Hashtag: #HistoricalVideos
Video: 1966 Newport Bermuda Yacht Race
Sailors taking part in the biennial Newport Bermuda yacht race have been enjoying the event for many years, as this archival footage of the 1966 edition of the race shows. The event goes ahead on even-numbered years, taking participants across 1,175 km of open ocean between Newport, Rhode Island and Bermuda. The race was first performed in 1906 after... Read more of this article
Historical Video: Hamilton In The 1960s
This video gives us a look at Hamilton as it existed in the 1960s from a cruise liner tourist’s point of view, courtesy of the Huntley Film Archives Bermuda. The video’s narrator said, “Hamilton is the first stop for cruise passengers. The liners dock right at Front Street, where fabulous shops offer luxury goods at bargain prices. “World... Read more of this article
Movie Siren Who Was Castaway In Bermuda
She remains best remembered for being Truly Scrumptious in name and appearance in the children’s classic “Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang” [1968] — but almost a decade earlier Sally Ann Howes’ comic turn as an English aristocrat who is stripped of her pretensions [and most of her heavy Edwardian couture] in Bermuda endeared her to an older... Read more of this article
Videos: “Queen’s” Launch, Post-War Cruise
Entering Service in February 1933 the “Queen of Bermuda” was one of two luxury liners known as “the Honeymoon Ships” and “the Millionaires Ships.” Built at the Vickers Armstrong shipyard in Scotland, sister ships “Monarch of Bermuda” and “Queen of Bermuda” were ordered by Furness Bermuda Line in... Read more of this article
Video: Jonathan Winters’ “Passage To Bermuda”
Antic funnyman Jonathan Winters — whose inspired flights of comedic fancy were once famously recruited in the service of Bermuda’s sedate tourism industry — died on Thursday [Apr. 11] at his home in California. He was 87. In 1963 Mr. Winters [pictured] was deliberately cast very much against type when he hosted and narrated “Passage... Read more of this article
Historic Video: Bermuda Easter Lily Farm
It was once said Bermuda was known as “The Easter Isle” for a million good reasons — that was the estimated size of the island’s annual crop of lilies when the industry was at its peak. This historic video was shot during the Easter season in the 1920s at the farm of Malcolm Hollis – then one of Bermuda’s most prominent lily growers... Read more of this article
Video: Island Cleaned Up With Soap Exposure
Bermuda tourism cleaned up in terms of TV exposure when two popular CBS soap operas did location shooting on the island in the 1980s and ’90s. While they were appearing in “As The World Turns”, future movie siren Meg Ryan and one-time “Man From UNCLE” TV show star David McCallum appeared in a number of sequences shot aboard... Read more of this article
Video: Michael Jackson Rocks Bermuda’s World
When self-styled Peter Pan Of Pop Michael Jackson descended on Bermuda in June, 1991 with 11-year-old child star Macaulay Culkin in tow, a media frenzy broke out at the Princess Hotel in Hamilton. The local press — which for decades has taken a hands-off approach to visiting celebrities, allowing them to enjoy their Bermuda vacations unmolested... Read more of this article
Video: Vintage “Bermuda Holiday” Footage
A short Bermuda tourism promotional film — probably shot in the immediate post-World Two era — shows visitors making their way around the island on rented push-bikes as well as rented horses. Bermuda’s longstanding ban on private cars and motor vehicles was lifted in 1946 and while a handful of automobiles can be glimpsed in “Bermuda... Read more of this article
Video: Dancing In The Streets Of Hamilton, 1959
He was perhaps best known as the high-stepping lasso dancer Will Parker in the 1955 film version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!” — but Hollywood and Broadway hoofer Gene Nelson also capered his way down the streets of Hamilton and onto the deck of the luxury liner “Queen of Bermuda” in a 1959 NBC... Read more of this article
Historical Video: 1930s Trip To Bermuda
Step back in time with the video below from 80 years ago, with 16mm film footage posted online documenting a family trip to Bermuda in the 1930s aboard the SS Monarch of Bermuda. The seven minute video includes footage of the Bermudiana Hotel, Aquarium, Front Street, Elbow Beach and more. Related Stories Historical Video: Duke & Duchess In Bermuda Historical... Read more of this article
Documentary Preview: ‘In The Hour Of Victory’
The Bermuda Documentary Film Festival later this month features the world premiere of award winning Bermudian director Lucinda Spurling’s film, “In the Hour of Victory,” which is based on the book by Senator Jonathan Smith. Senator Smith published “In The Hour Of Victory” — based on letters his grandfather Major Toby Smith sent to... Read more of this article
Historical Video: Queen’s Visit In 1953
Queen Elizabeth II visited Bermuda as part of her Coronation Tour in November 1953, the first stop on a major tour of the Commonwealth that began that year following her coronation five months earlier. The Queen and the Duke left London by plane in November and visited Bermuda, thence on to Jamaica where they boarded S.S. ‘Gothic’ which... Read more of this article
Video: 100 Year Old Film Made In Bermuda
Bermuda doubled for a besieged 19th century city in British India in a short historical film shot on the island one hundred years ago. Made in Bermuda in 1912, “The Relief of Lucknow” was produced by Thomas Edison’s pioneering East Coast film company for the British market and about ten minutes of the movie’s Bermuda location... Read more of this article
Videos: Vintage 1930s Bermuda Travel Film
More vintage home movie footage of Bermuda in the pre-World War Two [1939-1945] era has been restored and posted online by Nova Scotia’s provincial archives. The scenic 1933 footage was taken during a holiday trip to Bermuda, Bahamas and Jamaica. The newly posted footage was shot by John B. Porter (1861-1943), a mining engineer and amateur filmmaker,... Read more of this article
Video: Bermuda Trip In 1977
The video below was filmed and edited by Robbins Barstow [1919-2010] of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and shows the Barstow family’s vacation to Bermuda in 1977. The 10-minute video starts with footage of leaving the United States, then shows various parts of the island including the airport, the old Coral Island Hotel, City Hall, tourists on mopeds,... Read more of this article