This late 1950s film “Collector’s Item” from Parthenon Pictures, presented by International Harvester, documents the city of Los Angeles’ banning of backyard trash incinerators and its transition to a municipal garbage collection system in 1957. The film opens with a shot of LA from a distance. A public works administrator from a midwestern city, Don Flemming, observes the operations of LA’s Toyon Canyon landfill. There are several good shots of LA. Cars crowd the freeways in LA (02:15), and the rapid growth of the city creates urban sprawl. An inversion covers the valley. The film shows the sources of the pollution (03:12): factories, refineries, and the burning of refuse. A municipal incinerator burns rubbish. A woman burns garbage in a backyard incinerator (04:26). The film shows other backyard and rooftop incinerators. A fireman sprays water from a firehose onto a house fire (05:12). A garbage truck drives around and collects garbage. The film shows City Hall (06:49). Inside, an official looks at a map of Los Angeles and ponders how to deal with waste collection. The City Council watches an informational film, Collection Equipment (07:40), showing eight different types of garbage trucks as they consider launching a municipal waste collection system. City Hall is lit up at night (09:44). The film introduces the key men involved in starting the waste management system (09:54): Warren Snyder, Norman Hume, Grant Flynn, Jack Kirkus, Ray Swinson, George Bulgart, and Charlie Neese (please excuse any misspellings of the names). A man instructs newly recruited garbage men on operations (11:11); the men learn how to operate and maintain the garbage trucks. Footage shows the garbage trucks being tested at the proving grounds of the manufacturing company (11:50), presumably that of Harvester International. Contractors wait in City Hall to bid on the jobs for the waste system components—in this case for truck chassis (12:55). There is a night shot of City Hall and its surrounding neighborhood (14:31). Men wipe down garbage trucks (14:50), and then the district foreman waves the garbage trucks off and out onto their routes during the first day of operations, where they clear the south-central district. A loader dumps garbage from household containers into the truck (15:55). Trucks pass large piles of garbage. One truck uses its compactor to crush the garbage. An official drives a car down a residential street to check on garbage collection (18:25); he calls the office from the car on what looks like a phone receiver. Trucks arrive back at the yard (19:52) to check in. Inside the office, drivers go over what routes have been cleared and what remains. A truck dumps rubbish at a municipal incinerator (20:58). Garbage men park the trucks in the yard at the end of the day (22:27). The men look at the map of the other districts to service over the next few days. A truck drives a route up in the Hollywood Hills (24:27). City officials look at a site for a new disposal facility for the San Fernando Valley (24:55). A garbage man picks up garbage in the rain (25:55). There is a shot of Toyon Canyon where the new landfill is being built and garbage is dumped (26:58). At the landfill, heavy tractors move the trash, and a Harvester International TD-24 pulls a scrapper to spread dirt over the garbage layers. A tractor bulldozes dirt over the landfill. There are shots of a man golfing, people playing tennis, and the city officials leaving the landfill at Toyon Canyon. The film concludes with scenes of LA with clear skies, an American Airlines plane taxiing on a runway, and a shot of LA from the window of the plane.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

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 http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com