1950`s-60`s TV & Motion Picture Productions Exhibit at Virginia Production Alliance Meeting

   TV & Motion Picture Productions, Inc. owned by John C. Wood operated in the 1950`s and 1960`s in Richmond Virginia during the height of 16mm industrial films.

   Wood`s son John C. Wood Jr. and John Payne of (WWII Round Table of Virginia) were the presenters of an exhibition at the  Virginia Production Alliance Presentation and Meeting Monday night February 25th, 2013 at Artworks, featuring John C. Wood Jr.`s father`s company  TV & Motion Picture Productions. The presentation was at 6:30 pm followed by a business meeting at 7:30. "The Virginia Production Alliance (VPA), headquartered in Richmond, was formed to promote production in the Commonwealth. We unite the Virginia creative community — professionals involved in film, video, audio and new media — and provide valuable educational, social, and networking opportunities that help grow the industry."

   The exhibit consisted of photos from John C. Wood`s life, including his days as a photographer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and his WWII service. The highlight of the exhibit was the continuous showing of a 16 mm film by TV & Motion Picture Productions made for the Appalachian Power Company (American Electric Power Company) in 1962 called Sky Hook For A High Line, which I secured from Creative Services at AEP Communications. J.C.Wood Jr. shared with the attendees his experiences accompanying his father on movie making adventures. He told of flying in helicopters and planes while his father shot footage while flying the crafts.

    Appalachian Power had a project to build power lines from Roanoke across the mountains to West Virginia. The mountainous terrain and limited access caused Appalachian Power to come with the idea of using helicopters to airlift aluminum transmission towers to remote locations. John C. Wood loved to fly and took some fantastic footage of the mountains of Virginia. In pages 3-12 of the book Hollywood Homestyle: Making Motion Pictures During the Brief Heyday of 16mm Industrial Films, Fred Frechette, author and one time partner of Wood, describes his experiences during his partnership with Wood and the filming of Sky Hook For A High Line. Frechette was present at the screening for the company`s top brass at AEP headquarters in New York .

    John C. Wood made a number of films for companies such as Reynolds Metal, Philip Morris, A.H. Robins Pharmaceuticals, Seaboard Airline Railroad, Thalhimers, American Machinery & Foundry, Westinghouse, General Electric, Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Electric Power Company, and American Oil, before his death in 1967. TV & Motion Picture Productions had their office at 207 East Main Street as well as Dawn Street in Richmond Virginia. Wood was also a correspondent for CBS. John C. Wood Jr. has a vast collection of his fathers negatives which I hope to digitize over the next couple of years. It will be a huge undertaking, but there is a chunk of 1940`s -1960`s Richmond history waiting to be rediscovered when I turn those negatives in to photo images. John C. Wood Jr and I are discussing making some of the photographs available for sale as well.

    The manager of Creative Services at AEP has requested me to send photos made during the filming of Sky Hook For A High Line and the Smith Mountain Lake project to him to add to AEP`s historical archive.
   J.C. Wood Jr. worked with me at R.T. Sunday Company until it went out of business in 2004. We have remained friends ever since. I look forward to working with him on digitizing his fathers negative collection.

    Two images I made from Woods negatives were on display at the VPA presentation and I have included them in this post. Please contact Laura Smith at SundayHistorical@gmail.com regarding this post.

John C. Wood exhibit at Virginia Productions Alliance presentation

John C. Wood Jr. at Virginia Productions Alliance presentation

advertisement for TV & Motion Picture Productions

awards from the Richmond Times-Dispatch

discussion of the film

J.C. Wood with John Payne

J. C. Wood Jr. beside book Hollywood Homestyle and his father`s film presentation

John C. Wood & his mobile camera platform atop his 55 Chevy Nomad on Monument Ave. at the Robert E. Lee Monument

John C. Wood shooting photos from a piper cub plane


Please contact J.C. Wood Jr. (804-779-2714)  if you know any of the employees pictured in the TV & Motion Picture Productions company photo, or if you or any one you know might have known John C. Wood, the photographer & movie maker.

Please contact me at SundayHistorical@gmail.com regarding this post or if you are having trouble commenting on this post.
Thanks Laura Smith

Vintage Watchmaker/Jeweler Parts Cleaner

Vintage Watchmaker/Jeweler Parts Cleaner

I found this and could not pass it up. It predates the ultra sonic for cleaning jewelry and watch parts.

