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This 1948 Film produced for the Gorham Manufacturing Company, maker of fine silver products including cutlery, takes the form of a man writing a letter to his daughter explaining the silver sets she received and how they represent a great heritage. It begins with a short history of silver craftsmanship, followed by a reenactment of an early American silver shop. This is followed by the production process of silver cutlery, from design renderings by artist to production and fine-tuning. It ends with a series of different cutlery sets that the company has produced.
0:08 an RKO Pathe Picture, A Gorham Sterling Presentation, “This Gracious Heritage”, 0:24 narrated by George Bryan, 0:44 Director Lloyd Durant, Editor Marie Montagne, 0:57 message of dedication to the Gorham Craftsmen, 1:25 a man begins writing a letter to his daughter on Gorham Company paper, 1:36 a car driving up to a large fancy home with a couple unpacking their bags from the car in front of it, 2:24 man picks up his wife and carries her in, 2:39 woman unpacks a sterling cutlery set and begins decorating the house, 4:15 woman prepares a dinner for her husband with many silver items on the table, 4:46 her father writing the letter in an office, 5:21 craftsmen working on silver coffee pots, 6:10 historic images of the story of silver including Babylon, Egypt, Greece, the Renaissance, and American Silver with Paul Revere, 7:00 reenactment of a revolutionary era silver shop with artisans working on a coffee pot and a silver bowl, 8:50 an artisan in a modern shop working with a machine to form a coffee pot, 9:25 an artisan working on a silver platter, 9:40 artisan using a blowtorch on a coffee pot, 10:08 artisan engraving a coffee pot, 10:33 multiple artisans in a row engraving silver objects, 11:35 miniature Corinthian columns, bowl based on Chinese design, puritan design, and a Rembrandt inspired coffeepot, an abstract salad bowl, 12:01 a range of the silver collection available, 12.16 an artist drawing a pattern, 12:30 an artist sculpting a bust of a boy, 12:41 a man looking at the pattern on an Egyptian sarcophagus, 13:01 artist drawing different patterns that eventually become a fork, 13:30 artist and his boss comparing rendering to an early model, 14:00 man comparing the sketch to an early model of the fork, 14:40 a machine creating a die for the fork, 15:18 the die being taken to a die cutter to put on finishing touches, 16:25 a man feeding a silver sheet into a press, 16:39 a drop hammer pressing the design onto a spoon, 16:58 a man trimming and polishing a fork as a final touch, 17:24 a series of patterns on completed forks, knives, and spoons, 18:46 man continues writing the letter, 19:12 a platter mirroring images of the artisans that have been working on silver, 19:44 “The End”
The Gorham Manufacturing Company was one of the largest American manufacturers of sterling and silverplate and a foundry for bronze sculpture. It was founded in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Gorham Manufacturing Company was one of the largest. American manufacturers of sterling and silverplate and a foundry for bronze sculpture. During the heyday of American silver manufacturing, approximately 1850-1940, Gorham was highly influential. William Christmas Codman, one of Gorham's most noted designers, created the Chantilly design in 1895, which has become the most famous of Gorham's flatware patterns. The end came in 1967 when Textron purchased the Gorham Manufacturing Company. Gorham ceased operating as an independent business and the new owners started reducing the quality of Gorham's traditionally high-end products in an attempt to regain marketshare, an attempt that was ultimately unsuccessful.
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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