When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose (1983) - full transcript

- Well, it was a big dark room.

That was the first thing.

You walked into
this big dark room,

and then there was always the
whir of fans in the ceiling

to keep the people cool.

Then after a while, if the
musicians weren't ready,

you heard the whir
of the movie machine,

and that was up back of us,

projecting the
picture on the front.

The musicians wouldn't
start until you saw

that the action of the
projection machine was starting.



(piano music)
(projector chattering)

So, if the musicians rested
for a bit and didn't play,

then you heard the machine.

And that was also lovely.

It was all part of it.

People weren't really fussy.

They just wanted
background music.

- [Stephen] I see.

- And something very
sweet at the beginning,

I could give it
something like ...

(slow piano music)

Then it gets more exciting.

Then of course I
have to match that.

(upbeat piano music)



- Would you have played
just for the movie?

Or would there have been
a stage show sometimes

connected with your ...

- Oh, yes.

- Could you tell me about that?

- Of course.

In River Falls,
when we played there

they had a billing of
a magician between acts

and he was going to read minds

and we had to play some
music before he came on.

Of course, he swept
in onto the stage

with this long oriental garb

and looking as it
he could just tell

what everybody what
thinking about.

- I sort of have an idea
that somebody came from away

and just said, now, it's a
good way to advertise Wausau.

I don't know that that's true.

But I just have an
idea that that was it

and they picked out, I think,
probably wherever they went,

people had to pay for
being in it, you know.

- I still don't
know how he did it,

but he would pick out what
somebody was expecting

a letter in the mail that
day, or they had got a letter.

- Yeah, well, I heard
quite a bit of it

in the letters you wrote to me
and everything describing it.

Now, I'll read this
heading on here,

the Wausau Show In
Moving Pictures.

"Wausau is to be filmed.

"A contract has been made

"for a set of
films of this city,

"showing in pictures its growth,

"development, and industries."

- Yes, that was exactly
what they had done.

And it was that type of
thing, so, of course,

then we would have
something oriental perhaps.

(oriental piano music)

- "The operators will
be here in a short time

"and the city with
will be furnished

"with considerable
excitement during their stay,

"where they will take some
unusual and unique pictures."

- Incidentally, his
name was Mirage.

He was billed as a Mirage.

- [Stephen] So really,
there were no silent films.

You always had music
to go with them?

- Oh yes, yes, it was
quite a noisy affair.

Yes, it was very much of
a sound effect thing, too.

- [Stephen] And then you had--

- And the show on the stage.

And of course, some of
those were musicians

and played their own music.

The type of, well,
this type of thing.

- [Stephen] Well that
song, and your memories,

date from the earliest days
of the silent motion picture.

- Oh yes, 1914, it says.

Youngsters, I was a youngster,

thought she was pretty nice

and we were all going to
be stars like she was.

If somebody asked, "What
are you going to be

"when you grow up?"

Oh, I want to be a star,
like Mary Pickford.

(lively piano music)

- I don't think any of us felt

that we really had to
be actresses in it.

We just thought we
were going to be

advertising the town. (laughs)

(lively piano music)

- Well, they were, she was
a very good friend of mine.

She was born here,
too, in Wausau.

I had a surprise when
she decided to do this

'cause she was sort of,

not shy, but,

they were married,
you see, she and Hans,

I think in 1913.

- [Stephen] So they
had just been married?

- Yeah.

In fact, she wore her
wedding dress and all.

I can remember seeing
them coming down

out of the Yawkey Hall,

that's where she was
supposed to live,

and Mr. Jones was her
father, G.D. Jones.

- And of course, we
think our father,

was Wausau, so when you
asked us over the phone

"How did your father happen
to be in on the action,"

and what was going on,

we just had to look at
each other and laugh.

- Everybody liked him.

He didn't try to be
somebody socially,

but he just was liked, socially,

because he was
friendly to everybody,

and interested in them.

- He was a lawyer
for Weyerhaeuser

and a lot of places
not in Wausau.

He wasn't dependent on Wausau,

but he loved it and he
loved that Wisconsin River,

and he, I suppose you might say,

was somewhat of a
promoter for anything

that he really was crazy about.

- 1914, oh.

(bubbly piano music)

- [Stephen] Sympathy,
what did that sound like?

- Oh, loved it.

Rudolph (drowned out
by upbeat piano music).

Oh, that was one
of my favorites.

Just like ...

("When You Wore a Tulip
and I Wore a Big Red Rose")

Here it is.

There we have it.

("When You Wore A Tulip
And I Wore A Big Red Rose")

And they played
classical things.

You know, for the movie.

Something like this, dripping
willows over a pool or a pond.

Like this.

(serene piano music)

- [Logger] Well, I'm sure
different people know about it,

but still, there's the
knack of getting it out.

There's a lot of
headaches involved

and still, it's a
lot of hard work.

Darn hard work.

(lively piano music)
(indistinct conversation)

- Then, of course,
there was such

a thing as sentimental playing.

You know, everything
was very sentimental

and you could get that by

different inflections
in your music.

- [Stephen] Can you
give an example?

(dramatic piano music)

- I often wonder what it was
really like in this country,

if I can find this much
that was left behind.

I woulda liked to seen what
was being put down this river.

I can't visualize 200
million feet of logs

comin' down a river at one time.

- [Voiceover] Here's
a pretty big one.

- Keep 'em lined up with
the same pulling line.

- You have to be somewhat
of a sentimentalist,

I think, to play for a movie.

- Got a nice pine on here now.

Dandy.

The pine is the
more trustworthy.

Out of maybe 100 logs,

I can pull up 99 pine,
and they're all good.

And out of 100, I
can pull up maybe

maybe 50 hemlock, and
they're not all good.

For some reason or another,

they don't have
the pitch in them,

and underwater, they don't
stay preserved as well.

