Old Lights on the Allegheny

From Burma to Pittsburgh with Love

More from the basement tapes on the Archive:

The footage in this reel includes shots of Rear Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy of India; George Marshall, Army Chief of Staff during WWII and chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt; and Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning, "father of the British airborne forces." Also present are Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary (later the Prime Minister), and General Maxwell Taylor.

Old Pittsburgh Basement Finds

from Archive.org:

This footage was found among a few cans of 16mm film in Pittsburgh, PA basement in 2011. They were being offered for sale with some old projectors and slides, and were profoundly affected by vinegar syndrome and in very poor condition. On the bottom of one can was a label for "Col. Lloyd S. Spooner" with an Oregon address. A quick internet search and viewing of the footage revealed that they likely belonged to Lloyd Spencer Spooner

An on-line entry on Spooner states: "n 1920, First Lieutenant Lloyd Spooner of the U.S. Army’s 47th Infantry competed in 12 events at the Antwerp Olympic Games – an absolute record for the most events participated in at one Olympics. As above, he won seven medals in these events, which also stood as a record until the 1980 Olympics when the USSR’s Aleksandr Dityatin won eight gymnastics medals. It remains an American record, tied in 1972 by Mark Spitz. Spooner was a career army officer who was promoted to captain in 1924."

The footage appears to largely have been shot at Fort Bragg, NC in the 1940s. Included is a section showing a review of troops by French General Henri Giraud (who died in 1949). There is also a short section at the tail showing Flora McDonald College in Red Springs, NC.

Research is still needed on dates and locations of this footage. Please contact me with any information you might have at homemovie@gmail.com. Thanks to Skip Elsheimer at A/V Geeks for the great film transfer!

Old Hot Metal Bridge