Dawson City Film Collection yields rare Black Sox footage

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Lzcutter
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Dawson City Film Collection yields rare Black Sox footage

Post by Lzcutter »

Back in 1978, up in Dawson City, Canada, a treasure trove of nitrate films were found buried in the permafrost of a hockey rink. Over 500 films were ultimately recovered. The old Dawson movie theater had been what they call "the end of the line" in film rentals. Back in its heyday, a bank representative was supposed to ensure that the film was properly returned at the end of the rental. But, you know, life has a way of getting in the way when you are juggling many tasks and the bank rep wasn't particularly good at that part of his job.

So, the films stayed in Dawson. Because they were nitrate based and the fears that surround nitrate stock, they were ultimately buried in the ground of what became a swimming pool.

In 1978, they were uncovered and now word comes that one of the reels is of the 1919 Series game where the Chicago White Sox threw the series to the Reds for a payoff from high stakes gambler Arnold Rothstein. The White Sox would become known as the Black Sox and eight players ultimately fessed up.

Now word comes that not only as this reel been found in the Dawson City film collection but a documentary on the Dawson collection is in the works.

Read more about it here: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories ... anada.html
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Lomm
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Re: Dawson City Film Collection yields rare Black Sox footage

Post by Lomm »

Being from the Cincinnati area I found that footage especially interesting. There is even a flyover of Redland field toward the end, an extremely rare thing for those days. Here is a YouTube clip of this find:

[youtube][/youtube]
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