Channel: David Hoffman

Category: People & Blogs

Tags: carousel horsesvintage antiques16mm documentary1960s charactersalarm clock collectionvintage antiques roadshowamerican pickers full episodeestate sales how to make moneycarouselsamerican pickers best findsfamous collectorsgreat collectorsgreat garage salesgarage sale videoyard salesfred freed1960s new yorkfred frieddavid hoffman filmmakerobsessive collectorsantique collectinggarage sales1960s documentarynew york city characters

Description: Fred Fried was a New York City old things collector. An extraordinary collector. He had garages and warehouses filled with things that he felt were historically important antiques and should be preserved. Looking at the things he collected as shown in my 1966 documentary, it's obvious that he was collecting great folk art at a time when most people didn't see it that way. They saw old stuff probably like we do today – things that should be thrown away, dumped. I am a lifelong collector and way back in 1966 when I made this film, I saw what Fred Fried was collecting as spectacular and his collecting "eye," unique. Carousel horses. Alarm clocks. Penny arcade games at a time when it actually cost just a penny to play the games. All bits of New York City that others were glad to get rid of and Fred Fried was glad to take off their hands. I had just started work in New York City as an assistant editor cutting music for commercials and documentaries. I had made my first few short documentaries and on the weekends, I took the equipment home from the office where I worked (with enthusiastic support from the boss) and made these little movies. I read about Fred and called him and back in those days, just about everyone who I approached said… "sure. I'd love to be filmed." And I loved sync sound and the idea that you could actually ask questions holding my camera and that someone in front of the camera could be recorded on 16mm film. I always believed that my camera should be handheld even though it was heavy. It presented two people, me behind the camera and the subject in front of the camera, just talking. Today I wish I had the outtakes to all the films that I made back then but unfortunately, while I so what I was doing as of historic value, that didn't translate to the outtakes which I dumped in the garbage. To support my efforts to create more clips please donate to me at patreon.com/allinaday. Join my channel and get access to my perks: youtube.com/channel/UC6wBro4B4pf9xnBh9Xi2zcQ/join