History of Blackhawk Films Part 2

Blackhawk Films Building Struck by a Derailed Train!
2/28/93
(Text and photos provided by Sam Rubin. Used by permission. Additional text by Mark Roth)

I think most of you are familiar with Blackhawk Films. Founded by Kent Eastin and Marty Phelan, it was one of the most revered companies dealing in classic films throughout the world. Its distribution went to all corners of the globe.

The company's impeccable business methods; its honesty in advertising and "above-board" dealings; its "no gimmicks" sales; and its manner of unhesitatingly correcting any complaints from customers, without questions, made it world famous.

Originally dealing only in film; the company would accept any title back for credit without question, unless the complainer abused the policy. Blackhawk was accepted as the finest, most reputable company in the classic movie collecting industry. It had the finest quality available, worked only from the best available preprint material and had highly competitive prices.

It was with great elation, like a dream come true for me, when Blackhawk purchased CLASSIC FILM COLLECTOR, predecessor to CLASSIC IMAGES, and I moved to Davenport, Iowa as editor. At that time Ted Ewing was president of the company and Carl Lange and Tom Voss were vice presidents.

When I arrived at Blackhawk they had many employees. Shortly thereafter, the officers of Blackhawk decided to buy the company back from Lee Enterprises, which had purchased it some years prior to that time. Although I retained my office in the Blackhawk building, I elected to remain with Lee, the parent company.

Then video began making inroads into the classic film market and Blackhawk's business began to drop off. The company made a stab at the video game, apparently unable to compete with some of the major video companies. As the business went down hill, fewer employees were needed to fill the orders, as countless collectors began to turn to video. Blackhawk also opened several retail outlets and they, too, apparently went down the drain. Finally, the company was purchased by Republic Pictures, probably (my opinion) because of the reputation and trustworthiness of the Blackhawk name.

Republic moved the business to California. All the offices in the Davenport building were vacated except two: mine and the office of the Eastin-Phelan Company which, at this time, dealt mostly with schools, rental libraries and commercial outlets. My office was finally vacated when I retired and Eastin-Phelan moved to another location.

The huge Blackhawk building, which had two floors above ground level and three below (it was a former brewery) was adjacent to a railroad siding. On February 28, 1993 a train derailed and crashed into the building. The Quad City Times reported, "...a 75,000 pound rail car filled with lumber crashed...about 1:30 AM...into1235 5th Street, ripping a hole in a portion of the historic structure..." The building was constructed in the 1880's, had rock walls and contained caverns where beer was kept during its days as a brewery. These caverns later provided the ideal cool environment for Blackhawk's film storage.

After the Accident

I thought at the time, "That's truly the end of an era!" But, like many champions, the Blackhawk building "came back" and is again being used as a business site.

The Damage Under Repair


View of the Undamaged Rear Portion of the Building


The Buiding Restored

The Blackhawk Building Today
Home of Vinylcraft, makers of quality vinyl products.
(photo courtesy of Bob Sartor)

Back to History of Blackhawk Films Part 1