MAKE NEW COPY OF:
WORK PAYS
MASTER HANDS
FROM DAWN TIL SUNSET
COG AND TREE IMAGE
Focus: Chrysler/GM (not “Steel: A Symphony of Industry” b/c this not sponsored by car
companies/not prod. By Jam Handy?) include existence of this film in footnotes
INTRO
Define documentary (use ellis and stott)
Summarize pastoralism argument
MACHINE ART
Summarize machine art
Summarize argument in rel. to doc
PASTORALISM
Summarize pastoralism
Summarize arg. In rel. to doc.
CORPORATE FILMS (Prelinger info in parenth; film info after)
 The Triumph of America (1933)
 Master Hands (1936)
 From Dawn to Sunset (1937)
 Round and Round (1939)
 To New Horizons (1940)
NONCORPORATE FILMS
 Work Pays America (1937)
 The River (1937)
 We Work Again (1930s? Prelinger does not specify)
 Valley Town: A Study of Machines and Men (1940)
 People of the Cumberland (?)
Work Pays America (1937) USA WPA specified at “Finis”
 http://www.archive.org/details/WorkPays1937,
http://www.archive.org/details/WorkPays1937_2
 Brass band playing in background
 Construction projects: roads and damsemp on local labor and resources; tourism access
 Juxtaposing scenic images with footage of men working
 “plans are laid not only for the present but for the more demanding future”
 “community stadium”
 geometric transitions stemming from center
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public health: water
airports (Newark, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia (1st airport for this city));
dangerous field clearing, housing demolition)
“in all parts of the country the letters WPA are symbols of progress and improvement”
(check this quote)
giving work to ppl who can’t find jobs, etc.
tests for drivers so that “human infallibility may be eliminated”
Automobile inspections
Sewing rooms “expert craftsmanship”; “women who are the principal supporters of their
families” (transitions diff. here?)
Weaving projects (for women)
Kitchens (for women)
Rebinding books (women); traveling libraries
Braille; “the tragedy of blindness”; visiting nurses
“useful employment which provides needed service” (check this quote)
(something missing here) Physical therapy ppl who would be helpless cripples given
opp to overcome illness (check this quote)
Childcarechildren learning how to work at this age : sawing, bldg house
Adult ed”learn the language and customs of their adopted country”
Vocational training (“women are instructed in (areas?)to which they are best fitted”
Men’s tailoring classes (compare sewing &weaving above) focus on learning
independence
Maid training; women learn homemaking (focus again on self-sufficiency)
“type of employment offered is determined by the needs of the community”
emphasis throughout on providing for the needy
Programs for youth:
o Canning
o Fishing
SECOND SECTION STARTS HERE:
“the sensitive fingers of artists are poorly suited to manual labor, and in finding labor for
musicians and other artists, the WPA has contributed greatly to the culture of America.
A typical project is this negro choir, singing the spirituals that are the real folk music of
America”
“painters, too, contribute their bit to making the works program a real and terminate (?)
accomplishement. These reproductions of the American scene today will make this one
of the most fertile periods of our country’s art (?) Some of this work is done on canvas
but much of it is created on the walls of our schools, libraries, and other public buildings
in the form of mural paintings. Of particular interest is the mural in the mess hall of the
military academy at West Point depicting great warriors of history.”
“An art long dormant in the united States is the creation of stained glass windows. One
project devoted to this art has created a window for the military academy at west point
depicting scenes from the life of Washington (check this quote)
“commemorative tablets like this are among the contributions of sculptors to the works
program, and they also create works of art for our parks and public buildings. Many
American museums have long been in need of highly skilled experts to restore valuable
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historical materials such as this Persian ceiling which is forming under the deft fingers of
this wpa artist in the Philadelphia museum.”
“In many other museums, fossils and animal skeletons are being repaired and mounted
for study”
image of water pouring down incline “inevitably comes disaster as it has throughout all
the ages of history, so today floods, fires, and famine relentlessly persecute the human
race. In this land of ours so bountifully supplied by nature with fertile lands and rich
forests, disaster has taken a terrible toll, raging floods have swept the green valleys,
imprisoning great cities in the grasp of icy waters, leaving destruction and the threat of
disease in their wake”
“but in the moment of greatest need, the shock troups of disaster go into motion, with the
courage and perseverance which armed our forefathers against despair. The shock troops
of disaster, the great army of wpa workers diverted from their work of construction and
improvement to meet a pressing emergency have proven their merit through many tragic
hours which have harried at far-flung areas of the nation, working hand in hand with
other agencies of relief, men and women of the wpa take up rescue, evacuation, and
relief” etc.
“the orderly program goes switftly forward”
“food is distributed to flood victims from outdoor kitchens and cartons of warm clothes
and bedding are rushed to shivering refugees from wpa sewing rooms in many states”
“in emergency hospitals thousands of lives are saved by red cross and volunteer nurses
and doctors assisted by trained wpa workers”
…”the wpa supplies the shock troops that hold the river within manmade walls. Levy
workers transport the materian by hand, by truck, by boat. Working day and night they
fill countless thousands of sand bags, raising the levies above the record threat. Often
working under the skilled direction of army engineers, relief workers fight the flood at
every point”
“the ppl of the flood area will not soon forget the courage of these heroic workers. For
Administrator Harry Hopkins heard their praise along the full route of his inspection visit
as head of the president’s committee”
“as the water subsides after the work of rescue is completed comes a new battle against
the threat of disease. The wreckage and debris left by the flood must be quickly
removed. Proper conditions of sanitation must be quickly reestablished to prevent the
epidemics which were once certain to take an additional toll of life.”
“so from the first moment of danger to the day when life again takes up its even flow, the
works program offers aid to those who need it most”
“the roaring waters” … “have a terrible rival in the drought which has afflicted thousands
of square miles of our western plains. Ruin and famine come in the wake of the hot dry
winds which tear the fertile soil from the grassroots. Here again the shock troops of
disaster marshall their forces against devestation. Dust, once the valuable topsoil of the
farm country, is now carried in burning clouds, choking and blinding ppl and livestock,
rolling on higher, wider, and blacker until the land itself, upon which everything else
depends, the land it took nature 100 yrs to the inch to build up, is blowing away”
ppl running through dust storm
“in this emergency too the shock troops of disaster marshall their forces against
devastation.”
