A Short History of Holmes' Film Work

The Early Years Burton Holmes had already been giving travel lectures for four years when he began to investigate the new moving picture technologies that were being developed in Europe and America. By the mid-1890's Edison and the Lumière brothers had demonstrated films to the public. But their equipment was all hand-built, and you couldn't just walk into the retail store and buy a movie camera.

Burton Holmes and Herford T. Cowling, Japan, 1917 © BHHC; All Rights Reserved

Holmes was a serious and capable photographer; his first real job had been as clerk in a camera store. He knew who was developing the neatest technologies, and in 1897 sent his cameraman and associate Oscar Depue to Paris to buy a camera from Léon Gaumont. [Click here for more information on the development of early cinema.]

Thayer Soule, in On the Road with Travelogues, wrote, "In 1897 Holmes introduced the first travel movies, not part of the show, but presented afterward, as a novelty. The first were 25-second sequences that had no connection with the subject of the show, or with each other: A police parade in Chicago, the Omaha fire department responding to an alarm, or Neapolitans consuming spaghetti. They were black and white, of course, but created a sensation. In charge of this new department was Oscar Depue, an inspired technician, who became Holmes' partner.

"Their first camera was a bulky French contraption that used film 60mm wide, fed unperforated into the camera. The camera, operated by a hand crank, perforated the film as it went through, sending a shower of confetti-like bits out the side. For projection, the camera gate and sprocket assembly were transferred to the projector to insure proper registration. A carbide lamp provided the illumination. Its white, hot flame was dangerously close to the film, which was cellulose nitrate, hightly exposive. Foamed off loose into a barrel, it presented a perfect opportunity for an expolsion. In later years both men marveled they hadn't blown themselves up! Holmes, even half a century later, carried in his wallet a short piece of that first 60mm film. When Vistavision, Cinemascope, and Todd-AO came along with their huge screens, people marveled at the width of the film, almost double the standard 35mm.

"'You mean,' BH would say, handing them that strip of film, 'something like this?'

"'That's it. Just like that. Boy, this new film is terrific.'

"BH would smile. 'We used this back in 1897,' he said."

Soule goes on to add, "In 1902 Holmes switched to the new standard 35mm film. He used it for the next 38 years, with a safer, more efficient arc light. Oscar found a way to 'paste the films together,' as he put it, making possible longer sequences. He was the first to spool film onto reels, safer and more convenient than bins of loose footage. The film was still highly explosive, but the risk was significantly reduced. He went on to head the Burton Holmes Films laboratory in Chicago. The big sign on the water tank of their Ashland Avenue plant was a familiar sight to three generations of passengers on the elevated system. He also developed the Depue multiple sound and picture printer. It became a standard in the industy, and remained so for 40 years."

One of Holmes' early films, for the 1899-1900 season, was "Moki Land," of Native American peoples in Arizona. [Still photographs from this trip can be found in Volume 6 of his Travelogues.] Jeremy Rowe, writing in "A Photographic History of Arizona 1850 - 1920," says: "Motion picture cameras documented the Snake Dance at Walpi as early as 1899 when Oscar Depue visited the Hopi pueblo. Depue presented one of the first motion picture shows at a trading post in Canyon Diablo during a second trip to the area in 1900." [See his Photographers in Arizona 1850-1920: A History & Directory for more information on early photography in Arizona.]

George C "Professor" Hall's website on silent movies has a page on Holmes' and Depue's 1898/9 films in Arizona, with stills from the "Rattlesnake Jack" segment.

Holmes and his crew used 60mm films to supplement his slide-illustrated lectures for the next several years, switching to 35mm film for the 1902/03 season. See the full list of Lectures and Travelogues, by year, elsewhere on this site for more details on what was shown.

Holmes with some his films, circa 1950. Used by permission; all rights reserved

In the late 1970's a complete listing of all the films then still extant in the BHI archive was compiled by Bill Cartwright, Scott Goren, and Genoa Caldwell. Of particular interest was a 45-minute (1600 feet) promotional film "The Burton Holmes Story," which included short segments of some of his earliest film footage, including:

1897: USA: Chicago police; Omaha fire department
1897: England: London street scenes; Queen Victoria
1898: Philippines
1898: Hawaii: Hula girls
1900: Paris: Street scenes; Cafe de la Paix
1901: Russia: Tolstoy; Moscow; St. Petersburg and the Czar; Trans-Siberian Railroad
1901: China: Peking; street and river scenes
1901: Korea: Seoul street scenes; dancers; Inchon bay [long segment]

In addition to the short segments in this compilation film, there were other reels with more of the original footage (possibly remastered onto 35mm nitrate stock) from these same expeditions. There is also footage from New York City and Japan in 1900, and a very short segment listed as "Hopi Indians" and dated 1903, which may actually be based on film shot in 1898 and repackaged for the 1903/04 lecture season.

How much of this film survives today is anyone's guess. A large quantity of archived films turned up in 2004, where it had been sitting patiently for more than twenty years. These films are now at the film museum at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Some are in very bad condition and need restoration as soon as possible; money is an issue. For more on the discovery of the films in 2004 see the press release and our pictures of the films in temporary storage.

Burton Holmes at work in the Philippines, 1898
© BHHC; All Rights Reserved

The Classic Period: 1902 to 1940

In 1902 Holmes obtained the first of his many 35mm movie cameras, and immediately put it to use. By 1905 he and Oscar Depue had dozens of short film segments from their travels. Some of these still exist, in the rediscovered film archive; but many of them exist now only as short paper prints at the Library of Congress. Watch this space for expanded coverage!