- [Stephen] How
long do you think

this has been in the water?

- Well, this log
has been sawed off.

So, the latest it
could be in the river

is anywheres from
1876 till the present.

1876 to 1904.

- [Stephen] Why 1904?

- Because that's about
when they stopped logging

on the Wisconsin River, in 1904.

It was the last year
of their log drives.

So the logs would
have to be in here,

at the minimum from 1904.

- Yeah, well, where
do you want to begin?

- [Stephen] Why don't we begin,

I ask you what you
got to show me?

- Alright.

- You invited me over
here to show me something.

If you can pick it up and
we can take a look at it.

Why, we could put it
up on the counter here

and see what it is.

So, you're sort of cleaning
up after the lumberjacks,

then, what they've left?

- Yeah, it's amazing.

The lumber barons all
became millionaires

and for 20 years,
I've been pulling out

what they left behind.

- Well, this is the original
print of The Lumberjack.

Or, a copy of the original
print of The Lumberjack.

- [Stephen] Certain
exactly what we have here?

We can read a couple
of the labels here.

I'm kind of curious
to what they--

- [Robert] Look for the date.

That's one, is there
a date at all on it?

- [Stephen] There's a caution.

"Do Not Drop."

Let's see.

"Keep Cool, Flammable."

This must be a 35
millimeter, then.

- This was the 35
millimeter surviving copy,

which was stored in the
vault at the Wausau theater

until Frank Welter, who
had been the manager,

and was a close friend
of my father's, died.

And at that time,

it was moved to the
Employer's Mutuals,

and stored in my father's,

in the closet off
my father's office.

He was then president
of the company.

- So this would probably be,
if this is an original copy,

this would have
been 1914, maybe?

And then, you think
that the film was stored

at the Grand Theater
here in Wausau?

- I do know that it was in
the theater in the late 20s

because there was
a private showing

and I was ordered to attend.

I was going to junior
high school at the time.

- [Stephen] Who
ordered you to attend?

- My parents.

No one else ordered
me around. (laughs)

- Well, maybe you better
explain the connection

of your parents to
this movie, then?

- Well, Mother and
Dad, of course,

were the hero and heroine
in The Lumberjack.

They were the patsies when

the traveling movie
people came to Wausau

and convinced someone
in the community

they needed some publicity.

- Well, Hans was a, he
hadn't been here too long.

I think probably
three or four years.

- [Stephen] Well, he was
just starting out with the

Employer's Mutual Company.

- That's right, that's right.

And he certainly made good,

but you could just tell
that he would. (laughs)

- They probably
approached him first

and made him feel
he ought to do it.

And he persuaded Helen.

- Oh, he would have to
persuade Mrs. Hagge?

- I think so.

- I can imagine
that would be true,

because she had a
stubborn nature.

She had a, you know,
a mind of her own.

And she did or she didn't do

what she thought she should do.

- I had never heard much
about it from my family.

But,

I know they were the
hero and the heroine

because I've seen the movie.

- In fact, it was sort
of hard to even see it.

I remember they, I
think they showed it at,

was the Grand here then?

I guess it was.

- [Stephen] The Majestic.

- Was that where they showed it?

The Majestic?

- That was on third
street, wasn't it?

Oh, in the Majestic.

Well, I wasn't in Wausau
when this was done.

I was just out of
Vassar College.

I graduated from Vassar in 1914

and went on a house
party immediately

and so, and I had forgotten
how long it lasted,

but apparently, till
after this was over.

I really didn't hear much
about this when we got back.

Now, maybe some people that,

who weren't in it, feelings
were hurt and didn't talk

and other people thought
they shouldn't talk.

I don't know.

Very peculiar.

I heard, of course,
about the granite works.

- Why, I don't think they were
doing anything real special.

Dad didn't talk much about that,

but he didn't feel
good about it.

He said he told us all,
they could take pictures,

but they should find some
shelter, or, you know,

'cause you never know
what's gonna happen,

you know, when you
make a blast like that.

- Those people that
were in that movie

knew about it and
told us about it

and Father spoke of
it in a sober way

when he came to dinner

and indicated that a
tragedy had occurred

and that it was very sad.

- Minor.

Anything that was minor was sad,

So then I'd go into minor.

- He didn't let it
(sad piano music)

make him feel that
anybody should be
strictly blamed for it,

that it was a
mistake of some sort

that was a very
unfortunate event

and that it was terrible
that it had happened

in the middle of this picture.

- Leave it in minor.

- I think the Hagges showed
it somewhere afterwards.

But then it was damaged
somewhere or other

and sort of thought we
never would see it again.

- Now, they may have
edited it before this

late 20s showing,
in which I think

a number of the people
who were involved

were invited to a 4:00
meeting at the Grand Theater.

I, too, was invited,
but I got there late

and as I remember,

my idea of a movie
was Take Town Mix,

or something like Hood Gibson

and this was pretty dull

and I was very unimpressed.

- [Stephen] Perhaps
not quite as polished

as the Hollywood
productions you were seeing.

- Spoiled, it spoiled
a good afternoon

of playtime after school.

- I couldn't call it
much of a business.

It is a hobby.

More or less a hobby.

It's interesting to me.

I'm interested in what
I find in the river.

Pine, hemlock, tamarack,

find the stamps on
the end of the logs.

Sometimes check on a date,

see how far they go back.

Each company had
their own stamps

and each company
owned their own logs.

So, they stamped 'em accordingly

that when they floated 'em
in the spring of the year,

that there was no fights
between the different companies,

who owned what.

Each had his own brand.

There was the Alexander
Mills, Brooks and Ross,

Plummer Mills,

Stone Lumber Company.

There were various ones just
in this particular area.

But these logs were floated,

well, probably from the
Michigan line, some of them,

all the way down,

Steven's Point,
through that area.

