Lost for decades, the films of pioneering Spokane-area documentary filmmaker
Robert Lee Pryor have been rediscovered.
Beginning in the
1960s, Pryor created films about
Chief Spokane Garry, the city of
Spokane, and the development of the Spokane and
Columbia rivers. "I decided to make films on Spokane," he said, "because of the lack in that area and feeling the pupils in SD81 need material on their city and its history." Students of
Spokane Public Schools (
District No. 81) and the public had the ability to enjoy Pryor's films for decades. However, when
16mm film projectors gave way to
VHS and
DVD players, Pryor's documentaries were effectively lost from view.
Without a projector, no one could see Pryor's work until the
Washington State University MASC (Manuscripts,
Archives, and
Special Collections) department digitized Pryor's Chief Spokane Garry film and posted it to YouTube in 2014. Since then, the documentary has attracted a couple hundred views, including a view by
Eastern Washington University history professor
Larry Cebula who commented: "
Wow, I had no idea that this video existed!"
I saw Pryor's Chief Spokane Garry film on YouTube, and through a correspondence with the filmmaker I was able to learn about his career.
Pryor was born in Spokane in 1928 and raised in Cheney where he received his master's degree from
Eastern Washington State College (now Eastern Washington University) in
1959. After a year of teaching in
Oregon, he moved to Spokane and worked for Spokane Public Schools for thirty-two years. For twenty-three of those years he served as the district's Instructional
Media Coordinator, a position that allowed him to screen thousands of educational films and teach himself the art of filmmaking. Also, he said, "my long time interest in
35mm slides helped me in my composition of film scenes." Pryor shot on Kodak Ektachrome film. "My camera," he said, "was a
16mm Bell and Howell and had a good fluid drive tripod." To assemble his films, Pryor said, "I used a very simple editing with a raised back that had clips for placing film clips, a viewer and two hand-cranked reels."
Pryor said, "I don't recall anyone else making documentaries on Spokane in the 1960s." As a pioneer in the Spokane documentary film scene, Pryor produced Chief Spokane Garry:
Indian of the
Northwest in 1966, Spokane:
The First 100 Years in
1969, The
Spokane River in
1970, and Utilizing
Fresh Water Resources: The
Columbia River in
1971. In
1983, Pryor retired from the school district and moved to
Idaho to live alongside one of his beloved film subjects: the Spokane River.
During his career, Pryor worked as writer, producer, director, camera
operator, and editor. He produced films independently with his company Northwest
Film Productions, and in collaboration with the Instructional Materials
Service of Spokane Public Schools. He worked with film editor
R. C. Horn of
Crown Film Co., artist
Patricia Christensen who worked in Pryor's Instructional Media department, narrator
Stanley G
. Witter Jr. of KREM TV and radio, photographer
William J. Benish, and
Alpha Cine Lab of Spokane
. In the titles of his films, he gave credit to those who lent him assistance, and acknowledged a veritable who's who of Spokane institutions: Eastern Washington State
Historical Society,
Spokane Public Library,
Washington Water Power Company, KREM television,
Lincoln First Federal Savings and Loan,
Washington State Historical Society,
E.T. Becher,
John R. Rogers High School, and
Northern Pacific Railroad.
With Pryor's permission, I had his four documentary films transferred to a digital format by
Jeff Tillotson at Lightpress www.lightpress.tv in
Seattle in
2015. Pryor also agreed to allow me to post his films on YouTube.
Chief Spokane Garry: Indian of the Northwest, 1966, 23
Minutes
http://youtu.be/BW2rs3IVaqI
Spokane: The First 100 Years, 1969, 26 Minutes
http://youtu.be/Faw7XG1DC3o
The Spokane River, 1970, 17 Minutes
http://youtu.be/du6pHo3EHYA
Utilizing Fresh Water Resources: The Columbia River, 1971, 14 Minutes
http://youtu.be/_gJ6TMBIJpQ
Pryor's films should interest scholars because they tell the history of Spokane and are a time capsule that show what Spokane looked like when he created his films. The documentaries should also interest film students because they are a sampler of 16mm filmmaking techniques: time lapse, slow motion, night photography, macro photography, sliding shots, and traditional title art.
I am grateful to Pryor for giving me the opportunity to see his films and excited to have his permission to share them with people interested in Spokane's history and the legacy of filmmaking in the northwest.
Lee O'Connor
Lee O'Connor is author of
Take Cover, Spokane:
A History of Backyard Bunkers,
Basement Hideaways, and
Public Fallout Shelters of the
Cold War, available at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, and on
Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle. http://amzn.com/1496094581
- published: 06 Aug 2015
- views: 213