Dear Family,

My website appears to be the best way to show you the results of the 8mm film conversion. Resolution is only half that of full size, so as to keep the file smaller. (Future editions may improve both the steadiness and the color.)

In Internet Explorer, either left-click the link to play, or right-click and "Save Target As..." to download and save the file. The latter is better so that if you ever want to play it beyond the first time, you won't have to download it again. Each is about 30 MB.

I'm running out of hosting space, so some of the earlier reels may have been deleted to make room for the later ones. Let me know if you want to get the earlier ones that are offline. (This is one reason why I said earlier to fully download a file before playing it.)

If you don't see a description of the reel, it's because I haven't had time to convert it to web page format. But you can download the text of the whole collection here:
CarlCookHomeMovies.txt

12/25/2011 UPDATE:

Since originally putting some of these out here, I've discovered YouTube! Those .wmv files took 30MB each on my server and were only half of the full size resolution. I can now upload the FULL resolution files to YouTube and take ZERO space on my server! That deserves a reaction that probably only my brothers would remember me accidentally coining and using often as a kid...  "Wippeeeeee!"

For each 15 minute film reel's master file (which is about 1.5+ GB), it takes about an hour to convert to a format efficient enough to upload (.3 GB) plus 2-4 hours to upload that smaller file. But I'll eventually get uploaded all the ones we've film-transferred so far. (Will try to email you all.) And reels that are longer than YouTube's limit of 15 minutes are being broken up into parts. Notice that on YouTube, you can push their button that expands the picture to your whole screen. But you better have a fast internet connection to avoid "the pausies". Most of these older ones are blurry enough that you won't want to expand it if your monitor is big.

On a separate matter, I discovered after Mark M. moved to Florida that most of the small Morgan collection is STILL in good shape!! So sometime we might be able to get that converted and sharable. :) (Don't hold your breath, though.)

02/23/2012 UPDATE:

I've gotten another group of Cook home movies re-uploaded to YouTube with links embedded at TomsGoodFiles.com. As the history covered gets further toward the present, the content gets more interesting. This group is Reels #13-#24. And there's an added treat! In Dec. '10, when the 4 Cook brothers reunited to (among other things) watch home movies together, I was able to record the sounds of our reactions as we viewed them! This was with the intention of someday figuring out how to add it as a soundtrack to the movies. I wasn't planning to do that at this time, but got too curious, wondering if it might not be as hard as I feared. Turns out that while working with the sound track directly (normalizing wildly varying volume levels) was very tedious, the syncing wasn't too hard usually. So it's with great pleasure that I present to you Reels #20-#24 WITH SOUND! If you're like me, you'll find that it really adds to the enjoyment of the movies!

I think you'll enjoy at least parts of what I've put up there now. Of course there's much more to come. While I can't give you numbers, it does take many hours of desk time (labor), plus many hours of computer processing time, plus many hours of internet upload time, to do all these. This (plus 4 jobs, of which a half of one of them pays income) is what makes me say "don't hold your breath for the next batch". Ha. ha. Near the end of Reel #24, one of the guys said, "Once you get working, Tom, remember... This is just in your spare time, if you happen to have some time." So at least that person should understand why I can't turn these things out quicker.

04/29/2012 UPDATE:

No further footage available yet, but there've been two developments making what's already there better.

1. YouTube has granted me the privilege of having videos longer than exactly 15 minutes. (No need to bore you with how that came about.) Therefore I've combined all 18 of the 2-part videos back into one part. (This was reels 3, 5-12, 15, 17-24.) Of course, this does not use the files previously uploaded to YouTube, but instead required offline editing (combining) the split files and (again) going through humongous upload sessions. (Many hours; some of labor and some of merely supervising the upload sessions while I do something else. Then installing the links into this page.)