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“food, medical care” etc. provided “to those who have been driven from their homesteads
by the threat of famine’
“there is great immediate danger from inflammation of eyes, throats and lungs tortured by
dust. Expert clinical care…is provided to minimize the adnager to life and health” boy
with thermometer, eyes being examined
horses plowing, music picks up; wpa employment of farmers “to them, this work
provides a means of carrying on in the face of the hardships afflicted by nature”
“drought is a grave national danger, correcting it a mammoth undertaking” dam
construction
drought victims now working “thus the works program answers the need of both the
individual and the community”
fire; men running to board makeshift fire trucks
“when the hot sun through long rainless weeks has baked leaves of wood to the dryness
of timber, it requires only the spark of a cigarette or a flash of lighting to bring about
devastation and ruin” MESSAGE THROUGHOUT: CONSTANT THREAT
“and again, the shock troops of disaster rally to the challenge, dropping their normal work
of construction and improvements to respond to the emergency needs of the nation”
“Parks, playgrounds, and other recreation areas play an increasingly important part in the
lives of our people” ducks and seals
“recreational areas easily accessible to those who live in large cities’
playgrounds in cities have employed “thousands (?) of skilled and unskilled workers”
kids on monkeybars, circular ride, seesaw
swimming pools w/slides, ppl involved with construction “have been removed from relief
roles”
“toy lending library”
“the conservation of human resources is one of the great objectives towards hich the
works program has directed its resources”
taps at camp, row of children eating “underprivileged children and those (until recently?)
cared for in institutions” sent to camp
us flag being lowered to bugle and salute
fort niagra maintenance; “frontier forts…restored to their original condition to
commemorate the valor of the nation’s pioneers’
“several historic shrines to Lincoln’s boyhood” shows these
then map w/retrospective clips of film filling up area of united states. “under this
program, work pays America!’ finis
We Work Again
 “Produced by the Work Projects Administration of the Federal Works Agency”
 http://www.archive.org/details/WeWorkAg1930
 emphasis on state “we” were in at beginning of depression
 only relief came in “charity”
 Fed Works program “took us out of the breadline”
 “it changed the haggard faces of the breadline into faces filled with hope and happiness”
 “unskilled laborers, the forgotten men of past generations” now working
 skilled workers also
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Tearing down old buildings “to make way for modern buildings containing comfortable
sanitary apartments”
Swimming pool and bathhouse in Harlem “which will accommodate 21000 persons”
o Skilled workers using knowledge gained BEFORE depression
o Preventing “tragedies” “which were all to common of the old swimming pools”
(check quote)
o Playing in parks under supervision
Nursery schools “under competent instruction of workers removed from relief rolls” (chk
qut)
Adult education ; teaching Spanish
Emphasis on numbers
Clerical work; “time-worn land records” “so that they may be available for future
generations”
Household training “conservation of human resources”; “competent instructors” again
“here’s where you may be able to learn something: illustrates bedmaking
Sewing center “women who are the breadwinners of their families”
Classical music: names director; Afr Am? Extended clip “for cheerfully we sing”
Spiritual: “recognized the world over as the folk music of America” names director
again; same choir as in prev movie “Ezekial saw the Wheel”
The End w/preppy brass music
Valley Town: A Study of Machines and Men (1940)
 produced by Educational Film Insitute NYU & Documentary Film Productions, Inc.
 “Script by …Spencer Pollard, Willard Van Dyke; Assisted by Helen Files and Paula
Swarthe; Commentary by …Spencer Pollard; Assisted by David Wolff (Courtesy
Frontier Films)”
 “Music by Marc Blitzstein”
 “Photographed by …Roger Barlow, Bob Churchill; Edited by …….Irving Lerner;
Narrated by….Ray Collins; Recorded by Orchestra Conducted by Alexander Smallens”
 “Directed by Willard Van Dyke”
 http://www.archive.org/details/ValleyTo1940
 Notice in beginning that ppl are not actors (check this to quote)
 Opens with progression out domestic window to overlook quiet, smoky city
 “for years and years there was always smoke over these houses”; mayor on the hill
watching ppl for 20 yrs “men and women who lived by machines and bought machine
goods” (chk)
 clocktower chime as alarming
 coffee from metal container
 men waiting for train
 “ I remember when those factories were built—we were pretty happy about it. Concrete
and glass and steel—“ “it was like money in the bank”
 “well, what about the men? That’s a complicated question” (chk) lose job, get another
 “and this work was easier on the back”
 name “was out of work for about 6 months”; now making parts for diesel engines
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machines were easy to transition to; gave ppl opportunity to move around, “move into
our town”
“steel rolling mills” req. skill, “nerves” ; jobs for 3000 families
“the machines brought life to our town”
sequence of working w/musical accompaniment; rhythmic (music somewhat arrhythmic,
alarming?)
“good times make good Christmas” ; “the same all over the country” new goods, new
stores
narrator says his daughter got married at Christmas
“we thought prosperity would last forever” (chk)
“we were able to buy good products shipped from other industrial towns” “the wheels
kept going around” local sense of import, export
footage of train; “railroad crossing : danger” sign
trains standing still “but then the wheels stopped”
deserted street, damaged storefronts, “for rent” sign
“we thought prosperity would last forever; now it was over. We hoped it would return”
“the machines were idle a long time; so were the men. It wasn’t the fault of the
machines; you can’t blame them for depression. In fact, the machines had often cdreated
jobs; but now there was depression. I never thought I’d see it: snow on those rollers??.
Then when recovery began, when there were orders for steel again, the old mill stayed
shut. The years had bought a new method:a new machine: automatic high-speed strip
mill. For every 30 men who worked before, now there was 1. No more strain on the
back and shoulders! No more work for 3000 families! Automatic, high speed, accurate.
Never lose time. Never get sick”
new machine & music
shantytown: “what am I going home for? What the devil am I going home for? Just to
walk in the door and say, no job again? Is that what for?” feeling sorry for neighbors;
jack who had to move to Pittsburgh “I’m trying to keep a home together here. Home,
nice home. We’ve gottta get out of this dump soon. Pete and joe, we used to hang
around together, working at the mill. And now, now I can’t stand to look at their faces.
They’re thinking, and I’m thinking, when is that mill going to open again? When do we
work? T here’s nothing wrong with me..i can still work..i’m ok…walk in the door, tell
her the same old thing, see that look in her eyes again…I don’t wanna go home. What
the devil am I going home for?”
woman counting money needed, husband enters “I new it. This ain’t anything sudden; it
happens every day.” Woman staring out window as husband spoons gruel. Song “you
add up the pennies…finding it’s just not enough…and over your head is some kind of
room…and then you ask yourself …what happens after all your savings’ gone” “oh far
away there’s a place with work and joy and cheer. Far away, oh far away from here. In
my dream, some fine day, we’ll go away from here; some fine day, but not now. The
dream in hand somehow” juxtaposing close ups of wife and husband
water dripping in pan, child crying
“I hear that they tell you we’re living in a wonderful age; an age of machines and gadgets
and things, an age to wonder at. All right, I’m wondering, I’m wondering how much
i…you can’t do no more than try” (looking at radio?)
