August 30, 1979 Boblo Island 16mm Workprint

2018.008.004
detroithistori...
Silent color 16mm reel containing a workprint composed of footage shot for a Boblo Island promotional video. The scenes include the island's docks, the PAPOOSE IV, the STE. CLAIRE, the island's miniature railroad, the blockhouse and the Bois Blanc Island Lighthouse, the marina, the Sky Streak, Pee Wee and Lil' Charlie's Dolphin Show, the Log Flume, and the Scrambler.
The reel opens with a shot of the Detroit River and the Amherstberg riverfront as the passenger ferry PAPOOSE IV arrives at the island's dock. Next, the camera moves to the midway for a shot of people walking past with the Skydiver and souvenir stands in the background. A shot then follows of the park-side entrance to the dock. The canopy overhead is painted to demark lanes “To Detroit" and "To Amherstburg." Railroad crossing signs and the tracks of the miniature railroad are in the foreground.
The arrival of the Boblo passenger steamer STE. CLAIRE is the focus of the next sequence of shots. The boat's bow is the subject of the first show, as it approaches the dock. As the camera continues to roll, the STE. CLAIRE turns exposing its port side. While the boat is docking, the camera zooms in for shots of passengers waiting on the promenade while workers on the shore prepare to tie down the boat's lines. After a cut, the camera rolls alongside the boarding ramp as passengers step from the boat onto the island. A close-up of the boat's name follows. Next, new passengers boat the boat from the island.
In a much shorter sequence the camera then captures a quick shot of the ferry PAPOOSE IV approaching the docks, and then after a cut, the flow of people disembarking from the boat. This segment ends with a pan across the boat which comes to a rest on the ferry's pilothouse.
Then from the dock area, the camera catches the C.P. Huntington train ride passing. From an elevated position--possibly aboard the STE. CLAIRE at dock, the camera then rolls for an overhead view of the PAPOOSE IV as it disembarks, with the island's "Bob-Lo" sign on the shore in the background. Following a cut, the camera follows the PAPOOSE IV as it sets out into the Detroit River. Shots follow from the same vantage point of the "Bob-Lo" sign on the shore, and the Skydiver. Following a short gap in recording, the camera gets a shot of park visitors seated near the shore as a freighter passes.
The C.P. Huntington train is again the subject of several subsequent shots. First the camera pans from a shot of a railroad crossing signs and the three flags that fly over the shore to the approaching train. Then, in a pair of extended shots an out of service locomotive is filmed beneath a canopy, both head-on and in profile. The camera also zooms from the boats at the adjacent dock to the passenger cars of the nearby train.
Several shots of the landmarks near the southern tip of the island follow--the blockhouse and the Bois Blanc Island Lighthouse.
Boaters along the shore--including on group in a Chris-Craft--and people the island's beach are then the focus of a series of shots.
The film then returns to the amusement park attractions with shots of the Sky Streak rollercoaster, Pee Wee and Lil' Charlie's Dolphin Show and the audience gathered there.
An extended series of shots of the marina are next on the reel. Among these are shots of a duck in the water, and people in outboard motor boats.
The reel ends with another set of shots of the amusement park's attractions--the Log Flume, the picnic area, and the Scrambler (with the Ferris wheel and giant slide in the background).
The film is spooled on a yellow plastic core, and housed within a grey plastic canister. A series of handwritten labels are affixed to the canister’s lid. These read, "Aug 30 1-3," "Work Print with Taped Sections - Boblo Park," "On Lab Cores," "Dub F/T 1/17/95 1 9[?]," and "FR." The film's leader is labeled, "Boblo Island Amusement Park, Bob-Lo Aug 30 1979."