NOBODY GOES THERE

Year Published: 1965

Creator: ACI

Description: "Nobody Goes There" (1965) was directed by Joan Horvath, with cinematography by Charles Colby, and released by ACI. The film uses footage and vintage photographs to chronicle the history of Ellis Island, which at the time had fallen into disuse and decay. The film describes Ellis Island's various names and roles over time. Initially known as the "Island of Gold" and "Oyster Island," it became a key immigration gateway to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, welcoming millions of immigrants from Europe. During this period, Ellis Island was a place of quick medical exams and inspections, with the door to America wide open. However, after World War I, stricter immigration laws transformed the island into a place of intense scrutiny, and immigrants faced formal questioning and medical inspections. Despite overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, the hardships were a result of managing vast numbers of people, not neglect. In the 1960s, the remnants of the immigrant processing center at Ellis Island were threatened with destruction; but then in 1965 the island was declared a National Historic Shrine and it became home to an immigration museum. Ellis Island served as the nation's premier federal immigration station, processing over 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954. The immigration station closed in 1954 and was largely abandoned for several years. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared Ellis Island a part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, overseen by the National Park Service. 00:00 The narrative begins with images of Ellis Islands in 1965, and then by describing Ellis Island’s various names and historical significance, including being called the "Island of Gold," "Oyster Island," and "Island of Tears." It was later known as the "Island of Detention." 1:02 - In 1956, the U.S. government considered selling Ellis Island, and several parties made bids, including a $200,000 offer from a builder, but the island remained under public ownership. 2:00 - On May 11, 1965, Ellis Island was officially declared a National Historic Shrine. 2:16 - A description of the great migration era when millions of immigrants arrived at Ellis Island, entering the U.S. without quotas, visas, or passports. Ellis Island served as a key gateway to America. 3:01 - Immigrants from various European countries (Irish, Russian, Polish, Italian, etc.) passed through Ellis Island for medical exams and quick inspections before being sent to the mainland. 4:02 - After World War I, stricter immigration laws transformed Ellis Island from a welcoming entry point to a place of intense scrutiny, with immigrants being asked many detailed questions and undergoing medical inspections. 5:07 - Despite crowded and unsanitary conditions, the struggles at Ellis Island were not due to neglect but the result of managing a large, diverse influx of immigrants. 5:56 - Immigrants had to endure long waits in crowded dormitories, leading to emotional and mental anguish, with a sense of suspense and idleness being the most difficult aspect of their experience. 6:52 - The focus shifts to the impersonal nature of the immigration process, which, though orderly, lacked warmth or welcoming gestures, often described as "organized charity." 7:43 - Ellis Island has seen over 42 million people pass through since 1677, with 30 million arriving via Ellis Island. 7:09 - The island has now become a place for tourists, with the immigration experience being preserved in museums rather than in real-time immigration. 7:24 - Today, Ellis Island is guarded by a lone watchman, and is awaiting future transformation. 7:43 - The island is set to be redeveloped, with bulldozers and steam shovels preparing for the final changes, and tourists will soon visit to explore the Immigrant Museum instead of seeing immigrants arriving. 8:25 - Images of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty as the film comes to an end.

Complete Record: "Nobody Goes There" (1965) was directed by Joan Horvath, with cinematography by Charles Colby, and released by ACI. The film uses footage and vintage photographs to chronicle the history of Ellis Island, which at the time had fallen into disuse and decay. The film describes Ellis Island's various names and roles over time. Initially known as the "Island of Gold" and "Oyster Island," it became a key immigration gateway to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, welcoming millions of immigrants from Europe. During this period, Ellis Island was a place of quick medical exams and inspections, with the door to America wide open. However, after World War I, stricter immigration laws transformed the island into a place of intense scrutiny, and immigrants faced formal questioning and medical inspections. Despite overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, the hardships were a result of managing vast numbers of people, not neglect. In the 1960s, the remnants of the immigrant processing center at Ellis Island were threatened with destruction; but then in 1965 the island was declared a National Historic Shrine and it became home to an immigration museum. Ellis Island served as the nation's premier federal immigration station, processing over 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954. The immigration station closed in 1954 and was largely abandoned for several years. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared Ellis Island a part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, overseen by the National Park Service. 00:00 The narrative begins with images of Ellis Islands in 1965, and then by describing Ellis Island’s various names and historical significance, including being called the "Island of Gold," "Oyster Island," and "Island of Tears." It was later known as the "Island of Detention." 1:02 - In 1956, the U.S. government considered selling Ellis Island, and several parties made bids, including a $200,000 offer from a builder, but the island remained under public ownership. 2:00 - On May 11, 1965, Ellis Island was officially declared a National Historic Shrine. 2:16 - A description of the great migration era when millions of immigrants arrived at Ellis Island, entering the U.S. without quotas, visas, or passports. Ellis Island served as a key gateway to America. 3:01 - Immigrants from various European countries (Irish, Russian, Polish, Italian, etc.) passed through Ellis Island for medical exams and quick inspections before being sent to the mainland. 4:02 - After World War I, stricter immigration laws transformed Ellis Island from a welcoming entry point to a place of intense scrutiny, with immigrants being asked many detailed questions and undergoing medical inspections. 5:07 - Despite crowded and unsanitary conditions, the struggles at Ellis Island were not due to neglect but the result of managing a large, diverse influx of immigrants. 5:56 - Immigrants had to endure long waits in crowded dormitories, leading to emotional and mental anguish, with a sense of suspense and idleness being the most difficult aspect of their experience. 6:52 - The focus shifts to the impersonal nature of the immigration process, which, though orderly, lacked warmth or welcoming gestures, often described as "organized charity." 7:43 - Ellis Island has seen over 42 million people pass through since 1677, with 30 million arriving via Ellis Island. 7:09 - The island has now become a place for tourists, with the immigration experience being preserved in museums rather than in real-time immigration. 7:24 - Today, Ellis Island is guarded by a lone watchman, and is awaiting future transformation. 7:43 - The island is set to be redeveloped, with bulldozers and steam shovels preparing for the final changes, and tourists will soon visit to explore the Immigrant Museum instead of seeing immigrants arriving. 8:25 - Images of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty as the film comes to an end.