The Master model  L & R Precision Cleaning Machine manufactured by L&R Mfg. Arlington, N.J. Their technology sure has changed since they began business 80 years ago.

This machine is so cool. It operates by lowering the motorized basket into one of 3 glass tanks, then lower it over the dryer (where it is pictured). It works and looks really cool. Just had to share this. Look for it soon on my website & online store www.sundayhistorical.com

basket is in the dryer

faceted  red light and toggle switches

twist the basket out, it has a propeller  to circulate the cleaning fluid

mfg label

one of the glass tanks

view from the top looking down on the crank handle

Vintage Jewelers Blow Torch

Check out this wonderful vintage jewelers blow torch in the original box.

The Super Jet blow torch has instructions and 3 fuel tablets in the original tube.
Manufactured by Birk MFG. Co. Niantic Conn. USA.
The Super Jet Blow torch is model #113FT and the fuel tablets are #113F.
The blow torch was intended for soft and silver soldering.
Good for small parts as it has a slim design.
The blow torch is listed as uncommon in the Vintage Torch Guide, which means it is not commonly found everywhere.
The instructions are visible from the bottom of the plastic storage box.
The manufacturing information is on each piece-torch, fuel and box.

I probably will not use it so I have offered it for sale at my online store SundayHistorical.com    

blow torch, fuel tablets & original box

place tube in mouth and .....

BIRK MFG  CO. NIANTIC, CONN. USA

Directions

Model Number

Fuel Tablets

It really is cool

See it now at shop.SundayHistorical.com

I thought some of my co workers would enjoy this!

                                   

My Art Work

My Art Work Past & Present

1977 pencil drawing of Joni Mitchell

                              Reflections from the glass showed up in photo, may try again later

1977 water color:  Hikers enjoying the view

2009 water color :cemetery on Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge Kiptopeke Virginia

1978 Oil on canvas unfinished work: Tribute to Diane Arbus

Historic Guest House Dinnerware Service Rediscovered

PAIR (2) of Antique Edwin M. Knowles China Co Covered Serving Dishes blue transfer set from Historic Guest House

              

Here is an extremely nice PAIR (2) of antique covered vegetable or serving dishes by the Edwin M. Knowles China Company with a history. This pair of dishes was part of the dinnerware service used at the Hallett`s Guest House in Historic Cheriton Virginia on the Eastern Shore which operated from 1943-1968. The house was purchased from the Upshur family in 1943. The dishes have been untouched, wrapped & packed and stored since 1970. They were just rediscovered in November 2012 and now put up for auction. I have not cleaned them so my photos show some dust on the handles. Please see photos for condition details.These two covered dishes were manufactured between 1901-1909 according to the makers mark and are marked  semi vitreous. They are in very good condition with minor gold loss, no chips or cracks. The finials and handles are intact and very ornate. I have included in the photos, a copy of a postcard from the Hallett`s Guest House and a photo of the sign that hung beside the front door when it was in operation and will include them with the purchase. The Hallett Guest House was listed by Duncan Hines as seen on the sign below. This is a chance to own a piece of vanishing history. Please ask questions before bidding. There is a little history on the Edwin Knowles China Company provided by Robbins Nest below. Thanks for viewing.

                                               SundayHistorical.com

History: "Edwin M. Knowles ( 1869-1943) was the son of Isaac Watt Knowles (1819-1902), a founder and partner of the firm Knowles, Taylor, and Knowles Co., which by the turn of the century had become the largest pottery in the world. Edwin Knowles' father had helped pioneer many inventions that revolutionized American dinnerware manufacture.

Edwin M. Knowles entered the pottery business after receiving his education at Allegheny College and Harvard University. He took control of the Potters Supply Company of East Liverpool, Ohio in 1890. By 1900, he became founder and president of the Knowles China Company, which soon changed its name to the Edwin M. Knowles China Co.

The Knowles facility, located in Chester, West Virginia, was described as a "model plant of the highest order." Edwin Knowles determined that his firm would manufacture only the finest semi-vitreous ware. One year later, product from the plant was lauded by the Crockery and Glass Journal as the highest grade ware: "weight is light, its finish the finest, its shapes graceful, its decorations artistic, and its body and quality most durable." Knowles' reputation for creating quality product became known throughout the industry. Demand for Knowles product grew. It wasn't long thereafter that plant No. 2 was erected, just two miles south of plant No. 1 along the Ohio River in Chester, West Virginia in Newell, West Virginia."        

