Sarnia Historical Film Footage on YouTube: 1941 Wartime Parade and 1950s Home Show

George L. Smith was an avid collector and wrote many books and booklets on Lambton history including the popular "A History of Sarnia in Pictures" as well as lesser-known pieces like "A History of A.B.C. Books of Lambton County." Both his writing and his collection of newspaper clippings, photographs and history books form some of the cornerstones of our archival collection.

In addition to collecting and writing, Smith did some work with film, including a video of a wartime parade in Sarnia in 1941 and a video from a home show in the Sarnia Arena in the 1950s. Both sets of film were degrading in composition and quality over time. Fortunately, George Smith's son Derek digitized his father's film, tinkered with the film quality and produced two excellent digital copies of the old film.

The wartime parade marched down Confederation Street in 1941, and we believe that George Smith stood at the intersection of Confederation Street and Mitton Line while filming. The video features young soldiers as well as aged veterans. Most of the video is in black and white but it does feature an amazing colour sequence with a series of floats that have slogans like "K.O. Hitler," "More Machine Guns," "Make Your Savings Fight For You" and "Canada Needs More Planes." The video was uploaded to YouTube and split into two sections: Sarnia Wartime Parade 1941, Part 1 and Sarnia Wartime Parade 1941, Part 2.

The Sarnia Home Show was filmed sometime in the 1950s. It reveals a huge crowd that turned out to the Sarnia Arena for a display of modern appliances and home accessories. Local companies can be seen touting their merchandise. The video later transitions from the Sarnia Arena into what looks like a talent competition sponsored by local radio station CHOK!