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2 ‘The Innocent Years*
printed preservative copies on paper rolls. Another reason for the transfer to paper was that the copyright laws did not, naturally, refer specifically to motion pictures and so could not be copyrighted. Those film-makers who wanted to go to the trouble of obtaining copy¬ right printed their film on ribbons of paper and then sent the rolledup ribbons to the copyright office. These eventually found their way into the Library of Congress. "The original films seem to have vanished completely," says Jones.
The period covered by "The Innocent Years" is the earliest to have been recorded in motion, for the motion picture camera did not come into use until the late I89OS. There were camera teams sent about to cover Important (and some not so important) events on film. Edison had such a team, and so did Pathe . There were others, but these were the big ones.
"Since the film in use at that time was the so-called 'nitrate* film — which, unlike the present safety film, spoiled easily, decomposed and then exploded - there were some terrible film fires in the old days," Jones says.
He recalls that a professional arsonist named Sam Sapphire, who operated in Brooklyn in the 1930s, once gave away the secret of his best work: some wads of nitrate film and a candle. When the candle burned low, down to the level at which the film rested - boom .....complete combustion. "No wonder film searchers have such a tough time," says Jones.
The film search conducted for "The Innocent Years" dragneted
the vaults of the newsreel companies operating at that time, the
Hollywood film studio libraries, and a long list of private and
government archives for historical film.
(more )