- [Stephen] So, they've
traveled a lot of miles

in a lot of years.

- Oh yeah, they've traveled

a lot of places already.

- Dad died in '59 and it
was taken from his office,

where it had been since '46

and it's been
sitting in this room

in the very spot
where I picked it from

since we moved in here
in January of 1965.

- I probably would
watch a few bars,

you know, the picture first,

then when I caught the
emotion or the mood of it,

then I would start.

And it really wasn't too
important if it was exactly,

but you can tell.

There's a mood to each picture.

- When you had this
stored over at the,

your father's office.

How about something mysterious?

- Oh.

- [Stephen] Would mystery
have its own sound?

- Minor again.

(mysterious piano music)

- You said it was
in a special place

at the old Employer's
Insurance building.

- Originally, it
was put in the vault

on the first ground
floor of the,

what is now City Hall.

I think that they
felt that that was

the relatively
fire resistant room

and if it exploded--
(dramatic piano chord)

as the warnings
tell you it might,

not much damage would occur.

- You had to put the
audience in the mood.

Course, they were pretty
much in the mood anyway,

watching the picture.

But you were to
reinforce that emotion.

- Well, most movies
in 35 millimeter

prior to 1950 were
printed on what's called

nitrocellulose.

If this is,

nitrocellulose film stock?

- Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that film--

- [Stephen] Explain
what it is first.

- You could look at it on a
hot day and it would explode.

It was terrible stuff

and it didn't keep
very well, either.

The motion and all would
deteriorate very quickly,

so, they're very fragile,
and they were very poor

all the way around.

Awful, poor stuff, you know.

Didn't take much
to set it afire.

- I've never opened it.

I've never been curious
enough to see what's in there.

- Okay, now that
he pulled 'em out,

I'll truck 'em outta here.

I'll get a big truck.

I'll take 'em up to my sawmill

and start sawing
them into lumber.

- [Stephen] And logs that
have been under the water for

70, 75, 80 years,

you can use 'em for lumber?

- Yeah, I can use
'em for lumber.

Because anything that the
air can't get to can't rot.

They can become water soaked,

but as far as really rotting?

No, they can't.

They're under water, the
air can't get to 'em.

You have to have the
air to decay things.

So, they're in a perfect
state of preservation.

- [Stephen] Things
like this are,

I think I have some
problems with deterioration.

- It's a miracle
that it survived.

What little is left in there,

it's a miracle that
the case is still here.

'Cept it is just kinda pretty.

- Even these logs here today,

not many people could afford
to buy the lumber out of 'em.

A lot of this stuff
is clear pine,

not a knock in it
in 16 to 24 feet.

You've heard of knotty pine.

Well, that would be
just the opposite.

No knots, clear,
number one select.

- [Stephen] That's part of
the same tree that built

houses in Wausau 70,
80, 90 years ago?

- Undoubtedly. (laughs)

Undoubtedly.

- [Stephen] Well, would
you mind if we take a--

- No, open it up.

- I brought along some
gloves, so, to handle it,

I thought I would--

- Alright.

(ominous piano music)

- Sensing the danger.

(ominous piano music)

- [Stephen] I'm glad you're
confident that it's not--

- I think I'd rather stand up

and look over your shoulder

so if I have to move, I can.

- You can't just mill it out
like you would a player piano.

So I think that's one reason

they didn't call
in player pianos.

It had to be a certain amount
of emotion from the player.

You had to give this
sentimental quality,

this exciting quality.

You know, when there was a fire

or a horse race or something.

Then you had to apply it.

(fast-paced dramatic
piano music)

- [Robert] Well,
it looks pliable.

- [Stephen] Yeah, it looks
in very good condition,

if this is--

- [Robert] Well, no
one has played with it.

- [Stephen] My god,
look, it's tinted.

It's a tinted print.

- [Robert] Oh my god, wow.

- [Stephen] We can
do this in color.

It's green!

- [Robert] It
looks pretty tough.

- [Stephen] Do you
remember seeing

any silent movies
that were tinted?

- [Robert] No.

- Well I have,
they're beautiful.

Beautiful color effects.

You see that, Mike?

- Well, of course,
in those days,

there was no natural
photographic color,

and the path, they did
some hand coloring of film

but mostly, if you
wanted a color,

merely tinted was all you see.

Now, we found out a source
of burline and aniline dye.

Oh, it was very powerful stuff.

A teaspoon full would color
a whole tape full of water.

It was so powerful.

So we then, after we
got the film developed,

fixed, and washed,

we just put it down
in the dye, you see,

and dye the whole thing.

- I can see other tints.

Looks like red scenes.

Possibly blue scenes.

- [Robert] Probably a nightmare.

- Blue, just a little blue,
represented a night scene.

They still do that today, even.

That'd be a night scene, see,

but it'd be taken
out in the sunlight,

so it'd have the strong
shadow, don't you see,

representing the
moonlight, you know.

Strong shadows would
tell you that there

bright sunlight in the
daytime, then tint it blue,

so it'd look like
moonlight, see, at night.

- This is a real find.

Would you mind if I
clipped off a frame

from the front of
this without risking

anything else other
than the first title?

- [Robert] No, I'll
get you some shears.

- I think I have some
in my pocket here.

- [Robert] Just happened
to bring some along?

I always carry 'em with me.

- [Stephen] Okay.

- [Robert] I don't think
it'll hurt to touch it.

I can read Lumberjack.

Turn it right side up, it
turns out even clearer.

Paragon, Feature Film Company.

- The same company has
pictured Kansas City,

Topeka, Galveston, Montgomery,

Austin, New Orleans, Mobile,

and other large cities.

Well now, this
particular company,

I did not know of, but I knew
of several others, you see.

And the company my brother
and I started ourselves.

In those days, I was working
in a theater in Austin,

running a picture machine,

and my brother was
working in another one.

