Description: Apparently this one requires a little history on whats here & why it’s here, so you’re going to have to read a little if this item is of interest to you. Worth the read!! This listing is for 9’ of film. I believe the other two pieces I have listed ( a 14’ & a 11’ strip) may have come from the same reel. I thought this might be D-day invasion Normandy France but someone messaged me & said it wasn’t… I do not know the exact location, however I do believe this is one of the five beaches they landed on in France. Our photographer was navy enlisted to take aerial photographs during World War II in the Pacific. His obituary which supports this information is in the photos. After the war, he was the aerial photographer for our county for about 60 years. I also have most of those photos in safe keeping with the estate. See all 3 listings, there’s war planes, boats unloading, bombs & explosions & men running for their lives. I don’t think any of what’s here is a training exercise. Explosions & men running for their lives. There were very few war photos left in this estate & studio at the time that we arrived to clean it out before the demolition. I am certain that many or most were turned in to the Navy as a requirement. We found many negatives but sadly they were literally crumbling because of where they had been stored. I do have some empty photo packets from his career as a professional photographer with the navy that were unused. Also pictured here. Please see the photographs where I have also included the photographers obituary. He passed away in September 2016 about 2 1/2 years after we cleaned out the building. He was well aware that we were recovering everything that we could and was very happy that we were able to do that as his family was not. The historical society had taken everything that they wanted and would not help us. 35 days later, we had saved a massive amount of local history as well as some of his favorite photos, many unclaimed photos, and a wide variety of photographs that had been left with him over the years for one reason or another. We are trying to place some of the unclaimed personal photographs back with the rightful owners as part of our project. Please read… The Kodak film is marked 42 which I’ve recently learned means that’s when Kodak manufactured the reel. The photographer from whose estate these items were extracted was Navy enlisted & deployed during WW2 to take AETIAL PHOTOS IN THE PACIFIC DIRING THE WAR & was a professional photographer his entire life. In early 2014, my business partner & I were asked by a friend to enter the abandoned photo studio / photo development center & attached home (7000 sq ft) to see if there was anything inside worth saving before the demolition. The city photographer had lived & operated his business there since the 1950s. It had already been abandoned for several years at that time. My partner had 30 years as an antique dealer under her belt & I (4th generation antique dealer) both having owned antique malls & having spent many years setting up at shows all over the country since the late 1980s, I suppose we seemed good people to ask. Our friend & at the time landlord of the commercial building where we ran our antique business, had purchased the 75+ year old building, and the contents, and had scheduled the demolition of this nearly historic building & favorited photo studio, and home of the photographer to our community for over half a century. Having put him off on entering the building for months, as we were busy setting up a new business at that time, and honestly weren't excited about doing him this "favor", in February 2014, we had a few extra minutes in our day, and nothing has been the same since. Neither of us had any idea what we were about to walk into that day, what was there, or how it would change our lives forever. Walking inside was like going into a time capsule. Everything I knew and had learned growing up suddenly became more important. Cabinets from the 1950's, vintage photo advertisements still hanging by the customer service counters & old cameras & undeveloped film lying all over the room, in stuffed & stacked closets, all with layers of dust which made it apparent that very little if anything had been moved in a while. There was no electricity & it had surely been that way for some time upon our arrival. The place was locked & boarded up for the most part, chained in some places, and entry at first through a back door proved almost dangerous with the attempted blockades that had been put there to deter breaking in, yet there were certain signs of homeless having come and gone since everyone else left. The building seemed enormous & walls had been added downstairs throughout the studio & developing areas over the years, making it almost maze like. In the dark, having no light coming into the extensive areas for development & storage, it was even eerie, but for the most part, it was like George just walked out one day leaving everything behind. It was strange. With only vintage camera stands & brochures left inside the mid century modern cabinets & pegboard displays still in tact with old and even vintage inventory, cameras were strewn about the main retail area as if they had been pilfered through, irresponsibly, perhaps more valuable ones had been stolen or removed. Older items of less