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[Home Movies of Beach; Heart Mountain; Wedding and More / circa 1930 – 1956]

[Home Movies of Beach; Heart Mountain; Wedding and More / circa 1930 – 1956]

Date1930-1956
DimensionsFilm Format: 8.00 mm
ClassificationsMoving Images
Credit LineGift of Shigeko Yoritsune
Object number96.3.1
DescriptionBlack and white and color home movie footage of Southern California and Heart Mountain, Wyoming, filmed by Henry Yoritsune, circa 1930 to 1956. Prewar footage includes beach outings with friends, a badminton game, and a ferry ride. Footage at Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming includes winter activities outdoors, summer hiking, and barracks interiors. Postwar footage includes family and friends outings to the beach, gatherings at home, pony rides, and two Buddhist church events.

Specific information in square brackets including names, dates, locations, and other details were provided by Charlene Yoritsune.

Timecode list:
(black & white)
0:31 – Panning views of a beach, man fishing with a long pole from the sand. Woman casts with a long fishing pole. [Henry and Shigeko Yoritsune surf fishing in Malibu, CA, circa 1934.]
0:56 – Views of a beach crowded with umbrellas and people. Japanese American group under multiple large umbrellas. Older man seated, women adjusting clothing, young man with his rear end pointed at the camera and grinning between his knees.
[Jujiro and Iwa Nishimura family and friends at Brighton Beach, CA, circa 1935. Group includes Henry and Shigeko Yoritsune, Jujiro and Iwa Nishimura, Sets (Nishimura) Murakami, Emi (Nishimura) Ide, George Nishimura, Hiro Nishimura, Tatsuya Kuwahara, and Toyoko Kawai Suzuki.]
1:18 – Young boys and young women walking towards the camera operator, paddling with boogie boards. Women in swimsuits and swim caps standing and playing in the ocean. Boys put on swim caps.
2:30 – Camera operator seems to be filming while standing in the water while people splash.
3:00 – Young women drying off.
3:20 – Young men and women playing catch and baseball on the sand.
4:11 – Young people playing in the ocean; man wearing towel on his head and eating a donut; family members lounging and eating donuts.
4:58 – Young people chasing each other by the water and playing in the shallows; standing on the sand.
6:08 – Family lying on their stomachs in a row in the sand; sticking tongues out and laughing at the camera.
7:10 – Outside a family home on a porch; man holds a baby and stands near a woman; another couple stands in the yard. [Henry and Shigeki Yoritsune with oldest daughter, Mieko, circa 1940. Also Ham and Sets Murakami.]
7:28 – View of cars driving. Adults sitting in and near a car on a ferry as it departs; ferry crossing and exiting the ferry. [Ferry ride from Wilmington to San Pedro Island, CA, circa 1930. Henry and Shigeko Nishimura (later Yoritsune), and Mr. and Mrs. Art Nakano.]
8:30 – Woman in kimono posing in front of flowering trees; two women with a baby posing near a car. Pretending to get in and out of the car. [Shigeko Yoritsune, Ruth Nakano and son Francis, and a niece of Ruth Nakano; circa 1934.]
9:18 – Group playing badminton with paddles. Yard has large palm trees and basketball hoops. [Game at Nishimura residence in San Gabriel, CA, circa 1934. Players include Shigeko Yoritsune and Hiro Nishimura vs. Emi (Nishimura) Ide and Sets (Nishimura) Murakami. Spectators include the Kawai family and “gangster” is Henry Yoritsune; family dog is “S”.]
10:25 – Henry Yoritsune strikes a match on a wood post and smokes a cigarette dramatically. Views of the players and spectators chatting.
10:48 – Small black and white dog (“S”) walking and sitting on its hind legs. Someone off camera touches the dog’s nose with a badminton shuttlecock.
11:18 – “ANSCO” card; winter views of Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming. People waiting in lines near trucks. Closeups of people in line.
[Heart Mountain, circa 1942-1945. Includes footage of the extended family of Jujiro and Iwa Nishimura, Henry and Shigeko Yoritsune, Tad and Gladys Nishimura, Ham and Sets Murakami, George Nishimura, Hiro Nishimura, Emi (Nishimura) Ide. The two girls are Mieko (Yoritsune) Peterson and Janice Yoritsune.]
11:50 – Young children outside in the snow posing for the camera. Two girls standing on a rise with administrative or school buildings in the background. Children playing a circle game.
12:21 – Children skating and playing in the snow, throwing snowballs. Closeup of a little girl with a snowball while others skate behind her.
13:20 – No snow anymore; panning views of Heart Mountain. Various adults stand outdoors and chat or pose for the camera.
13:53 – Panning over buildings at Heart Mountain.
14:16 – Children wave from barracks windows; more panning over buildings.
14:35 – Interior of barracks with closeups of children, some hold dolls.
15:03 – Children bundled up outdoors; adults filling baskets and wheelbarrows with coal.
15:21 – Toddler totters towards camera with Heart Mountain silhouette in the background.
15:29 – Young children exit school or church building; run around; sit on a spinning merry-go-round.
16:06 – Family outside barracks and on steps; Henry Yoritsune moves coal in a basket.
16:28 – Barracks interior, closeups of toddler and small child eating at a table. Children sit on steps with stuffed dolls.
17:37 – Views of a group of children walking up a dirt road and climbing rocks; many have walking sticks and sack lunches. Panning views from lunch area on rocks; camp is below. Closeups on group eating.
18:13 – Views of landscape and Heart Mountain in the distance. Looking down at hiking group from far above.
18:45 – Hiking group near herd of sheep; group sitting on rocks.
19:20 – People stand outside barracks; panning over the group in a line; individual family “portraits” and closeups of children.
20:14 – Young children and a woman at a flower nursery. [Family gathering, circa 1947. Richard Murakami, Gary Murakami, JoAnn (Murakami) Asari, Janice Yoritsune, Mieko (Yoritsune) Peterson, Charlene Yoritsune.]
20:54 – Beach outing; adults supervising children in the water. [Circa 1947.]

(color)
21:40 – Wedding guests gathered outside a temple; wedding party exiting and being pelted with rice. Bride and groom drive away; guests mingle outside; flower girls pose on steps. [Takao Ide and Emiko Nishimura wedding at Higashi Buddhist Temple, Los Angeles, circa 1950. Flower girls are JoAnn (Murakami) Asari and Janice Yoritsune.]

(black and white)
22:33 – Children riding ponies around a ring, some guided. [Pony Land, Beverly Blvd and La Cienega, Los Angele, CA, circa 1947. Richard Murakami, JoAnn (Murakami) Asari, Mieko (Yoritsune) Peterson, and Janice Yoritsune.]

(color)
23:39 – Children outdoors, riding tricycles. [Yoritsune children (Mieko, Janice, and Charlene) playing with friends at the Yoritsune home in West Los Angeles, circa 1949.]
24:18 – Parade led by Boy and Girl Scouts; little girls in kimono. Views of group assembled for a photo. [Chigo parade at West Los Angeles Buddhist Church, circa 1956.]

(black and white)
25:57 – Mickey Mouse cartoon with Mickey and Minnie kissing; “The End” card.
25:39 – Film ends.

1 reel of 8mm film with home movies of the Henry Yoritsune family. See paper file for fuller description of contents.

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