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men gather to watch smokestack being cut down; all smoking as it falls (played three
times; then played more with close-ups of men’s faces intervening)
rubble of steel mill
“as long as the old mill was there, we kept on hoping we kept our eyes on it…maybe
they’ll reopen …maybe next month…but when they cut those smokestacks out of the
sky, we had nothing to look at anymore. Decent, fine workers, every one of them, their
hands were trained, but now that training is no good; they’re no more than unskilled
men, until they learn a new skill”
“but why?” “because the strip mills can make it cheaper and faster”
“but what good are the machines if they throw us out of work?”
claim machines came too quickly
“why should these men be thrown away, as if they were obsolete, as if they were broken
machines?”
“I’m only 25 yrs old; I’m not obsolete”
worker claims couldn’t get a job making radios and refrigerators; he’s a steelworker
claim that this is national problem; one town can’t afford to retrain
“we’ve let our reservoir of skill run seriously low” “millions of man-years of work
experience lost, of skills allowed to rust” (claims this is a ten-yr problem)
focus on training to solve problem
“what we’ve learned this year…can help a peacetime economy as well as national
defense”
steelworkers able to be trained; shows them learning new tings
“government and industry are working together to retrain these men”
emphasis on lesson: “let’s keep the workers up to date; let’s keep their skills as modern
as the new machines”
‘Round and ‘Round (1939) http://www.archive.org/details/Roundand1939
 General Motors, A Department of Public Relations Production, Produced by the
Jam Handy Organization
 “this is a factory” “this is a machine in the factory” “this is the workman who tends the
machine in the factory”
 “and this is what the workman makes on his machine in the factory. This is a widget. A
widget might be a refridgerator…”
 “a widget, you know, is just a symbold for any manufactured product that ppl use”
 “and the skilled workmen who run these machines turn out the finest widgets you’ve ever
seen”
 “they’re as modern, attractive, and efficient as careful design and fine craftsmanship can
make them. Ppl will certainly like to buy these widgets because theyr’e so fine and up to
date”
 farmer buying widgets “everyone is happy, the widget maker has the money, and the
farmer has his widget”
 coalminer buys widget “he wants his new widget right away, too…these certainly must
be good widgets, b/c there is such a widespread demand for them” “everyone seems to
need a widget”
 steel manufactuerer, lumberman
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“these ppl are customers b/c they are willing to trade money for widgets, and all the
customers take widgets home to all parts of the country”
“look at all the money that widget maker has taken in” then “has to” give money to
workers; “that’s all right though, because these men need the money”
suggest workers “may want to buy the widgets themselves”
widgetmaker buying cotton; farmer gets more money back + “in addition to the widget”
he already bought
“so the widgetmaker is a buyer as well as a seller. Evidently in this widget business,
somebody is always buying and selling”
materials go in one end of machine, and out of other end “come nice, new, shiny widgets’
“this factory becomes a beehive of activity”
“money seems to travel round and round in this widget business. Maybe that’s true of
other businesses too! Don’t you think so?”
why are wooden figures used for this?
The River
 http://www.archive.org/details/RiverThe1937,
http://www.archive.org/details/RiverThe1937_2
 “A U.S. Documentary Film, Copyright MCMXXXVII, Pare Loretz- Farm Security
Administration, U.S.D.(A.?); Recorded at General Service Studios; Western Electric
[?phonic]”
 “Written and Directed by Pare Lorentz”
 “Photography Floyd Crosby, Stacy Woodard, Willard Van Dyke; Music Composed by
Virgil Thomson, Conductor Alexander Smallens”
 “Narrated by …Thomas Chalmers; Narration Written by…Pare Lorentz; Research
Editor………A.A. Mercey; Film Editors……Led Zochling, Lloyd Nosler; Sount
Technician..Al Dillinger”
 long poetic intro about sources of river
 "Men and mules, mules and mud" "built a dyke a thousand miles long" : silhouette of
men and mules walking along ridge; images of mules dumping sod
 "steamboat highway"
 men carrying crops onto steamboat; rolling cotton onto steamboat (mechanical
appearance?)
 Lee's farewell to the troops over backdrop of fire; Atlanta?
 "the tragedy of land twice impoverished" --south's destitution
 "the railroads killed the steamboats" "but there was lumber in the north"
 chopping down trees--close-ups of axes; few images of lumbermen
 logs traveling down flume
 men dwarfed by logs; saw cutting logs
 "with lumber in the north, coal in the hills"; steel mills (images of machinery, but not
men)
 "cotton for the spools of England and France," also "Italy and Germany"
 "we built a hundred cities and a thousand towns"…"we built a new continent"--skylines
 desolation of cleared land "we cut the top off the Alleghenies and sent it down the river
…"and moved on"
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"for the water comes down the mountains, spring and fall"
part II starts here
"1903" etc to "1937" "down the ____" cascading water
silhouette of man walking with lantern; lightning; measuring water level
coast guard shown shoring up levies
"the CCC and the WPA," "the Red Cross" "night and day" to hold river up
flooded houses and barns, boats full of men rescuing refugees
"food and water needed at____" repeated
tent town; woman with baby; dog on roof of flooded house
"she spread her arms over thousands of acres of land"--personifying river
counting through years again while showing flooded town from above "we built a
hundred cities and a thousand towns…at what a cost"
"In 1937 the entire nation sent help to the stricken ppl of the valley" congress pledged
money to help
"for years the old river has taken a toll on the valley more serious than she does in
floodtime"
"for 50 yrs" farmed on land; but "400 tons"(?) "have been washed into the gulf of mexico
every year."