And over one of
these picture shows,

we had our studio,

where we built all
our equipment, set
it up to make film.

- [Stephen] What year
would this have been now?

- That was along about 1913.

12, 13, along in there.

- [Stephen] So very
close to the time

of the production of
this movie in Wausau.

- About the same
length of time, yeah.

Then several other companies

doing the same thing, you know.

- [Stephen] They weren't
exactly what we would think of

as Hollywood companies,
but small, independent.

- It was the new
thing, you know,

and everybody trying
to get in on it, see.

- I found it in a daybook,

otherwise I wouldn't
have known, 1926.

- [Stephen] This is your diary?

- Yes, diary notes.

- [Stephen] Could you explain?

- July 1926, at noon,
Mildred Smith called.

I can't remember who she was,

probably the manager
of the theater.

Called and wanted me
to play at the movies.

I consented.

Enjoyed playing, dashes.

I enjoyed playing for the show.

It was the Million Dollar Girl.

The piano is good too.

I got a dollar and a
quarter for playing.

(piano trill)

I worked with a violinist.

And they also had an
organ at this theater,

but it was a small
town as I say,

and it wasn't a terrific organ,

but she played the violin,

and of course, I had to
play what she wanted.

Then it was music and,

music that we had to read.

(animated piano music)

- I'll get this
off to California

just as soon as I can.

There's something else
I'd like to do with you

if you'd like to come in.

If you have that print,

I can find out real
fast if it's nitrate.

Okay, now if this is nitrate,

this ought to really
be like a flash powder.

I'm gonna be careful
with my fingers here.

That is nitrate.

- [Robert] Well, we got through.

We got off lucky.

- [Stephen] We got off lucky

that it's still in
such good condition.

- [Robert] No, that nobody
got hurt over the years.

That point that you clipped,

of course is in the outside.

- [Stephen] Yeah, well
we'll have to find out now.

We'll have to unroll it.

I'm going to talk to Larry Bells

over at the Grand Theater

and see if he'll let me
work in his projection room,

which is fire proof.

What kind of a career
did this lead you to

in the movies as a movie player?

- Ah, I wouldn't call it career.

I was just somebody to call
on when they needed music.

And it wasn't too
soon after that

that the sound came in.

But, I was just handy to call,

"Would you come and
play for a movie?"

So I was glad to.

(romantic piano music)

- I know that when
I'm dead and gone,

this river will still be
givin' up these kinda logs.

They're hidden all over.

Every year a new crop comes
up from ice high water.

It digs 'em out.

(dramatic piano music)

- Take her, my boy.

May you live long and prosper.

Now, that was GE Jones.

That sort of sounds like him.

And he was probably
told to say it.

- Take her, my boy.

That sounds like father.

- [Stephen] And there
he is on the left.

- Yeah, oh yeah.

That's when he decided to let
them get married after all.

- Wedding bells,
now here they come.

I wish I knew who those
little flower girls were.

They probably,

quite old now.

- [Ellen] Well, I bet these
youngsters were thrilled.

- [Hester] Now watch
these children.

Maybe--

- [Ellen] They did
very well coming back.

- [Hester] Maybe right
after the children,

we may recognize--

- That's Helen and Hans,
the bride and groom.

- That's Hans and Helen.

- [Stephen] The Hagges.

- [Ellen] Now, Catherine
Bissel was supposed to be--

- That's Catherine
Bissel, I think.

And I don't know
who she was with.

- Well, I just don't
see them that clearly.

I'm just too blind.

- [Stephen] It's
very hard to see

on this black and white print.

- Yeah.

- [Stephen] Unfortunately.

- [Hester] That
looked like Orpha.

- [Ellen] That might
have been Orpha.

- That's Orpha Collie,
and Ralph Collie.

Don't go so fast.

- I'll back it up for you.

- [Hester] Now, remind me,

who the wedding
party people were.

- [Ellen] I don't know, watch.

Watch!

He's doing his.

- [Hester] I mean tell me
their name so I can see the--

- [Stephen] Lawrence
Gilberts and Bob Evans.

- [Hester] Yeah.

- [Stephen] Ralph Collie.

And your sister Orpha Collie.

- [Hester] That's
Catherine Bissel, I think,

behind Helen Hagge.

- [Ellen] That's what I thought.

- Bissel.

- That's Catherine Bissel.

And I don't know who she's with.

But that's Orpha
and Ralph Collie.

- [Hester] You probably
realize that my sister Orpha

really was very beautiful.

- They look familiar.

That's ...

I think that's Florence Gilbert.

And the next one is

there.

- [Stephen] Let's back you up.

- [Ellen] Isn't that funny?

- [Hester] Goin' backwards is--

- [Ellen] Now you
do see them better.

- There, I think I,

There I think I am.

Oh!

- [Hester] I did, I saw--

- [Stephen] Florence
Evans there?

That's you there.

- [Florence] Yeah.

- [Stephen] And with you?

- Was my husband, my fiance,

Albert Murrell Evans,

known as Bob.

- [Stephen] And it wasn't
too long after this

that you had your own wedding.

- No, I was married
in September 1, 1915.

(upbeat piano music)

- Well, in this, as a group,

where people who had made

Wausau their life,
had been there,

lived there, and had
made it what it was.

- Hans and Helen Hagge are--

- Gone.

- And the father of
the bride, GD Jones.

- Oh yeah, long.

- Mark Scofield.

- Yeah.

- The mother of the
bride, Mrs. Bird.

- Oh yes, years ago.

- Catherine Bissel,
maid of honor.

- Uh-huh.

- In society, they were among
the high society of the town.

There weren't any people
that were higher society.

They were just people that
knew each other very well,

and who were making
good in Wassau.

- I don't imagine
they are living.

They are older than I am.

- Mr. and Mrs. Collie?

