Leading technology of the day captures early Folklife videos

Street scene during an early Hannibal Folklife Festival. In the background the old Ice House Theater and the grain terminals are visible. This was taken during the same era that Robert Spaun used his early video equipment to shoot footage of the festival. Photo contributed by Michael Gaines, Hannibal Arts Council.

Note, Mary Lou Montgomery, author of this story and the accompanying sidebar, is Robert Spaun’s sister.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Late afternoon, on a crisp November day, in 1978, Robert Spaun of Hannibal, a long-time video hobbyist, took his Toshiba one-tube color camera downtown. There, on North Main Street, he recorded color videos - with accompanying audio - of the events under way at one of Hannibal’s early Folklife Festivals.

In recognition of the annual festival’s 50th anniversary celebration coming up Oct. 17-18, 2026, Robert retrieved the video footage from the volumes he recorded during the ensuing decades, and, utilizing his still-operational vintage recording devices and current computer equipment, was able to digitized the footage, so that it could be available for viewing during this anniversary-year event.

He presented a copy of the video to Becky Evans, of the Hannibal Arts Council, and current plans call for it to be shown during this year’s festival in the HAC gallery.

Robert, who worked for Harris Broadcast/Gates Air from 1978 until his retirement at the end of 2023, explained how this particular video came to be.

At the time, (in 1978) “They had just come out with the color cameras for home use,” Robert said. “Even still, it was over a thousand-dollar camera back then. It was the first single-tube color camera you could get.

“The only other color cameras were $40,000 professional cameras,” he said.

The film that he recorded on this camera “is just raw video, unedited raw video,” he said.

He captured images of musicians, dancers, vendors as well as fair goers.

First film unusable

The process of retrieving this historic footage for showing at this year’s festival almost ended before it began.

“I tried playing the tape, but the video had a lot of streaks through it and the actual video would drop out and go to black. The signal had degraded over the years,” he said, and he further explained:

“The signal gets weaker and weaker as the head gets older. Eventually the signal is so weak the machine can no longer get a usable signal. There is no fixing it,” he said.

“Different brands of tape, some tended to hold the signal better. All these tapes (that I have from that era) are the same age, recorded on the same machine. Some work, and some don’t.”

The same scenario happens with today’s home video tapes. “A lot of people are saying 15-20 years is the best you can get; the signal just fades away. It is important that home video tapes get copied off as soon as possible. They do have an finite lifetime.

“Eventually, they all get to a point they won’t play anymore.”

What almost wasn’t

Luckily, two years after the original video footage was made, Robert did make a copy.

In about 1980, he copied the 1978 video for the Hannibal Arts Council. “I put intros on it for the Arts Council. The copy survived OK, but the original tape was unplayable.”

In 1984, he made a second video of the festival, and this survived the ensuing years just fine, he said.

Obsolete equipment

He no longer has his original recording devices.

“I ended up selling off the recorder several years ago,” he said. “Last year I saw one on eBay, and thought that would be kind of neat to have one. I got the thing for less than 100 bucks, and tried to get it working again. I spent quite a few hours fighting the problems, but it was full of bad soldered joints. That’s when I decided to pack it up and eWaste it.

“It would been neat, but more work than I was willing to put into it.

“I still have three 3/4 inch machines, bought in the last few years. Two are players and one is a big editing recorder. Even the players weigh about 45 pounds.”

Converting process

In order to convert the film to a digital file, “I played it on this big pneumatic player, with output that plugs into a DVD recorder. Into that, output of the DVD recorder goes to a TV monitor. Start the tape, put a bank DVD tape in the recorder, hit record on DVD, and it records while playing off the tape.

“Hit the stop button and I have recorded it onto DVD disk.

“I put the disk in my computer, and I can make copies of the DVD; I have a master and can make copies off of that. I have a video editing program, so I can take the program off the DVD and convert it to an MP4 file, like they use to upload to YouTube.

“Most computers will play a MP4 file; it is the standard everyone is using now.”

What to see

The 1978 and 1984 videos depict Hannibal’s North Main Street as it was at the time of the filming, businesses visible in the background including:

Klene Printing, 205 N. Main; Haydon Hardware, 207 N. Main; Gibson’s Tire Co., 218 N. Main;

Scott’s store, drugs and sundries, 219 N. Main; J.K. Mills Tavern, 224 N. Main;  Wright Furniture, 305 N. Main; Ole Planters Restaurant, 316 N. Main; Cheese and Ice Cream Shop, 318 N. Main; Old Town Gift Shoppe; Scipio Creek Pottery, 322 N. Main; Hickory Stick, 326 N. Main; The old Ice House, in use at the time as a theater, 105 Hill; the grain terminals along Hannibal’s riverfront; Murphy Motors, 422 N. Main; and Cassano’s Pizza and Seafood, 415 N. Main.

People

Just a few of the recognizable faces among the crowds:

Merrilyn Parham and her father-in-law, Herb Parham; Glovie Gray, Mary Cunningham, and

Len Moss.

Entertainers

Square dancing, Dulcimers (Mike Anderson), Strong man, Weaving, Juggler and Bagpipes.

Food

Pork rinds; Cider making; Cheese soup; Pop corn; Funnel cakes; Gingerbread men; Cranberry tea and Pulled taffy.

Musicians

Fiddler playing the The Barrell Polka.

Crafters

Pottery, Leather works, Wood work, Scrimshaw and Coppersmith.