In search of Spencer's Pictures
Thanks to the generosity of John Ficarra, a keen historian of Australian football and custodian of a wealth of archival material, AustralianFootball.com has had the privilege of scouring the pages of the Victorian Football Follower, the VFL's official organ prior to the introduction of the Football Record in 1912. Scanning through the various 1910 editions of the Follower, one thing that caught our eye was an ad for Spencer's Pictures, which states that moving pictures of the "Principal Match" each Saturday would be taken and later shown at the Olympia.
A quick internet search reveals that the Olympia cinema was located on Sturt Street West in South Melbourne. There must have been some exciting times down at Sturt St on a Saturday night for patrons whose team had been victorious that day.
The obvious question is, does any of that 1910 footage still exist?
The video "Living Melbourne 1896 - 1910" does contain a 30-second grab of Collingwood fans cheering their team on but a YouTube search reveals little else.
The ad in the Follower of 30th July, 1910 is more specific, stating that pictures of that day's Carlton v Fitzroy game would be screening that very night at the Olympia. Wouldn't it be great to contrast that footage with the high-tech broadcast of this Saturday's NAB Cup final between the same two teams?
So AustralianFootball.com is putting out the call - there must be someone, somewhere out there who knows something of Spencer's Pictures at Olympia. And maybe, just maybe, they can lead us to some long-lost 1910 VFL footage.
Comments
A few extra seconds of that 1910 Collingwood footage can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwjz6lzwCKo
Great find Gigs - but terribly frustrating to know given these films have probably disintegrated in an attic somewhere!
Rhett Bartlett 14 March 2013
A couple of points. The 1910 Collingwood footage, identifed in the YouTube clip as vs South Melbourne - is identified on NFSA website as Rd 15 Collingwood vs Fitzroy.
Now as for Spencer Pictures - his full name is Charles Cozens Spencer. His cinematographer was Ernest Higgins Now the 1910 SF(Sth vs Carl) was also screened also at 'Mechanic's Institute' (opp Post Office) in Launceston. The film rights were purchased by Alex Gunn + Sons. (Rickard's Building - 236 Little Collins St.) Museum Victoria have significant items from Alex Gunn and Sons (lantern slides etc) so it may be worth investigating that.
Rhett Bartlett 14 March 2013
Further 1910 info: The Rd 4 1910 Carlton vs Sth Melbourne match (1000ft worth) was screened at the Burke Ward Hall in Broken Hill.
Thanks, Rhett. I was wondering why the "South Melbourne" jumpers were so dark! And thanks for all the extra info. I will follow up and see what else I can uncover.
Pete McLean 19 March 2013
As well as the self destructing nitrate films, many old films were gathered and were then set on fire for a scene of a ship burning in the silent movie For The Term of His Natural Life in 1927. The tons of nitrate film packed into the ship's hull burnt really well. Its some what ironic that the Australian film industry should destroy it's own histroy and film it!
Michael Rogers 13 April 2013
The process whereby the NFSA came to know that the match depicted in the 1910 film "Marvellous Melbourne" was round 15 Collingwood v Fitzroy at Victoria Park can be followed starting here: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/1909-vfl-grand-final-south-melbourne-vs-carlton-footage.974913/page-2#post-25834009
Another reason that so few films survived from the silent era was especially, once sound films were introduced and films without sound had little or no commercial value, prints and even original negatives were cut up and used as 'spacer' in the editing process to save costs.
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