Transcription

The Indians called it Island of Gulls. In the days of Peter Stuyvesant, it was Oyster Island, a romantic picnic spot of green meadows. Later, it became Gibbet Island, where curious crowds lined the shores in small boats to watch the hangings of pirates. In the 1920s, an Italian writer named it Isle of Tears, while many knew it only as the Island of Detention. Officially, it still bears the name of the merchant who owned it briefly in the late 1700s, Sam Ellis. In 1956, the United States government put Ellis Island up for sale. A New York builder offered $200,000 with a plan to turn it into a lavish resort. A nonprofit organization for the treatment of dope addicts bid $24.12 in beads and cloth. One corporation bid a nickel. But private interests were not to have what belonged to the nation. For on May 11th, 1965, a presidential proclamation decreed Ellis Island an historic national shrine. On the eve of the 20th century, a 50-man crew wrenched the levers and roused the generators of its new power station. It was the era of the great migration. A relentless stream of humanity pouring in from Europe to the United States until the outbreak of the First World War. There were no quotas then, no visas, no passports. The golden door was wide open, and Ellis Island was the gateway. Irish, Russians, Poles, Italians, Germans, Czechs, English, Romanians, Scandinavians, sometimes 5,000 a day, shambled past the inspectors for a full view, an eye exam, and a 2-minute oral quiz. Then all were tagged and herded onto the ferry for the mainland. Rarely was anyone detained or deported. For we were growing then. We were still building our nation of immigrants. But after the war, increasingly selective laws transfigured the gateway into a fine-meshed sieve, into island of scrutiny. What is your profession? Where did you get your job training? How much money do you have? You are nearsighted. What would you do if you broke your spectacles? You could not see, could not earn a living. The law is very explicit. You are held pending decision by the Board of Special Inquiry. Take off your hat and gloves. Show your hands. Inspector had to make sure that hair was free from lice, that hands were not paralyzed or artificial, or that a watery eye was not evidence of trachoma, for the threat of epidemic was constant. Six wards in the hospital section were crammed with cases of smallpox and typhus, cholera, and even plague. Corridors were alive with cockroaches and mice. But conditions were not so much the result of neglect or cruelty as the inevitable refuse of vast numbers democratically herded together. The educated with the simple, the civilized with the semi-barbaric. Everyone waited at Ellis Island. At night, they waited in cots piled one above the other. The dormitories were locked. And from time to time, a guard peered through a grating in the ceiling overhead. The smell and the filth, the questions and the commands, these were sufferable. The real anguish of Ellis Island was a mental anguish, suspense and forced idleness its greatest ordeals. One was treated in a necessarily formal way. There was no conscious insult, but neither the faintest whisper of welcome. With clean dispatch, the laws facilitated what an Irish poet called organized charity, scrimped and iced in the name of a cautious, statistical Christ. Statistics, of the 42 million people who have migrated to the new world since 1607, 30 million have passed through Ellis Island. Today, nobody goes there except the watchman brought by a Coast Guard cutter from the mainland. Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, he guards the ghosts. Tomorrow, the bulldozers and steam shovels will come to Sam Ellis's Island, and it will change for the last time. The day after tomorrow, sightseers and tourists will visit the immigrant museum and stroll on landscaped lawns. Once again, people from all over the world will come carrying cameras instead of hand-tied bundles and straw suitcases, drawn there by curiosity instead of hope.

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