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I had these two pictures of Frank Williams and his mother along with Aunt Em. I knew these Williams were not related to my uncle Richard Williams, but Emma's husband - Captain Crouch was originally a business partner with a Williams in a store in Nashville. So I started inquiries. As usual I got the best information from Mary. "Frank and his parents moved into the house just west of Aunt Em's house when Frank was a very small boy. Frank called Captain "Pa Cappie" and Em "Ma Cappie." He was just a very dear friend as was his mother. When he grew up he went to Ca. as did many Mo. people during the depression. He was employed in a movie studio - which one we do not know. He developed some improvements to the cameras they were using and became wealthy by Nashville standards. He sent money to Em and Claudie to come to Ca. on a train and visit him. It was a high point in their lives. Later, after Aunt Em's death, sometime in the 1940's Claudie got to go see "Frankie" again and that was his last trip." The letter ends apologizing that no one remembers Frank's parent's names. Frank's father died and mother remarried a man named Jones. She eventually died in California. But there is a lot more to Frank D. Williams than that. - He was a pioneer in the history of Motion Pictures Continued at the bottom of page. |
 Aunt Em and Frank Williams mother. I really wish I knew where this picture was taken. It sure looks like a big house, but the coats don't seem right for Southern California. |
 Aunt Em and Frank D. Williams (image of Frank D. Williams) |
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I've always subscribed to the belief that Nashville, Missouri, was the birthplace of only one truly famous person - Dr. Harlow Shapley. The man did map our galaxy and if later scientists are more accurate, his achievement is still remarkable by anyone's standards. The fact that he was actually born in Duval, Missouri, is a little more troubling, but there's nothing left of Duval anymore. Frank D. Williams, on the other hand, is a clear Nashville resident, and he is famous too. Perhaps not a household name, but neither is Harlow Shapley, and we are all more acquainted with Frank's work than Harlow's. Frank Williams was born on March 21, 1893 in Nashville, Missouri, and died October 16, 1961 in Ventura, California. He went to California sometime prior to 1914 and worked as a Cinematographer for several years. While the industry was not as careful with credits as it is today, he was the credited photographer of many dozen of the silent comedies of Charlie Champlin, Buster Keaton, and Arbuckle, among many others. He is a credited actor in a small number of films and appears as a cameraman in Kids Auto Races at Venice - which marks Chaplin's first appearance as The Tramp. As significant as this is, he is credited with two major innovations in special effects. The first is sometimes referred to as the Williams Matte and is a device that permits the exposure of certain areas of the film at different times. I read that Keaton once used the technique to insert himself nine times in a single scene. The second innovation involved filming characters handing from wires in front of a screen that was being projected from behind. This is predecessor of the blue screen that was used until the advent of digital effect in the 1990's. He used these matte techniques in his work on the first Ben Hur movie. He later went on to do major work on King Kong, Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. Sometimes his name appears in the credits and other times his contribution has been determined by the film students and buffs who really take this stuff seriously. There is plenty about his work on the internet, but nothing about his life and no photograph that I could find. So anyone seeking an image of Frank D. Williams is free to copy the ones on this site. This is a good place to start on the internet for a list of Frank's work - http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0930601/
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 Aunt Em in the center, Claude left then Palmer Crouch to his left. Palmer's wife Roxa is in front of Palmer and facing her mother Ida Beamer. Dick Crouch is in front of Roxa. The man kneeling in front of Aunt Em is Claude Mock who is holding his daughter and his son is to their left. Frank Williams is above Aunt Em and his mother is to his right. |
Dick (Richard Glen Crouch) wrote a family history that is located elsewhere on this site. I ran across the following paragraph and knew I had to have this picture. It may be my favorite picture on the entire site. I certainly can't identify many of the people, but the staging is just wonderful. Note that Aunt Em is clearly in the center and everyone else frames her. The picture is dated November, 1927, and is labeled Pomona, Ca. "Aunt Em and Claude came to visit us. Frank Williams, who as a |
