of the house is a wooden box containing a piece of writing from the scriptures. They touch this as they go out and kiss the fingers that touched it as a sign of respect for the word of God. In the street, they load up the donkey with pieces of timber. These they are going to take down the street to their shop. The second little girl has come to the door to wave goodbye to her father and brother. Now she runs into the house where her mother is dressing the baby. A Jewish baby 2,000 years ago was rolled in a shawl and then wrapped around with bandies which were called swaddling bands. This was done until the baby was 3 months old. And the idea was to make its bones grow straight. The coins you see on the mother's headdress are her diary. They are the savings bank of the family. And it would be a great loss to them all if one fell off and couldn't be found. As the mattresses are all rolled away in the daytime, the safest and most usual place to put the baby is in the manger. Now the day's housework starts. The mother ties her long sleeves behind her so that her arms can be quite free. The daughters learn to help with the housework from a very early age. And the little girl is being given a tray to go up on the flat roof of the house and fetch some more dried fruit. Mother is going to the well to fetch water. Every house was built with a staircase outside. This led up to a flat roof with a wall around it which was used as an extra room and as a store room. There would only be one well in a village and for many women it was a long walk to fetch water. All the housewives met at the well and it was a great place for talking and for telling all the village news. She lifts the full jar of water and carries it on her head. It is carefully balanced on a ring of soft material. What can the younger daughter be doing? The elder one runs up to see. It is quite clear that she must have been doing more eating than anything else. The jar of water was used to fill up the big storage jar which stood in every hut. This pottery jar kept the water very cool. Now the housewife gets some grain from the grain bin. Very little housework was done in the house which was dark. So the materials for baking bread are being taken outside. Water fetched all the way from the well was far too precious to risk spilling it. Outside each village house was the cooking place. Here too, under the staircase, the housewife kept her grinding stone. She is starting to grind while the daughter fetches out the rest of the things they want for making bread. The grindstone is a very simple business made up of two stones. The top one is turned with a wooden handle. Grinding is much easier when two people do it together. The grain is poured between the stones through a hole in the top one. The flour falls out between the two stones onto a cloth. Now the daughter is putting a metal cover onto the charcoal fire to get hot. The grindstoneone is taken to pieces and the extra flour shaken into the cloth. All the flour is now put into a wooden basin ready to make the bread. It is kneaded with water. Then a little sour bread is added to act as yeast or lemon. One disadvantage of cooking out of doors was that travelers sometimes got in your way. The finished dough is now shaped into round cakes and put on the hot metal to bake. The housewife remembers that the lamp in the house has not been filled today. The lamps of that time were made of pottery and had to be kept filled with oil. The lamp and the crews of oil were always kept in a special alco. Now the bread cakes are cooking well and the housewife turns them. She uses a cloth so as not to burn her fingers. A household of five would eat a whole tray full of bread in one day. The second daughter tries an experiment to see if the loaf will bounce. It doesn't bounce. It only gets dirty. But she thinks that what no one sees, no one will mind. The bread is torn away in the lada alco. There were no cupboards in a house like this, but things like needle work were kept carefully put away in a wooden chest. The mother and her two daughters are taking their needle work across the street to sit with a friend at the entrance to her house. By this time, the sun is getting high and the shady side of the street is the more comfortable. The older daughter can sew, but the younger one can only watch as yet. The friend is an unmarried woman, for she has no diary on her headdress. Now, during the hot hours of the noonday, the women of the village would sit and talk. They could do the most beautiful needle work and embroidery. And as their hands worked, so their tongues worked, too. That should have been called house chores of the Bible because that's what it was. Just chores. [snorts] Uh, fascinating. Uh, I probably have others in that series. Um, but we will spread them out. Uh, anyways, thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate your eyeballs uh and your support and your comments. Um and also, yeah, thanks. Uh I had mentioned last week that uh YouTube was going to try to demonetize the channel, which would make things harder for us as far as paying for stuff and getting stuff online. But um I published an appeal and they said sure. And I don't know why. Was it just because I'm a human being and I had a bunch of films behind me? I don't know. But um yes. So ways you can support us besides hitting the thumbs up and the like button is you can also donate via the super thanks button or just watch other films on our channel. Uh you can also go to patreon.comsenmo uh or buy us coffee at ko-fi.coms. Thank you so much. I mean, if we weren't getting ad money, we would still do this. It would just be harder, and I'd be asking you for more money, which is just distasteful for me. Uh, anyways, thanks everybody for watching. We will see you tomorrow if I don't see you tonight in Raleigh. Take care. Bye.