Rows of ppl picking cotton "poor land makes poor people; poor people makes poor land"
"ten percent are sharecroppers, down on their knees in the valley" bent backs as pick
cotton
domestic scene; kids on floor, cooking, eating "a generation facing a life of dirt and
poverty, disease and…" "ill-clad, ill-housed, and ill-fed, and in the greatest river valley in
the…"
map of Mississippi and great lakes; showing forest disappearing; percentage ruined for
agricultural use; percentages of farmers
some "living in squalor unknown to the peasant farmer in Europe"
"we have the power to put it together again"
"in 1933 we started" w/ TVA, map isolates Tennessee river
cranes and jackhammers working on dam (Norris Dam)
explosions; listing dams; match cut from incomplete to complete w/car crossing
ppl walking
ppl swinging tools (clip sped up)?; attempts to conserve soul
"but you cannot plan for water and land unless you plan for ppl" Farm Security
Administration; houses being built; loans to farmers
"and where there's water, there's power" …machine operator
power lines; listing states music: "How Firm a Foundation"
Farm Security Administration w/ coop of TVA, Civilian Conservation Corps and Army
Engineers
"stripped of the honorific 'documentary'" due to widespread tendency to condemn
anything which, like this government-sponsored document, might be called "propaganda"
(Stott 23-24).
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"The documentary book had, however, man other precedents. Alfred Kazin thought Pare
Lorentz had developed this 'new genre' in <i>The River</i> (1936), the words and
imgaes of which 'were no only mutually indispensable, a kind of commentary upon each
other, but curiously interchangeable.'" (Stott 212).
river as epic (Ellis 39, 41)
"THe film also counteracted the public relations campaign being conducted by private
utilities to keep government out of electric power." (Ellis 85)
"It is possible that <i> The River </i>has been seen by as many people as any film ever
made." (Ellis 86)
"The only negative criticism frequently leveled at it is that, following its moving
evocation of the history of this big country, its people, and its natural resources, it adds a
commercial." (Ellis 86)
b/c THe River was so successful, Lorentz convinced Roosevelt to create the United States
Film Service (1938).
Power (?)
 Domestic scene; then images of still machines?
 Showing lamps of the "kind used before electricity was born"
 "good people, hardworking people, deserve the best"….
 Comment that they deserve food they eat
 "the things we cherish most in America are here at this table"…"while we foster and
maintain them, it will be well with all of us"
 "Bill Parkinson is now a member of the Belmont Electric Cooperative" man riding
tractor, comes inside and sees other man explaining electric stove to his wife.
 Movie stops here. What is the source of this clip?
People of the Cumberland
 By Robert Stebbins and Eugene Hill; Elia Kazan one assistant; commentary by Erskine
Caldwell
 Highlander Folk School & the people of the Cumberland; a Garrison release
 Opens w/shots of mountains, looming clouds "under the tenn sky, the blue edge of the
mountains"
 "where the trees were slashed down, the forest destroyed, and the lumbermills were left
ot rot, the roofs of the mills were torn off" by weather
 "the coal ripped out, abandoned to the mountain floods"
 'there was little left for a man to live on, but that little had to do"
 coal miners descending;
 "ruined houses and ruined people"; emph on descendents, "5th gen" of ppl who came here
 "nothing left of their lives but these bits of crockery on their graves" 'the earth that failed
to keep them alive"
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"when the side of Mrs. Williams' home collapsed, they moved to another abandoned
house in another village'
ppl went to valley b/c heard there was work "11 hours a day, 6 days a week"
"the same greed ruled the valley and the mountains"
print announcement of 1932 organization of the school; then narration re. "new
beginning," "Miles Horton was its founder"
"to teach them to think in common and act together"
school to "go out to he broken ppl of the Cumberland end their fear and their loneliness
and bring them back to the world"
emph on antecedents again: "they are the stock of the first pioneers: tough, clearheaded,
brave"
some skilled; gives spec. example Uncle Billy Thomas works w/ "hand-forged tools"
"but most are laborers" "and they say themselves to cut wood for 70 cents a day it takes a
sharp axe, a strong back, and a weak mind"
"What are the advantages of labor unions?" (farm workers answer)
o They give you shorter hours
o Protect your wages
o Education
o Increases prosperity
Discussion about spec. topics they learn: how to build a house, what's wrong with the
world, how to conduct a meeting
"they learn by doing" : union meeting
graphics of ppl against unions, (show these at campfire etc)
o assoc of man's
o no strike injunctions
o thugs
o ppl who won't look and won't listen
and ppl for:
o government
o wagner act
o constitution
ppl marching; "Get Wise! Organize!"
"new spirit in the factories" b/c of union; shows women working in sewing factory
o "there's a new spirit in America…men and women are more than machines!"
o "The people of the Cumberland are not alone!"
playing pingpong together w/march signs in background
squaredance
"But there were powerful forces that still denied the right of these ppl to happy life"
(printed)
ppl loading gun; "get the organizers. If we get them, we'll get the unions"
allegiance ceremony for "united mineworkers of America"
union leader struggling w/gun, man sneaks up and he's shot several times; shot of grave
"death for one man, a stone for memory, but the miners were organized! Americans are
too tough to frighten!"
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lime plant workers organized next. "a new saying came to the mountain: don't
mourn…organize!"
businesses "shut down for the labor rally"
"a new kind of independence day"
"the people are the unions; the unions are the people."
Boxing
"and in this corner the oldest married couple…49 years"
"the oldest American sport: hogcalling"
"a miner's rep says, AFL or CIO, we've got to get together"
image of flag blowing in wind
"the school is answerable only to the ppl of Tennessee"; speech of graduate, "but no more
speeches--this is a holiday"
upward shot of boys throwing shots?
They'll need nerve…there is still ruin,
"there's so much work to do…so many riches lost under the ground. There's work for
100 thousand men" to repair land; TVA "a good beginning, but only a beginning"
dam & flag, men pledging; electrical scaffolding; "a new life"\
Native ?
 description of building first settlements w/logs of new land
 "new resources, new power."
 "we came in millions to the machine" coal , iron, wheels
 "American growing…machines and ppl…three million, 130 million"
 "the old words and the historic documents: we built them into bridges, and
dynamos…and concrete cities"
 machinery, bridges (filmed as crossing from below); smokestacks
 no ppl shown
 native2 starts here
 white guy holding up struggling black guy ; shots fired from bushes--hits black guy,
continues to shoot after white guy. White guy struck at barbed wire fence.
 "the south--July"
 "two men dead on a road in Arkansas"
 discussion of violence covered by night
Master Hands (1936)
 http://www.archive.org/details/MasterHa1936,
http://www.archive.org/details/MasterHa1936_3,
http://www.archive.org/details/MasterHa1936_2,
http://www.archive.org/details/MasterHa1936_4
 “The Chevrolet Motor Company Presents Master Hands”
 final credits: Photography: Gordon Avil; Orchestral Score: Samuel Benavie; Rendition:
Detroit Philharmonic Orchestra; Film Editing: Vincent Herman; Produced by: The Jam
Handy Organization
 intro; hot metal poured into
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"Today twenty five million people are driving motor cars on the streets and highways of
America. To provide this transportation over 5,060,000 skilled workers are occupied."