- They've both died.

- Mr. and Mrs. Fe Marshall.

- They died.

- Mr. and Mrs. Guy Gooding.

- Yes, but, yes the ones
that were in the wedding.

He married again, and
his wife is living,

but she wasn't in the wedding.

She came here from across.

- So, you are the last surviving
cast member of the movie.

- I'm the last leaf on the tree.

- [Stephen] What would
you do with your music,

say at intermission?

I presume there were--

- Oh I, that was a
nice time to play.

I don't know how
many reels they had,

but you waited until they
got it strung up or ready,

whatever they had to do.

Then we would play it.

- [Stephen] Would you see
the slides on the screen,

"Pard, excuse us while
we change the reel."

- Yes, oh ads.

I had forgotten, ads.

But your ice cream at

Rebenald's Corner
Grocery or whatever.

Great big bright colored ones.

But that would look
nice if you ...

(playful music)

Buy your ice cream here.

I liked that, that was fun.

And of course the
manager let us do

anything we want to.

We were strictly
the ones in control.

Sometimes I would strictly ...

(dramatic music)

Then this.

Or, if I want to.

(upbeat music)

The piano keyboard is yours.

- It has a nice sound.

- Okay.

(upbeat piano music)

- Pretty names, aren't they?

- Norwood, I like that.

(light-hearted piano music)

- Used to be lots of 'em.

- [Stephen] That would
be the two of them.

Do you know what building
that is back there?

- Well, that's Jones'
house up on the hill.

- That's our house, Hester.

Look at it, Hester.

- Ah yes it is.

- He was a lawyer.

He was a president
of the school board.

There's a school
here named after him,

GD Jones School.

Now, where's that
for heaven's sakes?

- [Stephen] This
is at a saw mill,

but I was wondering
if you might be able

to tell me which one.

- [Florence] Well, it must
have been Barker Stewarts.

- [Stephen] That must
be GD Jones there,

that fellow right there.

- [Florence] Yeah, it
looks like him, uh-huh.

- Well, they took his hat off?

- Oh, father without a hat on.

I remember that hat.

- Mr. Norwood, what?

This is my wife and daughter,

will you kindly show
them through the mill?

Oh, that must have
been Barker's.

Well, you see that,

that's all
advertising, isn't it?

That's pretty good.

- [Stephen] So, not
only did you play music,

but you would've
made sound effects--

- [Louise] Oh, yes, yes you
could to a certain extent.

- [Stephen] If you saw
a particular object

on the screen in the movie

and you wanted to
match or make a sound?

- [Louise] Oh,
yes, you mean like

a steam whistle or something.

- [Stephen] Yes.

- [Louise] Oh, yes, I think so.

The train is coming
to the station, okay?

(train chugging music)

Bells, that was the ...

You could always do that.

- [Stephen] How does the
train leave the station?

- [Louise] Oh, that's easier,
they just reverse the process.

(train chugging music)

- [Ellen] Here come the logs.

Journey took a strong engine.

- We just took it for granted

that logs came through
the town all the time.

- [Stephen] Well, they've
had their tour of the mill.

- [Florence] Mr.
Norwood, we would be glad

to have you call on
us in the near future.

That's a good old car.

A few nights later.

This is over at
the Yawkey house.

That beautiful garden
there, well it just,

the fountains, you
see it all there.

That's lovely.

That's Hans and
Helen sitting by.

They arrange to go
to Rothschild Park

the following Sunday.

They're gonna show 'em
everything, aren't they?

The following Sunday.

Now, that's in front of
the Yawkey home, you see.

- [Stephen] So, that must be

Hans and Helen
getting in the car.

- That was a Sunday
afternoon, I remember.

We went down and we
were in the launch,

giving the bride an groom
a ride in the launch,

with the wedding party.

It was all those dig
ole launches, you know.

- Well, my father and
mother, they wanted to see

the log rolling
contest and boat races.

He hitched up the
horse and buggie

and me and my brother,

my dad and mother
and two sisters

came down here.

- [Stephen] How old
would you have been?

- Well, I was born in
19 three, I was around

11, between 11 and 12 years old.

- At the park, they
witness the races.

Oh, I'm glad they got this.

- [Stephen] So you may have
been on one of these boats?

- We were in a big,
quite a big launch.

It might have been.

And there was a bridge

that people were standing
on, watching and--

- We was all watching it.

Had a regular
party, had ice cream

and cake and regular picnic.

- The building in
the background?

- [Florence] Uh huh.

- [Stephen] What is that?

- [Florence] That's
the pavilion.

- [Stephen] And what
did you do there?

- Well, we roller
skated and danced,

we had dances there.

And it was really a
wonderful place to go.

It was owned by the
electric company.

They were very strict about it.

No liquor or anything
could be on the premises.

- [Stephen] Were you
known to sneak it in

from time to time?

- No, oh my land, no. (laughs)

I was brought up very
strictly. (laughs)

- [Clyde] I wasn't much
for the boat racing,

but I liked to see
the log rolling.

It was a miracle the way
them guys could roll that log

and both of them stay on it

and one would jump
up in the air,

and he'd stop the log
and the other one,

he'd catch himself

and finally, one
ducked the other one.

- [Florence] Now, there were

a lot of people
sitting back there--

(Florence and Stephen
talking at once)

- Yeah, that was right
over there on the bank.

And I see when the
boats went through.

- And just as we got
under the bridge--

- Yeah, they were standing
on a bridge or something.

(piano trilling) Chattering.

- [Florence] I see them.

They're all waiting, see
there, on that bridge.

See, they're going--
(dramatic piano chord)

See them all fall
into the river?

That railing broke.

- [Stephen] I see brave
souls going in after

the ones who are down there.

- To the rescue,
I guess. (laughs)

(dramatic piano music)

- I know a lot of people
were in the water.

Some people drownded.

