Lucky Junior (film #860 on Prelinger Archive). ]Category: Public Service]

In this 40s film, sponsored by the Michigan Medical Society, John Rogers Jr. has just been born, and his doctor remembers that he also delivered his father, John Rogers Sr., years ago. This causes the doctor to marvel at how much easier it will be to protect Junior’s health than it was his dad’s, given that many infectious diseases such as whooping cough and diphtheria can now be controlled with immunization, and that prenatal care has improved. This was most likely a profound relief to parents and doctors of the time; those of us who were born when such immunization was routine can only guess how it must have been to fear that your child could be killed at random by any of a bunch of nasty diseases, and there was nothing you could do about it. Of course, parents today have lots of other things to worry about, and the benign portrait of the medical profession, especially in terms of treating the poor, certainly doesn’t apply today. The film has historical value in depicting a moment in medical history where some really bad diseases had finally been mostly conquered, and there seemed to be nothing medicine couldn’t do eventually.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.