This film is from a collection of home movies filmed by the family of Michael Holman, an important figure in the history of hip hop. The collection predominately contains family vacation footage shot when Holman's father, Lt. Thomas Holman, was stationed in Europe with the US Army. Most of the footage was captured by Holman's grandmother, Pauline Thompson Wood. In addition to the European vacation films, the footage shot by Pauline Wood documents her involvement with the Baha'i Faith and includes footage of Baha'i events and pilgrimages to holy sites in Israel and Palestine. There is also footage of the family at home in San Francisco and other sites in California.
Description:
This film is from a collection of home movies filmed by the family of Michael Holman, an important figure in the history of hip hop. It consists of a single reel of 8mm silent acetate film with color (a), an original plastic film reel (b) and an original cardboard film box (c).
The film begins with several shots depicting Twann (Douanne), Switzerland. These are followed by shots of mountains taken from a moving vehicle. Next, there is a series of shots of street scenes in at least one unidentified town in Germany, as well as several street scenes in Heidelberg. A quick shot of three women walking together shows Pauline Thompson Wood on the left wearing a grey coat with toggles and Alice Holman in the middle wearing a grey jacket and white gloves. This shot precedes several shots of an unidentified historic building. This is followed by wide shots from a high vantage point overlooking an unidentified town along a river. Street scenes in France are shown before the camera depicts an American soldier speaking with a French local. Next, several shots show American military families at a train station with their luggage. Thomas Holman is wearing a military uniform and stands to the right of Alice Holman, who is wearing a beige overcoat as they prepare to board the train. The next shot shows Michael Holman and Linda Holman with their parents on the platform. Michael is wearing a red cap and Linda Holman is wearing a beige coat. This is f followed by shots of the families sitting in front of a bar, and Linda Holman standing on the steps of the bar wearing a blue sweater and holding her coat. In one of the shots, the Holman children hold hands with a friend and pose for the camera. Michael Holman stands on the left wearing a black and white striped sweater and Linda Holman stands on the right wearing a red sweater. The subsequent shots depict American soldiers embarking on a ship in Livorno (Leghorn), Italy, as well as several shots on the ship. The film concludes with shots of an unidentified womanAlice Holman wearing a white headscarf and beige overcoat, smiling at the camera on the deck of a ship.
The standard yellow Kodak 8mm film box (c) that accompanies the film features handwritten mailing addresses for processing film in Europe.