PAIR of covered serving dishes 1901-1909

Gold painted accents 

Edwin M. Knowles China Co. Semi Vitreous

Ornate gold paint

Sign at front door of guest house

Hallett Guest House Postcard

                                      

Richmond Before Concrete

This post is dedicated to my favorite folks in history, the forgotten but oh so important.

   James Netherwood was born in Yorkshire England in 1834.  In "The City On The James" The Chamber of Commerce Book published by George W. Engelhardt in Richmond Va in 1893 James Netherwood is listed as a "contractor for stone work of all kinds, on a large scale, maintains yards of two acres area, lying on the water front of the city, at the foot of Virginia Street, between the river and the canal, and upon the line of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, which affords him transportation facilities direct". The article states that he was established in Richmond for more than thirty years and had used more more stone than all the other contractors for stone masonry here together. Netherwood did work in the South, but mainly in Virginia, the Carolina`s and Florida. Netherwood`s home was at 2612 E. Grace Street.

   He put up the Lee monument, The Soldiers` and Sailors` monument, and the Howitzers` monument. He executed contracts for stone work on the "new" Planters National Bank, "new" City Hall, Masonic Temple and the "new" Chamber of Commerce building.

(The City on the James)

   James Netherwood`s quarries on the south side of the river were at present day West 42nd & Riverside Drive and near the Granite Station north of Forest Hill Avenue (known then as the Granite Road) at the Richmond Danville Railroad Line. Stone from surrounding quarries was shipped as far north as New York. The largest shipments went to Washington where the State, War and Navy Building was constructed entirely from stone from the Forest Hill area quarries.

Granite Station (LVA)

Here, I will include a passage from the book "Chesterfield-An Old Virginia County" by Francis E. Lutz 1954, which gives details about an 18th century house owned by Netherwood`s stone cutter and was owned by William Byrd III `s associate James Patteson.

   "Before James Netherwood`s death he had a life-sized figure of himself carved out of granite from his quarry by Edward I. Schutte, a master stone cutter and owner of extensive tracts between the James River and Midlothian Turnpike west of the Belt Line Railroad and whose residense was the former Patterson manor house with huge hand hewn girders and fastened with wooden pegs, which still stands near the Granite Road. After Mr. Schutte had completed the figure, it was found that a hat had been omitted and Mr. Netherwood declared that no one would recognize him without it. Mr. Schutte thereupon carved alone a hat which was fitted realistically on the head. After Mr. Netherwood`s death in 1899 the figure, having as its pedestal a part of one of the massive granite columns from the old Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, which had been made of Netherwood granite, was erected over his grave in Oakwood Cemetery."

Mr. Netherwood did not believe in wasting material. The foundations of the homes at 308, 312 and 314 North 25th Street were built from scrap tombstones. There is street named for him in the neighborhood south of Forest Hill Ave bounded by Powhite Parkway and Stratford Hills.

Pedestal is old Netherwood granite column from Jefferson Hotel

Oakwood Cemetery: A forgotten Cemetery

James and wife Nancy`s graves

Notice resemblance to the Soldiers & Sailor`s monument below

Soldiers & Sailors monument  Libby Hill, put up by J. Netherwood

Margaret Smith, great-granddaughter of Edward I. Schutte (German Master Stone Cutter) died. Her son Michael K. Smith age 56, fell from a ladder while working on the beloved family home and died on June 15, 2004 as a result of his injuries.


Here are photos of the Patteson-Schutte House that I took along with Jim Mullins & Trip Tender in July 2005 before anything was done to the house or property. The house was covered in aluminum siding. Trip Tender  practiced music at the house with Michael Smith on many occasions. There is a cemetery near the house, but we could not locate it that day.

Drive to front of house

Old kitchen

The granite stone industry quietly died with the age of concrete and steel.
The Historic Richmond Foundation bought the house to clean up and sell as residential property with restrictions. The subdivision was built on the surrounding 5 acres of the property.

Sources from my private library:
Virginia Cavalcade  Summer 1954
Chesterfield-An Old Virginia County by Francis E. Lutz William Byrd Press 1954
The City On The James The Chamber of Commerce Book published by George W. Engelhardt in Richmond Va in 1893
Richmond Times Dispatch 2005, 1977

Research & Photos:
Laura Smith unless indicated