Film, Motion Picture

MHL #11

Silent, black and white 16mm film consisting of home movies of fall and winter outings to Belle Isle, a snow-covered neighborhood, and a trip to New Mexico shot between 1927 and 1928.

According to a list included with the film, it opens with "A beautiful autumn day at Belle Isle," shot on October 27, 1927. In a series of shots, a woman, child, and a man are filmed around the island. The child is the focus of most shots, and is shown in front of a small fountain, playing inside a garbage can, posed on a small bridge near the Casino, crossing a stepped bridge, on the grounds of the Belle Isle Conservatory, inside the Conservatory, chasing a peacock, riding a tricycle, and standing near a small dam. This segment also includes shots of a polar bear at the Belle Isle Zoo.

A title card introduces the next section as "New Years Snow Storm, Jan. 1 28." The camera pans across homes along the southwest side of Barrington Road in Grosse Pointe Park, between Essex Drive and Fairfax Avenue, during a snowfall, then films a young man and the man from the Belle Isle segment both posed in front of the house at 823 Barrington.

Next, another title card announces, "A Cold Day on Belle Isle, Jan 2, 28." The woman, man, and child from the first segment pose around an automobile on a snow-covered road on Belle Isle.

The next session is introduced with a title card reading "Leonas Visit with Fr Alfes, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Feb 9 28." Shots follow of a bed-ridden man in a hospital, buildings, a priest, the family outside of a car on a desert road, the countryside from the window of a train, the Castanada Hotel in Los Vegas, an active pueblo village, Albuquerque Station

The film is on a black metal reel housed within a grey metal canister. A small handwritten label on the canister's lid reads, "MHL #11." Two small handwritten notes are included in the tin. The first is in ink and reads, "#11, A Beautiful autumn day at Belle Isle, Oct 27 27. New Years Snow Storm Jan 1st 1928. A Cold on Belle Isle Jan 2nd 1928. Leonas trip and visit with Fr. Vin[?], Albuquerque New Mexico Feb 9 1928." The second is in pencil, with some additions in pen and reads, "Partly [?] #11. Autumn Day at Belle Isle 1928. After News Snow Storm Jan 1 1928. [?] with Fr. Vin New Mx in Hospital. New Mexico Dull Scenery. Indian reservation or mission."