2. Some have complained to me that they don't have internet connections fast enough to play these smoothly from YouTube. One relative even has a monthly data download limit! (How awful!) I have learned that, as the account holder, I can download them from YouTube AS FILES into the MP4 format. I don't know if this is the format that the files are hosted at YouTube in or not. I had thought they converted all files uploaded to them as Flash (FLV) files. In any case, once I downloaded them, I then uploaded them to a place where I can host them for free. So NOW you all can download them if watching on YouTube isn't acceptable. "But how do you play .MP4 files?" you ask. Glad you asked. You can play them with QuickTime, or if you can't or don't want to use QuickTime, then the VLC Player works well. You can download that at the VLC Player website. You'll find the link for downloading each video right under the corresponding link for YouTube. BTW, I greatly like the VLC player. Very versatile and reliable.

Next thing coming up (soon hopefully) will be some more reels, starting with #25. (Thank you for your patience!)


REEL 1

Here's the current edition of Reel #1. (Right-click to save or left-click to play now.)
30 fps enhanced edition
16 fps original framerate

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#1
Nov 46  Sidney Cookie a baby (10 weeks)
Aug 47 BinghamtonCookie etc.
Jan 48 St. Petersburg Cookie, etc.

REEL 2

Here's the current edition of Reel #2.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#2
Mar 48  St. Petersburg  Mommie home from hospital
Rickie 8 days old
James' water skiing
Mommie and Rick on porch
Aug 48 OrlandoMommie and Rick at 701 Palmer
With Younkins at Daytona Beach

REEL 3

Here's the current edition of Reel #3.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#3
Sep 48  Orlando  Cookie and Rickie on porch
Cookie kisses Rickie
Parade in Orlando with Larry and trombone
At Dann's ranch
Rick's first steps
Larry and kite in Beverly Shores

REEL 4

Here's the current edition of Reel #4. This is only fragments (1 min. total), as the reel is in bad shape. First 18% is lost, and the rest that is here is only fragments. I have 2 versions; the original which is very jerky, and after I ran it through some proprietary stabilizing software, which leaves a watermark as the software wasn't free and I didn't purchase it.
30 fps enhanced edition (jitter bad)
30 fps enhanced edition (stable w/logo)

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#4
49  Carl & Rick as babies
Carl & Bunny w/boy's at beach
Carl Sr. birthday
Louis & Grace Cook picnic w/kids in New York
Bunny & boys playing outside Sidney
Steam loco Sidney
Cookie & Rick feeding chickens
David, Myrtle, Preston, Lawrence Carroll

REEL 5

Here's the current edition of Reel #5.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes (as revealed crypticly via Larry's partial notes made before he lost Dad's original) are as follows:

#5
48  Morgans at beach with children & L & H Carroll
Orlando  Parade in Orlando
49 Lawrence & Hazel Carroll & Cookie
50 Hawaii sight seeing (some friend of Dad's)
Japan Japan

REEL 6

Here's the current edition of Reel #6.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#6
Jan 50   Japan   Hueys at Fujiya Hotel
Our house at Yokota
USS Sultan
Mitsuko and Toshio
Apr Tokyo   Washington Heights
Household Goods
May May Day 1950
FEAF Review

REEL 7

Here's the current edition of Reel #7.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#7
Jul 50   Tokyo   Back of house in Wash. Hts.
Girl carrying baby in country
Harvesting rice
Little boy with umbrella
Baby having dinner
Spreading fishnet
Threshing rice
AAA firing at Katakai
Picnic in park
Children in Wash. Hts.
AAA firing
Sunday School - Wash Hts
Boys on CL's bike
Ceremonial procession
Farmyard scene
Train to Wajima
Sea of Japan
Train arriving at Wajima
Going through tunnel
Loading Sado-Shima ferry
Niigata harbor

REEL 8

Here's the current edition of Reel #8.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#8
Sep 50   Japan Trip to Sado-Shima
Women carrying dirt
At Niigata
--Market place
--Women pulling carts
--Trains - turntable
--Colorful streamers
School children at Haronamachi
Yaizu & Oma-Saki RR
Buddha
CL trying to ride 2-wheeler
Oct Hokkaido   First snowfall on Hokkaido
Bear at Wakkanai
Twin Peaks
AAA guns - Keif Parker
Daddy, CL & R in Meiji Park one Sun PM

