Gypsies for a Day (film #8 on Blood of Floor Sweepings (LSVideo)). [Category:Industrial]
This 1930s silent film documents a big cross-country motorcycle race held in Keene, NH, and sponsored by Goodyear. Keene must have been the 30s version of Sturgis. The weirdest moment in the film is nighttime footage of a bizarre line dance done around the campfire by the participants in the race. It's also somewhat weird to experience motorcycles, normally such noisy machines, in total silence. Otherwise, this film is pretty ordinary.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Chinook's Children (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #538 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Hollywood]
This silent featurette shows the training of the puppies of Chinook, Admiral Richard Byrd's lead sled dog. As you would expect, the puppies are incredibly cute and will probably steal your heart. I was happy to hear they were trained without whips or chokes. The rest of the film is fairly dull, especially the race footage at the end. Dog fans will probably like this, though.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
BBC1 Schools #2 (film #4 in the Schools section of TVArk). [Category: Educational]
Very brief clip of another educational television counter, this one featuring a clock, and a clipped British announcer. This one probably wasn’t very interesting to watch.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Before Hollywood, There Was Fort Lee, New Jersey (Image Entertainment, 2003). [Category: Early Film & TV]
Fort Lee, New Jersey was basically the Hollywood before there was Hollywood. Edison started making movies there in his Black Maria and it's where most of the big names in silent films, including studios, directors, and stars, got their start. This documentary tells us all about the major Fort Lee studios and their films in a somewhat dry way, though it does include a few complete short films from the period, presented with a bit of helpful, nonintrusive narration. The story of Fort Lee is an important, yet usually forgotten, piece of film history, so I'll give this DVD extra points for dredging it up.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Extra (film #7 on Ephemeral Films CD-ROM (Voyager). Also, film #7 on Lifestyles USA, Vol. 1 (Something Weird, 2000). Also, in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #490 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Commercial]
Here's something new I learned from Rick Prelinger's excellent Ephemeral Films CD-ROM: the 60-second spot was not born on television, or even radio. Movie theaters ran "Minute Movies", such as Extra, as another way to increase profits. It was assumed that audiences had little tolerance for viewing advertising, so a 60-second limit was placed on these films. This ad for Esso service stations starts out pretty standard, but gets weird at the end when the gas jockeys suddenly break into a jingle and the Esso sign mutates into a grinning face.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Twist Craze (film #25 on Teenage UFO Rock 'n' Roll Monster Show (Something Weird)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
A rock & roll band and some twist dancers put on a show at a fancy nightclub. The band plays that kind of generic rock & roll that Joel and the bots tuned in on the all-teen dance radio station and the dancers are all straight out of The Horror of Party Beach. But even this watered-down rock & roll is a lot for the incredibly L7 audience to take. Eventually, though, they all get into the groove and start twistin' themselves, including a 300-pound woman, elderly folks, and a woman whose hips seem fused to her torso. My favorite, though, is a smoking guy in the back who they keep cutting back to, showing us how he's grooving to the music by snapping his fingers offbeat. If this doesn't get you on the dance floor, you're probably fortunate.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
I've Got a Secret (track #1 on TV Game Shows, Vol. 1 (Hollywood's Attic, 1996)). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This mid-60s game show features a celebrity panel trying to guess the secrets of contestants with unusual achievements or qualities. This episode features a man who was once spanked by Lyndon Johnson (unfortunately, this is a lot less interesting than it sounds), a young man who won a prize for baking the world's largest cookie, and Jose Frerer with a quiz about animal sounds in other languages. The celebrity panel is mildly amusing in the way that only game show celebrity panels can be. The beginning was cut off of this show, so we only get to see the final moments of the first segment. Too bad, I really would have liked to see the panel struggle with that one.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Act One (film #15 in The Carol Burnett Shows section of TVParty). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
This is a clip from act one of Carol Burnett’s special, “Eunice,” which portrays the history of a silly Southern family that had been featured in a popular series of sketches on Burnett’s variety show. In the clip, Phillip is leaving for New York to become a playwright, while Eunice obliviously talks about her unrealistic plans to become a movie star, and Mama tries in vain to get their father to come out of the bathroom. I remember those skits as being funny and fascinating, so it’s nice to see the little-known special archived here. This clip gives you an idea of the ridiculousness of this family and some of its appeal, as well.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Anti-AIDS Rant (film #2 in the TV Terrorists section of TVParty). [Category: News]
