Disney, Syphilis, Mental Retardation, Sexuality, Videotape

October 7, 2006 11:08 AM

Sex education of trainables, a 1970's instructional video for educating the mentally handicapped about human sexuality is just one of the many excellent ephemera uploaded to Google Video by Slave to the Man Productions. Along the same lines (from the collection) are Parents Talk to Children About Sex and Walt Disney's Attack Plan for Syphilis.
posted by jonson (22 comments total)

All Together, a funksploitation era piece by the U.S. Navy aimed at recruiting African Americans unhappy with racial inequality in the workplace is another favorite.
posted by jonson at 11:09 AM on October 7, 2006

Oh man, I haven't seen the 'trainables' video in a long time. Great find!
posted by jeresig at 11:18 AM on October 7, 2006

they forgot jonson!
posted by owhydididoit at 11:30 AM on October 7, 2006

I'd say this counts as eponisterical.
posted by lekvar at 11:54 AM on October 7, 2006

FYI..
These films are from the AV Geeks archive (www.avgeeks.com) and there are plenty more on Google video.

Thanks for the feedback.

Skip
posted by avgeeks at 12:13 PM on October 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

I just embedded the VD movie in the blog for the college history course I am teaching right now. Golden. Thanks, Johnson.
posted by LarryC at 12:26 PM on October 7, 2006

that painting behind the trainable narrator is in my grandparents house
posted by pieoverdone at 1:03 PM on October 7, 2006

Could swear this is a double.
posted by evilcolonel at 1:09 PM on October 7, 2006

evilcolonel - trainables has been mentioned a couple times, but only in comments, never as its own post, and not in the context of the larger set.
posted by jonson at 1:46 PM on October 7, 2006

Hey Skip, did I mis-credit these? The "Slave to the Man Productions" has the upload credit on Google Video - is that person/organization affiliated with you?
posted by jonson at 1:54 PM on October 7, 2006

Sorry, did that Disney video imply that you can get syphilis from kissing?
posted by grouse at 2:40 PM on October 7, 2006

That instructor was hot. I'll bet the trainables knocked a few out over her...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:43 PM on October 7, 2006

Oh good lord, sorry but this is SO OLD.

And yes, let's give the AV Geeks credit where credit is due!
posted by OhPuhLeez at 2:49 PM on October 7, 2006

My education in sex was provided by this Disney film and another one I think, both shown at school in Anglesey, Wales, roundabouts 1981, believe it or not. I think they were dubbed into Welsh, although I could have fabricated that. Goofy was definitely prominent in the other film. Both were some messy funhouse indoctrination into The Weird World: be warned kids, it ain't forever!
posted by einekleine at 3:49 PM on October 7, 2006

Well, if we're giving credit to where it's due, let's credit the actual production company and not some dudes who just put it on the internet. No disrespect intended to AV Geeks, who are great. But this film has been around for years (I have an old VHS dub of it somewhere).
posted by dhammond at 5:03 PM on October 7, 2006

That scarred me on the inside.

Anyone notice the resemblance of the teacher writing lists of dick synonyms to the Dole Lady on League of Gentleman.

And the announcer. His mustache. Terrifying!
posted by juliarothbort at 7:28 PM on October 7, 2006

I concur with dhammond. We should credit the actual production folks - especially for dealing with subject matters that were difficult for the times.

While VD Attack Plan may seem tame and misinformative, it is far better than other VD films from that time period (I wrote an article about it).

Likewise, nobody else made a film like Sex Ed for Trainables - a badly need film for caregivers of the developmentally disabled. I've been told that the same production company did another film with a similiar theme and I'm keeping an eye out for it.

To answer jonson's question, I have the actual 16mm films and transferred them to DVD. Slave to Man Productions is somebody who bought my DVDs or downloaded MPEG files from the Internet Archive. Nowadays, I know that once I digitize and distribute a film, it has a life of its own.

I just chimed in to say that there are more films out there from my collection on Google Video. Whenever I find the time, I try to put up more films from my collection.

Thanks for your support
posted by avgeeks at 7:59 PM on October 7, 2006

not some dudes who just put it on the internet

Uh, you may not know it, but Skip's one of the country's premier collectors of this kind of film. Long before the Interwebs became popular, he was haunting state surplus sales and driving long distances to buy large collections, researching the filmmakers, documenting the shifts in style, and, with a handful of other folks like Rick Prelinger, generally doing more than anyone else in the world to keep these endlessly fascinating film gems out of the landfill and back into our cultural memory. In fact, Skip's been working at archive.org for years, digitizing these things for Prelinger and making them available so that "some dudes" could eventually "just put it on the internet."

Just for the record.

(I first saw most of the films linked here in Skip's living room during the early 90s, which compels me to note he's an amazing guy who deserves more of the credit for jonson's links than dhammond implies. Sorry if this embarrasses you, Skip, you asshole. :)
posted by mediareport at 8:09 PM on October 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

he's an amazing guy who deserves more of the credit for jonson's links than dhammond implies

...and, on posting, than he himself implies. :)
posted by mediareport at 8:10 PM on October 7, 2006

"The technique used is drawing out rather than pumping in."

Ahem.

It's not easy to avoid lapsing into eighth-grader jokes about this, especially because it looks dated a bit cheesy, but the subject's handled with tact, frankness and a lot of compassion and respect. This would make a good introduction to the topic for adolescent kids if you could get them past the snicker factor.

I love seeing "train the trainer" stuff anyhow.

j, thanks for posting this.
posted by pax digita at 3:56 AM on October 8, 2006

Not to mention that the narrator for the film is "Dick Dix".


Skip
posted by avgeeks at 9:01 AM on October 8, 2006

Sorry, did that Disney video imply that you can get syphilis from kissing?
posted by grouse at 2:40 PM PST on October 7 [+] [!]

You can. Chancres on the tongue and mucous patches on the tongue and gums can be highly infectious. The More You Know.....
posted by tristeza at 6:44 PM on October 8, 2006