Editor's Note: The UW Audio Visual Services Materials Library has more than 1,200 reels of film from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, documenting life at the University through telecourses, commercial films and original productions. Some of the short films are easily identifiable, but many more remain mysteries. Who shot these films and why? Can you help answer those questions? Faculty and staff can use the comments field at the end of the story to send ideas. Those outside the University can e-mail filmarc@u.washington.edu.
Last week's film, a takeoff on the old TV series Mission Impossible called Mission Impractical, was instantly recognized by retiree Neal Lessenger, who passed the information on to Hannah Palin, film archives specialist with UW Special Collections. More about that later.
First, take a look at this week's film. It's titled House My People, and it opens with two men looking at a house under construction. This is followed by shots of men working on the house and a sign, "House My People Church Lakers." The film is silent and was shot in about 1967. Palin would like to get information about what the House My People Church Lakers might have been -- its history, personnel and location. She'd also like to know why the film was made and how it was used.
And now, about Mission Impractical. Here's what Lessenger had to say:
"Until about 1970 the Administration Building Christmas Party was an annual fixture. One element of it was a skit written by anonymous members of the administration, and it included in its cast the top members of the administration, including President Odegaard. . . .
"In the fall of 1969 Fred Lorenz, then director of labor relations, and I were the co-chairs of the skit writing committee; the committee was composed of wits and others with perverse senses of humor who had seen several previous Christmas party skits.
"The mystery clip was the introduction to a skit in the late 1960s. Ruth Bogle [another retiree] and I have been around the university since before that time, and her identification [in last week's comments] of those photographed is correct. The Peter Graves role was played by Louis ("Pepper") Quigley, who at the time was the assistant vice president for university relations and development. The photos in order were these administrators, who all appeared in the skit, again, for the record:
- Charles E. Odegaard, president
- Frederick P. Thieme, vice president
- Solomon Katz, provost
- George Farwell, vice president for research
- Ernest M. Conrad, vice president for business and finance
- Robert G. Waldo, vice president for university relations and development
- Alvin Ulbrickson, Jr., vice president for student affairs
"Fred Lorenz and I worked for Mr Conrad at the time.
"While I do not know why the unrelated material is at the end of the clip, I do know we were not inclined to spend a lot of money in those days, and Jim Sneddon [who shot the film], probably just used the same film for another purpose. Another possibility is that the havoc seen in the last part of the clip may have related to the purpose of the 'mission impractical.'"
So there you have it. One film mystery solved. Now have a look at House My People and see if you can help Palin out with that one.
And stay tuned for more lost and found films.