EDWARD HOPPER PAINTINGS COME TO LIFE

One night last week, I was watching a documentary about the Library of Congress and the National Film Registry's effort to preserve American motion pictures and was immediately struck by a short film called "Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther."

This charming piece of Americana, shot by Minnesota residents Ray and Esther Dowidat, documents the people and everyday life in Cologne, Minnesota, circa 1939. Compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 18 American film archives, "Cologne," was one of the 50 films in the four-disc DVD set called "Treasures from American Film Archives."

A stunning portrait of a bygone era, Raymond Dowidat used the narrative tool of his wife writing in her diary as a tool to drive the images in "Cologne." The short film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." More on the film HERE.

Thankfully preserved by the Minnesota Historical Society, a description on it's home on Daily Motion reads as follows: "Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther is a 1939 short documentary film which deals with the German-American community on the eve of World War II. It was directed by Esther Dowidat and Raymond Dowidat."

It's quite simply a snapshot to another time, a portal to the past and, for my money, an Edward Hopper painting come to life.

Enjoy it below...


Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939) by Lost_Shangri_La_Horizon

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THE MOST REPRODUCED PIC IN HISTORY

The above rah-rah World War II propaganda tune was "There'll Be A Little Smokio in Tokio" by Don Baker and it can be downloaded HERE.

On this weekend in 1945 at the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines (from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division) took the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island's highest peak and raised the American flag.

Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. Soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi's slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.

Rosenthal took three photographs atop Suribachi. The first, which showed five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the heavy flag pole, became the most reproduced photograph in history and won him a Pulitzer Prize.

Regarding Rosenthal's other two photos: The second was similar to the first but less affecting and the third was a group picture of 18 soldiers smiling and waving for the camera. Many of these men, including three of the six soldiers seen raising the flag in the famous Rosenthal photo, were killed before the conclusion of the Battle for Iwo Jima in late March.

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