REEL 9

Here's the current edition of Reel #9.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#9
Nov 50   Japan   Nagoya to Itazuke
Little Mo
Southern Honshu
Bunny's black eye
Jan 51 Fujiya Hotel

REEL 10

Here's the current edition of Reel #10.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#10
Feb 51   Japan   Mt Fuji from train
Toshio and boys
Packers
AAA guns
Pile driver
Mar Kyoto

REEL 11

Here's the current edition of Reel #11.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#11
Mar 51   Japan   Southern Honshu
Fuji near Fujiya Hotel
Fishermen
Cherry blossoms
Ueno Park
Meiji Bldg
Ceremony at shrine
Carpenter
Tea delivery
Ridgeway & Fox
Pearl diver
Jun Street scene

REEL 12

Here's the current edition of Reel #12.
30 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#12
Jul 51   Tokyo Imperial Palace wall
Fish market
Kamekura
Fire near Sanno Hotel
Aleutians   Shemya
Aug Canada Vancouver

SCRAPS

Guys, as you know, I cut off severely unplayable leading sections of several reels from the above. Ted was able to work his difficult magic on reclaiming the very bad footage. I was talking w/Carl today (Thanksgiving 2009) saying that these scraps would take a lot of work to merge back into the collection, in part because they had to be grouped together for video capture thereby losing track of which reel they came from. While we both agreed that that work could wait, he felt I should let them be viewable for now AS IS. I agreed. But as is often the case, I felt I could do some of the work now. A major problem was that some clips within this small set are upside down and motion-backwards. This is due to no longer being able to tell which side had the emulsion. It took me at least a couple of hours of (digitally) cutting scenes apart, based on transitions between upside down and rightside up sections, creating correct clips (by using a tool to play it backwards and flipping it vertically), then splicing them back together. I present each of the two groups, with just the corrected ("after" my work) edition:

Main group, corrected: 30 fps enhanced edition
Extra group, corrected: 30 fps enhanced edition

If you view these AFTER you view all the prior movies (particularly #5, #10 and #2), you may be able to help me tell where to splice them back into the collection at a later date. (I would like to have them in the sequences that Dad left them.)

Ted left me some notes:

Scrap reel

#1 = #5 envelope
#2 = #10 envelope, no lead
#3 = #2 envelope, lead
#4 = misc scrap, about 1 foot long, lead
#5 = misc scrap, about 3 feet long, lead

#6 = misc scrap #4

It's a little cryptic, but I know I sent him 5 envelopes. 3 of them were from reels #5 (2'), #10 (8') and #2 (25'). Ted had to not only splice these all together, but had to splice some breaks that occurred during restoration. The "misc scrap from reel #4" was "not done - too messy", but that's not surprising as Reel #4 overall is too messy to be captured by him (we can do it thru a conventional vendor w/a telecine).

Ted further said (in part):

"You will need to take the worst footage and drag your slider frame by frame to cut out the spots where it got stuck. In this segment, since it was so bad, I stood next to the machine as it [slowly] ran, and simply tugged on the film as it got stuck. Each of these spots will have 5-10 bad frames you will need to cut.

"You would have been better served had you not taken these clips off the reels. It shows you are an enthusiast which is good, but I would take advice from experienced people next time. The film (the remainder you left on the reels) as it came off the reels was also extremely bad, and severely curled. However, it was more feasible to gently tug it into the heated press. The reel being unloaded can be aligned to the film [and] is parallel to the work surface minimizing the bending. With it in the envelopes, it became so curled in some places I could not save it. Meaning it had curled 360 degrees in some sections. This was all back in March or so when I attempted to flatten these clips. They had been softened as much as possible ahead of time with film solution and 110 degree controlled heat.

