Treasures from the past...
in fact my mom was Patsy's best friend, which is how they met. He spent as much time with the Roths as he did at home.
A remembrance from all those years ago arrived in the mail Saturday. A DVD of all the Roth family movies from the years 1934 to 1962! The Roths, being good Germans, had been technically minded and apparently owned a very good movie camera. I must have inherited my love of photography from those German genes, for these are not what you think of when you think of "home movies". Especially from the 1930's! Most are similar to documentary film quality I've seen from the era. There are even color films which must have been state of the art at the time.
Being a family of photographers, my dad included, we do have many old photos from the years in the films, some of which I have, but there is nothing like seeing your dad moving about when he was 12, 13 or 14 years old. And seeing all the relatives you've always known as "old people" magically in their prime again is an amazing if not emotional experience. I had never seen even still photos of my grandmother when she was in her 30's, so seeing her as a young woman was transfixing. She was quite a babe! Many of the movies were taken in my dad's old neighborhood so I got to experience what his life must have been like, even seeing him with his friend's pet monkey; something I had heard about many times.
Here are a few shots of my dad that I pulled from the hours of movies. I watched for 2 hours last night and am only half the way through. A truly amazing gift.
 | Sometimes amazing things just simply arrive. My Dad was raised in St. Louis. His mom was divorced when he was young and much of his childhood was spent with his mom's sister and her husband who lived in the same neighborhood. His Uncle Louis Roth was as much a dad to him as an uncle. His first cousin Patsy was like another sister and |
A remembrance from all those years ago arrived in the mail Saturday. A DVD of all the Roth family movies from the years 1934 to 1962! The Roths, being good Germans, had been technically minded and apparently owned a very good movie camera. I must have inherited my love of photography from those German genes, for these are not what you think of when you think of "home movies". Especially from the 1930's! Most are similar to documentary film quality I've seen from the era. There are even color films which must have been state of the art at the time.
Being a family of photographers, my dad included, we do have many old photos from the years in the films, some of which I have, but there is nothing like seeing your dad moving about when he was 12, 13 or 14 years old. And seeing all the relatives you've always known as "old people" magically in their prime again is an amazing if not emotional experience. I had never seen even still photos of my grandmother when she was in her 30's, so seeing her as a young woman was transfixing. She was quite a babe! Many of the movies were taken in my dad's old neighborhood so I got to experience what his life must have been like, even seeing him with his friend's pet monkey; something I had heard about many times.
Here are a few shots of my dad that I pulled from the hours of movies. I watched for 2 hours last night and am only half the way through. A truly amazing gift.
