I was in the DC area for the world premiere of my new short film WATER so I couldn't resist the opportunity to hang out an extra day and dig in to some serious Lepke history. I was so excited about the prospect of the day, that even after five days of frolicking fun at the SilverDocs Film Festival, I manged to get myself to the College Park facility at 8:30am just as they were literally opening their doors. I got my official researcher's card, filled my "nothing-allowed-inside-that-doesn't-go-on-this-cart" cart with all ilks of camera and sound equipment, grabbed my ambitious printout of 60 films I wanted to review, and headed for fun and adventure on the Motion Picture floor.
This is where I subsequently spent a celluloid-soaked 8 hours on my old friend the Steenbeck and his buddy the 3/4" Umatic deck, sifting through all sorts of newsreel footage from the 1930s and 1940s, sporting the requisite white cotton gloves. I found some gems depicting the beginning of WW2, the Dewey-FDR showdown, and of course the proclamation of the end of Lepke, ultimately getting through only a handful of the 60 films I wanted to, but hey, that's not bad for a novice. Never made it to the floor with the photos, nor the extensive textual collection, but left there satisfied with the beginnings of accomplishment.The day was awesome, overwhelming and definitely addictive. I will definitely be found sifting through history on the media-soaked fourth floor of NARA some day very soon. But next stop, New York's Municipal Archives. YUM!
Maybe I am weird too, but that sounds AWESOME. Where else can you go back in time... And see some relatives! :^)
ReplyDeleteI never spoke to my grandfather Nathan Buchalter (and you probably already know that the name was originally spelled 'Buchhalter', meaning "bookkeeper" in German/Austrian -- and I know that from seeing an entry on the back cover of a Ripley's 'Believe It Or Not!' paperback about 50 years ago; and that like I think many others, my grandfather dropped the 2d 'h' thinking it would be easier for 'Anglos' to spell -- to which I say, 'Good luck with that!') about Lepke, whose name and ill fame never came up at family gatherings while my grandfather was alive (and rarely since). I am told that he claimed that Lepke was 'not part of our family'. I haven't finished looking through your blog entries, but felt I had to say something. How did this all end, if your blog doesn't eventually tell the whole story?
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