| Description |
1 videodisc : sd., col., b&w ; 4 3/4 in. |
| System Details |
DVD. |
| Note |
Title from disc label. |
| Summary |
What makes America great? Why, business, of course! And as the following time capsule proves, a good American is a good consumer. Topics include: Exhibits at the 1939 World's Fair (with the General Motors' "Futurama" exhibit), The perfect housewife's helper, Roll-Oh, the robot, a look at the kitchen of the future, modern (1958) design, a tribute to the ultimate buying machine, the American housewife, billboards, Esso gasoline, the variety of jobs in an average American town: baker, cab driver, police officer, and Howdy Doody! and a tribute to the American trucking industry. |
| Contents |
To new horizons (1940) -- Leave it to Roll-Oh (1940) -- Design for dreaming (1956) -- American look (1958) -- American thrift (1962) -- Billboards U.S.A. (1940's) -- Extra (1937) -- Our community (1952) -- U.S.A. today (1954) |
| Note |
To New Horizons (1940, color) shows us The Future--which officially began at the 1939 World's Fair -- with a filmed version of General Motors "Futurama" exhibit. "The greater and better World of tomorrow" -- specifically 1960 -- offers us Metropolis-like quarter-mile-high skyscrapers (complete with landing decks for auto-gyros), elevated sidewalks, traffic controlled by "automatic radio," and an absence of "undesirable slum areas." Oops! We missed the future! |
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Leave It to Roll-Oh (1940, b&w) shows us a futuristic "chromium-plated butler" which looks like a big clunky robot right out of a Republic serial. The perfect housewife's helper, Roll-Oh waters the Plants, vacuums with his feet, and makes dinner. He's also symbolic of the many "robot-like" mechanical devices which make life in 1940 hum. Three cheers for technology! |
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Design for Dreaming (1956, color) gives us another glimpse of the future with a stylized, MGM-like musical in which a woman flies out of her bedroom, visits the "Kitchen of the Future" (full of "Push-Button Magic!"), then gets behind the wheel of one of General Motors "Dream Cars of Tomorrow": the turbo-powered Firebird II. Designed for "the electronic highway of the future," the car takes our heroine along a nighttime highway straight out of The Jetsons! |
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American Look (1958, color) is a Technicolor ode to modem design, so stylistically up to the minute that it all looks like well, 1958. The "flowing lines and graceful shapes" of everything from tables and chairs to toasters and playpens all lead to America's greatest achievement in functional form: the '59 Chevy Impala! |
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American Thrift (1962, color) is "a Tribute to the American Woman" as the ultimate buying machine. With supermarkets a-plenty and housewives controlling the purse strings, the female consumer can enjoy "the romance, the adventure" of buying ballpoint pens, Campbell soup, and canned eel! |
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Billboards U. S. A. (1940's, color) explains all about those big, glamorous "poster panels" at "scientifically-planned locations" hawking Swan soap, Piper's Donuts, Good Luck margarine, and Marvels cigarettes! |
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Extra (1937, b&w) is a plug for Esso gasoline complete with singing gas jockeys and an Esso sign that turns into a scary smiling face. |
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Our Community (1952 ,b&w) shows the variety of jobs in an average American town: baker, cab driver, police officer, Howdy Doody, doctor -- wait!? Howdy Doody?! Yup, there he is, bobbing on his little strings in the local TV studio. Gee, wasn't there a famous puppet living in your community? |
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U.S.A. Today (1954, color) Expanding Horizons in Basic Transportation somehow equates the splendor of America with the trucking industry, and makes absolutely no mention of traffic jams, air pollution, or amphetamines. |
| 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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Consumption (Economics) -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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New York World's Fair (1939-1940)
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Personal robotics.
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Billboards -- United States -- History.
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Trucking -- United States -- History.
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General Motors Corporation.
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| Added Author |
Something Weird Video (Firm)
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| Added Title |
Lifestyles USA Vol. 1 |
| Music No. |
3621 Something Weird Video |
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