[Ernest G. Stillman--home movies] Reel 6

Date1947

Viewing Notes[Note: Reel 6 same as Reel 13. karan sheldon, 13 August 2013] Can note: 'Maine Thrillers, travel. Maine, Thunder Hole, Fire before and after fishing, by EGS.' color // Sign for Thunder Hole at Acadia National Park. Shots of rocky coastline at Acadia. Title card: ìAlong Ocean drive.î More shots of ocean from rocky coast. Dirt at top of frame. MDI road with cars, view of Sand Beach in distance. Sign for Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory for Research in Cancer and Genetics. Footage of 1947 forest fire on Mount Desert Island. Smoke on horizon. Shots of burned woodland area and heavy smoke in forest. Intertitle: îThe fire at its height.î Massive flames on hillside and dense smoke. Title card: ìThe Next Summer.î Construction work at Jackson Lab. Pan of lab area and burned, leafless trees on hillside. Title card: ìBut the fishermen were not harmed.î Man hauling wooden lobster traps onto boat. Extended sequence of boat, calm water, two lobster traps on side of boat. Fish in net. Man in captains hat, kneeling, cutting up fish on dock. From a barrel, line with hooks and bait attached is let out behind moving boat. Man uses stick to keep line unspooling behind boat. Schooner. Wheel on side of boat, man hauls handline up barehanded, pulls in flounder. Lets skate go. Shot of flounder on dock and man cleaning flounder. (or haddock?) Title card: ìJigging for Mackerel.î Brief shots of men fishing with large rods on boat full of live fish. Pan of sunset with silhouetted trees. Note on "Jigging for Mackerel" intertitle and following sequence, 2/2012: Ted Ames, fisherman and historical fisheries ecology researcher, as well as co-founder of Penobscot East Resource Center, says they are tuna. He and maritime historian, Bill Leavenworth, historian, Karen Alexander and Penobscot Marine Museum Curator, Bill Fuller, also agree that this was shot in the 1950s off the West Coast." Ernest Stillman intercut footage for comic effect, see Reel 12. The dramatic tuna-catching sequence, which may have been roughly contemporaneous with the 1947 reel, is visually unlike understated Maine mackerel fishing. // NOTE: The fire footage that appears in this reel is identical to the 1947 fire footage in 1289.0005.

Creator

• Ernest G. Stillman

• Ernest G. Stillman