Kinda spoiled the
whole thing, you see.

- [Florence] There's Haas

and Helen--
(lively piano music)

Oh, they're feeding the deer.

- [Stephen] Would this have
been in the pavilion park area?

- I think so, near it.

Now there's the
Yawkey House again.

(lively piano music)

They arrange to visit Wausau's

points of interest
a few days hence.

Let's see if he,

she lives there, I'm sure.

But he didn't even walk
in with her. (laughs)

(lively piano music)

- Is that the bride again?

- [Ellen] They're
doing it altogether.

They don't--

- [Hester] Let's see if we can,

is that the church?

- [Stephen] YMCA, I believe.

- [Ellen] Oh yeah.

That looks familiar.

- [Hester] They
have a new one now.

- [Ellen] Is that a bank?

- [Florence] I think
when it was like that,

I think it was called
a German American Bank.

- [Stephen] This was 1914,
again, before the war.

- I think they changed
the name after the war.

- Because, yes, okay.

- [Florence] That's
the old post office.

- [Stephen] You know
where this was located?

- [Florence] Yeah.

Scott Street and Forest Street.

And right across from it,
now that's the Trust Company.

- [Stephen] Where the
Chamber of Commerce is now?

- [Florence] That is it,
but that used to be the,

it was built as a trust company.

That was quite nice,

the courthouse.

Too bad they tore that down.

That's the City Hall.

- [Stephen] Can you
read the sign on top?

- Well I, Work for
Wausau, probably.

- Work for Wausau.

Well, I remember that
Work for Wausau sign

was now the topic of
the day in Wausau.

Everybody was talking
about it, including Father.

And they were very
much interested

in the fact that they
had decided to have this,

that other towns
were finding ways

to advertise their
towns to the world.

But this idea of putting up
a sign, a great big sign,

was the one that they
thought of in Wausau.

And it would be a
big electric sign

and it would be made beautiful

with all kinds of
special decorations

and extra ways of having the
lights flaming and so forth

and an eagle on top

and it would be where
people coming in

from any direction
would be sure to see it,

because it was high and big

and starkingly attractive.

- Yes, I remember that,

and I remember a lot
of us didn't like it.

So, finally, they took
out some of the letters,

and had it Work for USA.

- [Stephen] That must have
been, then, a little later.

- I think it probably
was near the war.

- [Hester] But it gave people
something to think about

and do, rather than
just, isn't Wausau nice?

It gave people a feeling of
being proud of making it nice.

- But you two ladies, you
went off to college at Vassar

and you moved away.

Wausau didn't work for you, or?

- Well, life didn't ...

Nobody had any real future plan.

There wasn't women's lib,

and there was no plan for women.

They were supposed to stay home

until they finished high school,

and then get married.

And that was the general rule.

- The idea of women going
into business in any way,

that was looked
down on for women.

- But we wanted
to go to college,

and so we did that,

and we had our old
boyfriends of people

that we met through the
dances in high school,

but there weren't any of 'em

that were the type
that either one of us

particularly felt a ...

A congenial, you know, a
personal, congenial feeling for.

We liked them,
but we didn't have

a personal feeling for them.

And so, we didn't, they
didn't ask us to marry them

and we didn't expect
them to. (laughs)

- The idea was to make
at out of life yourself,

and not be dependent upon a man

or to be dependent
on getting married.

If you got married, or
riding so forth, you see.

So, it was a
different situation.

- [Stephen] Well, it
seems to ironic to me

that your father worked so hard

to keep young people in Wausau

and there was--

- Well, he didn't want
'em all to stay there,

but he didn't want
'em all to go away.

He didn't care if
some of 'em went away,

but he didn't want
'em all to go away

and the town to die.

- And there weren't
opportunities

and interesting jobs for women

and I wanted mostly to
get out and look around.

("When You Wore a Tulip
and I Wore a Big Red Rose")

- Now, that's the library.

It certainly changed.

Is that coming down
from the library?

- [Stephen] That's
a good shot of--

- [Florence] Helen
and Hans, yeah.

Well, that's the
Keebler factory.

Sash and Door factory, and--

- [Stephen] Curtis?

- Or, is that Curtis?

Maybe it's Curtis.

Is the same kind of a factory.

- [Stephen] And this
be Underwood Veneer.

Where were they located,
do you remember?

- They were over
on the west side,

over near where
Conner's are now.

Not many people could
give all this history.

(laughing)

- [Stephen] Now, they're gonna

take a look at the
city, I believe.

See those in the background?

It's sort of a pan of the river

to ...

- [Florence] That's
the saw mill.

- [Stephen] Yeah, it
would be a lumber mill

on Washington Street.

- That's probably the
Alexander Stewart Saw Mill.

And there's the Big Bull Falls.

- [Ellen] The very famous falls.

Believe me, they were
called Big Bull Falls.

- Yeah, Father just
loved that river.

And when I was a little girl,

he used to take me
on his handlebars

every Sunday morning and
we drove across the river

and we stopped on the
bridge and looked over

and he had a little
thing he always said.

"Hello, river."

And then I used to
say, "Hello, river."

It was a lovely river.

(lively piano music)

- [Ellen] The Country Club.

And that, too, was different.

Where are they rushing?

I don't know who all
they had playing golf.

But people were wearing long
dresses down to the ground

to play golf?

Well, now, no, they're
doing something different.

- [Stephen] That's
a great touring car.

Do you know who owned that?

- [Florence] No, mine
was just a sport model.

I did have a car.

- [Stephen] There must
not have been many cars

in the city at that time.

- No, I think I was the first

woman driver in
the city. (laughs)

- [Stephen] No kidding?

- (laughs) My
father gave it to me

'cause he didn't want
me to go to college.

Didn't want me to spend
four years away from home.

- [Stephen] So, he gave you
a car to race around Wausau

instead of going to college?

