The Case Of The 9-Frame Film Strip | What Is That?!
Sol Lopez, a film student, was gifted a 9-frame 35mm film strip during her internship at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
The mysterious 35mm 9-frame film strip
The archive specializes in rescuing, restoring, and showcasing various films. However, no one at the archive could tell her what the original source was for these 9 frames. So we put on our detective hats and opened the case of the 9-frame film strip.
A colorized frame.
I want to preface this case by saying there’s probably a lot of film historians/enthusiast that looked at the film strip and instantly knew where it was from, however, the journey is a lot more interesting than the answer. Our case began with analyzing the film strip both on a visual level and a technical level to see what information we had just based of off the 9-frames. The film strip shows a woman with blonde hair wearing a peculiar looking hat with what appears to be a conical and sphere shape and some sort of ornament hanging in the background. Sol went off to begin research on what she could dig up on that very distinct looking hat. I began breaking down what technical things I could gather from the film strip.
Hollywood has always been on the bleeding edge of technological innovation. It’s why The Academy is called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And that technology leaves a lasting impression of the era in which it was made. So this is how I can narrow down the decade in which this film was made. Looking at the film strip, two things instantly jumped out at me: the aspect ratio and a soundtrack printed on the side.
The frames follow the old Academy ratio or a 1.37:1 ratio. This aspect ratio is rooted in the era of Silent films during the early 1900s, however, during those early days when film was still emerging, there was no set standard. This made for a multitude of inconsistencies for the viewing audience. Every studio had a different method to try and reduce the size of the image, even theaters set different house standards for projecting. Although, I imagine that audiences of the time were probably just amazed at this new form of entertainment to care enough about these inconsistencies. It wasn’t until 1932 that the Academy set the standard aspect ratio, all studio films from 1932 to 1952 were produced using the Academy ratio until the widescreen revolution of 1953. A clue! I decided to run the film strip through a coloring processes to see if adding color would help.
A single frame of the Academy ratio with optical audio printed on
The film strip also contains a soundtrack printed on the side known as the Movietone sound system. This was a type of audio I had not seen before, so I had to do a deep dive of optical audio printed on films and found that this format went hand in hand with the Academy ratio. This was a breakthrough innovation that allowed for the synchronization of audio to film by printing the audio directly onto the film strip. Disney used an early version of this innovation for the famous Steamboat Willie short in 1928 called the Cinephone system. In 1932, the Movietone sound system was included in the Academy’s standard. Another clue! At this point, there was something in my gut telling me that this movie was produced between 1932 to the early 1940s. I needed to check in with Sol to see if she had found anything to support this claim. I had sent Sol the colored frame, and that led her on a journey through the New York Public Library archives, and discovered a lead that cracked the case wide open.
The first thing I did to try and solve this was to take the colorized image (Figure 1) and upload it to Google Search and Pinterest to find related images. On Pinterest, I discovered an image of a woman wearing a similar hat (Figure 2). Clicking on this took me to the New York Public Library archives where I found many more images of fashion and collectibles of the Trylon and Perisphere structures at the 1939 World's Fair in New York (Figure 3 - 7). I began to search for any references to the fair in pop culture, hoping it would bring me closer to the answer, but no luck.
Sol Lopez
While we didn’t find the film, we were convinced that this movie had to have been made in 1939 or was very closely related to the 1939 World’s Fair. The Trylon and Perisphere hat design was an exact match. So we began scouring through hundreds of films produced in 1939, coming up with false leads, and yet again, Sol stumbled upon the answer…
The actress with the hat is Penny Singleton and those 9-frames came from the final scene in Blondie Takes A Vacation released in 1939 the same year as the World's Fair. However, no mention of the World’s Fair. The last part of this mystery, where did this hat come from?
The answer is right in the credits, Robert Kalloch. Kalloch was a fashion designer turned costume designer for Columbia Pictures and MGM during the 1930s and 40s. His distinct hat and dress styles set fashion trends in America. By the 1930s, Kalloch was one of America’s most influential fashion designers. While neither Sol nor I could find any references to Kalloch and his connection to the World’s Fair, the line work in this uncredited drawing of a Trylon and Perishpere hat is suspiciously similar to Kalloch’s other fashion drawings.
What Is That?!
Thanks for joining me this week on another crazy mystery, we had a fun time playing detective. This series is called What Is That?! where I explore weird media formats, obscure tech, and film mysteries! If you have any film mysteries or something in the world of film that makes you say What Is That?! then feel free to drop me a line using that “Ask Us!” button. Who knows, the next post could be your idea!
Thanks for joining me for the very first post in a series I’m working on called What Is That?! where I explore weird media formats, obscure tech, and film mysteries! I hope you enjoyed this brief dive into the world of stereoscopic photography! If you have any film mysteries or something in the world of film that makes you say What Is That?! then feel free to drop me a line using that “Ask Us!” button. Who knows, the next post could be your idea!
