This is something I’ve been wanting to do on here for a long time, but hadn’t gotten around to. I was reminded, looking at that video of Marcel Duchamp that I posted last week – the music, the clothing, the film, the editing, even the way he talks; the turns of phrase, word choices and discussion points all hint at a world completely different than ours now. It’s a fantastic voyage in time and one we don’t take enough advantage of. This kind of video exists in droves, it’s just a part of a massive archive that can be pulled, but is rarely pushed. Maybe that’s where I can come in.
I am going to start curating videos that capture/curates a great time in history. We’ll call it, “Time Machine.” This one is Chicago, circa 1948 (you’re welcome, Chuck). Besides the cars, the suits, the trains and countless other gorgeous remnants of a bygone era, it marks a momentous time in America’s history of success. These are the glory days of Chicago, post 20’s Gangster Era, but they are America’s glory days, too. Just prior to this video, Chicago housed the “great migration” of Southerners, looking for work and the city flourished as a center for Jazz, architecture, fine living and much more. My grandparents (always the picture of success) met and married in Chicago, in 1928. My grandfather looked like a gangster, actually, and my grandmother was a beautiful, successful dancer and although they left for Los Angeles by 1930. But this great city, depicted in this video, is the one they made.
I’m also taken by the writing of this tour. It’s selling the city, sure, but in a voice you don’t hear anymore. It’s verging on poetic. In fact, at one point, the narrator just gently recalls a Henry Austin Dobson poem:
- “TIME goes, you say? Ah no!
- Alas, Time stays, we go.”
How true. Enjoy.