American Zinc: Prisoners of War in the Texas Panhandle
The year is 1945. The United States is in the midst of the Second World War. In the scorching summer heat of the Texas Panhandle, a few dozen Italian Prisoners Of War slave away at the American Zinc Smeltery, located 7 miles north of Dumas, Texas. But what brought these former Italian soldiers to the Panhandle of Texas? Where did they come from? And what exactly happened during their short time here?
DIRECTED BY
Jordan Conde
Dylan Green
WRITTEN BY
Haydn Davis
Dylan Green
Jordan Conde
Ryan Riggins
EDITED BY
Dylan Green
NARRATED BY
Ryan Riggins
IMAGES
Window On The Plains Museum
Texas Historical Commission
Wikimedia Commons
Indiana Military Organization
PUBLIC DOMAIN FOOTAGE
FootageFarm
British Pathé
Buyout Footage
MUSIC
YouTube Audio Library
Asher Fulero - Surrender
Kevin MacLeod - Mesmerize
Doug Maxwell - Lost in Prayer
Dan Bodan - Bike Sharing to Paradise
Mesmerize by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (
Source:
Artist:
Special thanks to Hillary Cordero and Thelma Milbern for their help with research and personal accounts.
Hampton Inn & Suites Dumas - Dumas, Texas
Hotel and Resort photography & video by PhotoWeb (photowebusa.com) +1-614-882-3499.
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Deep in the heart of the Texas Panhandle.
Experience warm Texan hospitality in the small Panhandle town of Dumas, TX. Our Hampton Inn & Suites Dumas hotel is located in the heart of the Texas Panhandle off Highway 287/87. When you arrive, our friendly team members will offer you warm cookies and hot coffee. Dumas is an ideal home base for exploring the Texas Panhandle. Dig into local history and culture at the Moore County Historical Museum - known as the 'Window on the Plains Museum'. Go bird watching at Cactus Playa Lake or take a short drive to Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, where you can enjoy water sports or go boating, hiking, fishing and picnicking. Visit the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame and Museum and the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Explore Palo Duro Canyon State Park or the sites along historic Route 66.
The 78 guest rooms at this Dumas hotel feature king or queen-sized beds, according your preference. Select a suite to enjoy a separate living area with a sofa, a wet bar or a whirlpool. Surf the web and check email using free high-speed internet access. If you prefer not to work at the desk, use the convenient lap desk from the comfort of the easy chair. Amenities such as a clean and fresh Hampton bed®, mini-refrigerator and 32-inch HDTV with premium cable television make you feel at home.
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Hotel and Resort still photography, video and YouTube videos by PhotoWeb (photowebusa.com). PhotoWeb's Virtual Tours, videos, YouTube videos, Digital Stills & Worldwide Distribution allow clients to put their most powerful media where the booking decisions are made. Photo Web has been providing cutting edge imaging services since 1996. With offices in the US, UK, Australia, Japan, India, and Colombia, PhotoWeb provides services worldwide. For further information, please contact sales@photowebusa.com or telephone: +1-614-882-3499.
Video © 2013, Photoweb Pure Digital Photography Inc.
Calling All Cars: Muerta en Buenaventura / The Greasy Trail / Turtle-Necked Murder
The radio show Calling All Cars hired LAPD radio dispacher Jesse Rosenquist to be the voice of the dispatcher. Rosenquist was already famous because home radios could tune into early police radio frequencies. As the first police radio dispatcher presented to the public ear, his was the voice that actors went to when called upon for a radio dispatcher role.
The iconic television series Dragnet, with LAPD Detective Joe Friday as the primary character, was the first major media representation of the department. Real LAPD operations inspired Jack Webb to create the series and close cooperation with department officers let him make it as realistic as possible, including authentic police equipment and sound recording on-site at the police station.
Due to Dragnet's popularity, LAPD Chief Parker became, after J. Edgar Hoover, the most well known and respected law enforcement official in the nation. In the 1960s, when the LAPD under Chief Thomas Reddin expanded its community relations division and began efforts to reach out to the African-American community, Dragnet followed suit with more emphasis on internal affairs and community policing than solving crimes, the show's previous mainstay.
Several prominent representations of the LAPD and its officers in television and film include Adam-12, Blue Streak, Blue Thunder, Boomtown, The Closer, Colors, Crash, Columbo, Dark Blue, Die Hard, End of Watch, Heat, Hollywood Homicide, Hunter, Internal Affairs, Jackie Brown, L.A. Confidential, Lakeview Terrace, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Life, Numb3rs, The Shield, Southland, Speed, Street Kings, SWAT, Training Day and the Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour and Terminator film series. The LAPD is also featured in the video games Midnight Club II, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, L.A. Noire and Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
The LAPD has also been the subject of numerous novels. Elizabeth Linington used the department as her backdrop in three different series written under three different names, perhaps the most popular being those novel featuring Det. Lt. Luis Mendoza, who was introduced in the Edgar-nominated Case Pending. Joseph Wambaugh, the son of a Pittsburgh policeman, spent fourteen years in the department, using his background to write novels with authentic fictional depictions of life in the LAPD. Wambaugh also created the Emmy-winning TV anthology series Police Story. Wambaugh was also a major influence on James Ellroy, who wrote several novels about the Department set during the 1940s and 1950s, the most famous of which are probably The Black Dahlia, fictionalizing the LAPD's most famous cold case, and L.A. Confidential, which was made into a film of the same name. Both the novel and the film chronicled mass-murder and corruption inside and outside the force during the Parker era. Critic Roger Ebert indicates that the film's characters (from the 1950s) represent the choices ahead for the LAPD: assisting Hollywood limelight, aggressive policing with relaxed ethics, and a straight arrow approach.