Loraine Sumner

Item Data

  • Collection Title: Loraine Sumner Collection
  • Item Title: Loraine Sumner, Reel 3
  • ID Number: LS-003
  • Date Range: c. 1957-1959
  • Description: Referee & coach Loraine Sumner's 8mm bird's eye view of life before & after Title IX. Fast pitches, shot puts, camping trips, life as a lesbian mother, family weddings, and lots of horsing around. Includes minor footage of Hall of Famer Joan Joyce. Drugstore-jumbled 8mm footage.
  • Biographical/Historical Note: See also collection level, Biographical/Historical Notes. Debbie, Loraine's daughter, was born April 19, 1958, in a Florence Crittendon home. Loraine was twenty-two. She refused to marry Debbie's father, which angered her mother. But ultimately her mother allowed Debbie and Loraine to live in Loraine's childhood bedroom on Thacher Street in Milton, Massachusetts. Loraine got a night shift job at the Walter Baker Chocolate Company. Milton, MA, to put together enough money to secure a home of their own, on the theory Debbie would be sleeping at night. . . .. Leanne Perola was a friend of Loraine's sister in Milton, MA. c. 1939-2012. Died February 16, 2012. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=156017146 https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Massachusetts/Leanne-Perola_36tcx8
  • Genres: Home Movies, Amateur Films
  • Places: Pleasure Island Amusement Park, Wakefield, Massachusetts; Disney Magic Kingdom, Orlando, Florida; Frankin Park Zoo, Mattapan, Massachusetts; Rexhame Beach, Massachusetts; Hingham, Massachusetts; Milton, Massachusetts; Franklin Park Zoo, Mattapan, New Jersey; Pleasure Island Amusement Park, Wakefield, Massachusetts; Santa's Village
  • Access & Use: Contact Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) info@lesbianhomemovieproject.org. No re-use without permission. LHMP must contact film donor & participants with regard to any re-use.
  • Color or B&W: Color
  • Related Versions: Reel 3, Loraine Sumner Collection, Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP).
  • Running Time: 30:47
  • Rights: Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) holds all rights. Donor must approve all uses.
  • Sound: Silent
  • Subjects: Lesbian mothers, Women's sports, Fastpitch softball
  • Creators: Loraine Sumner
  • Collaborators & Participants: For further information or if you or friends took part in this event, be great if you emailed us at info@lesbianhomemovieproject.org & let us know. We'll share your input if that's okay, or just preserve it.
  • Source Format: 8mm
  • Format: 8mm
  • Viewing Log: Baby Debbie in a white dress on blanket in the grass next to a baby carriage. Baby Debbie in a baby chair, still outside on the grass. On blanket again, this time in red & white. Sequence too dark to make out. Debbie in front of Christmas tree? Debbie maybe hugging a doll or stuffed animal? Maybe Debbie in the arms of a special friend of Loraine's or maybe her sister? Debbie falls over. Debbie offered a small stuffed doll. Exposure improves. Debbie next to a huge gray & pink stuffed elephant. Debbie between huge stuffed elephant and huge stuffed blue bear. Debbie leaning on the elephant. Monkey toy blowing bubbles. Debbie reaches for the bubbles. Debbie standing holding onto next to white bureau with decals referencing children's stories & Disney characters. Debbie in playpen. Debbie on floor with chocolate on her face next to vacuum cleaner. Debbie in high chair with yellow formica eating surface & stuffed animal. Bird cage. Parakeets? Debbie crawling on floor with playpen in frame. Young woman with Debbbie and a wrapped present. Debbie in her high chair receiving cake with one lit candle. Debbie smearing piece of cake on her face. Cake & ice cream at the kitchen table. Debbie with Loraine's friends and other children in the family and a black & white dog. Loraine's mother smoking & smiling in an arm chair. Someone in bed with rails, head buried in sheet and pillow. Man holding baby Debbie. Debbie in high chair again with cake smeared face. Debbie crawling, white jumpers frosting mouth? Debbie in bathing suit standing. In baby pool. Debbie in white dress, stepping very carefully, falling. Debbie at beach, splashing in water, with red pail and yellow shovel. Friend of Loraine's -- Leanne Perola -- dipping Debbie in water at Rehame Beach. Debbie outside on rocking horse outside. Other toddlers in playpen. Another little girl on the rocking horse. Adults sitting around probably watching the kids, drinking, smoking. Child in wooden chair tied with pink bows that match her outfit. Outdoor meal with family. Another child with a birthday cake with one candle. Debbie in driveway in frilly party dress chomping on something. Adult positions her in front of flower garden and backs out of the frame. Debbie in sunsuit crunched into red tub filled with water on lawn. Debbie sitting on lawn surrounded by toys. Adult guides her hand in a wave. Debbie buried in sand at Rexhame Beach. (Loraine explained she used to do that so she herself could take a dip.) Debbie eats sand. Debbie in baby swing. Amusement park (Pleasure Island?) Debbie in a duck ride. Debbie in wooden playpen in yard. Debbie sitting on hood of a car. Debbie at a petting zoo, probably the Franklin Park Zoo in Mattapan, MA, which they visited often. A Santa's Village, possibly New Hampshire or Vermont. Rides, sheep. Back home on Thacher Street with grandma. 23:%4 Loraine with Debbie. Grandma undressing Debbie & putting on her robe. Debbie in front of Christmas tree. In rocking chair with doll. Opening presents. New tricycle. Doll in buggy. Debbie and another little girl having a tea party. Tiny baby with huge stuffed animal. Doll taller than Debbie. Child in snowsuit outside. Clothes on line. Debbie attempts to fit saucer into cup. Outside in snow Debbie at desk. In party hat. Back at zoo. Bear. Another animal, possibly a deer, eating out of Debbie's hand.