Weirdo Video Rare & authentic films of cultural, historical, and ironical significance.

Frog Jumping Tournament of Calaveras County

1950

Frog Jumping Tournament of Calaveras County

Frog Jumping Tournament of Calaveras County

Celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, later celebrated in Mark Twain’s famous story, the International Frog Jump gets underway at Angels Camp, California. The croakers bare such distinguished names as Winnie and Clem from England, a Canadian jumper, Thames River Tom, fed on vitamins made from genuine Canadian maple […]

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El Cortez Hotel Glass Elevator

1956

El Cortez Hotel Glass Elevator

Newsreel: El Cortez Hotel Glass Elevator - 1956

In this newsreel from 1956, the great newsreader Ed Herlihy describes the futuristic glass elevator recently installed in the El Cortez Hotel in San Diego, California. Believe it or not, this will be the future … of soon-to-be developed tract buildings everywhere.

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Anti-War March ’67

1967

Anti-War March ’67

Newsreel: Anti-War March - 1967

In this clip from 1967, newsreel presenter Ed Herlihy narrates  the anti-Vietnam War marches which took place in New York City, San Francisco, and across the US. Martin Luther King, Jr. petitions the UN, students burn their draft cards at demonstrations, and anti-anti-Vietnam protesters make their support of the conflict known. Fifty years later, we […]

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California the Golden

1930

California the Golden

California the Golden - 1930

If you were taking a sea cruise from the Eastern Seaboard to the West Coast via the Panama Canal, this might be the film you’d see before disembarking in San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. An exquisite travel film documenting the magnificent landscape and locales of pre-WWII California, this film showcases classic school California, […]

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Ike Re-elected

1950's

Ike Re-elected

Newsreel: Ike Re-elected - 1956

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. – Dwight D. Eisenhower 60 million Americans went to the polls in the US 1956 election to grant Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower another term in the White House. It was a “grave hour of world crisis,” but on […]

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Frisco in Grip of Strike!

1930's

Frisco in Grip of Strike!

Newsreel: 'Frisco in Grip of Strike! - 1934

In this newsreel, presented is a look at the historic 1934 West Coast Longshoremen’s Strike which lasted nearly three months and led to the establishment of unions for port workers on the West Coast. On Bloody Thursday, after fights broke out near San Francisco’s Embarcadero between police, strikebreakers and waterfront workers, the situation took a […]

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