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W.H. Tilley Collection, no. 9 - 1950s and 1960s

Susan T. Solomon

Silent | 1950s | 1960s | Color & B/W | English

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The W.H. Tilley Collection

1950s

1960s

This collection of 1950s and early 1960s 16mm film was taken by W.H. Tilley on different vacations, mostly in Southern California. Much of the Southern California footage is at Marineland of the Pacific, an oceanarium on the Palos Verdes Peninsula (shot in 1959, and possibly again in 1960 or 1961). Other footage includes the Grauman Chinese Theater forecourt (1952), a trip to Lake Arrowhead, CA and drive through the San Bernadino Mountains (with shots of Paul Tilley and Helen Tilley), and Knott's Berry Farm theme park (again with Paul and Helen). The set concludes with some artful 1960 footage of nighttime Las Vegas: the flashing lights and neon signs of downtown and Strip casinos, clubs and restaurants.

Brothers Wesley Hope and Paul Tilley can be counted among Texas' pioneering filmmakers. Their movie work extends at least as far back as 1910. In addition to their short subjects (as for-hire filmmakers) and early documentary movies of Texas, the Austin-based Tilleys made cartoons, titles, slides, advertisements, newsreels, and comedy features. The brothers were also involved in the turn-of-the-century amusement business as carnival music producers and for-hire projectionists. The Tilley brothers are best known, however, for their three commercial narrative features: Mexican Conspiracy Outgeneralled, Their Lives By a Slender Thread and The Kentucky Feud. These films were produced in 1913 around central Texas (as well as Mexico) under the auspices of their Satex production company and film lab, one of the first of its kind in Texas. W. Hope Tilley eventually pursued his music-related activities full-time, remaining in Austin. Paul Tilley later worked with another fellow Texan in Hollywood, film director King Vidor.

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