Family 1963 to 1969

Basically a chunk of childhood of a white suburban kid (me) from about 1963 to 1969. Scanned from 8mm Kodachrome movies shot by my Dad. He was very good at covering important occasions like birthdays and Christmas. We open with me in Dad's workshop, at 4 years old. Right into my 5th birthday, complete with members of the Kilbourne family joining the party. Arlene Kilbourne was my Mom's best friend from school age through her entire life. Their family was a regular part of our family activities. Jocelyn, Byron (older than me) and Heather (my age) along with her husband David (who was my first organ teacher when I was 4 - and my Mom's accordion teacher). You will also see glimpses of the Stellmach family, Ed, Ethel and daughter Gail. Ed was one of my Dad's best friends, and their family often joined up with ours for these sorts of family events. A big bash was when we had BOTH families over! Ed worked for Ray-O-Vac (engineer) and built his own boats. Most important scene happens around 3:52. Me with my 2nd record player (the retired older model with tubes and a steel needle is standing upright in the corner). I played records all the time. For hours. A key factor in my formative years. At 4:35 I'm at the wheel of one of the most collectable toys around today. The Playmobile dashboard. Truly the top of the line for car replica toys for kids. They're worth a fortune today. Of course mine is long gone. Moving on to Christmases, we see my little sister Wendy (who passed away in 1992). Then my 6th birthday - another event with the Kilbournes on hand. On to Christmas 1964. You'll see the three wise men, red upright rectangles - Mom made those, we still have them and put them up every year. We also have that long handmade nativity scene, but don't put it up any more. My sister scored a Bugs Bunny Jack-In-The-Box this year. And her first Chatty Cathy doll. You'll see me with a green Structo dump truck. Still have it. My grandkids have played with it. Note the Chicken In a Biscuit crackers. Still love those (I think it's the high salt content). 11:46 me on my first bike. Note it had built in headlights! It's a Hawthorne. The sod laying scene is at the new house on Skycroft (previous scenes at the house on Wendhurst). Dad always said this footage would be proof that the sod guys didn't put down black dirt like they were supposed to before laying the sod. Then we're into Christmas 1968. Me at the piano. At 13:50 note the IC Transistor Electronics Experiment Kit. Another key factor in my formative years. There's also a Bible Game. I have no recollection of ever having played this game or even opening the box. Then it's my 11th birthday in 1969. As the cake comes into the scene note that in the upper right on the table corner you see a toaster. That sat next to me on the dining room table most of my life. Those who know me know why. Blowing out those candles must have got a lot of spit on the cake, but no one thinks of those things. Scored 2 new albums, Al Hirt (I was playing trumpet by now and my folks bought me ALL the cool trumpet albums) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Wasn't even the soundtrack - just some kiddie record, but my Sister enjoyed when I played it). Couple Hot Wheels cars, - remember these were introduced in May of 1968 so they hadn't even existed for a year when I got these! Cutting edge! And we wrap with a quick shot of my huge wood burning set. Made lots of neat pictures, and never burned myself! Geek Technical Data: Scanned from 8mm home movies with a Wolverine Pro film scanner (scans one frame at a time). 200 foot reel Kodachrome. Before scanning had to go through the reel and replace 18 old splices, repair damaged sprocket holes, etc to make sure it would run smoothly through the scanner. These were shot with a Bolex P1 Zoom Reflex (which I still have, and it still works fine except you can't get the light meter battery any more-but you can set exposure manually). More movies to come.