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’The Innocent Years'
Most of the footage he and his staff turned up for "The Innocent Years" and the other five "encores" was in what he describes as "the most delicate condition - shrunk, warped and brittle." The exhaustive search was carried on in vaults of newsreel companies, in Hollywood film studio libraries, and a long list of private and government archives for historical film.
"Many a can of labeled film we opened, only to find that the film had disintegrated, " Jones says. "Many others would have reached the disintegration stage in another two or three years. "
Old footage on Theodore Roosevelt that had been lying around unused for years at the Theodore Roosevelt Association in New York was well on its way to decomposition, he reports. Pain¬ staking processing was able to save this and other important footage.
"Private collectors, rather than ask for the usual fee for such film of theirs as we buy," says Jones, "sometimes ask us instead to let us convert some more of their valuable old 35 -min non-safety film for their own libraries.
"In another 10 or 20 years the vast bulk of old film footage will of necessity have been junked. Nitrate film is an un¬ stable chemical that deteriorates with time, and the danger of ex¬ plosion forces the owner to junk it out of sheer prudence."
The "Project 20" shows were the first which really prompted a reappraisal of the value of collections of old film here and abroad, Jones says. "By using actuality film in shows of tremendous public impact, we have generated enthusiasm for and appreciation of old footage. This public response has given many a conservator of old film a talking point when he is asking management, boards of trustees
or legislators for funds to save some of it."
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