"The whole environment was extremely dry since I use a computer controlled dehumidifier.

"Good luck and enjoy!"

I responded to him by saying:

1) I agreed that I should not have cut off the footage, but I did at the time believing that cutting off "the cancer" would keep it from affecting the rest, and I hadn't discovered Ted's services at that point in time.

2) The 360 degree curling had already occurred right when I cut them off the reels; the usage of envelopes didn't not increase the curling. But he couldn't know that.

I will remember his tips in case I can ever advise anyone about salvaging THEIR damaged collection. (I'm thinking of the Morgans', which Mark says he believes is a total loss. I think I've convinced him to not give up until I can get a sample into Ted's hands.)

And I acknowledge that I've spent a high amount of time just reporting all these facts about a relatively small quantity of footage. As misery loves company, I take a slight pleasure that just as I spent a lot of time with these short clips, now you've taken some time to read about what Ted and I have done. Fortunately, this batch (reels 1-12) is by far the worse so we won't have to deal w/these problems again.



All subsequent movies are awaiting processing.



REEL 13

[This reel has been damaged so badly we may not ever recover it, so it is not here yet. --TC 11/25/2010]

Here's the current edition of Reel #13. To get it, download it from this link. Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#13
Jun 51   Florida   Lake Sybelia - 3 boys in life jackets
Dann's Ranch
Dad Carroll in sand at Cocoa Beach
Larry in OHS band uniform
Ducks in back of 724 N. Thornton
Boys catching grasshoppers
Aug Puddy's birthday party
Boys diving at Sybelia
724 N. Thornton
Sidney Boys in back yard
At Hutching's farm

REEL 14

Here's the current edition of Reel #14. (Which is sharper?)
30 fps enhanced edition
32 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#14
Jun 51   Afton Susquehanna River - Uncle Jack
Bunny in boat
Boys with 2-wheelers
Nov 51 Orlando   Grandpa Carroll at 724
Football!
Xmas parade
Thanksgiving
Boys and Santa Claus
Model airplane
Calves at Milt's farm
Circus at Sarasota

REEL 15

Here's the current edition of Reel #15.)
32 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#15
Jan 52 Florida Cypress Gardens
Dec 51   Orlando Boys feeding ducks on Lake Eola
Dann's Milt feeding Whitey
New Brahman
Feb 52 Vienna, Va.   Snow!
Mar Daddy and boys with tractor
May Flying kites (CL took the unsteady pix)
Playing in hammock with Becker children
Party at Becker's
Cats in living room
Rickie and Joe Palombo - Rick has turtle
Joe cutting grass
Grandpa Cook & Joe
Jun Bunny cutting grass - she gets tired quickly!
Party at Beckers' - riding horseback

REEL 16

Here's the current edition of Reel #16.)
32 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#16
Jul 51   Cats playing in front of house
Afton Boys riding horseback
Joanie riding bike
Sidney Diesel switcher pulling morning passenger train
Diesel switcher pulling way freight
Mallet with freight
Jul 52  Afton Sidney and his girl at Aunt Thelma's
Jack and kids
Bunny and Aunt Thelma
Swimming in Afton Lake
Aug Bethesda Hamburgers at Jack Carr's
Annapolis Bea and Fred Swafford
Fred taking picture of Bunny (behind post!)
Oct Novato, Calif.  Van arriving from Va.
CL's first day of school
Boys plaing in front year
Mowing lawn
Children pouring out of theater on Sat. morning
Swings in back yard
Bohlkes arriving
Children looking at pigs
Paul, the photographer
Yat-a-ty-yat
Halloween parade at school - C is red devil, R is skeleton close behind

