Artifact of the Month: January 2022

Hollywood Comes to Ketchikan

An impressive list of credits pop up when you search for Ketchikan as a film location on the Internet Movie Database, the world's premiere source for information related to entertainment. Our island community has served as a back drop for television shows, documentaries, and movies since the 1930s films "Silver Horde" and "Spawn of the North." Perhaps our biggest claim to fame is the 1954 crime drama "Cry Vengeance" primarily filmed here. The movie follows former police detective, Vic Barron, from California to Ketchikan as he seeks revenge against a mob boss, who killed his family and left him disfigured.

This month's featured artifact is one of four lobby cards for "Cry Vengeance" in the collection. The scene depicted features Vic Barron talking with former flame, Lily Arnold, who was telling him the mob boss was now in Ketchikan. As their name suggests, lobby cards were typically located in the lobby or foyer of a cinema meant to highlight key plot points and showcase movie stars. Through a series of freeze frames they provided an enticing preview of the movie much like a movie trailer does today.
For a discussion on recent short films "What We Find in the Sea" and "The Ladder," both filmed in Ketchikan, be sure to check out the January 2022 Museum Midday.

Ketchikan Museums, KM 2016.2.36.4