Larry found this short film there, from 1918. The occasion was a Ford tractor demo day in a 'farming area of the United States'. (Can you imagine the amazement that day? Not only new powerful machines to do the work on the farm, but a moving picture camera was recording it all. No wonder grandpa Janson had such high hopes for the 20th century!)
The set up is a tug-o-war between a tractor and about 20 men (who lose, of course). But this gentleman evidently used the megaphone to direct the action. It struck Larry that he looked like grandpa Anton Janson--small stature, curly hair, glasses, shirt and tie...
Yeah, I CAN hear your skepticism from here. Ahem. You need to work on hiding it better...☺
BUT, we know some filming was done on farms around Pierz in those years because we found an archival listing online mentioning Pierz and a farmer named Gau ("A SON OF THE SOIL- TAKEN ON HENRY GAU'S HORSELESS FARM NEAR PIERZ, MINNESOTA, ca. 1920"--National Archives, online).
Anyway, even if you think we're nuts, it's fun to view a few of those old films at Critical Past. They're listed by decade, and there are quite a few from WWII. The opening page montage gives you a pretty good idea.
You're welcome.
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