The Burton Holmes Lectures: Through Europe With A Camera. Oberammergau. Cycling Through Corsica
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The Burton Holmes Lectures: The Yellowstone National Park. The Grand Cañon Of Arizona. Mokiland
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The Burton Holmes Lectures: Seoul, Capital Of Korea. Japan
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The Burton Holmes Lectures: Norway, Sweden, Denmark - Suffl. London Paris, Berlin
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The Burton Holmes Lectures: Down The Amur, Peking. The Forbidden City
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The Burton Holmes Lectures: The Olympian Games in Athens. Grecian Journeys. the Wonders of Thessaly
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Burton Holmes Travelogues: Through Europe With A Camera. Oberammergau. Cycling Through Corsica
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Elias Burton Holmes was an American traveler, photographer and filmmaker. He was the first person to present his documentary travel lectures in a form of travelogues.
Background
Elias Burton Holmes, known professionally as Burton Holmes, was born on January 8, 1870 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Ira Holmes and Virginia Burton.
His father, a banker and broker, was the son of Elias Holmes, a New York Whig congressman of the antebellum period. is maternal grandfather, Stiles Burton, was a wealthy builder and an importer of French wines and gourmet foods.
Education
In keeping with his privileged background, Holmes attended private schools and first traveled to Europe at sixteen.
Career
When Holmes was twenty, he presented a stereopticon show, "Through Europe With a Camera, for which he had written the accompanying narrative, to raise funds for the Chicago Camera Club, of which he was secretary. Two events turned an avocation into a career, and transformed a dilettante into a hard-working professional. The first was the Panic of 1893, which involved Ira Holmes in financial difficulties and confronted his son with the necessity of earning a livelihood. Presenting another stereopticon lecture to an audience drawn mainly from Chicago's upper class (and based on photographs taken on an 1892 tour of Japan), Burton Holmes cleared a surprising $700.
The second decisive event was the retirement, in 1897, of John L. Stoddard, a popular travel lecturer of the day, whom Holmes had met at Oberammergau, Germany, in 1890, With Stoddard's endorsement he and two associates formed Burton Holmes Lectures, Inc. , and in the 1897-1898 season he filled Stoddard's engagements in Chicago and at Augustin Daly's theater in New York City. Other engagements followed, and gradually Burton Holmes Travelogues (he coined the term in 1904) became an established part of the cultural and entertainment life of America's larger cities.
In 1897 Holmes introduced motion-picture segments into his program ("Neapolitans Eating Spaghetti" was his first offering), and eventually he abandoned slides altogether in favor of beautifully photographed color films complete with sound effects and musical backgrounds. The trademark of his travelogues, however, and the key to their popularity, was the engaging and sprightly narrative delivered in a crisp and cultivated voice by Holmes, dapper in goatee and formal attire. Where Stoddard's lectures had been didactic, in the older lyceum tradition, Holmes frankly sought to entertain.
He had early training as a magician, and took pride in his ability to create the illusion among his audiences that they were actually experiencing "The Magic of Mexico" or "The Glories and Frivolities of Paris, " and not simply attending an "illustrated lecture. " The success of the travelogues gave rise to related ventures. Burton Holmes Lectures, a multivolume, illustrated set of travel books, appeared in 1901; and in successive editions many thousands were sold.
From 1907 to 1912 Holmes regularly contributed travel articles to the Ladies' Home Journal. In 1915-1921 he prepared a weekly travel short for distribution by Famous Pictures-Lasky Co. , and he was subsequently involved in other film projects, including the preparation and narration of educational films. The travelogues always remained central, however; for more than five decades Holmes pursued a demanding schedule during the winter tour season, often appearing six evenings a week in as many cities. Among his regular engagements were Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Boston, and Orchestra Hall in Chicago. By his retirement in 1951, he had delivered more than 8, 000 lectures and had amassed a considerable fortune. Holmes spent summers abroad, making movies and gathering material for new lectures.
Achievements
Holmes's unusual but highly successful career spanned the years from the Spanish-American War to the Cold War--an era when Americans were becoming increasingly curious and apprehensive about foreign lands and foreign peoples, and yet when the actual experience of world travel was confined to a comparative handful. His travelogues helped satisfy the curiosity and allay the apprehension. Concentrating on scenery and architecture, he limited his portrayal of foreign cultures to the quaint and the picturesque. Through decades of war, revolution, and upheaval, Burton Holmes Travelogues offered a world that was unfailingly tranquil and beautiful.
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Views
A conservative by breeding and outlook, Holmes generally omitted from his presentations any hint of social conflict, economic exploitation, or human suffering.
Personality
Through a long career Holmes seems to have retained the zest and something of the naiveté of the beginning traveler. "I'm a Cook's tourist, " he acknowledged disarmingly, "reporting how pleasant it is in such and such a place. "
Connections
On March 21, 1914, Holmes married Margaret Elise Oliver, of a Baltimore manufacturing family, who thereafter accompanied him on his tours; they had no children. When not on the road, the couple resided in New York City or in Hollywood, California.