Oral history interview with Lew Cook
- SR 9338
- Collection
- 1979-06-20 - 1979-06-26
This oral history interview with Lew Cook was conducted by Martha Gies in two sessions on June 20 and June 26, 1979. A transcript is available.
In the first interview session, conducted on June 20, 1979, Cook discusses the difficulty of safely storing nitrate film, which can spontaneously combust, and talks about his plans to hold a nitrate-burning bonfire event. He discusses his early life in Portland, Oregon, including how he became interested in film. He talks about spending time at Portland's Film Row in the early 1920s; about how he got his first camera at age 10; and about people he worked with in Portland's early film industry, including Jesse Sill and Claude Palmer. He describes running his own business, in which he traveled with projectors to show films in towns around Oregon, and discusses his involvement with the Oregon Camera Club.
In the second interview session, conducted on June 26, 1979, Cook speaks further about his early life in Portland and discusses his family background. He talks more about Portland's Film Row, including the reasons why the business moved to Gresham around 1928. He further discusses traveling with projectors to play films in towns around Oregon, and talks about films he made, particularly a film about a cute baby contest.
Cook, Lewis Clark, 1909-1983