REEL 17

Here's the current edition of Reel #17.)
32 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#17
Nov 52   Pt. Reyes, Calif Seals
Los Altos Bohlkes' house
Feb 53 Bolinas Bay Grandma & Grandpa Cook, B and boys on beach
Novato Dana Hood & daughter
G & G Cook, B & boys getting in car
Near Pt. Reyes Station   Deer in mountains
Sonoma Beach Wading
Mar Mt Tamalpais(?) Panorama- East to Northwest
Boys on rocks
Apr Calif. Monterey Bay
Burbank Riding at Bob Bell's house
Los Angeles Train at Griffith Park
Riding ponies at Griffith Park
Yosemite Top of
Bridal Veil Falls
Near foot of Yosemite Falls
Yosemite Falls
May Novato Bohlkes at our house - fast motion
Children playing in creek
CL crying because he had to share
Jun Afton At Aunt Thelma's - CL, Rick and Carroll
Bunny and Grandpa Carroll
Children playing in yard
Sidney 3-unit diesel with freight
Larry and CL playing in back yard

REEL 18

Here's the current edition of Reel #18.)
32 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#18
Aug 53   Bethesda Boys riding bikes in front of our house
Boys riding "Space Ship"
Bunny and boys coming out of house
Kittens
Daddy and boys playing with hose in back yard
Sep First day of school - CL
First day of school - Rick
Boys playing out front
Boat races on Potomac
Oct CL, Rick and David Carroll in back yard
Nov Tommie - 3 weeks
Dec Tommie - 2 months - getting changed
Tommie - eating (B thinks its good)
Tommie - laughing
G & G Cook, Mommie & boys getting in car
Feb 54 Snow!
Apr Carl, Rick & Jimmie Freeman
Mommie & Tommie
Rickie on bars at Airlawn
Swinging!
Boys at Airlawn (the day R broke his arm)
Carl at bat
Mommie & Tommie
MayWashington  Grandma Carroll arriving from Fla (1st air ride)
Tommie - 7 mos.
Jun Washington Zoo
Tommie

REEL 19

Here's the current edition of Reel #19.)
32 fps enhanced edition

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#19
Jul 54   Sidney Circus train
Arlington Tomb of Unknown Soldier
Mt. Vernon Carl, Milton Dann and Maxine Jamison
Wash Washington Monument
Beth Carl & Tommie
Tommie bathing
Carl in pool
Tommie & Daddy
New Buffalo,Pa.   Picnic with G & G Cook & the Ihries
Wash View from Wash Monument
Lincoln Memorial
Wash Monument
Aug Bethesda Tommie with Walter & Pauline Carroll
Tommie
Glen Echo Amusement Park with Carrolls
Vienna Puppies at Beckers
Beth Tommie
Sep Flying model airplane
Tommie

REEL 20

Here's the current edition of Reel #20. (This has FAMILY AUDIO!)
32 fps enhanced edition
Optional 2-min. prelude (audio only).
Prelude to Reel 20

Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#20
Sep 54   Bethesda Tommie
Oct Great Falls Amusement Park
Wash Nat'l Airport - Meeting Grandpa Carroll
Dec Fayetteville   Snow! - our new house
Tommie & Grandma Cook
Sliding at Green Lakes State Park
Jan 55 Rickie carrying wood
Bunny & boys
Feb Snow
Mar Tommie in snow
Carl & Rickie playing
G & G Cook leaving for home
Apr Sidney Easter at Grandpa Cook's
Germany Driving down Autobahn near Stuttgart
McPhee, Reinsmith & Brown near Munich
Countryside in Southern Germany
Autobahn near Frankfurt
Wiesbaden Kurhaus
City Park
Policeman directing traffic
Construction - tree on top
Street scenes

REEL 21

Here's the current edition of Reel #21.
To play it, click Reel #21 on YouTube. (Note: This video has a sound track! The first part is filler background music, as we didn't start watching and recording a sound track until midway in.)
To download it, click Reel #21 on MediaFire.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#21
Apr 55   Wiesbaden Railroad yards
Street scene
Schwarzer Bock Hotel
Countryside in NW Germany
Boats on ______ Canal
Munster Street scenes
Hamburg Street scenes
May Fayetteville   Tommie and Daddy
Boys coming home from school
Rick and Tommie help Mommie plant the garden
Tommie & his dog
Ride in the wheelbarrow
Tommie & his new slide
Jun Cutting down poplar trees beside driveway
Starting to build the garage
Boys playing on logs
Rickie, the Mohawk!
Swimming at Green Lakes State Park
Tommie & Rickie
Lassie
Jul Afton Picnic at Uncle Jack's

