This collection of 16mm clips was originally shot and compiled in the 1950s by W.H. Tilley. It begins with several minutes of a Band Day parade up Congress Avenue (1952, with numerous marching bands and floats). The film also includes images of UT students in Littlefield Fountain and views from Mount Bonnell. A series of "Snap Shots Around U.S.A." featuring W.H. and his wife Helen ensues, mixing travel photos (San Francisco cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, New Orleans's French Quarter and Jackson Square, downtown Chicago) with live footage of Daytona Beach and Denver (The Natural History Museum and Capitol building). More Austin shots follow: a nighttime scene along Congress Avenue, the Santa Rita oil well, the Tilley's home (from the street), an historic train engine, a gathering of Shriners, and a Shriner marching band in a Congress Avenue parade. The collection concludes with brief footage of Harry S. Truman, speaking and playing piano (along with labor leader James Petrillo on trumpet) at a Milwaukee union convention in 1954.

Brothers Wesley Hope and Paul Tilley can be counted among Texas' pioneering filmmakers. Their movie work extends at least as far back as 1910.

In addition to their short subjects (as for-hire filmmakers) and early documentary movies of Texas, the Austin-based Tilleys made cartoons, titles, slides, advertisements, newsreels, and comedy features. The brothers were also involved in the turn-of-the-century amusement business as carnival music producers and for-hire projectionists.

The Tilley brothers are best known, however, for their three commercial narrative features: Mexican Conspiracy Outgeneralled, Their Lives By a Slender Thread and The Kentucky Feud. These films were produced in 1913 around central Texas (as well as Mexico) under the auspices of their Satex production company and film lab, one of the first of its kind in Texas.

W. Hope Tilley eventually pursued his music-related activities full-time, remaining in Austin. Paul Tilley later worked with another fellow Texan in Hollywood, film director King Vidor.

Travis County Austin

1950s 50s nineteen fifties Austin Texas Travis County Congress Avenue parade band marching band majorettes marching formation crowds storefronts street tuba music batons drums trombones flags American flag trumpets uniforms twirling bass drum boots kids signs drum majors saxophones epaulets cars automobiles autos parking lot hats floats University of Texas

Tower UT UT Tower campus fountain Littlefield Fountain Main Building students boys fun horseplay Mount Bonell Mt. Bonell Town Lake Lake Austin Colorado River San Francisco California cable cars Golden Gate Bridge bridge San Francisco Bay Absinth House New Orleans Louisiana Huey Long Bridge French Quarter Bourbon Street Chicago architecture Daytona Beach Florida beach cars ocean waves seaside sand pier Jackson Square Andrew Jackson

statue Café Du Monde street scene night time streetlights headlights Santa Rita overcoat hat oil well drilling pump fly wheel flywheel residence residential architecture residential neighborhood locomotive train engine train shriners fraternal orders family families fez fezzes purse Denver Colorado Denver Museum of Natural History dioramas natural history Denver Capitol Building old Capitol Building trucks pickups trees deer walrus mountains

Capitol dome clarinet giant heart giant fez Ben Hur Ben Hur chanters trailers tricycles stage Harry Truman Harry S. Truman Truman James Petrillo labor union union convention speech Milwaukee Wisconsin president piano pianist trumpet trumpet player wheelchairs motorcycles speaker microphones TFC