El's home movies - Christmas 1940

Since we have a couple of days to go before the Xmas holiday, I thought I would whip up another of the El Brendel home movies and share it with everyone. This one is from 1940 and shows scenes of Los Angeles, The Brendel's decorations, and El goofing around for the camera. This reel is curious as this may be the only Christmas reel which does not feature any other people other than El & Flo. Enjoy.

I'd like to personally wish Happy Holidays to all my readers and the best of wishes for everyone in 2015!!

El's home movies - Christmas 1939

Since we are around the time of the holidays, I thought what a perfect way to celebrate is to show one of the home movies El made at Christmas. From 1939 until 1963 (his last Xmas before passing), El would produce some fairly elaborate home movies showing how he, his wife Flo, and his friends would spend their holiday together. Along with the festivities of people having fun, there are inter cut scenes of the Brendel's decorations, gifts, and usually sprinklings of Los Angeles and the surrounding area. These 4 to 6 minute shorts were at some period, spliced into larger reels containing several years of Christmas shorts on them and luckily for the viewer, all these were shot in Kodachrome!

This film is the earliest Christmas reel to survive. As most of my readers here will easily spot El, we see his wife, Flo, is the woman with dark hair who answers the door for the guests and the only other guest I have been able to identify is the tall man who is the last one through the door. It's El's son from his first marriage, Elmer.

Enjoy and happy holidays!