Market and Jewish quarter of Krakow
Creator(s)
- Robert J. Gessner (Camera Operator)
- Mr. Peter Gessner
Biographical History
Robert Gessner was born on October 21, 1907 in Escanaba, MI. He obtained a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1929 and a M.A. from Columbia University in 1930. He started teaching at New York University in 1930. He married Doris Lindeman on May 27, 1938 and had two children, Peter and Stephen. Mr. Gessner was a screen playwright and the author of several books, including "Massacre" (1931); "Broken Arrow" (1933); "Some of My Best Friends are Jews" (1936); "Treason" (1944); "Youth is the Time" (1945). He was a pioneer educator in motion pictures as an art form. Gessner founded the Motion Picture Department (now Cinema Studies) at NYU in 1941, the first four-year film curriculum leading to a B.A. degree in motion picture studies in the United States. He finished his book "The Moving Image, A Guide to Cinematic Literacy" before he died in June 1968.
Scope and Content
In Krakow, various adults and children in the lively Jewish quarter. A street sign in Hebrew letters is visible, men sleep sitting on the threshold of a building. A uniformed carriage driver talks to the camera. A throng of people crowd around a man dressed in a hat and coat, putting their hands out as though asking for something. Men carry heavy loads through the street on their backs. A crowded open-air street market. A younger man plays a joke on an elderly woman, covering her eyes with her kerchief. Good shots of Jews, market vendors, and children. Inside, a woman washes her hands in front of a window, and a man uses a sewing machine. A group of young women pose for the camera. Children help a woman push a cart laden with goods down the street.
Note(s)
Film can label reads "Dolfuss, Palestine, Poland" The original Kodak film contains a 1934/54 date code [plus/circle] Robert Gessner published a book in 1936 about his overseas travels called "Some of my Best Friends Are Jews"
Subjects
- POLAND
- CARTS/WAGONS
- SHOPS
- MARKETS
- SEWING
- JEWS
- HEBREW
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
- CROWDS
- STREETS
Places
- Krakow, Poland
- , Poland
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.