Iowa-1959: Girl Blows Out Birthday Candles as a Woman Holds the Cake

Catalog date: estimated · Catalog location: estimated. Review source evidence · Request a source quality check

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1959
Decade1950s
LocationIowa, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1959 · Iowa, United States
StatusStockfilm Exclusive

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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From the same film reel

1954–1959 · Iowa · Reel 9dcfb6a8 contains 13 published Stockfilm-exclusive clips. Watch them in reel order and review the available reel documentation.

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Same year and place1959 · Iowa, United StatesExplore footage →Across the archiveFilmed in 1959Explore the year →Across the yearsIowa, United StatesExplore the place →

What is in this clip

birthday
childhood
family celebration
making a wish
domestic life
1950s America
mother and child

Shot type: medium
Camera: handheld · pan
Setting: indoor · Home interior, probably a kitchen or dining area, with a plain wall, dark wall fixtures and an upholstered chair
Time and weather: unknown (indoor, artificial light)
Lighting: Warm tungsten indoor light with candle highlights
People: 2 · A woman in a white short-sleeved blouse, plaid skirt and wristwatch holding the cake, and a young brown-haired girl in a white blouse
Objects: birthday cake · lit candles · plaid skirt · wristwatch · upholstered chair · wall fixtures
Colors: amber · cream white · brown · red · dark green
Master dimensions: 3840 × 2160
Audio: Silent
Date confidence: Low
Location confidence: Low

Moments in the footage

Select a time to watch that moment in the preview.

A woman holds a candlelit cake as a girl leans in to blow.
The girl keeps blowing while the flames flicker.
The woman lifts the cake and the girl reaches toward it.
The girl smiles, arm outstretched, as the decorated cake faces the camera.

Girl Blows Out Birthday Candles as a Woman Holds the Cake — Clip Details

Probably Iowa, circa 1959 home movie footage of a child's birthday at home. A woman in a white short-sleeved blouse and plaid skirt bends to hold a frosted cake with lit candles while a brown-haired girl in a white blouse leans in and blows at the flames. The woman then lifts the cake and the smiling girl reaches out toward it. The moment is filmed in one handheld 8mm shot under warm indoor light, with the camera drifting right to follow the action.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Interior
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 800001092

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Minors are visible. Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip, and a sensitive-use review is recommended.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: Yes
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel record not linked for this clip
Date: 1959 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual or technical evidence; no reel-level note is linked.
Location: Iowa, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual evidence such as signage, landmarks, or terrain; no reel-level note is linked.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Answers requests for authentic late-1950s American home birthday footage, suited to memory beats in documentaries, education pieces and nostalgic commercial work.
Period detail: The woman's crisp white blouse with a plaid skirt, the piped frosted cake and the amber tungsten colour may show a late-1950s American home.
Home-movie behavior: Shot by a family member, the girl's earnest blowing and her eager reach for the cake as it is lifted away are unstaged and natural.
What appears in frame: A woman bending with a candlelit cake, a brown-haired girl blowing at the flames, the plaid skirt and wristwatch, pink icing swags, a plain wall with dark fixtures, and an upholstered chair back.
Film character: Soft focus, warm amber colour, visible grain and blooming candle highlights give the handheld 8mm shot an intimate period texture.
Edit role: Works as a short memory-beat insert or emotional cutaway in a sequence about childhood, family or celebrations.
Historical context: Home birthdays with a decorated cake and candles were a common subject for family filmmakers of the period, and this clip records one such domestic ritual.
Research note: The film is a home movie with its own copyright status, while the identifiable woman and child raise separate likeness concerns, including for a minor, and the private home interior is a property consideration.
Research search match: 8mm home movie girl blowing out birthday candles, 1950s family birthday cake footage, vintage child birthday at home.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with the same reel's toddler in a paper hat at the party table and the Christmas unwrapping scenes, then with the reel's Iowa golf and lawn footage of circa 1958 to 1959, then with other period birthday clips.

Still Frames From This Clip

Woman holds a lit birthday cake while a girl leans in to blow out candles, probably Iowa, circa 1959 — A girl leans toward the candles as a woman holds the birthday cake, circa 1959.
License this still · $49

Brown-haired girl blows out birthday candles at a home party in a likely Iowa home, circa 1959 8mm film — Mid-wish: the girl blows at the flames, circa 1959.
License this still · $49

Girl bends low over flickering birthday candles held by a woman in a plaid skirt, late-1950s home movie — The girl bends low to finish blowing out the candles.
License this still · $49

Smiling girl reaches for a white birthday cake with pink swags held up by a woman, probably Iowa, circa 1959 — With the candles out, the girl reaches for the decorated cake as it is lifted, circa 1959.
License this still · $49

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