- That took him a
lot of heirs, too.

I had a Cadillac
sports model. (laughs)

I wish you could see it.

(lively piano music)

They plan to visit her
brother's granite plant.

That's where this
man gets killed,

hit by a piece of
granite that they

were blasting.

- Were you out at this location?

- No.

They didn't take us out
on all these things.

- [Stephen] But you
heard about it going

and what had happened?

- Yes, everybody
was upset already,

about him being killed.

(ominous piano music)

- [Stephen] Do you
remember what happened?

- I remember that
very distinctly,

when that happened that day.

- [Stephen] How did
you learn about it?

- [Louise] Through my brother.

And all these guys.

You know, they all stopped
at our house to eat.

- [Stephen] Now, all these
men worked with your brother,

out at the quarry.

- With my brother at the quarry

and they boarded
it at our house.

That's my brother,
Herman Weinkauf.

He was the one that didn't
want that shadow blast

because he was afraid
those loose stones

might strike him,

strike some of 'em.

- [Stephen] Do you
remember very clearly

about how the quarry
looked about 1914?

- Oh, yes.

I remember it real well.

- [Stephen] You must
have gone out there.

- Oh yes, we used to to
out there to pick berries.

There were oodles
of red raspberries

and in that deep hole,
about 85 feet deep,

they claimed it for us.

I don't know if it
was that deep or not,

- [Vernon] I've been
lookin' in the house at home

and thought we had more pictures

of Dad and the quarry.

I haven't found 'em yet.

- I would guess it was a
little bit different than now.

- Yeah, it was different.

There were five derricks,

four or five
derricks around here,

but wooden.

Masts and booms.

(somber piano music)

And there probably were

14, 15 men working
here all the time.

- [Stephen] Do you have any idea

what some of the
stone was used for,

back say around World War
I or a little bit before?

- Well, a lot of it
was for building,

like the old courthouse.

The Plumer building.

That had a lot of granite in it.

That's torn down now, too.

- [Stephen] I would guess
this was not easy work.

- No, it wasn't.

'Cause everything was done by

a slower method
than they have now.

Drilled lots of these stones
by hand like I showed you

with a hammer and a drill,
and stroke 'em with wedges.

And they had steam hoists here,

instead of gas motors
or diesel motors.

- [Stephen] Did you
ever see the movie

that they made up here
at the quarry then?

It was shown down in Wausau.

- That I never saw.

- I think we asked him.

He never said much about it.

Dad was a,

I don't know, he was all quiet
about something like that.

Didn't say too much.

- [Stephen] Well, I
imagine he was pretty upset

about what happened.

- Yeah, he was, he was.

He was one that
said to the fellow

seek some shelter before
he took the picture.

And they thought it'd be
alright, but it wasn't.

He got, he was killed.

To me, I don't even
know the man's name.

You said you know it.

- [Stephen] Well,
you aunt remembered.

- [Louise] Normenthal?

- [Stephen] Rosenthal?

- Oh, Rosenthal, yeah, yeah.

He came out to
take the pictures.

- [Stephen] Well, I
have some pictures here.

- Yeah.

- [Stephen] I'm wondering
if you could look at that

and tell me if either
of those pictures

could have been
taken on that day

when they were making the movies

our at your father, or
your brother's quarry.

- [Louise] I don't
recognize him.

- [Stephen] Does
that look like it

might have been the quarry?

- It looks that way.

It looks could, that could be.

- [Vernon] Well, it
could have been, mmm-hmm.

Is that the guy that got killed?

- [Stephen] No, it was a
friend of his that got killed.

- [Vernon] Oh, a friend of his.

- [Stephen] This
was the cameraman.

- You know from what studio?

- [Stephen] Well, yeah,
they were from a studio

in Omaha, Nebraska called
Paragon Feature Film Company.

I don't suppose you've
ever heard of that?

- No, not that,
I didn't hear of,

and now I wouldn't remember it.

Well, what I can see, this
is on top of the quarry.

I know it's level there.

- It does, it looks like
it's stinkin' and old.

- [Stephen] What's the oldest
section of this quarry?

Do you remember, off hand?

- Well, I think it's back here.

That's pretty old
section there, too.

'Cause what I remember--

- [Stephen] You remember this
from a newspaper article?

About this event?

- [Louise] And I used to
save that, but I don't know.

I can't find it.

- [Stephen] Is this maybe
the article you had?

Can you read?

Can you read that there?

- Killed at the quarry.

See, it says, Ed Rosenthal,
secretary and treasurer

of the Paragon Film company,

which is taking the
moving pictures of Wausau,

was killed instantly
this afternoon

at the Wienkauf quarry,
northeast of this city.

He was watching a blast
explode and a piece of rock

struck him in the heart,
causing instant death.

He was about 62 years old,

and his home was
at Topeka, Kansas.

All in there.

- [Stephen] That's
what you remembered

what happened, hmm?

- [Louise] Mm-hmm.

That's what I remember.

And I remem-, I can picture him.

He wanted those pictures.

And he wanted to make
it a shallow blast,

only so that the stones
would fly, you see.

- [Stephen] What
kind of stone was it?

- [Louise] Red granite.

- [Stephen] Do you know
what they used it for?

- [Louise] Monuments,

mostly monuments.

(piano playing funeral march)

- [Stephen] Well, did Mrs.
Hagge talk to you about this?

- Well, they all came.

I think they felt almost
like ending the picture,

because they were all
so upset about it.

But they went on.

They hadn't been
married, you see.

(somber piano music)

(dramatic piano music)

(marriage march music)

(dramatic piano music)

- When our hero, Jack Norwood,

returned with his bride,

he might have
expected to inherit

his father-in-law's saw mill.

("When You Wore a Tulip
and I Wore a Big Red Rose")

The saw mill that was
featured in our hero's romance

was Wausau's very real

Barker and Stewart
Lumber Company.