"The twenty five million drivers and their families who depend on these workers for
personal transportation have little opportunity to see at work the skilled craftsmen whose
master hands command the great machinery of production"
"But day after day this great drama goes on in the foundries and the factories and the
assembly plants in which these cars are made."
Treated film of men streaming into factory, manning stations, close up fades to untreated
film; man measuring cog? Several close ups
"From the master hands of the toolmakers to the hands that master the great machines
from the tools and patterns and dies, and then the factories start."
Lighting fire; turning crank; meter rising; pulling lever to spin wheels..this section
focuses on large instruments rather than small crafts; music has more grandeur, slightly
ominous
Puling chain to operate small wheel above; juxtaposed with big wheel to suggest
connection
Several wheels in a row spinning increasingly quickly.
Sound missing after cut of large wheel; flames and machinery; men standing around
sparking metal
Lighting rag
Lighting furnace
Dropping material into furnace
Liquid metal pouring out below, workers scraping it up
Sparks flying as workers operate machine
Hands pulling lever,
Hands scraping steaming metal ore off; theaching stamps down and mould; filling mold
with iron ore?
o Images always focusing on hands
Filling molds for smaller parts
Turning crank and dumping smaller parts out
See men’s faces occasionally
Putting on gloves
Pouring hot ore into puckets on overhanging carrier
Lighting
Pouring ore into moulds; everything appears to catch fire
Two men shot through horizontal slit
Mouls carried through suspended conveyor system…multiple shots, first close up, then
far away
Wheels sparking
Small hand-help wheel-like sander, man bending over mould (part of face obscured by
insturement)
Man spraying off moulds as roll by; head not in shot
Using tongs to pull iron out of hot flame; rhythmic pumping of machine; rhtym of foot
operating machine; rhythmic clips; suspenseful music; hanging finished part
Shot of hand; music changes
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Dipping instrument into
Hanging can-like parts over craftsmen’s table
Attaching smaller parts to engine?
Face of workman briefly shown (apparently not necessary to convey work)
Man working on engine as other engines scroll by in background
Man listening to engine running
Shot of engine running with depth of field such that nearer parts out of focus; this
technique continues in parts of next scene
Men moving parts quicky
Ore streaming out from above?
Rolling coils over and over; smarks flying, testing coil?
Sticking coil in engine
Workman turning crank as engine glides by on conveyor belt
PART 4 STARTS HERE
Man turning wheel with chain
Men rhythmically laying out bars of metal at correct intervals (one man using large
swings of body (w/hammer?), one standing next making more subtle modifications
Movement of machines
Movement of machines with men on both sides
Man’s hand
Zooming in to show just one man at his station
Men working in unison to slide prats of chassis together
Another zoomed in hand
Men watching machines do their work w/ no human apparently operating machine
(seems entirely automatic, mechanical_)
Zoomed-out shot of entire room full of chassis? Snaking movement throughout
Men moving in tandem with machines
Shot of hand again
Closer shots so can make out features of men as they work; two men in frame at a time;
then one man; then zoomed in on hand so see what he’s doing
Fitting engine to chassis; movement of camera seems dictated by movement of the
machine, not of the men
Close up of pulling body pieces out from machine; then zoomed out of large wheels,
pully systems? Diagonals
Piles of pieces of metal; man’s hand caressing one piece; close up of man’s profile as he
works, but can’t see what he’s doing. Shot of hands, putting detail in body piece
Overhead shot of men putting body pieces on frame; can’t see frame; camera from
above and progressing across floor
Camera moving with body pieces, not men
Men wiping roof, drawing chalk “0”
Placing grill on front
Placing wheel wells around; shot from above, men standing around cars
Car suspended from aove mechanically
Putting wheels on
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Man tightening bolts
Another wheel obscures him
Scanning across cars
Men working beneath, inside
Close ups of car bodies, windows, grills, steering wheels, man’s hands on steering wheel
as drives car out and onto the road
Car drives away, camera watches form behind
Metal credits and “the end”
Man Against the River
 Construction of bridges, shelters
 Fire; relief workers removing bodies and wreckage
 Water pumped in to clean up
 “flooded underground wires being replaced by temporary overhead”
 ends by pointing out that many workers were victims of flood who wd otherwise be on
relief
Junk and the War (March of Time)
 glorifying junk man (named)
 focuses on search for steel
 brief clip of steel factory; hot metal (no wokers shown)
 scrap metal being lifted by crain onto barges to go to italy, japan, England
 machines used to break down scrap metal
 short written statement re. this specific junkman
 comment about senselessness of embargo
 “All Mr. Rambino knows” is that prices are up
 finds himself “a person of import”(?) “in a world where steel is master”
 begins and ends w/pic of arsenal?
Gold Harvest (1933) California Packing Corporation
 can’t read intro
 color
 poetic intro into Del Monte
 scans of California, brief discussion of history of Spanish immigration & missions
 Del Monte “a name typifying the romance of the past that is ever present in the business
of today”
 Gold rush
 Canyon walls delayed but did not stop them
 “towns sprang into being overnight”
 “today little remains to tell us of those stirring times; only a few half-forgotten mining
camps, their straggling buildings crumbling slowly into ruin”
 but gold miners became canners “out of that dauntless spirit of 49”
 calls fruit “more lasting wealth”
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“this is the way the California Canning Inudstry was born, as seen through the eyes of
Cal-Pack camera men many years ago”
images of women cutting and canning fruit
“we filmed “out of the spirit of 49” to set a mood, to convey a feeling, to recal an idea.
Now, as we turn the corner of ’50, this mood, idea, feeling, is still with us, in the time of
our golden anniversary, this spirit remains a lively one.”
Before talkies, films made of harvesting asparagus using horsepower
Don’t use this movie…too difficult to parse out what is pertinent to 30s
To New Horizons
 http://www.archive.org/details/ToNewHor1940
 “Model Designed for Norman Bel Geddes for General Motors”, “Produced by the
Jam Handy Organization”
 starts in black and white, but ends in color
 Opens with ocean and words “To New Horizons” (this is the Futurama Film)
 Technicolor used
 Ocean and clouds, deserted beaches
 “the promise of distant horizons”…”always have called men forward”
 “first wondering, then searching, then continuing to explore, men have moved on and
on, always to find that old horizons open the way to new horizons.”
 “in a xearch that has continued for centuries, some far distant view with its search fo
the unseen and its search for the uknonw”
 “new horizons: roads for men to go places” images of many diff kinds of roads,
bridges, dirt, etc.
 pic of ppl putting up lights, of record player?
