| Description |
1 videodisc : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in. |
| System Details |
DVD. |
| Note |
Title from container. |
| Summary |
Features four mini-epics that glorify the American landscape... while still managing to advertise major commercial products. American harvest shows the interdependence of all workers, jobs, and mechanization in the manufacturing process from raw materials to finished product, focusing on the Chevrolet automobile industry, and argues that this interdependence leads to greater personal independence and freedom of life. New Tobaccoland USA is a gleefully unapologetic paean to the tobacco used in Chesterfield Cigarettes. Rainbow valley portrays the work and responsibilities of U.S. forest rangers. |
| Contents |
American harvest (1952, 29 min.) -- New tobaccoland U.S.A. (1947, 32 min.) -- Teenage farmer (28 min.) -- Rainbow valley : the story of a forest ranger (1954, 29 min.) |
| Note |
American Harvest (color by Technicolor) is a 29-minute Jam Handy-produced short extolling such virtues as the lonely farmer tending the earth and the stoic cowboy grazing his cattle, and such jobs as blowing up the side of a mountain to oil drilling to lumberjacks, in montage after montage of America harvesting its natural resources... back in the days before they were all but depleted. We see textile mills producing fabric, iron ore (from "the rusty earth") turned into steel, sand into glass, corn added to leather, and Chevrolet making cars until -- Wait! Hold it! Back up. Chevrolet? Chevrolet?! Ah, yes, boys and girls, that's what this is really all about. Somehow (and somewhat subversively) all our country's natural resources combine into a single American punchline: the 1951 Chevy. |
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The New Tobaccoland U.S.A. (color), made in 1947, is a 32-minute, gleefully unapologetic paean to "the broad-leafed plant which earlier settlers found the Indians smoking in their red clay pipe, the aromatic annual called tobacco" -- specifically, the tobacco used in Chesterfield Cigarettes ("They Satisfy!"). We not only see how tobacco crops are planted and harvested -- illustrated by focusing on the family of tobacco farmer Claude Whitehead -- but also how cigarette paper is manufactured: "Important in the making of your Chesterfield!" But the highlight of this enthusiastic short are the glimpses inside the Chesterfield factory in Durham, North Carolina, "capital of Tobacco land." Assembly lines, hogsheads, warehouses, and "quick-fingered girls" all conspire to make the perfect cigarette eager to invade your lungs. |
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Teenage Farmer (color) is about a farmer's daughter, teenage Trudy, who is udderly obsessed with all things bovine. After learning all about a cow's body parts, she makes daddy buy her a calf she promptly names Tulip. ("Oh, dad, is the white one ever cute," Trudy exclaims in a thick Midwestern accent.) Together, Trudy and Tulip wallow in the joy of dairy farming in this very-relaxed 28-minute short made (oddly enough) by Texaco. |
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Rainbow Valley (color) is "The Story of a Forest Ranger," namely Alex Nolan, "a public servant who is forester, engineer, botanist, and biologist all rolled into one!" And, boy oh boy, is his life exciting! When not at the Ranger Station, he rides his horse through the woods, looks at the pretty flowers, oversees timber cutting, supervises cattle grazing, attacks bark beetles, and -- oh no! -- fights a forest fire! Yipes! Things could get out of control at any minute but Alex and his fellow rangers quickly put that monster out. |
| 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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Automobile industry and trade -- United States.
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Automobiles -- United States -- Design and construction.
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Automobiles -- Social aspects -- United States.
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Automobile industry workers -- United States.
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Raw materials -- United States.
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Manufacturing processes -- United States.
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Mechanization -- Social aspects -- United States.
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Steel industry and trade -- United States.
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Assembly-line methods.
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Tobacco industry -- United States.
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Agricultural laborers -- United States.
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Women dairy farmers -- United States.
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Forest rangers -- United States.
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| Added Author |
General Motors Corporation. Chevrolet Motor Division.
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United States. Forest Service.
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Something Weird Video (Firm)
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| Added Title |
Lifestyles USA. Vol. 22 |
| Music No. |
35655 Something Weird Video |
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