This very brief clip shows a group of AIDS activists who managed to get some of their chanting on the air during the opening of the “CBS Evening News.” Dan Rather stays cool and immediately goes to a commercial. It’s this kind of unscripted stuff I love to see, so kudos to TVParty for the whole TV Terrorists section.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Branding Calves (film #1 on Buckaroos in Paradise). [Category: Industrial]
This short film is part of a series made in the 1960s by a Nevada cattle rancher to document the ranching practices of the time. In this film, we see how calves are branded. It’s not nearly as upsetting as you might think, and it provides an interesting historical view of cattle ranching, ending with the wife bringing down a big meal for all the hands to eat.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
The Astor Tramp (film #21 on Edison Film Archive). [Category: Early Film & TV]
A tramp hangs out in a rich lady’s bedroom until the lady comes home and gets a nasty surprise. After he is kicked out, he steals a newspaper from a paper boy. Jerk. He reads with delight a newspaper story about his antics, presaging the fondness of 20th-century criminals for courting the media. A slightly silly early comedy. An 1899 Edison film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Malibu Mermaid (film #882 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]
A bikini-clad beauty sits in the surf and lets the water repeatedly pull her bikini top off. This is done to a bouncy soundtrack that any industrial film would be proud of. Another fairly standard vintage stag film.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.
Alpha-Bits (film #5 in the Saturday Morning Commercials section of TVParty). [Category: Commercial]
Cute early 60s commercial urging kids to “spell your name with Alpha-Bits!” Has an innocence not found in commercials today, even those targeted at children.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Doubtful Dollars (film #455 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]
In this 40s government film, the head of a ring of counterfitters, who has an outrageously stereotyped gangster voice, passes a gives a bunch of phony money to his minions, who are only shown from the waist down. Then those same minions are shown from the waist up, blandly passing the fake dough in stores and other businesses, usually by buying something really cheap and paying for it with a big (and fake) bill. You keep expecting one of the store clerks to get wise, but they never do. Then a guy from the Secret Service tells us how to spot fake money, and we get to see a bit of interesting factory tour footage of dollar bills being made at the mint. Unfortunately, the film is incomplete. This film is quite campy and fun for the most part, though the part about spotting errors in fake money drags a bit.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
The Avengers #5 (film #9 in the Cult section of TVArk). [Category: Outtakes & Obscurities]
A 1968 version of the opening credits to the popular British spy show. In this one, Patrick Macnamee battles several knights in armor. I smell shark-jumping here.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.
Bookkeeping and Accounting (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #231 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]
Vocational guidance film about that most exciting of fields: bookkeeping and accounting! Ah yes, the thrill of the ledger! The smell of fresh ink on paper! The satisfaction of adding up firm columns of figures! The…oh, I can’t keep this up any longer. It’s DULL, folks! It’s so dull and tedious and boring…I want to become a LION TAMER!!Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Lions: 0. Overall Rating: **.
Brazil at War (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #242 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]
This film was made right after Brazil joined the allies during World War II. It basically describes what a great ally Brazil was expected to be. What this boils down to is a military version of a travelogue. It’s somewhat ironic to watch today, considering Brazil didn’t exactly end up being known for its military victories, and that it did later become known for harboring Nazis. Mostly, though, this is dull.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Ratings: **.
The Grapevine (film #7 on The Educational Archives, Volume Four: On the Job (Fantoma, 2002)). [Catetgory: Industrial]
Mr. Stone, head of the accounting department, is frustrated because the "girls" (they are always referred to that way) in his department are constantly flying off the handle in response to wild rumours heard on the office grapevine. He wonders why they don't just ask him about stories they've heard, but he is totally clueless to the fact that when they do ask him about anything, he bites their heads off. Then, suddenly, we're in Centron-land––the film has a “What do you think?" ending. The sexism in this film is both blatant and subtle, which was typical of the time in which it was made.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Chinese Lion Dance, Marysville, California (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #1162 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Hollywood]
This is footage from a mid-1920s Chinese New Year celebration in Marysville, California, complete with dragon (though here, it's referred to as a lion) and lots of fireworks. A historically interesting slice of 20s immigrant life.Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.
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Better Reading
Better Reading . Teenager Harold Wilson has a problem—he can’t read for (expletive deleted). So he has to spend all his free time studying ...
