A projector was prepared to show home movies shot in and around what was then the Village of Swansea now in Toronto, Ontario, at the meeting of the Swansea Historical Society on 7-October-2009
TORONTO, ONTARIO - The Swansea Historical Society opened its 2009-10 season of meetings on 7-October-2009 with a presentation on home movies. In recent years, the historical value of home movies has been realized because of the details that they include in the coverage of everyday life in an era or specific neighbourhood, and because of their durability as a medium.
Groups have sprung up across the world to assist in the preservation of home movies, and the primary group around Toronto is Homemade Movies. Two representatives of that group visited the Swansea Historical Society and came with a variety of movies from around Toronto in the 1950's which were supplemented by those of members.
One of the home movies was of the Royal Visit to Toronto in 1959, which compared with official movies of this event that I had seen was a nice reminder of just how perplexing parades can be to the common person trying to stand on the sidewalk and just take in the event. Two major fires in Swansea were shown, dramatically showing the extent of the flames and volunteer firefighters at work. In another film, the grocery store in Bloor West Village, now a No Frills, was shown not only to be a Loblaw's but to have streamline moderne architecture in that era. There was even an appearance of a new Ford Edsel in the movie, backing out of a driveway and heading down Kennedy Avenue in Toronto.
A Keystone Commander projector from the 1950's once owned by Jimmy Nelson was on display at the Swansea Historical Society meeting on 7-October-2009
For those interested in seeing more historical home movies or in preserving their own movies, Homemade Movies and the Revue Cinema in Toronto are putting on a Home Movie Day on Saturday, 17-October-2009. See the flyer link for more information.
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