KTWU Sunflower Journeys 1606C - Centron Films
Produced by Scott Williams
Narrator: Friends since childhood, Art Wolf and Russell Mosser were co-founders of the company with a third, silent participant named Fred Montgomery. Art defined the name Centron as company in the center of the United states in the electronic age. The success of the first sewing film lead to a series of related films, shot in a former vaudville theatre building at 1107 Massachusetts. In order to provide a steady income for the new company, a retail camera store was opened in the front of the building. Art and Russell ran the store front. Russell Mosser: Most people that had any knowledge of Centron thought we started a camera shop, got interested in movies, and started making film. But it was the other way. Narrator: Sometimes the storefront got in the way of the movie business. Russell Mosser: Well, we had a problem. If Art was out on location there was no one to mind the store. Narrator: Norm Stewe was the next employee to join the company and was pursuaded leave the Calvin Company, a large industial film production house in Kansas City, to be part of this upstart. Norm Stuwe: I moved to Lawrence because Art and I, Art Wolfe and I shot a movie together for the Missouri Department of resources and development. And we got along well and so Art called me and said, "Come on over, so I did, and when I arrived why, gosh sakes, there isn't anything here. The first thing I did was to build two darkrooms. And a place to keep the Cine Special they had, this spring wound camera. Narrator: Not as impressive as some of the equipment he had been using at the Calvin company, in Norms's hands, the little Cine Special earned its keep in producing high quality classroom films. Russell Mosser: There was a big demand for classroom films. And we thought we could develop those. Young America was in position to finance those, and one of the very difficult things to get a film company started was to have business. So this was actually the base of our operation all of the years we were working. Narrator: Chuck Berg is the director of the film and video program at KU. He comments on why films of this nature were in demand. Chuck Berg: There was a felt need to supplement elementary school curricula–junior high, senior high curricula with audio-visual aids. Now someone might ask, now, "Why did that all of a sudden happen in the Post-War period. I think the basic explanation goes back to the War itself. During the Second World War there was a tremendous amount of usage of 16mm film to document military operations, to create propaganda films. Even instructional films. You know, how to put your boots on and take care of your feet. Narrator: Some of these films have found their way into off-beat television shows of today, poking fun at the early styles, manors and the acting found in these films. Russell Mosser: But our technology of the 50s, that was the technology. And the films we were made were the films that the classroom teachers were asking for and would use. Norm Stuwe:I think people see that this was certainly a different time. Totally different time. And it was very serene time. And we were, I don't think we had any idea what was, this was pre-60s, and I think the 60s was an awakening to everybody in this country. Chuck Berg: The educational film as a genre is one that has really not been studied systematically at all. There is a recent book, Mental Hygiene, in that book, you know, the author talks Centron films having sort of a gritty, realistic, perhaps Midwest kind of approach somewhere percolating in the overall texture of those films.
Norm Stuwe: We don't make films like that anymore. There fast and yea, some of it is a little embarrasing. (laugh) I think that everybody that I worked with would agree with that. There was one film we had called Exchanging Greetings and Introductions and my kids now today they look at this thing and they have the greatest time seeing themselves in these films. Narrator: In the mid-fifties the company had outgrown the old theatre building on Massachusetts. Norm Stuwe: We were plagued with noises form the street and bells and stuff like this and lack of proper acoustics and so it seemed that we needed to have a proper kind of studio. Narrator: In 1955 they built a large soundstage close to the KU campus. Once the facility was up and running, there were no bounds to the creativity that emerged. Crews were dispatched to locations around the globe to bring back images for geography and travel films. Corporate clients including Fortune 500 companies hired Centron to deliver their message to stockholders and consumers. Big name Hollywood stars were often flown in to Lawrence to be in these films. Narrator: But the crowning achievement for the company was an academy award nomination for a documentary short often called "The Leo Film." Norm Stuwe: (It) did well related to people, hey look things are tough. You think you've got it tough look at this guy. Look how he dealt with it. Narrator: The town of Lawrence was always an active partner in the film company. Thousands of Lawrence residents became actors and extras for the hundreds of films the company produced during its tenure. Sadly, classroom films lost economic viability as projectors were stored away in exchange for vcrs. The company sold in the early 80s, later to be broken up even further and sold off in different pieces. The facility has become part of the KU film school, and students can soak in the rich film heritage of the company in the center of the United States known as Centron.
This transcript is from KTWU's Sunflower Journeys 2003 season. A production of: |
