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BACK TO THE OLD FARM
Kjeorge receives an invitation to spend his vacation on the old farm.
cJImt night, Qeorge dreams of the drudqeru of farming as ne knew it.
Bie recalls the labor of picking up the grain cut oy the early reaper.
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nee of unhitching, feeding and watering a team of horses . .
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She shows him how new machinery has taken the drudgery from farming.
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T Jx modern gas engine generates current to separate milk, churn butter.
Jain auto wagon, early Unternationaltruck, hauL passengers, produce.
Childhood sweethearts, they elope in the farms modern carriage.
hood,S:W6'etheart, [Beverly uiayne.
c/he mailman scJnternational truck brings news of the happy /tnale.'
THE BIRTH
of the SALES FIL
JJ fil:
ffcA To The Old Farm, a one-rcci feature film produced in August, 1911, by the famed old Essanay Company for International Harvester is said to be the first motion picture used for industrial purposes. However, the Harvester company had shown motion jjicture views of plants and equipment in portable tents at state fairs and similar gatherings for several years previous to 1911. There are indications that other industrial firms had used the medium also.
Back To The Old Farm has probably the more important distinction of being the first motion picture to apply showmanship to selling. At the Dunham farm near Wayne, Illinois, and in the old Essanay studios where the oncepopular Keystone comedies were made, and Charlie Chaplin, Wallace Beery, and Beverly Bayne trod the boards. Business stepped into the drama of the screen for the first time.
Neither the Harvester company nor the producer had any idea they were making film history. Every year throughout the winter months Harvester dealers had held "entertainments" for farmer customers. These groups eager for diversion were a 'ready made' movie audience. The revolutionary changes being brought about by tractor and engine power in farming supplied the sales drama.
Stripped of pantomime and melodrama typical of the early movies. Back To The Old Farm stands out as a remarkably successful first attempt to use motion pictures to sell machines.
At an infinitesimal cost per person it was shown to millions of farmers, and helped to bring the gospel of lietter farming into many
far away places.
* * * *
The one remaining print, long since removed from circulation, takes a well earned rest on the top of the rack in the film vault. When the slightly rusted can is pried open there is a strong musty smell of camphor in the air. Although more than a quarter century old, its surface .scratched and scarred, the film still projects legibly. Faithfully it unfolds the story of George Randall the farm boy who left liehind him the drudgery of farming and his rustic sweetheart (Beverly Bayne) to seek his fortune in the city.
The years pass. George, now a successful business man, accepts an invitation to return to the old farm. There his sweetheart, grown to womanhootl, shows him the changes ten years have made in methods of farming. Tractors are