relevance to the 2000s photography industry, were stored in the remaining antique furniture, drawers & closets or even in bedrooms in the upstairs home or in one of the 2 attached apartments that had been over time, FILLED with nostalgia, unused or no longer relevant equipment, old unclaimed photos, boxes & boxes of slides, projectors, cameras, vinyl records (about 8000 of them), tube radio cabinets, phonographs, record players antique to modern, and no less than 15 sets of speakers wired up & distributed through the building downstairs where George & his deceased wife Dolly apparently filled every room of the facility with music daily. Remnants of old train sets, dolls, and home made pottery were left about nearly every room not occupied by photo collections or photo equipment. Upstairs in the home, a library of books that took years to sort, not to mention art pieces and other photo collections that were obviously kept for historical value had been forgotten and left as though someone intended to come back, but never did. Mind blown, after about 2 hours of literally being lost in time, and at some points LOST in the dark maze of developing & storage rooms downstairs, which were oddly still cold with the cement walls that had been added to obtain that environment, coupled with 60 to 70 years of history & important vintage items, we called our friend. Both of us, completely confused as to how everything here was literally abandoned & left to decay, asked for the demolition to be called off immediately. We were even further dumbfounded when he explained that he was paying someone a handsome fee to "clean out the garbage" & take it all to the local landfill” before the building's destruction which was scheduled only weeks away. A huge chunk of our city's history, and George Fulmers's life work, was about to be forgotten forever. Over the following 35 days, after contacting anyone and everyone we could think might & should help with this enormous but very necessary task, with ZERO INTEREST from anyone including the local museums or historical society, we closed our business to accomplish it ourselves. We hired help & worked around the clock to save the items you’ll start to see here as we decide what we can sell to finally bring recognition to this estate, and determine what needs to remain WITH the estate for possible later placement as a whole. We are looking to place/sell the ENTIRE estate at some point. 10 years later, antiques, art & records & books have been sold & placed, while the photograph collection has very intentionally remained completely intact & together until this last year, when we started to list just a few nude and army photos to help cover the continuing costs of storage, which over the years have now easily surpassed $50,000 while we have spent time only here & there actually inspecting or trying to sort through what we estimate to be over 100,000 photographs not including the limited 16mm & a few 8mm films, and boxes full of slides that we found properly stored inside. There are still images in the collection that have not been viewed by us. Not as many now, but still some. We are just starting to inspect the 8 mm and 16 mm film that was extracted. I'm looking at 21 rolls of 16 mm film that I have no idea the contents over the upcoming days & weeks. The film that is being offered in this particular listing was found with the others but was not found ON a reel, it was loose or had a clothespin holding it together. I believe the 3 pieces I'm currently selling, (and it may be the only war footage we have, I don’t know yet because to this day I have not looked at the other 21 reels) … but I believe these 3 strips are all the same reel that has been broken into parts over time because of its age and lack of completely proper storage. This film is more brittle than most of the other film that I have listed right now but it also contains some of the best frames. This 9’ section is in less than fair condition in my opinion compared to others we have. About 20% of the frames are probably usable, but they’re good ones!! lots of Beach action footage & a few Frames of a war plane before a beach scene. Lots of pictures were taken for my best description. There are plenty of good usable frames depending on your skill set and resources probably more than I’m saying but I would rather be conservative Make of it what you will. I’ve told you everything I can about what is being offered here. See other listings for more!! Shipping will be by priority mail unless otherwise requested.
Price: 900 USD
Location: Saint Petersburg, Florida
End Time: 2024-11-24T20:01:03.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Unit of Sale: Single Piece
Antique: Yes
Autograph Format: Film
Size: 35mm film
Image Color: Black & White
Framing: Unframed
Vintage: Yes
Listed By: Reseller
Year of Production: 1944
Unit Type: ft
Format: film
Autograph Authentication: COA from the Estate
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK), Press Photograph
Featured Person/Artist: George Fulmer
Unit Quantity: 9’
Finish: positive film
Image Orientation: Portrait
Signed: No
Material: Kodak Film
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Subject: Marines, Navy
Type: 16mm kodak reel
Photographer: George Fulmer
Theme: Military
Time Period Manufactured: 1925-1949
Country/Region of Manufacture: France