Seriously Moving Images

This clip is my own mash-up, based on some 1950 amateur footage shot at a women’s summer school for “Pro-Rec” instructors (presumably in Vancouver). They were being trained to lead classes in British Columbia’s Provincial Recreation Program. Pro-Rec offered training in gymnastics, tumbling, [possibly eurythmics?], and various forms of dance . . . especially folk dancing. (Yikes!) Here the original silent footage has been edited, rearranged, had special effects applied and music added, and generally been messed about with. (It’s what we do here . . . sometimes.)

From 1934 to 1953, the BC government’s Provincial Recreation Program (or “Pro-Rec,” for short) offered fitness and recreation classes for young men and women. Under the direction of Hilda Keatley, the women’s section of Pro-Rec put on impressive displays of massed calisthenics, gymnastics, and folk dancing. Hundreds of women took part. The white-haired older woman seen at the beginning an end of the clip is Hilda Keatley, Pro-Rec’s director of women.

The music is Raymond Scott’s classic “Powerhouse,” which was also adapted by Warner Brothers house composer Carl Stalling and heard in dozens of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons.

The dedication “To Stanley” was a nod to my friend, Vancouver filmmaker Stanley Fox, simply because the little boy seen sitting on the sidelines near the end of the video made me recall childhood photos I’d seen of Stan.

“Jumping Jills” was the second part of my video magnum opus, Dancing Girls: A Mash-Up Trilogy. Parts one and three used expensive popular music by big names — who might very well sue my ass if I put them up on the Internet!