 Cars; newspaper article saying self-starter replaces hand crank
 Telephone, airplane, etc. “symbols of better living, new places to go, and better
means of getting there.”
 “growing appreciation of applying road tax moneis to the road building program for
which they were designed”
 “created by the crossing of new horizons, new ways of living, and new thinking have
laid the foundation for most of what is good in life today, with the promise of more
tomorrow. As distant families have become neighbors and as ppl have constantly
widened their viewpoints while multiplying the number of their contacts, more
desires have developed to be satisfied, and with the demand for all these
conveniences and improvements, opportunites for employment of men, money and
materials have increased, and thus the highways of social and commercial
developments are widening without end or limit except the imagination and vision of
men who do new things. Today engineers are always leading us higher, widening the
trails while our men of science are broadening all our mental avenues with new
activities, activities based on modern pioneering into new fields of research, men
exploring and pioneering for all to follow, men endlessly seeking something new
along the raods of civilization in the great unknown expanses of applied science and
scientific research. All of the new highways of research and exploration have brought
to us more raw materials, new raw materials, new combinations of raw materials, new
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and greater productivity of the soil, making more plentiful an ever – widening range
of goods. And as these goods come down from the farm, the line, and the mill,
progreesss on the highways of human activity leads us to more opportunities for
employment, an ever-widening range of goods made ever more plentiful from east to
west, from north to south.” sliced bread, baths, images of hot metal, images of road
explict replacement of “genographical frontiers” with scientific frontiers (use this) c.
7 min
“mentally and physically, we are progressing toward new horizons”
image of futurama, General Motros sign,
“to help us get a glimps into this unfinished world fo ours”
switch to color: “the greater and better world of tomorrow”
“the freedom to think and the will to do have given birth to a generation of men” who
always want “new fields”
1960 world fair exhibit; claim “must constantly remind ourselves” that this is only a
vision. Focus on natural, “eternal things wrought by God” (streams, tress, etc.
“a new world is constantly opening before uas at an ever-accelerating rate of
progress”
world which “will always grow forward c. 10
“science and research have helped him to control many of the risks of agriculture”
(hours shortenened, more abundance, less disease, more pollination) “does it seem
strange? Unbelievable? Remember, this is the world of 1960, and physics and
chemistry have joined hands with the farmer in helpful friendship”
highway model: cars may move “without lose of speed,” yet safely; distant overhead
shots beautify highway system “rates of speed up to 50 miles per hour”; “the
motorist of 1960 finds this intersection safe and efficient”
highway illumination for safety also
amusement park “man’s progress has brought more leisure for amusment and
recreation”
“industrial communities have gone ahead by multiplying the conveniences and
comforts of living”
“thriving and prosperous steel town” “notice the furnaces glowinger and rolling
mills”
airport: “efficient combination of motor, air, and rail transport”?
“along the edge of this beautiful precipice, traffic moves without reduced rates of
speed” (check qhote c. 14:30
“the keynote of this motorway: safety. Safety with increased speed”
“1960 model of transportation progress is but a symbol of future progress in every
activity made possible by constant striving toward new and better horizons”
“steep, challenging mountain climb” with “peaceful religious retreat seemingly
growing from the rocks” overlooking lake?
“one marvels at its complete accord with the breathtaking scenic beauty of its route”
“without tedious travel, the advantages of living in a small town are within easy
reach, bringing the ppl who live there into closer relations with the world around”
“over space man has begun to win victory” “space for living, space for working,
space for ?”
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“spectacular suspension bridge” “forming a gateway to the city” “elimination of
congestion and elimination of convergance” w/other roads
1 million person city now has “much larger” population; recreationalo, working
living sections “all have been separated for greater efficiency and greater
convenience”
airport “resting in a pool of liquid” to turn to accommodate wind conditions
“man continually strives to replace the old with the new”
skyscrapers ¼ mile high w/ helicopter landing decks
“fresh air, fine green parkways, recreational and civic centers. Modern and efficient
city planning, breathtaking architecture, each city block a complete unit in itself”
“elevated sidewalks give a new measure of safety and convenience to pedestrians”;
double traffic in street
“and so we see some suggestion of things to come, a world which far from being
finished is hardly begun, a world with a future in which all of us are tremendously
interested, because that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives”
“can be whatever we propose to make it” (shots of GM logo on building)
“true, each of us has different ideas of what that future will be, but every forward
outlook reminds us that all the highways of all research and all communication, all
the activities of science, lead us onward to better methods of doing things. With new
opportunities for employment and better ways of living, as we go on determined to
unfold the constantly greater possibliies of the world of tomorrow and we move more
and more rapidly forward, penetrating new horizons in the spirit of indiidual
enterprise, in the great American way.” (color cartoons, like brushstrokes; very
modern artistic
“Without End General Motors A Jam Handy Production” (use this screenshot)
From Dawn to Sunset (1937) (Chevrolet Motor Division, General Motors Sales
Corporation)—Jam Handy Organization (Western Electric Sound System) (entire
soundtrack transcribed here, except for choral pieces)
 http://www.archive.org/details/FromDawn1937,
http://www.archive.org/details/FromDawn1937_2,
http://www.archive.org/details/FromDawn1937_3
 “Day breaks in the East and a mighty army rises. Not an army marching to the deep and
desolationg roar of shells, but a mighty army of builders who go forth accompanied by
the whistles from America’s greatest factories, while their giant smoke stacks write
across the skies promise of a new prosperity in a land where that prosperity brings a fuller
life to every man wh labors and who serves. And as each builder marches forth to shape
his destiny tens of thousands more go with him, side by side—and so each one is
multiplied. And thus America has grown from the combined servies of those who plan,
create and build—each day serving better, earning more, and building greater values than
can be found in any other nation of the world.” This paragraph scrolls above factory
skyline.
