Historic Whale Film Will Be Seen Again

Recently we told you about about the discovery in England of Roger Payne’s first film about whales, featuring Sylvia Earle and released in 1978, “World of Survival: Humpbacks—The Gentle Giants.” Tomorrow Iain Kerr is meeting with Judi and Terry Vose, longtime friends and supporters of Ocean Alliance. Iain will be handing over the film and they will be driving it to Play it Again Film and Video Transfer in Newton, MA where it will be transferred to dvd at a discount, with the remaining costs covered by the Voses.
Judi and Terry are the owners and restorers of the home and bird sanctuary that once belonged to Olga Owens Huckins in Duxbury, MA. In the 1950’s Olga’s beloved songbirds were devastated by aerial spraying of DDT mixed with fuel oil by the State of Massachusetts, driving Huckins to put pen to paper with a letter to the editor of the Boston Herald and to her friend Rachel Carson, urging her to help get the word out about the dangers of DDT. The rest is history and the Voses have named their home “The Spring House” in honor of Carson.
In addition to preserving the history of the environmental movement, the Voses are also devoted to the preservation of fine art as owners of the Vose Galleries on Newbury Street in Boston, established in 1841, the oldest family-owned art gallery in America. Terry has published the memoirs of his father Robert C. Vose in the book Tales of an Art Dealer, which also aired on PBS.
When Judi and Terry heard about the recovered whale film they simply asked, “How can we help?” and as Iain says, they are the kind of people who get things done. We’re thankful for their support and we can’t wait to watch the film.