SERIES 7: MOTION PICTURE FILMS Boxes 33 - 47
Browse the Motion Picture Films collection
The Motion Picture Films Series contains fifty-seven items dating from the 1950s to the 1970s. Sorted into the sub-series of family, military, NASA, corporate, and senate, the films range in size from three to sixteen inches in diameter. All the films are 16mm in format, except for one commercially produced 8mm film containing footage of the Friendship 7 space flight.
The family sub-series contains six short, color home movies of the Glenn family. The films date from the early 1950s and show various family activities recorded during the time John Glenn served with a U.S. Marine Corps aviation squadron stationed near Corpus Christi, Texas.
The twenty films in the military sub-series date from the early to mid-1950s. Most of the films contain black and white footage from the gun camera mounted on the aircraft Glenn piloted during the Korean War. The footage shows various bombing and strafing missions Glenn flew as well as the aerial combat Glenn engaged in against North Korean MiG fighters. Other films dating from the Korean War record some ground activities at the airfield Glenn flew from, and include footage showing the damage done to his jet by enemy antiaircraft fire. The sub-series also includes a few films from the time period when Glenn was a test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland. Another film contains footage (picture only, no sound tract) of one of the five appearances Glenn made in September and October 1957 on the "Name That Tune" television game show following his Project Bullet record breaking transcontinental flight.
The twenty-five films in the NASA sub-series date from the Project Mercury era of the early 1960s. Many of these films contain footage of the Friendship 7 mission, including one film with color footage of Glenn inside the capsule taken during the space flight. NASA produced most of these Friendship 7 films, though the collection also contains a film shot by an Italian film crew and another film on the space flight produced by the Burroughs Corporation focusing on the spacecraft's guidance system. Other films in the sub-series record the activities immediately following the Friendship 7 mission. Included is footage of Glenn and fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter scuba diving off Grand Turk Island, footage of the Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral ceremonies, and multiple films of the homecoming parade in honor of Glenn held on March 3, 1962 in New Concord, Ohio. Also contained within the NASA sub-series are a few films shot during or about Glenn's goodwill trip to Japan in 1963, along with footage of an interview of Glenn by David Brinkley recorded on February 20, 1963, the first anniversary of the Friendship 7 space flight.
The single film within the corporate sub-series contains a color copy of the "Great Explorations" television program featuring John Glenn produced by Wolper Productions, Inc. in 1967. On the program Glenn retraced the route through Africa taken during 1871 by Sir Henry Stanley in his search of Dr. David Livingstone.
Of the five films in the senate sub-series, two pertain to Glenn's campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1970. One of these films contains a short campaign advertisement, while the other has footage of his campaign announcement speech delivered at Muskingum College on January 15, 1970. The other three films consist of a profile of Glenn produced for the 1976 Democratic Party National Convention, a profile of Admiral James Stockdale featuring footage of Glenn with the admiral, and an interview of Glenn on the news program "Face to Face" dating from the 1970s.