 Clocks showing 5 to six, overlay of row of houses w. ppl getting ready for work
(brushing hair, eating rbeakfast, kissing wife goodbye) “The clarion call of industry
sounds good morning to america’s manpower. As dawn comes out of the east and
spreads down the quiet streets, the clans gather in a score of cities. In thousands of
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homes, vigorous workmen gather to meet a new day and a new opportunity. The morning
sun stirs the nation’s workmen, prompting them to their posts of daily service. Follow
the eastern sun as it rises on the homes of men along the great Atlantic seaboard. The
morning light over the plains has wakened thousands who are off to enliven the factories
of the vast Midwestern space. And along the sunny shores of the Pacific, men are on
their way to quicken the beat of industry.” More images of men leaving homes which
appear to be in these three places, some images of dogs & family waving goodbye
“In twelve great cities created in every region of the country, the clans are gathering for
the work of a new day. As the sun stretches fingers of light across the pavements, the
early morning sparkles with the greeting of men to men.” Now see men walking in large
groups
“on their way to factories in Flint and Atlanta, from Tarrytown to Oakland, the
neighborly men hail each other with the salute of fellowship.” Men streaming into plant,
words “Tarrytown, New York Immortalized by Washington Irving’s ‘Sketchbook’”
flash across this image
“Along the Roads to the factories,” (image of Chevrolet plant with name visible) “tens of
thousands begin to mass. They swell the rising tide.” (on screen: “Flint, Michigan The
world’s great automobile center”)
“Into the silent buildings flows the life stream. The great producing units of the nation’s
mighty manufacturing enterprise awaits; the giant assembly plants begin to stir” (now
streams of ppl inside factory)
on screen: “Detroit, Michigan In the dynamic heart of the Central States”
men walking by columns and into swinging doors (no narnration at this point)
on screen: “Atlanta, Georgia In the heart of the old and new Dixie”
on screen: “Buffalo, New York On the frontier of the Empire State”
choir begins singing: note lyrics; from workman’s perspective
on screen: “Janesville, Wisconsin In the rich farm and dairy lands of the lake country”
“Norwood, Cincinnati, Ohio In the beautiful Ohio Valley”
“Kansas City, Missouri Gateway to the plains and ranches of the Great West”
“Baltimore, Maryland Birthplace of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’
“St. Louis, Missouri On the mighty Mississippi, at the crossroads of America”
song: “here they come, in the sun,”….”here to start the day with a song in their hearts,
joy in their souls, marching with the morning sun”
desks, large overhead wheels shown in factory w/workment streaming by
partially completed car
workmen punching in w/timecards
narr: “in every corner of the country, in a dozen great cities, the bugle call of industry
has summoned the clan. Legions of craftsmen have joined to supply transportation for a
nation of individuals. Along the main current of the assembly lines, light falls across
men spreading to their stations. The stillness of the factory breaks”
several stem blowers; upright and directed to sides
cars moving in parking lot
“the tramp of many feet makes way for the rhythmic hum of smooth spinning machinery”
now see workers at machines for first time
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“under the guidance of skilled workmen, comfort and speed and safety are building the
motorcars for all Americans (wheels on axes being carried by overhead conveyor)
 “all that fine automobiles are made off, all that the builders need, is ready for assembly.
America is at work.” Another conveyor belt shot from below; men putting cars together
by hand; wheel rimps rolling down curved ramp; car body carried from overhead,
lowered onto frame; rows of identical cars being assembled (w/body already attached)
shot from two diff diagonals, inspecting cars w/large handheld lights, first outside then
inside (with shot through windshield)
 driving car off of assembly line with climactic music
 loses sound around 9 min
NO MORE SOUND AFTER THIS POINT
 cars pull out of garage in a row
 driver pulling up next to fows of cars
 several dramatic shots of rows of cars
 truck loading cars into back; cars driving onto trains
 men throwing ramp off, closing doors
 rows of cars with shiny reflections
 overlay effects
 “The great automobile factories and the grounds encircling them are never empty. Like
mighty reservoirs, they feed the streams of cars along the highway. A million families
call for more cars. The work of men who make them is always in demand. America has
a ready purse, and gives eager exceptance to what the men of motors have built and built
well.” (Chevrolet sign on side of truck holding many cars)
 “Fine materials, soundly assembled. And while a restless and never satisfied horizon
falls, the new automobiles stream from the factory, spreading pleasure and speeding
business all across the country. The destination? Everywhere, USA.”
 Workers streaming through and picking up paychecks “And now a stream of paychecks
goes to all the men who are building a million cars for the boulevards and highways of
America.” Camera pulls back, see large group of men filling room “Tens of thousands of
men on one single payroll have money for themselves and for their families to spend.”
 Accompanied by appropriate images: “Money to spend for wholesome foods, for good
clothes, money for comforts and conveniences” (shows radio) “Fresh buying power flows
into all the stores of every community. New Trade and New Commerce have been
created by the overflow of purses and beyond the market places, new wealth flourishes
and new prosperity grows, prosperity greater than history has ever known.”
 Shows “Sleepy Hollow Manor”, picturesque images, then back to factory again, music
picks up…then at bakery, cleaners, drugstore, music store; then image of river, francis
scott key’s grave, “Baltimore” façade, streets with trolleys, paychecks being handed out,
ppl buying fruit and seafood, books, children walking to school, buing bikes; “Buffalo”
sign; tall buildings, ppl milling about “Washington Market”; then “paymaster” and ppl
collecting checks. Ppl uying clothing and accordions. Transposition of soft music
w/brisker music of commerce. “Ah Wisconsin” choir singing; cheeses, hats, etc. then
dramatic shot scanning from top of bridge down; then more paychecks being distributed.
Cincinnati: statuesque fountain, street, more paychecks being handed out; meat cuts,
wallpaper, teapots, couches, pianos; Atlanta: Georgia School of Technology, “Oh
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Susanna,” more paychecks being handed out, more shopping (cornmeal?) hats, shoes,
jacket; languid music, “Kansas City Municipal Airport” camera starts at top of buildings
and pans down, more paychecks, more shops, corn, child’s clothing, adult clothing
LOCAL COLOR WITHIN NATIONAL ARGUMENT? Movie 3 starts here
Waterfront with factory steam towers, “St. Louis” sign, steamboat, choir singing about
Missisisippi, church, large buildings seen through trees, storefronts, food, chese, salami?,
streets viewed from above, more shopping again
“The pleasure of buying the spreading of money and the enjoyment of all that paychecks
can buy are making happy all the thousands of families.”
“And when the sun drops low at close of day” (ppl shot from low chest up, from below,
cloud-spatterd sky in background) “and the evening shadows lengthen all across the
continent” (angle changed so see tops of heads, then faces as approach camera) “the men
return from work with the wind fresh in their faces. Each feels that his home is the best
of places, and each in his heart is right” (palm trees, adobe homes, several types of homes
juxtaposed, man lifting child. Girl taking off father’s shoes, man eating dinner, reading
to daughter, served food at drive through
boats in lake w/cabins in background “then comes time for play, and friends, and
recreation” bowling and dancing, daughter riding man’s back
“And so across America, thousands have worked today” (man closing book) “and done
their tasks well” (man setting alarm clock) “and as the lights blink out, a day of work, a
day of fulfillment, of happiness, and of peace” (turning out light) “merges into the
assurance of a fuller life in the great American way.”