REEL 22

Here's the current edition of Reel #22.
To play it, click Reel #22 on YouTube. (Note: This video has a sound track!)
To download it, click Reel #22 on MediaFire.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#22
Jul 55   Gilbert Lake State Park  Camping
Twitchell Lake Bunny learning to paddle a canoe
Fayetteville Apple fight!
Sep First day of school
Willing workers!
Harvesting apples
Oct Boys playing with Jim & Joan Jamison
Harvesting pumpkins
Harvesting carrots
Dec Playing in the snow

REEL 23

Here's the current edition of Reel #23.
To play it, click Reel #23 on YouTube. (Note: This video has a sound track!)
To download it, click Reel #23 on MediaFire.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#23
Jan 56   Fayetteville Skating at Green Lakes
Feb Lassie & her puppies
Mar Washington Nat'l Airport
Apr Alexandria,Va.  Presidential Gardens Apartments
Vienna Flying planes at Beckers'
Beckers' new lot
F'ville Logging
First night of Little League
Cooking out with Ken Mushrush
May Planting white spruce seedlings
Playing ball
Little League Parade
Jun Church picnic at Green Lakes
On the train to Florida vacation
Jul Florida At New Smyrna Beach

REEL 24

Here's the current edition of Reel #24.
To play it, click Reel #24 on YouTube. (Note: This video has a sound track!)
To download it, click Reel #24 on MediaFire.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#24
Jul 56   Florida   Vacation at New Symrna Beach
Marineland
New Smyrna Beach

REEL 25

Here's the current edition of Reel #25.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#25

REEL 26

Here's the current edition of Reel #26.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#26

REEL 27

Here's the current edition of Reel #27.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#27

REEL 28

Here's the current edition of Reel #28.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#28

REEL 29

Here's the current edition of Reel #29.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#29

REEL 30

Here's the current edition of Reel #30.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#30

REEL 31

Here's the current edition of Reel #31.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#31

REEL 32

Here's the current edition of Reel #32.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#32

REEL 33

Here's the current edition of Reel #33.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#33

REEL 34

Here's the current edition of Reel #34.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#34

REEL 35

Here's the current edition of Reel #35.
To get it, download it from this link.
Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#35

REEL 36

Here's the current edition of Reel #36. To get it, download it from this link. Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#36

REEL 46

Here's the current edition of Reel #46. To get it, download it from this link. Contents of Dad's notes are as follows:

#46
Unadilla   Tom & Larry
Aug 63   F'ville Rick's motorbike
Rickie tarring Moe's roof
Bertha in swing
Stop motion (tempoorarily elsewhere)
Tom smoking
Sept First day of school
Soccer - FM vs DeRuyter
Orlando Tom & Larry ride airplane w/Roger Kresge
N. Mills St.

1974:  This is not a video, but rather a letter written from my mother to my cousin.


1985-11-30.Larry-Cook's-Wedding-to-Pam.mpg
1989-03-02.Cook-vacation-at-beach.mpg
1989-05-25.Tom-Cook-NY-trip.Marsha-David-Morgan.(1min).mpg
1989-06-03or04.1.Marsha-after-trip.mpg
1989-06-03or04.2.Larry-Cook-fam-enjoying-donuts.mpg
1989-06-05.Back-at-work-at-DSS-after-vacation.mpg
1991-04-27.Sat.Maitland-FL.mpg
1991-04-28.Sun.Shumway-home-in-DC.mpg
2001-07-25.Tom's beard at 9 months.(unedited).mpg


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