Lost and Found: The Cinema of Burton Holmes

[Music] it was a Victorian time before the R Brothers before radio television and the internet and even before Hollywood and its Fame as the movie capital of the World Imagine a time when the motion picture camera was still but an experiment in Edison's lab or when the lumir brothers would not take their camera beyond the streets of Paris imagine a man who broke those boundaries and took the camera out into the wide world Imagine a man who did such important things during his life that they earned him a place in Hollywood W's Walk of Fame but now almost no one remembers who he was this man was Burton Holmes Burton Holmes broaden our Horizons and understanding of the world through his camera his use of Photography to make a permanent record of wide- ranging exotic locations and World chattering events still has great power today for decades Holmes presented his photographs and Motion Pictures to large audiences across our country in what became known as travelogs a term he coined a process he [Music] perfected Burton Holmes made thousands dis still photographs during his adventurous travels but not as well known is that he was an early user of a professional motion picture camera the camera and film were both bulky and heavy a real test for any serious [Music] traveler for decades Holmes shot film in some of the world's most unique locations and was able to make a record of important [Music] events but Burton Holmes died in 1958 most of his still images made it safely into archives but by the early 1980s his film collection had [Music] disappeared photographic historians searched for decades but the hundreds of reals of film seemed to have vanished recently much of the film collection unexpectedly reappeared [Music] following the recovery of the film The important tasks of storage and evaluation remained the first Motion Picture film of any type shot in Korea was made by Burton Holmes the year was 18 [Music] 1999 Holmes trained his lens on many important European leaders including Edward I 7th and Kaiser vilam II George V 6 and Lady Elizabeth Princess Margaret and Elizabeth II the future [Music] Queen and leading up to World War II Adolf Hitler [Music] Holmes was a witness to war in its aftermath several times during his career [Music] Burton Holmes was an early traveler to Japan and brought back a very early film record of this unique land [Music] Holmes vision of the world was Universal his camera found amazing sights from The Gardens of St Petersburg Russia to the canals of [Music] Venice and the long rivers of China Holmes was the first person to film the eruption of Mount Vesuvius the year was 1906 but his camera could also record the life of the ordinary person [Music] Hollywood also became one of Home special subjects viewing the Stars offset was like getting a backstage [Music] pass possible because of their Mutual friendship [Music] in 1930 Burton Holmes attended the coronation of Emperor h salassi of Ethiopia filming the Splendor of the loyal native troops and the envoys from European nations vying for the king's favor Burton Holmes helped make the motion picture industry as we know it today his work is so unique and important that its preservation is an absolute necessity there is much work to be done the Burton Holmes historical collection does not have the needed Financial Resources to take this precious film archive to the necessary next step of preservation [Music] tasks that must be completed before any more decay can occur because of the film's own internal chemical self-destruction [Music] [Applause] [Music] all [Music] we urgently need your assistance in this Grand effort to save this important record of our past for future Generations [Music] [Music] h