Ephemeral Film Series at Yale

Rick Prelinger (footage@PANIX.COM)
Mon, 18 Apr 1994 22:45:59 -0400

For those who may have seen (or responded to) my earlier posts
about am ephemeral film series at New York's American Museum of
the Moving Image, I'm posting the schedule for a partial revival
at Yale this weekend, jointly sponsored by the Yale Center for
Film Studies and the Berkeley College Film Society.

For further information, email me at <footage@well.com>. Full
program notes are available via email by request from this
address.

Rick Prelinger
Prelinger Archives, New York

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OUR SECRET CENTURY: REVELATIONS FROM THE PRELINGER COLLECTION
A partial revival at Yale University

All screenings will be at Davies Auditorium, Becton Center on the
Yale University campus (lower Hillhouse Avenue).

Rick Prelinger will introduce all screenings and lead discussions.

Sunday, April 24 at 1 pm

SOCIAL GUIDANCE CLASSICS

Eight of the funniest and most frightening films on dating,
behavior, etiquette and popularity. If you missed the postwar
behavior offensive, now's your chance to experience its full
force.

Are You Popular? (Coronet Instructional Films, 1947, 11 min.)
Shy Guy (Coronet Instructional Films, 1947, 14 min.)
A Date With Your Family (Simmel-Meservey, 1950, 10 min.)
How to Say No (Coronet Instructional Films, 1951)
The Griper (Centron Productions for Young America Films, 1954,
12 min.)
Boys Beware (Sid Davis Productions, 1961, 10 min.)
Girls Beware (Sid Davis Productions, 1962, 10 min.)
Last Date (Wilding Picture Productions for Lumbermen's Mutual
Casualty Co., 1950, 20 min.)
More Dates for Kay (Coronet Instructional Films, 1952, 11 min.)

Sunday, April 24 at 4 pm

THE RAINBOW IS YOURS

This all-color program celebrates the sheer theatricality of
American design. Unashamedly Populuxe, these films link desire
and commodity, flirting with reality and gender roles in the
manner of the Hollywood musicals they emulate. American Look, a
SuperScope spectacle, repositions us in the wide, new, colorful
era of Eisenhower, Sputniks and tailfins.

Design for Dreaming (MPO Productions for General Motors, 1956,
10 min., Anscochrome)
Once Upon a Honeymoon (Jerry Fairbanks Productions for the
Bell System, 1956, 14 min., Technicolor)
Frigidaire Finale (Jam Handy Organization for Frigidaire Division
of General Motors, 1957, 4 min., faded Eastmancolor)
A Touch of Magic (MPO Productions for General Motors, 1961,
10 min. Technicolor)
In the Suburbs (On Film, Inc. for Redbook Magazine, 1957,
20 min., Kodachrome)
American Look (Jam Handy Organization for Chevrolet Division of
General Motors, 1958, 26 min., Technicolor, SuperScope)

Monday, April 25 at 1 pm

BREEDING OUT THE UNUSUAL: GENDER AT MID-CENTURY

There's nothing nostalgic about these films concerned with men's
and women's roles. They reveal behavior not yet unlearned,
conflicts not yet resolved and contradictions that continue to
haunt our culture. But can anyone resist the fascination of the
"Marriage Development Board," a fairy godmother who teaches
courtesy, or the women's physics class learning about toasters?

Easy Does It (Jam Handy Organization for Chevrolet, 1940, 8 min.)
Cindy Goes to a Party (Centron Productions for Young America
Films, 1955, 11 min.)
As Boys Grow (Medical Arts Productions, 1957, 15 min.)
Molly Grows Up (Medical Arts Productions, 1953, 14 min.)
Are You Ready For Marriage? (Coronet Instructional Films, 1950,
14 min.)
Who's Boss (Alexander Hammid, Affiliated Film Producers for
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1950, 16 min.)
The Home Economics Story (Film Production Unit at Iowa State
College, 1951, 30 min., Kodachrome)

Monday, April 25 at 4 pm

FILMS OF MENACE AND JEOPARDY

Safety films have been frightening and shocking audiences
almost since motion pictures were first invented. Although some
of the most effective storytelling shows up in auto and industrial
safety films, do they actually prevent accidents? Audiences seem
to sit spellbound through these sad narratives, but what they're
really doing is waiting for the accident to happen. That's the
payoff, and all too often it seems to be the reason for the film's
existence. No matter Q you'll remember the films in this program
perhaps more than any other.
This revised program broadly refigures "menace and jeopardy,"
including films about one thriving menace (the cockroach) and one
endangered species (the middle-class brainworker).

Days of Our Years (Dudley Pictures for Union Pacific Railroad,
1955, Kodachrome, 20 min.)
Live and Learn (Sid Davis Productions, 1951, 10 min.)
Safety Belt for Susie (Charles Cahill and Associates in
association with the Institute of Traffic and Transportation
Engineering at UCLA, 1962, Eastmancolor, 10 min.)
More Dangerous Than Dynamite (Parthenon Pictures, 1941, 9 min.)
Goodbye, Mr. Roach (Velsicol Corporation, 1956, 10 min.)
Social Class in America (Knickerbocker Productions for McGraw-Hill
Films, 1956, 14 min.)