Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
March 28, 1988
By David M. Buchanan
Vigo County Historical Society
Home movie captures Cox company
There is an old cliché that says: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” If that is true then a movie film should be worth as many words as may be found in any encyclopedia.
The Vigo County Historical Society recently was given a movie film--not a movie that has big-name stars, but a homemade film that was taken in Terre Haute in 1926. It was found in the upper storage rooms of the building at 222 S. Seventh St. by Paul and Jo Ann Gibbons. They gave it to the historical society. Hoosier Electronics (now located in the John S. Ox building) transferred the film to videotape, so it can be viewed without damaging the original film.
The movie was made by people from the Cox company. John S. Cox saw the promise of the automobile very early and owned one of the first cars to come to Terre Haute. He graduated from Rose Polytechnic in 1891 and became the superintendent of the Terre Haute Automobile Co. in 1903. He sold Packards and soon offered parts and service for other automobiles.
The film begins in the company machine shop, but only stays there for a few frames. It shifts abruptly to a group shot of seven men standing in front of a passenger bus. All of the men are grinning, then the camera suddenly focuses on one man’s belly while he stands and laughs. Then all of the men get on the bus.
Shift to a short scene of a bus trip and then to a company picnic. It’s a family gathering with children darting back and forth. The men are playing horseshoes and baseball; the women are minding the tables and the food.
It’s obvious that the weather has been dry because each time a horseshoe hits the dirt a miniature dust storm is created.
The baseball bat is different from those used today. It’s much longer and, for the most part, the man using it misses. There also is a scene of boys swimming in a pond, probably also during the day of the picnic.
The movie does have humorous moments, though they probably weren’t intended. One scene is of a young woman in the company office showing her efficiency at the typewriter. If a still photograph had been taken it would show a woman posed with fingers on the keys or inserting the paper. The film has a bit more realism. The young woman inserts the paper and types, but she’s also chewing (gum?) at the same time. We would never know that fact from a still photo, and it serves to make the scene just a little more human.
Another outdoor shot appears to have been taken on Deming Boulevard. It shows six men in different cars pulling up to the curb, then getting out of their cars. All look very official and proper with high-starched collars and ties. Several carry briefcases. As they get out of their cars, each one gives a half-wave to the camera. Then the men hurry off as if they are going to an important meeting. What makes it funny is that all but one man leave their car doors open as they stride away.
Close to the end of the film the camera focuses on the front of the Cox and Sons building. Clanging past is an electric trolley. Perhaps that is the earliest, if not the only, film of a trolley in Terre Haute.
If the person who shot the film had been told that it one day would be placed in the archives of the museum he probably would have disagreed. Most people don’t believe their home movies are of any interest to anyone. But films like this, and even those that have been taken in the eras that followed, are just as important as still photographs. Perhaps they are even more important because they can actually give a glimpse of people as they were, not as they are when stiffly posed and self-conscious of the camera’s lens.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.