Image: A film still showing a man securing his load of lumber (SPRA 0198.02.08, Fonds 198: Ward-Marcy family fonds)
Movie Monday highlights videos from the Archives’ film collection. Every week, an archival film will be featured on our YouTube channel and here on our blog. The Movie Monday project is made possible with the generous funding support of Swan City Rotary Club of Grande Prairie.
It has been some time since we’ve seen the Ward-Marcy family on Movie Monday, so today we are sharing another film from their family fonds.
This film was taken circa 1960 and includes footage of various aspects of the Marcy family’s life. To begin, we are shown scenes from a family visit to Alberta Game Farm. The farm opened in 1959 and was located near Edmonton. At its peak, the farm was thought to be the world’s largest private animal collection – approximately 3,200 creatures in total, ranging from KFC-eating silverback gorillas to red pandas from Communist China. It’s obvious why this was such a popular tourist destination!
Next comes a glimpse of the Marcy home and cars, followed by a look at Miles Marcy’s work at the lumber mill. It is Miles who is seen operating the Timber Toter and unloading the trucks. The final portion of the film shows a wrecked truck belonging to Miles. The truck had rolled, and though we don’t know whether he sustained any injuries in the accident, we do know he survived the mishap!