There鈥檚 been a film chain running from Cleveland to Delaware for the past four years.
Cinecraft Productions has been shuttling its archive from an old boiler room tucked in a former Cleveland library building near Lutheran Hospital to the Hagley Museum in Delaware. The reels from the Cleveland studio feature a treasure trove of industrial films dating back to even before the studio鈥檚 founding in 1939. It shows everything from then-Vice President Richard Nixon asking Republic Steel workers for their support to a film about the dangers of food-borne bacteria (1970鈥檚 鈥溾��).
General Tire, Youngstown Sheet & Tube, and many more were once pillars of Northeast Ohio industry, spreading their message with the help of Cinecraft and its founders, Betty and Ray Culley. Their son, Jim, lives in Delaware and arranged for the , still photos and about 6,000 cannisters of film.
鈥淒ad - he was born in Norwalk, Ohio 鈥� became a jeweler and was quite successful at that until the Depression hit,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e decided he could make more money going to Hollywood. So, he got into the movies and was there for about eight years: first as an actor, then as an assistant director.鈥�
That鈥檚 when Ray began working on a film about General Electric for a Cleveland-based studio. The project led him back home to eventually to set up Cinecraft. The firm specialized in short, sponsored productions intended for conventions, corporate meetings, educational settings and other venues away from movie theaters and television.
Mining the archive
The Cinecraft archive is rich with Cleveland history: Commercials for Fisher Fazio supermarkets, promotional pieces about the city, even a silent film from the 1920s, stored and forgotten in the Cinecraft vault produced by the Illuminating Company. There are also numerous installments of a long-running series of historical re-enactments, titled 鈥�.鈥� Many of them included fledgling actors from the Cleveland Play House, like a pre-fame Alan Alda.
In 1954, the Culleys mounted one of their biggest productions: 鈥溾�� for Westinghouse, which had a factory in Mansfield.
鈥淣ow, how do you get sales people to be excited about fans?鈥� said Jim Culley. 鈥淭hey trucked in tons of sand... got a whole bunch of bathing beauties to each be dressed in a different bathing suit for the era, talking about how fans have evolved over time.鈥�
A recruiting film for the Lake Carriers鈥� Association required production crews to board ships with heavy cameras during October - the worst time for weather and cooperative lighting.
鈥淚t might take a half a day to set up a 30-second shot," said former Cinecraft owner Neil McCormick. "There was no take two. 'Back up, please, ship, and try that again.鈥欌��
McCormick started working at Cinecraft in 1976, overseeing the transition from film to videotape. He eventually bought the company and then retired in 2021. Today, his stepson has transitioned the company to e-learning.
鈥淭hey've moved into鈥� web delivery training content,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t's a much more specialized niche, and we have the video experts to do e-learning. The company has a whole new life all over again.鈥�
Cinecraft鈥檚 first musical, 鈥淢ilestones of Motoring,鈥� was produced in 1954 for Sohio and featured vaudevillian and Toledo native Joe E. Brown alongside future talk show legend Merv Griffin.
鈥淭he idea was to introduce boron gas, which was Standard Oil鈥檚 leaded gas, for the first time,鈥� Culley said.
Famous or not, getting actors was sometimes easier than it might be for straightforward entertainment programs thanks to Cinecraft producer Bob Haviland.
鈥淏ob would go and get in the fanciest hotel in Hollywood and look for the actors that are having lunch in the hotel,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f they're having lunch in the hotel, they're not working and he knows they were available. Many people would do it, just like they do the industrial musicals.鈥�
Industrial musicals vs. films
Industrial musicals were a step beyond industrial films. The latter might show a . The former could be a lavish musical, performed live just a handful of times, about Ford鈥檚 new transmission design.
discovered this shadow universe of showbiz during a quarter-century of writing for David Letterman. From 1990 until 2015, he curated oddball record albums for both 鈥淟ate Night鈥� and the 鈥淟ate Show.鈥� The vinyl led him to films. He鈥檚 presenting some of the best - and the bizarre - in industrial musicals at the on November 9.
鈥淚 mean, how many copies of the JCPenney 1962 musical were pressed?鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was only given to people in the company. For every film I'm going to show in Cleveland, I believe they're transferred from the only known print in the world. The distance between 鈥榮aved鈥� and 鈥榥ot saved鈥� is razor thin at this point.鈥�
Why musicals? Young said the advent of long-playing records, the public鈥檚 fascination with Broadway and post-WWII consumerism convinced corporate America to shell out big bucks for talent like Kander and Ebb or Sheldon Harnick. It鈥檚 difficult to know which ones were filmed by Cinecraft, but several have local connections to companies like Durkee Foods or B.F. Goodrich, sponsor of the 1979 musical, 鈥淭he Great Life.鈥�
鈥淚t has a song about the devil who wants to get a hold of a guy鈥檚 Goodrich tire dealership鈥� unless the guy can sell enough tires,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t seems like all is lost. Spoiler alert: It turns out fine.鈥�
That came near the end of industrial musicals鈥� heyday as showtunes lost favor and corporate accountants slashed convention budgets.
鈥淭here was so much new technology with video and big screens and 鈥榣et's just hire Tony Bennett to come in and sing his hits rather than write a fresh original musical that's going to break the bank,鈥欌�� Young said.
Industrial musicals still exist, such as one Young recently worked on for an unnamed company after they saw Dava Whisenant's 2018 documentary featuring him, ".鈥� He hopes that with the popularity of 鈥淕lee鈥� and 鈥淗amilton鈥� and 鈥淲icked,鈥� the industrial musical could rise again.
鈥淐omposers have told me about watching the audience and seeing these hard-bitten middle managers and salesman with tears rolling down their faces like, 鈥楽omebody gets it. Somebody understands what we're up against out there,鈥� he said.
