Oral history interview with Lew Cook

Collection

Identifier: SR 9338

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Lew Cook was conducted by Martha Gies in two sessions on June 20 and June 26, 1979. A transcript is available.

In the first interview session, conducted on June 20, 1979, Cook discusses the difficulty of safely storing nitrate film, which can spontaneously combust, and talks about his plans to hold a nitrate-burning bonfire event. He discusses his early life in Portland, Oregon, including how he became interested in film. He talks about spending time at Portland’s Film Row in the early 1920s; about how he got his first camera at age 10; and about people he worked with in Portland's early film industry, including Jesse Sill and Claude Palmer. He describes running his own business, in which he traveled with projectors to show films in towns around Oregon, and discusses his involvement with the Oregon Camera Club.

In the second interview session, conducted on June 26, 1979, Cook speaks further about his early life in Portland and discusses his family background. He talks more about Portland’s Film Row, including the reasons why the business moved to Gresham around 1928. He further discusses traveling with projectors to play films in towns around Oregon, and talks about films he made, particularly a film about a cute baby contest.

Dates

1979 June 20-26

Creator

Cook, Lewis Clark, 1909-1983 (Interviewee, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and the estate of Lew Cook. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted, https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/

Biographical note

Lewis "Lew" Clark Cook was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1909. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War. During his service, he made films of combat, and later became the official film editor for the Seabees. He was a newsreel photographer for Universal News, and also took photographs for Mount Hood Weekly and Portland News. He shot television commercials while working for Central Telefilms in Peoria, Illinois, in the early 1950s. In 1954, he returned to Portland, and became director of the movie department for Photo Art Commercial Studios. He volunteered for the Oregon Historical Society for many years, and in 1974, he became the society’s film archivist.

He married twice, first to Chancey Rose Deveraux in 1937, then to Martha Irene Thoreson in 1943. Cook and Thoreson had five children. Cook died in 1983.

Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Cook in his interview; obituary for Cook, published in the Oregonian on June 22, 1983.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (6 audiotape reels (1 hr., 35 min., 25 sec.) + transcript (48 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Lew Cook conducted by Martha Gies in two sessions on June 20 and June 26, 1979. Cook discusses the difficulty of safely storing nitrate film, which can spontaneously combust; talks about spending time at Portland’s Film Row in the early 1920s; and describes running his own business showing films in towns around Oregon.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Melissa Marshland, June 1984 (Lib. Acc. 16835).

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio and transcript available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Related Materials

The Oregon Historical Society Research Library also holds the Lewis Clark Cook photographs, Org. Lot 304; the Lewis Clark Cook papers, Mss 1538; and many films by Cook.