Morton, Alton, 1905-1985

Alton "Al" Morton (1905-1985) bought his first 8mm camera with money earned as a Salt Lake City area mail carrier, his first steady job after the Great Depression. In 1942, Morton helped to found the Utah Cine Arts Club, an organization of amateur filmmakers whose members participated in a national culture of art, innovation and exchange predating the independent film movements of New Hollywood and the 1960s.

Like other members of the Utah Cine Arts club and similar organizations across the country, Morton invented his own cinematic tools - splicers, tripods, waterproof camera housings, etc. - to help him turn his favorite hobbies into complex narrative films. An avid boater and river runner, Al Morton transformed river trips with his friends, notable river guides like Don Harris and Jack Brennan, into carefully edited cinematic adventures that screened at public venues in the Salt Lake Valley and at other cinema clubs across the nation. Al Morton was named a Fellow of the Amateur Cinema League in 1946.

From the guide to the Alton Morton independent film collection, 1947-1968, 2011, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)