The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 15, 1981, Image 12
Many Great Sports
By TRACY HELMS
Sports Editor
Imagine a front-row seat at any World Series or bowl
garrfe. How about a trip to the Olympics? Or you just want a
raD session with Rah#* Ruth
Okay, just hit buttons 13, 7 and 29.
It might not be quite so simple now, but in a few years, any-and
almost all-major sports events from 1919 to 1963 will
come to life on the screen by viewer request-right here at
Carolina.
USC'S MOVIETONEWS Film Library, which nas donated
by the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation on March 26,
1980, is a living history of events, activities and features from
around the world during a 44-year period. And among the 60
million feet of film footage that constitute the collection are
most of the memorable, unique and important sports happenings
during the first half of this century.
All of the actual events contained in the library are not
presently known, however, because of the sheer mass of film
involved. There are more than 250,000 stories recorded in the
collection. In perspective, that is more separate film clips
than the total number of book titles in Thomas Cooper library
and more than 10,000 viewing hours;
"I'm sure nobody knows what all events are contained in
the collection right now," James W. Jackson Jr., USC's
director of newsfilm libraries, said.
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JACKSON SAID THE complete transfer of the film from
vaults in New York to the university will take about five
years. The Fox newsreels, which were produced bi-weekly
and shown in theaters throughout the world, are actually
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must be converted from their flammable nitrate-base form
to safety film. The total value of the package is well over $100
million.
Jackson said sports consititutes a large fraction of the
collection.
"Sports was a feature of Movietonews from the very
beginning," he said. "In 1934, Movietonews was reorganized
into a format like that of a semi-weekly newspaper.
DURING THE EARLY 1950s, Movietonews joined with
United Press International to provide a film service of news
and sports for television, in addition to Movietone's theater
films.
"The collection features highlights from college football,
the World Series, the Indianapolis 500, winter sports and
many of the Olympics, among other events," Jackson said.
"But Movietonews does not really give an acutal history of
sports; it gives a chronological viewing of the sports that
could be photographed during the period."
Only 25 film clips -including four sports scenes- are
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viewing room, located in the first floor of the James F\
Byrnes International Center. Jackson admits that the
current show is only a small taste of what will eventually be a
historian's feast.
"Ultimately, the entire library will be available for anyone
to view," he said. "For example, if someone wanted to see
some past football highlights, he could just request the films
and then view them. It will be a push-button situation."
High costs will determine exactly when the whole collec- !
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THE FOUR SPORTS scenes currently available illustrate
the wide range of events that were captured by the
Movietonews cameras: a 1932 film of Babe Ruth clowning
around with his trainer while during the start of spring
training; the 1936 Berlin Olympics featuring Jesse Owens'
three-medal performance; a recreation of the first football
game which was played near the date 1500 in Italy and included
27 players on each side; and one of football's most
unforgettable goofs-a Rice running back breaks what would
have been a 99-yard scoring run until an Alabama player
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The current show, although well worth seeing, will in a few
years be only a minute option of possible viewing events.
Then, nearly every sporting figure and event from the firsthalf
of this century will only be a touch away.
OLD! ,
ovietone Collection
Woman defeats male opponent in wrestling, 1925
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Gertrude Ederie, the first woman to swim the Engfish Channel, 1926.
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Auto Race, 1920