On September 22, 1914,

during the same week as the
Lumberjack's Wausau premier,

the Barker Stewart Lumber
Company sawed its last log.

But the role of our hero

was played by Mr. Hans Hagge,

and in 1914, Hans Hagge
was the general manager

of a newly formed, Wausau
based insurance company.

Had the 1914 filmmaker's
moved their camera

just slightly to the right,

they would have
photographed the building

that has become Wausau's
most familiar landmark.

(upbeat electric music)

Hans Hagge became president
and chairman of the board

of the Employers Mutuals,

now called the Wausau
Insurance Companies.

And what became of the
makers of The Lumberjack,

the Paragon Feature
Film Company?

Well, according to the
moving picture world,

which was a trade journal
for movies of the era,

the Paragon Company
was just one of many

small film companies
traveling from town to town,

producing what were
called home talent movies.

Now that same journal
reported that in July of 1915,

a year after the making
of The Lumberjack,

the Paragon Company was working
in Springfield, Illinois.

Now, their work there was seen

by one Springfield resident

who was especially fascinated

by the new moving
picture business.

He was the poet, Vachel Lindsay.

Lindsay's book, The Art
Of The Moving Picture,

was first published in 1915,

and in it, he does mention
the home talent movie

that was made in his hometown.

"Springfield dressed its best
and acted with fair skill.

"However, The Mine
Owner's Daughter was,

"at best, a mediocre photoplay."

The Paragon Feature Film Company

went out of business in 1917.

The bizarre death of
Paragon's secretary treasurer,

Edward Rosenthal, makes
it possible for us

to know the names of all the men

who made The Lumberjack.

Edward Rosenthal's
death certificate

was signed by O.W. Lamb.

Oliver William Lamb
directed The Lumberjack.

Rosenthal had come to Wausau

in order to watch his film crew

make the final
scenes of the movie.

Together, they were
to travel to Chicago

for the wedding of the
Paragon Company cameraman.

That cameraman,
William Lou Gullett,

was married in Chicago,

three days after Edward
Rosenthal's death.

The record of cameraman
Gullett's marriage

led me to his adopted daughter.

She sent me the pictures
of her adoptive father,

which may have been
taken at the site

of the granite quarry accident.

The Paragon filmmakers
are all long dead.

But they survive
in The Lumberjack.

And by that I mean, they are
literally in their own movie.

Now, they're not easy to see,

but Miss Hester Jones told
me where to look for them.

- It was on the
side of the hill,

was called East Hill,

that Wausau itself was
down in a kind of a valley

where the river went through.

And on the side of this hill,

there were two houses
that father spotted

and he picked that spot,

and he moved those houses

and then he built
his dream house

and that's what he wanted.

That house that was
moved off and below

made a lawn and it
was a beautiful lawn

from the upper house all
the way down to the street.

Some friends of ours
sent us a globe,

which wasn't particularly
our type of ornament,

but it was a nice thing to have

and on that big lawn,
it looked alright.

And here was this
big, mirror globe.

- And there they must be.

Oliver Lamb
directing the actors.

Lou Gullett at his camera.

And perhaps Edward Rosenthal.

All of them, making
and remaking forever.

The first scene
of The Lumberjack.

- No, it's really no different

than any other lumber,
only that it's wet.

I pile it like any other
lumber 'til it's dry.

It's hard to find
a better lumber,

especially when you can get
it for just a little work.

- But, I do know where
it's been since 1946.

But, where it was between the
time that the film was made

and the Grand Theater
opened in '28, I don't know.

- [Stephen] Do any of
your own movies survive

from 1913, 1914?

- I don't know.

We had a world of film negative,
and all kinds of stuff,

experimental stuff.

And it was just tossed in a box.

Nobody thought
anything about it,

might be worth anything
in the future, you know.

We didn't know those things.

Never thought about 'em.

- [Stephen] When did you come
into this scene in Wausau?

- [Florence] Well, I
came in, some time ago.

- Would you be willing
to tell us when?

- Sure, I came in June 19, 1891.

- [Stephen] Well, you
would have been how old?

- Well, let me see, 19--

- [Stephen] About 23?

- Well, you'll have
to figure that out.

- Now, that's
right, that's right.

And after you say it,

then I remember
that it was a rags.

That's right, I
was born in 1886.

- [Stephen] Did
you father ever see

the film that they
shot out here?

- No, but he never brought any
more film takers out there,

I don't think.

- [Stephen] I wonder
what he'd think about us

being out here right now?

- I don't know.

- And all at once, all
the people in the water.

And you couldn't get down here.

They, the cops kept the
crowd back, you know.

He said, "There's too many
of them down there now."

- And I had forgotten
that ladies wore those

big brimmed decorated
hats like that around

for going around town.

- None of these people
had been in a movie,

or anything like this before,

and I think they're doing
very well, don't you?

- [Hester] Why sure, they
look like real actors.

- Of course, the
motions on the screen

were so abrupt.

Filming, the photograph, I
suppose made it that way.

They were choppy.

Charlie Chaplin's
motions were staccato.

And so of course,
the music could fit.

That was easy.

(staccato piano music)

He falls down.

(staccato piano music)

You can take any
melody and lend it

to whatever it's supposed to be.

When I was teaching,

I played for marching in school.

The kids marched out of school.

(lively piano music)

And so on.

And then we had a new teacher

who was strictly popular music,

and she played strictly by ear,

had had her own stylizing.

So when she played
it, it was like this.

(upbeat piano music)

So, there you have, it's style.

- [Stephen] I see, you
had to feel it yourself.

- That's right, you did.

I just don't see how
anyone could play

for movies unless you did.

Have to be sort of a harp
in the wind, you know?

Emotions swing you to play.

(playful piano music)