Comments on: Duck & Cover Film Festival! Wheeeeeee!

Duck & Cover Film Festival! Wheeeeeee!

miss lynnster — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:06:41 -0800

"For the quarter-century following World War II, a special kind of classroom film received wide circulation. These "mental hygiene" films thrived in a confused and nervous America. The rebellious behavior of young people challenging the social norms struck fear into the hearts of parents and educators, who saw dark futures for the teens who broke the rules and refused to fit in with society. These concerned adults embraced the metal hygiene film as a new means of delivering social guidance." Program One: Mann ers, Menstr uation and The American Way; Program Two: Dating, Deli que ncy and Diver sity; Program Three: Conf orm ity, Safety and The Bomb

Special Bonus: Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Mitch Rouse & Steven Colbert re-enact How To Be Popular (from Program Two).

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:10:23 -0800

Wow, that ended up longer than I meant for it to be. Hit post too quick. Sorry folks.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:18:12 -0800

Clean-up in aisle 61917 (?)

By: amyms

amyms — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:21:05 -0800

lol at "Menstruation and The American Way"... Nothing like a patriotic period... But seriously, those 1950s-era menstruation films make me feel very grateful for the cheesy 70s ones I was subjected to... I haven't watched all of the links yet, but I'm bookmarking this post!

By: davelog

davelog — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:25:20 -0800

Anyone who loves this kind of stuff - as I do - needs to have the Prelinger Archives bookmarked.

By: milarepa

milarepa — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:25:41 -0800

Don't have sex with robots!!!

By: griphus

griphus — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:35:06 -0800

I absolutely love the Coronet films (and archive.org is an international goddamn treasure) . The funniest part is that a few of them actually have good advice in re: dating and social activities, no matter how hokey and absurdly conformo-building they seem.

By: yellowbinder

yellowbinder — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:41:41 -0800

I love these films, thanks for the handy compilation! I used to have a bunch of these downloaded from the Prelinger Archives, they got lost along the way. Some great ones not featured in the OP: Habit Patterns Narcotics: Pit of Despair (Part 2) Live and Learn But the ones linked in the post are also some of my favourites, especially A Date With Your Family, Cindy Goes to a Party, and Benefits of Looking Ahead.

By: ormondsacker

ormondsacker — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:42:42 -0800

And there's the book, which goes into enormous detail on how Coronet, Centron, Britannica Films, and the rest of the classroom film producers worked. Plus, a section on the vaguely horrifying Sid Davis .

By: maryh

maryh — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:44:13 -0800

Oh my god! I've been menstruating for The Enemy all these years! Hope you appreciated it, The Enemy.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:44:27 -0800

There are so many great ones out there, it's amazing how prolific these film studios were. To narrow it down, I just figured it might be fun to follow the exact program of the American Cinemateque event in the first link as best I could. Youtube amazes me, there were only a couple of films I didn't find.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:51:03 -0800

"Narcotics: Pit of Despair" stars Locke's dad from Lost. Such a bad seed, that guy...

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:54:41 -0800

I thought "hygeine" was what Charles Nelson Reilly & Brett Somers always said to the host of Match Game... the more you know...

By: yellowbinder

yellowbinder — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:56:28 -0800

The first time I got high on the grass was actually at this series of screenings. An experience to be sure. That was at least seven years ago, I'm glad Ken Smith is still touring them around. They're great fun!

By: zymurgy

zymurgy — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:57:28 -0800

Fantastic. I really enjoyed Make Mine Freedom (1948).

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 00:05:01 -0800

The funniest part is that a few of them actually have good advice. Y'know, I thought the same thing about this little gem from the fifties: How to Pack a Suitcase. And thanks for the post, miss L. You just can't have too much of this stuff. Priceless.

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 00:17:31 -0800

Personally, I greatly prefer the MST-ified versions of such shorts: Cheating, Posture Pals, Keeping Clean and Neat, What to Do On a Date, Body Care and Grooming, A Date With Your Family.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 00:34:03 -0800

Body Care and Grooming... They're cops!

By: griphus

griphus — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 01:29:32 -0800

rangeboy- you missed the delightfully creepy Why Study Industrial Arts? "This is the movie they had the boys watch and the girls had to go to the gym to watch the other film."

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 01:38:06 -0800

Scared Straight! springs to mind.

By: davelog

davelog — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 02:32:32 -0800

I'm still haunted by the image of a junkie chick yakking up some milky crap on the fire escape in Dead is Dead, a film I was shown in jr. high, which I can find no record of online. Does anyone else remember this movie?

By: c13

c13 — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 06:37:46 -0800

So the reason Americans don't stop for hitch-hikers is because they are afraid of turning homo?

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 07:14:29 -0800

The one that blew my mind here was the one they made to tell housewives not to wash their clothing in gasoline. I mean... just... oh my.

By: adipocere

adipocere — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 07:18:36 -0800

Amy Sedaris, mmmmm. Why the world hasn't showered her with fame and fortune, I don't know. But at least she can shower with me.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 07:49:10 -0800

The one that blew my mind here was the one they made to tell housewives not to wash their clothing in gasoline. I mean... just... oh my. That mystified me for the longest time, but I found out not too long ago that gasoline was used as a dry-cleaning solvent and degreaser for a good while.

By: blasdelf

blasdelf — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 08:06:48 -0800

I've used it as a solvent before. It works.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 08:48:23 -0800

Related.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 09:00:57 -0800

The Simpsons did a parody of one too--with bunnies going thru puberty.

By: jtron

jtron — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:16:29 -0800

Great post. If you like this stuff, make sure to check out the AV Geeks website. Also, Rick Prelinger's The Field Guide to Sponsored Films is available as a free ebook.