Oh, and I had no idea that the George Eastman House is home to Selznick School of Film Preservation. Check it out: http://selznickschool.eastmanhouse.org/
Friday, April 8, 2011
George Eastman House
I hope you all had a good time on our field trip and learned a little something. I learned that George Eastman left a death note that read: Friends: My work is done. Why wait? I also learned a bit about how photos were taken during the Civil War. Thanks, Miles, for pointing out the interesting video.
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Without a doubt, the most interesting facts that I learned were a) that George Eastman was a bachelor his whole life which has led to speculation about his sexual orientation and b)that he killed himself to prevent himself from succumbing to illness and losing control of his body. I also found that both of these more "scandalous" facts were not mentioned by the tour guide and were hidden in very small rooms that many tourists might not view. Flora and I also enjoyed watching the screentests of actors and actresses for "Gone With the Wind"!
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot about George Eastman and about his life, such as the fact that when he woke up in the morning and walked down the stairs a hired pianist began to play music. He had an interesting life, and he was certainly an eccentric person – he went on a hunting trip in Africa when he was 70 and killed an elephant by himself. I also learned that he was the first person to show colored film to the public at one of his parties (at his house). Less importantly, I found out that George Eastman was in fact no relation to Linda Eastman McCartney (I confirmed it).
ReplyDeleteI learned that in addition to his contributions to the world of photography and film, George Eastman also provided an outstanding amount of support for education, although he never finished school himself, dropping out at only 14. He donated over $75 million to several projects including gifts to RIT and MIT. He also established the Eastman School of Music, despite the fact that he wasn't particularly musically inclined.
ReplyDeleteI indeed learned a great deal about George Eastman, including his love for music, safari's, helping people, and for his work especially. He had no former education past the age of 13 and taught himself how to mix emulsions for films and cameras. He eventually pattoned a camera that could be used by all costing only $25. At a party hosted by him at his house, he annuonced color motion pictures along with Thomas Edison. He donated over $100,000,000 in his lifetime and was a multi multi million air. He kept in contact with professors and board members of colleges such as MIT and RIT. He believed very much that students should take advantage of the opportunity for higher level learning. At the end of his life Mr. Eastman became very ill with a disease that would eventually tkae over his whole body preventing him from haveing complete control of his muscles. He decided to take complete control of his life, he wrote a suicide note to his freiends stating that his work was "done". He then shot hisself in the heart with a lugger.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Eastman had a very interesting life as I learned from our recent field trip. One, somewhat scandalous, fact was that before killing himself he changed his will, leaving his money to the University of Rochester instead of his niece (who was his original beneficiary). I also learned that he had a beautiful garden and grew his own fruits and vegetables, which was unusual for city dwellers. Despite not going to college, Eastman went on to make major strides in photography, making it available to the public (one year Kodak even gave free cameras to everyone who turned twelve, in an effort to create a generation who grew up with cameras). His success allowed him to donate more than a million dollars while still enabling him to maintain a beautiful home and go on hunting escapades. He also loved lemon pie.
ReplyDeleteI had a great tim at the Eastman house!! The information that I learned and found interesting was that Eastman liked to hunt and liked animals. The elephant in his house on the wall was sooooo cool and it made it even better that he originally went on a safari when he was older and hunted an elephant and had it placed on his wall, and to make the house look as authentic as possible now they duplicated the head for visitors to see. Another thing that was interesting to actually see was the amount of equipment that people had take with them just to take a single picture. It was also really cool to see and read the suicide note that he left...it was actually kind of creepy especially since i didnt even know that he created suicide until that moment. Also he was a multi-millionaire which wasnt a common thing t this time, but he wasnt stingy with his money, he donted a lot of money especially to help students. He was a very influential role-model and a huge part of the growth and advancements in film and photography:)
ReplyDeleteHonestly, the tour bored me. But I did find George Eastman's home to very interesting. I enjoyed his love for animals. He tons of things made from animals, like the elephant head mantle, the elephant foot waste bin, the cheetah blanket, & many other things. Another thing I found interesting was his love for art. Many people don't know, but our tour guide allowed me to go further into his living room so that I can see the medallions that represented each season. They were so precise and well crafted. I learned a lot, especially about early photography. I enjoyed learning about how Mr. Eastman made it to where he did. I also enjoyed the hands on stuff, that was probably the best part.
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