1960 reel to reel promotion of the City of Pontiac, Michigan. Starring Brace Beemer, the original announcer for and later radio voice of the Lone Ranger.
Pontiac to me was the All American hometown. Our neighbors were family, we played Little League baseball, went to the Blue Sky and Pontiac Drive In and I started my first bank account in 1968 and the beautifully ornate Pontiac State Bank. For us, it was the perfect place to grow up.
This video was well done and I recall seeing it in grade school. We moved to Pontiac in '58 when my dad worked for Pontiac Motors in the purchasing department, I believe on South Blvd., or perhaps Montcalm. It appears the filming began in '59 and was completed in late '60 or early '61 given the years of the Pontiacs shown throughout the film, and it brought back many memories of growing up in the suburbs of what is now Waterford Twp., but regularly visiting the city with my parents to shop. I worked at Sears on Saginaw Street often stopping at Cunninghams for a donut on my way to work, then later for Fisher Body on Baldwin Ave. so I found this film to be a wonderful way to recall the vibrance of what was once a fine, industrious city and Brace Beemer was the perfect choice to host it.
Brace was not just a random host. For people who don’t know in the 1940s and 50s he was literally one of the most iconic and well loved people in all of American culture playing the Lone Ranger on radio from 1941 to 1954. As a totally blind child growing up in the 90s, years after he died, he was as much of a hero to me as John Wayne was to my father’s generation. It is one of my life ambitions to visit his grave.
As I Ron Hollis, watched this video, I saw a (great man and friend) J D Barnes, he lived in West Bloomfield and than move to Lake Orion Michigan. I meet him and family in 1964, at the 4-H Fair on Perry street. They had horses and So did I. Bless you JD, Betty and Pam.
My home town. The Pontiac I remember growing up in. Wonderful memories. Proud to say I was born at Pontiac General, grade school was McConnell elementary, and went to Eastern Jr. High. Thanks for the memories.
This is a bittersweet treasure and I enjoyed watching very much. Some of the music in the soundtrack has a theme from the PHS, then PCHS Fight song and the same theme is found in the Thunderbird Overture. Both of those as recorded in 1963 are posted in my channel. Thanks a million for posting this.
My mom was a teacher at Daniel Axford elementary in the early 50's. One year she had a student that wanted to get her a christmas tree and took her down drahner road to find one. which happened to be on brace Beamers property and the child disappeared for like two hours so my mother went up to the door and knock on the door and told the story to brace Beamer and they went out in the woods looking for the child and finally found him and the little boy had a tree behind him dragging it to give to my mother. 😂 My dad taught at Oxford high school at the same time. They met putting on faculty play.
Thanks for posting this; it was priceless to see myself at 14:35, age 16. Pretty funny seeing Beemer holding that cigarette inches from the little girl's face. In truth, the seeds of Pontiac's decline had already been sown by the time this film was made. GM missed the trend to smaller, fuel-efficient cars and the foreign firms ate our lunch.
Why is the narrator holding an unlit cigarrett? I gew up in Pontiac in the 50's and 60's. Life was good back then and Pontiac was a great city. I moved away in 1973 and learned how quickly it went down hill afterwards. It's a shame it degraded into decay but hopefully it will return to it's former greatness some fine day. That is my prayer for Pontiac.
This is the Pontiac that I remember.... Sad to say the City has gone the way of our country,,, borrowed on our children's, and their children's future...deeper and deeper in debt,, and further and further from the best it used to be...
Snuffy McGill produced this. Ted Strasser does the voice-over. He's an old WJR guy. Cool to see this, but I was hoping for more exterior shots to see what Pontiac looked like in that time period.
The city where I grew up and close to where my family and I now live. It's a shame to think that this film was shot in 1960 and that the city's demise was in full swing less than 15 years later. The bustling downtown you see in 1960 was essentially gone by 1975. There were so many factors involved. The '67 riots. The end of de facto segregation with the Milliken v Bradley decision in 1974 and the resulting white flight. The biggest factor, however, being the death of the American auto industry and the abandonment of Pontiac by GM which in a 15 year period basically wiped out Pontiac's economy, its tax base and rendered the city what it is today.
It's just a memory of the old now!!! My grandmother worked on those buses GMC coach and truck, you could hit a golf ball from her front lawn and land in PMD factory parking lot, now it's gone too,GM drive train in its place. In 1984 huge layoffs were the normal and it was funny too listen to them complain about $400. Unemployment checks, I was making $112.00 a week working full time won't listen when I said they will need people to work on the robics and here we are still needing people who can work on robics. Me I went too college and got a future in automobile electronics!!! 2021
I have the same picture of Chief Pontiac in my Office. It came from the GM Admin building, and framed at the wood shop. I do have to chuckle at about 10:10 they talk about latest tech, and the girl is using an Abacus.
How is it that the ONLY school showed in this video was Pontiac Northern? Pontiac Central was around more than ONE HUNDRED years before this video was created. In addition, the background music is The Fight Song. Original of Pontiac Central High School NOT PNHS.
In the movie from 23:50 to 24:00 there is 10-second clip of some local ski hill that used a pomalift at that time rather than a chairlift for uphill skier transport. Does anyone know what ski area this clip was taken at? I would like to share several screenshots from that clip on another website about old Michigan ski areas. Mt. Christie had a pomalift years ago but I never skied there. The movie is too old to be Silverbell. IDK how old Alpine Valley is. The first time I skied there was 1965 and then they already had 2 chairlifts and 2 t-bars plus some rope tows. Pine Knob already had chairlifts by the mid-1960s too. Teeple Hill only had rope tows. I don't think it is Mt. Holly either. The hill doesn't look familiar.
Europe acquired the entire Motor City of the "D",,, Pontiac plants were additional extra factories, many blue. collar workers lost jobs and there went the Pontiac that once was,,,
This seems like the twilight zone freal. Its very strange seeing the city presented like this. It just doesnt seem like this was ever how things were here. Even while staring at the proof. I hope Pontiac can transition into a more prosperous state like this again. Perhaps without all the racism tho thatd be swell
If anyone has photos from 1900s to 1980s or is still in Michigan Oakland county or surrounding areas please reply to my comment. I’m really into history and if you wouldn’t mind I would love to see photos of what you’re willing to share. My grandfather was born at Pontiac general in 1940. Worked at fisher body and other GM plants at one point we had the largest family working there. If you have photos from then please please comment on this in a reply so we can talk if anyone is willing. Thank you!
Here is a Facebook page about Pontiac: *** You Know You From PONTIAC ***: There is a fair amount of discussion and some older photos there. facebook.com/groups/104783192956523/
The West Bloomfield Historical Society has a bunch of old photos of that area. This book, Pontiac (Images of America), was written by my former next-door neighbor growing-up, Ron Gay. It has quite a few old photos of the area in it. www.amazon.com/Pontiac-Images-America-Ronald-Gay/dp/0738578142
