1952: Grandma's Birthday, McHenry, Don's Graduation
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Home movie of a family gathering in the summertime to celebrate grandma's birthday. Features candid shots of adults conversing and a small child playing, and a dimly lit shot of the presentation of a birthday cake.
Credits
John O. Armstrong (filmmaker)
Complete catalog record
Cfa collection: Armstrong Family Collection
Notes: Severely underexposed shots of family congregated on an outdoor porch in a house surrounded in a rural area during summer. A woman and a child present "Grandma" with presents, which she unwraps. People converse over drinks; a woman smokes a cigarette. Wide shot of the family, as an older man collects empty bottles from a table and takes them inside. A shot from the second story of the house looking almost directly below at the child we saw earlier, noticing the cameraperson, laughing, and alerting grandma and a few others to the cameraperson's presence. We then see the family members from a bird's eye view. A little boy runs around on a lawn, shirtless, in overalls. Later, near dusk, the outlines of figures are barely visible, and we see nine lit candles adorning a birthday cake. Grandma leans in to blow out the candles, blows out one, and takes another breath to blow out the rest, and while she does so, the camera comes out of focus and the shot ends.
Subjects: Family reunions; Leisure
Places: North America > United States > Illinois > McHenry
Language: English
Cfa elements: Reversal Positives, 50 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/22036
Notes: Severely underexposed shots of family congregated on an outdoor porch in a house surrounded in a rural area during summer. A woman and a child present "Grandma" with presents, which she unwraps. People converse over drinks; a woman smokes a cigarette. Wide shot of the family, as an older man collects empty bottles from a table and takes them inside. A shot from the second story of the house looking almost directly below at the child we saw earlier, noticing the cameraperson, laughing, and alerting grandma and a few others to the cameraperson's presence. We then see the family members from a bird's eye view. A little boy runs around on a lawn, shirtless, in overalls. Later, near dusk, the outlines of figures are barely visible, and we see nine lit candles adorning a birthday cake. Grandma leans in to blow out the candles, blows out one, and takes another breath to blow out the rest, and while she does so, the camera comes out of focus and the shot ends.
Subjects: Family reunions; Leisure
Places: North America > United States > Illinois > McHenry
Language: English
Cfa elements: Reversal Positives, 50 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/22036
Sources
- Chicago Film Archives · record ↗ — title, year, creator, length, format, color, sound, genre, description, credits, catalog record
Record added 2026-11-08 21:25:24