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Shad E. GrahamOur Home Town: Doylestown, PA. (1954)

Advertising film presenting landmarks, businesses and people of a Philadelphia suburb.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Shad E. Graham
Production Company: Shad E. Graham Productions.
Sponsor: County Theatre
Audio/Visual: sound, B&W
Keywords: Philadelphia, Pa.; Cities: U.S.; Suburbia

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Smalltownboy - - November 14, 2007
Subject: Of all the gin joints
One evening in the early 90's I was leaving the lobby of the County Theater, Doylestown, Pa; my HOMETOWN. The girl in the booth directed my attention to some videocassette copies of a "Local Camber of Commerce" trailer that had been shown in this theater in the 50's. I bought one on a whim. We had moved up from the Philly suburbs in 1959 when I was eight; to New Britain, actually; a "suburb" of "D-town"- as us locals called it. I watched the trailer, filmed in 1954, as soon as I got home. Talk about hitting a memory chord! I recognized a ton of businesses and individuals from my childhood: grocery clerks; pharmacists; gas station proprieters; that I hadn't seen in 30 years. (No daycare back then; you went everywhere with your mom!) Immediately I went over to my best friend, Mike Shamberger's house, and turned him on to my find. We had both been plumber's helpers (read gophers) as teenagers, working for different guys, and there they were, Walt Myers and Frank Kniese, with the other employees in front of Young and Bowman's Plumbing and Heating shop at the triangle at State and Court Sts. (Anyone notice the Pennsylvania German surnames still prevalent in central Bucks County at that time?) Mike asked to borrow the video and I agreed, but on PAIN OF DEATH, that he not lose it. (It seemed impossible to replace; there being limited copies.) You guessed it- he lent it to a friend who lent it to a friend...
Now today, Nov 13, 2007, by ABSOLUTE SERENDIPITY, I come across the same film.
I have to admit this is a formulaic creation using stock voiceover, whose template could and must have been grafted onto other "HOMETOWNS", but because of my disposition to this production, my review isn't really a review at all, but only an individual expression of nostalgia that mabye you readers have been patient with and appreciated just a little.
Thanks, STB

Reviewer: ERD - - March 30, 2006
Subject: Dull
Nothing is really interesting in this film. The towns are not picturesque, there are no special places to make the towns distinctive, and except for the movie theatre shown- no recreational facilities or places to go to. This black and white 1954 movie is totally mediocre. It is very poorly directed,filmed and edited.. The 2nd narrator spoke terribly and shouldn't have been used. All the waving of the people made them look awkward. "Our Home Town" was obviously made for the 1954 movie audience of the towns shown.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - December 29, 2003
Subject: Why can't we be like these people?
These 2 films, one for Doylestown Pa, the other, Levittown basically use the same voice overs, but with different images, to tell of that same thing. Myhometown is great! There isn't that much narration, and the shots of shopkeep after shopkeeper juts makes these 2 films dull as a doornail.

Reviewer: AliceFell - - December 18, 2003
Subject: where is Fonthill???
it's so weird to see Doylestown 50 years ago. My mom is from the lower Bucks area and we have spent a lot of time in Doylestown. It's interesting to see what she saw as a kid. Noticeably absent, though, is Fonthill. In fact, I'm wondering if they just used a random all-purpose soundtrack and just showed random shots of Doylestown to fill in. It is oddly generic. How can you talk about Doylestown without showing Fonthill or the Mercer Museum? Very odd, and too dull for my curiosity about this neat town.

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