This color documentary is about the Seminole Indians in the Florida Everglades. It was produced in 1951. It is narrated by sportscaster Ray Christensen. An artist sits in a Seminole Indian village and uses pastels to draw what he sees, including the totem pole (:43-2:32). Their huts have no walls and thatched roofs made of palmetto leaves. They use Cypress dugout canoes to move through the water (2:33-3:12). A woman washes clothes by beating them with a stick (3:14-3:27). A young woman combs her long hair forward, puts in a band, and wraps the hair into a pug (ball) at her forehead in a 1960s hairstyle. An older woman, wearing many layers of colorful beads around the neck, has her bun on top, a 1920s style, and cut with short bangs in the front. Another style begun in the 1930s that acts as a brim is to put the hair in a forward ponytail, wrap a piece of stiff cardboard around the head, comb the hair forward over it, and put a hairnet around all of it to hold the hair in place (3:28-4:20). A woman wearing many beaded necklaces hand-sews a colorfully dressed doll that looks like a Seminole to sell at trading posts. Babies, also wearing beaded necklaces, are shown playing with them (4:21-5:33). A woman sews colorful strips of fabric together using a vintage Singer Model 99 hand-crank portable sewing machine (5:34-6:00). Another does basket weaving using sweet grass (6:01-6:30). Others do glass bead work (6:32-7:34). A woman places multiple strands of colorful glass beads around her neck, sometimes weighing up to 20 pounds (7:35-7:58). Men and women wear earrings hammered out of silver coins. Also shown on a woman are beautiful hammered metal broach pins. Her wrists are covered in bangles and her fingers with rings (7:59-8:30). A Seminole man dressed in brown trousers, colorful shirt, scarf bandana, and brimmed hat prepares frog legs. The meal cooks in pans on the grate above a fire (8:31-9:00). Shown are the faces of elderly Seminoles with sun-weathered skin (9:01-9:20). The family waits while the meal cooks. Large ladles are used to eat out of (9:21-9:50). Shown are an elderly woman, a young woman, and a woman holding a baby (9:51-10:12). The artist is again shown drawing the village (10:13-10:28).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com