| Description |
1 videodisc (120 min.) : sd., col., b&w ; 4 3/4 in. |
| Note |
Title from cassette label. |
| Summary |
Presents red, white and blue shorts. Topics include: Man's eternal battle versus the weed, career suggestions for young ladies of 1949, a promotional film for an ad agency that specializes in animation, a bleak look at the working class and poor, a strange take on money lending, and a paranoid Cold War fantasy. |
| Contents |
Weeds no more -- Careers for girls -- Date with Dizzy -- Social class in America -- Credit: Man's Confidence in Man -- Red Nightmare. |
| Note |
Weeds No More (color) confronts one of America's most insidious, incessant, and all-too-pervasive problems -- weeds. Great late-'40s-style cartoon animation shows man battling the putrid plant in prehistoric, Babylonian, and Colonial American times, before live-action -- in vibrant color -- introduces poor DONALD WOODS (13 Ghosts) trying to purge the repulsive flora from his lawn. They're the Spawn of the Devil!" he shouts at sexy wife WANDA McKAY (Bowery at Midnight). But a helpful neighbor with a neat trim, weed-free lawn tells Donald all about Weed-No-More, a product that makes weeds "commit suicide" which we see them do in creepy time-lapse photography. Yes, once again, men in white lab coats are helping to keep America beautiful by giving us exciting new chemicals! |
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Careers for Girls (b&w) not only offers some career suggestions to the young ladies of 1949, but keeps those all-important stereotypes intact, as it discusses such feminine-friendly fields of employment as office work, retail, the beauty business, fashion, and the travel industry. Translated, that means secretary, salesgirl, hair stylist clothes horse, and stewardess ("Stimulating work with a touch of adventure!"). |
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Date with Dizzy (b&w) is a quirky promotional film for an ad agency that specializes in animation. Called in to score one of their TV commercials is jazz great DIZZY GILLESPIE and the GILLESPIE QUINTET who view an animated "pencil test," then riff off some inappropriate music to the consternation of the grim, bald-headed and humorless client. Also included are some actual early-Sixties-era commercials for EZ Pop, Heinz Worcestershire sauce, and Speedway 79 gas with Ethyl. |
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Credit Man's Confidence in Man (b&w) equates borrowing money with good ol' fashioned small-town values, summed up in a creepy scene where the owner of a hardware store won't let a little boy rent a lawn mower on credit until he first feels the little boy's arm muscles. |
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Red nightmare (b&w) is the hands-down highlight of this collection, an amazingly paranoid Cold War fantasy showing what would happen if America woke up one day under Communist rule. Playing like a Commie-version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, hosted by JACK WEBB -- who comes off here as a sort of right-wing Rod Serling -- and "produced at Warner Bros. Studios under the personal supervision of JACK L. WARNER," it stars JACK KELLY (Maverick) alone in a town where everyone -- especially his family -- is a soulless Soviet robot: "As a member of the Young Pioneers," says his 9-year-old son, "it will be my duty to report you!" Laugh if you will but remember,"To prevent Communism from consuming the entire free world, there stands but one man... You!" |
| Subject |
United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.
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Communism -- United States.
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Women -- Employment.
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Television advertising.
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Consumer credit -- United States.
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| Added Author |
Something Weird Video (Firm)
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| Added Title |
Lifestyles USA |
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