Life's a Beach

In past posts I've mentioned the Collins and Burkhardt family vacations. Today I'll share some of the home movies from that trip. In 1928 the Burkhardts stayed with the Collins at their vacation home on Crystal Lake, Michigan. Below is the link to that video. The second link is to a movie of the Morgans and Winters from 1962. What I observed was that although the clips are more than 30 years apart and the latest is 50 years ago, people still tend to do the same things at the pool and beach.


Burkhardts - Crystal Lake 1928

Morgans and Winters in the pool and at the ocean 1962

Mary Grace and Ernie in 1928 playing in the sand on the shore looks strikingly similar to Scott running into and out of the ocean at San Diego in 1962. The pool hijinks of the Morgan and Winters in 1962, complete with the mandatory, "don't splash," remark, could be anywhere and in any decade.

The 1928 film begins with EA in a bathrobe and eventually gets down to the lake. From my brief research of Crystal Lake it had very wide, flat beaches because of a long ago attempt to connect it to Lake Michigan. The lake is about 25 miles south of Traverse City, MI and very close to Lake Michigan. But soon after EA's appearance the film switches to the beach and Mary Grace and Ernie. Soon Edna walks by and goes for a swim in the lake. All the Burkhardts make an appearance.

The 1962 clips starts in the Winter private pool which is not as large as I remembered. Morgans and Winters are frolicking in the pool and then Ray makes a giant splash. Shortly after that is a scene with many of the Morgans and Winters lined up by the station wagon. Cindy and Scott look at an orange tree and then it's off to the ocean. I think all five Morgan children and all five Winter children at some point make an appearance, along with Mary Grace, Ray, Ethel and Harold plus Harold parents.