| Description |
1 videodisc : sd., b&w and col. ; 4 3/4 in. |
| System Details |
DVD. |
| Note |
Title from container. |
| Summary |
Presents film shorts produced from the 1940s to the 1950s. What is the essence of America? These five films answer that question very eloquently... In Joe Turner, American a small town businessman realizes the importance of participating in civic affairs when his grandson dies of an illness from poor city water. In Selling America Benjamin Franklin materializes to help a modern-day salesman sell modern-day products with Ben's old colonial-day rules. A Citizen Participates and The Antidote both present sick-child sagas and community responses to the need. By Jupiter stresses the theme "Courtesy is contagious" through a blend of fantasy and reality. |
| Contents |
Joe Turner, American / Don Beddoe (1950, 27 min.) -- Selling America (194-?, 22 min.) -- By Jupiter! (1946, 31 min.) -- A Citizen Participates / Herk Harvey (1953, 28 min.) -- The Antidote / Southwestern Bell Telephone ; Edgar Stehli (1964, 14 min.) |
| Note |
Joe Turner, American (1950; b&w) is the kind of Americana short we love: a mini-epic, full of small-town common sense, and chock full of Hollywood B-film faces. In a "thriving American town" full of "honest, church-going American folks just like you and me," Joe Turner (DON BEDDOE of The Narrow Margin) is heartsick over the death of his grandson from typhoid fever. Suspecting the town's water system caused the boy's disease, Joe tries to get some answers from City Hall but, instead, bangs his head against a bureaucratic brick wall. Encouraged by friends JOSEPH CREHAN (Street Corner) and ART BAKER (host of TV's You Asked for It) as well as next-door neighbor ROBERT SHAYNE (Superman's Inspector Henderson) and the head of the "American League of Voters" DOUGLAS DUMBRILLE (The Catman of Paris), Joe enters the world of politics by fighting the town's current administration, specifically crusty but decent mayor MORRIS ANKRUM (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers). |
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Selling America (b&w) is a Jam Handy short in which the ghost of "the great American diplomat and philosopher" Benjamin Franklin materializes to help a modern-day salesman sell modern-day products with Ben's old colonial-day rules. See Ben Franklin as a gas-station attendant! See Ben Franklin as an appliance salesman! See Ben Franklin sell luggage! Classic crackpot Americana. |
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By Jupiter! (1946; b&w) tackles one of America's most insidious problems: rudeness. Yup, everyone is so damn rude and annoyed with everybody else that the simple routine of life is often intolerable. All of which is suddenly altered by Jupiter. Yes, Jupiter, the Roman god (who wears a big phony beard). Out of date and forgotten, Jupiter decides to get re-involved with humanity by demonstrating to a depressed and aggravated Thorton J. Poindexter how pleasant life can be by starting Poindexter's day over and having him be "extra nice" to everyone else. Produced by Wilding Production and sharing the same dramatic hook as It's a Wonderful Life released the same year, this is more crackpot Americana albeit a bit more crackpot than usual, by Jupiter. |
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A Citizen Participates (1953; b&w) is Centron's pitch for rural democracy. Like Joe Turner above, a sick child motivates Bert Henderson to get a doctor for his small town with the help of the local Kiwanis Club. And who's that playing Dr. Reed? Why it's HERK HARVEY, director of Carnival of Souls! |
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The Antidote (b&w) is our third sick-child saga, this time demonstrating how a concerned telephone operator searches through the phone lines on a lonely Sunday night for someone who can offer information that can save the life of a little girl who's swallowed some acid. With ol' EDGAR STEHLI, this one's so good it should've been expanded to feature length. |
| Subject |
United States -- Civilization -- 1945-
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United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.
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Popular culture -- United States -- 20th century.
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Citizens' associations -- United States.
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Selling.
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Courtesy.
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Antidotes.
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| Added Author |
Beddoe, Don.
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Harvey, Herk, 1924-1996.
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Stehli, Edgar, 1884-1973.
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Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.
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Something Weird Video (Firm)
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| Added Title |
Lifestyles USA. Vol. 26 |
| Music No. |
35693 Something Weird Video |
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