THE GOLDEN DOOR

Year Published: 1970’

Format: 16mm

Description: Produced in cooperation with National Science Teachers Association, "The Golden Door" is a 1970’s era, color film about Ellis Island produced in 1972 -- just prior to the reclamation of the facility and its renovation as a museum. The purpose of this educational film is to show Ellis Island in its current broken down state while remembering the legacy, heritage and importance it has to our country. The juxtaposition of the ruins and its glory years, when millions of immigrants passed through its palatial lobby, is the topic of the film. The screen opens as the camera pans across a large abandoned building. A sign, in several languages is seen. One says, "Trays and Dishes Straight Ahead". A washboard is seen lying in a sink 1:22. It seems to be an old transportation or ferry station and we see the abandoned ticket counter 1:45. The abandoned station is fenced in behind barbed wire 1:56. The building turns out to be Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty 2:03. Ellis Island is The Golden Door. America at the turn of the 20th century. Old footage of immigrants coming into New York Harbor 2:30. Ellis Island is their Golden Door. Today Ellis Island is abandoned and deserted 3:06. The ruins and detritus of Ellis Island 3:10. Immigrants disembark in front of Lady liberty onto Ellis Island 3:30. Images of the immigrants getting physicals as they enter the country 3:50. A woman’s eyes are checked by a guard 3:57. Empty building with random furniture that is Ellis Island 4:20. The building is in ruins 4:32. Very old footage of immigrants being served food within the cafeteria at Ellis Island 4:50. Old blueprints litter the ground 5:20. Old photographs of the immigrants are shown 5:30. Immigrants hold American flags as they enter America 6:34. Logbooks of the immigrants names 6:45. Immigrants with their luggage 7:23. The twin towers can be seen at the tip of Manhattan 7:48. Old video footage of the lower East side of Manhattan 8:05. Men dig a ditch 8:22. A classroom is filled with immigrants learning English 8:35. City slums and tenements 8:45. Children frolic in a fire hydrant spray 9:00. Women work in a clothing factory 9:18. The promised land often is not… 9:36. Men punch a clock and report to work 9:45. A man milks a cow 9:54. A woman washes clothes in a bathtub with a washboard 10:03. Modern day workers owe their livelihoods to those immigrants of long ago 10:35. Many different vocations are displayed as well as weddings, baseball games and church services 10:50. Aerial view of Ellis Island 11:14. Famous men’s faces splash across the screen 11:15. Statue of Liberty at sunset 11:55. Grateful acknowledgment for assistance and cooperation is made to National Park Service, Department of the Interior and Keuka College Chorale, Keuka Park, New York. Dr. David M Kellermeyer, conductor. Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor that was the United States' busiest immigrant inspection station. From 1892 to 1954, approximately 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law. Today, it is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, accessible to the public only by ferry. The north side of the island is the site of the main building, now a national museum of immigration. The south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is only open to the public through guided tours. In the 19th century, Ellis Island was the site of Fort Gibson and later became a naval magazine. The first inspection station opened in 1892 and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The second station opened in 1900 and housed facilities for medical quarantines as well as processing immigrants. After 1924, Ellis Island was used primarily as a detention center. During both World War I and World War II its facilities were also used by the United States military to detain prisoners of war. Following the immigration station's closure, the buildings languished for several years until they partially reopened in 1976. The main building and adjacent structures were completely renovated in 1990.

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