Lights going out viewed from outside houses, choir song, then “the End”
The Triumph of America (1933)
o http://www.archive.org/details/Triumpho1933,
http://www.archive.org/details/Triumpho1933_2
o “The Chevrolet Motor Company presents The Triumph of America Wester Electric
Sound System Produced by Jam Handy Picture Service”
o Smoke stacks in background of title
o Eagle
o “America! Industrial miracle of the century. From all the states flow bounteously the
products of forest, mine, and field. From her workshops flow all the needs of modern
living. By air, land, and water, these treasures of enterprise are sent out to every point of
the compass. No job is too big for American industry.” (large ship being lifted??)
o “Noting is too small for the best in materials and workmanship” hay
o “Look back a few generations and realize the advantages America has made.” (two
housefronts)
o “Articles were once wrought by single pairs of hands with crude implements, in quality
that varied with the knowledge, honesty, and skill of the individual.” Show old cobbler
o “Today, able workmen with wonderful machinery do better work at lower cost, while
advancing mechanical arts have brought new ease to the multitudes.” show modern shoe
factory
o “Where the plodding workmen of former times labored alone, with no guidance or help,
meeting no set standard of quality,” shows man making wagon wheel
o “industrial America marshals resources, science, and power unlimited to bring a quality
product within the reach of millions.” Modern wheel machine
o “Forty spokeholes at one operation. Jobs formerly tedious and uncertain are now done in
the wink of an eye with gigantic tools which the oldtime craftsmen never knew. The
oldtime craftsman’s tools were a thousand times slower, his skill a thousand times less
accurate.”
o Shows rows of books. “The hand of today’s workman, and the performace of his
machine, are guided in the smallest details by science. The greatest American
manufacturers maintain vast libraries of technical books, records, and informational data.
This earnest effort to make every possible improvement applies to even the smallest
things.”
o “The greatest example of america’s success is the motorcar of quality. Anyplace on
earth, you will find america’s automobiles serving the people. Even in Borneo, the home
of the legendary wild man, although new york is twelve thousand miles away, all over the
world, the automobile is relieving beasts of burden.”
o “People have learned what smooth, powerful, and quiet transportation means in
enjoyment and health. On the smooth surfaces of boulevards in many cities, scenes like
this are duplicated every minute. Millions know intimately interesting places like the
grand canyon which were names only to the ? generations of former times.”
o “Farms are brought close to the cities, and families in the country keep in touch with all
that is doing. The American farmer enjoys the world’s highest standard of country
living.”
o Chevrolet crates “Scientific production of quality, backed by immense resources, greater
than any other in the world, have earned a public preference unequaled. It is no accident
that the low-priced modern six cylinder automobile has been elected as the world’s most
popular car. Over 8 million buyers have recognized the great American value and have
chosen for their own the motorcar now bought by more people than any other. Weighing
the value, they not only secure better performance, convenience, and luxury for
themselves, but they also supply the incentive and resources to make possible even
greater values for tomorrow.”
o “These motorcars furnish lifeblood to all American industry. The automobile consumes
over fifteen percent of all steel produced, one-half of all malleable iron, over two-thirds
of all plate glass, over one-fifth of all hard wood lumber, over 14 percent of all cotton,
one-quarter of all lead, one-third of all nickel, and almost four fifths of all rubber, to say
nothing of paying the railroads hundreds of millions of dollars a year for carrying
thousands of carloads of freight.”
o Flow of timber down river
o “But materials in the rough need the touch of skilled workmen and precision machinery
to shape them for service; machines that work with the exactness of a watch cut out such
wonderful parts as gears for the Chevrolet synchromesh transmission. This wonderful
machine cuts the gearteeth perfectly and stops of its own accord just when the job is
finished. This makes possible low cost, and brings to the man of modest means all the
advantages of fine car transportation.”
o Inspections
o Drophammers
o “Chevrolet forge plant in detrout” –this footage may be from master hands?
o “every pont is protected by scientific testing”
o “but in making this great car, more than machinery is needed. Machines grouw
constantly more intricate: they need the watchful guidance of well-paid operators. And
every man earns more because of the machine that helps him in his work. Day by day,
mechanical giants like these open their jaws and give forth a product for which the
engineering genius of man has fashioned them. This automatic frame assembly plant is
all one great machine extending over four city blocks and electrically controlled
throughout “ (more footage from master hands)
o men streaming into plant (in fast forward?) “these factories and machines are only giant
tools under the control of many thousands of men whose daily work is giving the public
better performance, new luxury, and greater convenience in transportation. No
manufacturer pays his workers more than the makers of Chevrolet”
o “Whole towns, even cities, have been built around its factories. Let’s take a look at some
more of these machines and their guardians, machines which are doing work which men
alone could never do. What do you think of a press that weighs 456 thousand pounds,
pressing at one operation the whole side panel of an automobile in one piece.
Safeguards are thrown about every operation and movement. This mighty monster
cannot move, until its master puts both hands on the safety bar. Plain sheets of steel,
under this three hundred thousand pound monster’s grasp, assume the exact shape wanted
in half a second. Think of how long it would take the workmen of a few generations
back to turn out even one of these body parts.”
o SECOND PART STARTS HERE
o Fender press
o “The great American value calls for the never-ceasing watchfulness of the experienced
workman. Cylinders must meet the exacting standards of accurate test gauges.”
o “for inspecting the great American six cylinder motor, gauges are used that test as closely
as one tenth of the thickness of a human hair.” (women working here)
o “Transmissions are assembled with extraordinary care; inspectors watch and check each
operation”
o checking transmission for “silence at every speed”
o “Inspectors check inspectors, and other inspectors check them.”
o “valves are formed in machines that never vary their movements the smallest fraction of
an inch.”
o “Scientific research in the interest of the car owner is constantly discovering new ways to
better the product.”
o “Every day, ___small parts are painstakingly inspected by experts using test gauges and
checking devices. Hundreds, thousands of checks and double checks”
o “on the general assembly line, out of every ten workmen, three are inspectors, ready with
a quick eye and special knowledge to find any flaw which mnight exist in materials or
workmanship”
NATURE V. MACHINE: natural, river metaphors in “From Dawn” (& others?) vs. river of
Man Against the River etc.: in corporate productions, man and machine work together with
nature, even as nature; in government films, man must work against nature (and sometimes
against the machine as well)