The American Dream in Postwar Classroom Films
by
Megan Stemm-Wade
Any American student of the last fifty years has seen educational films in the classroom. Films have been a staple teaching tool for decades. Thomas Edison had been an early advocate of the educational film, touting their ability to teach effectively as far back as 1913, but it was the through the catalytic mix of post World War II paranoia, fear, and idealism that the classroom film became a favored means of education (Harper 89). The postwar era brought with it a special kind of film that peaked within a decade of the end of the war, and would die out by the 1980s – the social guidance film. A short film developed and produced with the goal of illustrating life skills to students, the social guidance film grew out of “mental hygiene” films, used to good effect with soldiers during the war. Millions of children viewed social guidance films through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and were presented a specific picture of the American Dream, and for whom attaining it was possible. Postwar educational films taught children that white, middle class people, who worked hard at conforming to social norms, could achieve the American Dream through purchasing the right products. This research will give a brief history and background of the social guidance film in the American school system, explore several themes in the films that relate to the American Dream, and explain the legacy of these films today.
At the end of World War II, as soldiers were returning home to their families and working women returned to their homemaking, anxiety over the adjustment of their children began to arise in the minds of parents and educators alike. Children of those who fought - and waited back home - during World War I were considered a “lost generation.” They drank and danced, bobbed their hair and married young, divorcing more than any period of time before (Smith 18). The educators and parents responsible for the upbringing of this new post-WWII generation of children were frankly scared. Many progressive educators and sociologists of the era could not help but correlate the economic and world political troubles that followed the Roaring Twenties with the self-involved, hedonistic youth of the time. After twelve years of a Depression, followed by five years of war and upheaval, the kids of 1946 needed a new, dynamic form of moral guidance. When educators looked at the success of using film as a teaching tool for the armed forces during WWII, they began to actively lobby to use this modern and effective medium to guide the children, and especially the newly christened teen-agers, on how to “meet the complex problems of modern life” (Ellsworth 34). The first social guidance film, You and Your Family, was produced in 1946 by a filmmaker who had made instructional movies for the army (Smith 19). It was well-received by schools and universities all over the country. Savvy businessmen with a passion for filmmaking, such as David Smart, founder of Gentlemen’s Quarterly and Esquire magazines, saw an opportunity to educate while making a tidy profit and followed the success of George Blake’s You and Your Family, forming companies to produce their own films. Soon, three major production studios were making dozens of movies a year: Smart’s Coronet Studios in Glenview, Illinois; Centron in Lawrence, Kansas; and Encyclopedia Britannica Films in Chicago (ibid). Independent producers also contributed to the genre, with Sid Davis of California and Emily Benton Frith, native of Boston, and a rare woman director/producer, as two of the most prolific. The films covered a variety of topics, such as drugs, driving, dating, sex education, manners, and citizenship. Throughout these diverse subjects, one thing was nearly always consistent: they offered a version of the American Dream that was white, middle-class, and firmly rooted in traditional gender roles. Through the next three decades, some three thousand films would be shown to millions of American children. By 1970, changing social attitudes and educational philosophies made the social guidance film a relic of an earlier time. Coronet, Centron, and Encyclopedia Britannica would either shift production to industrial and training films, or go out of business all together by the 1980s.
In reviewing a sample of over 250 educational films produced between 1946 and 1970, it is apparent that the audience, producers, and writers of these films were white and middle- to upper class and gave little thought to including anyone who was not. The rare appearance of a minority in an educational film of this era was usually in the role of drug addict or crash victim, as in Wheels of Tragedy (1963) or migrant farm worker, as in 1954’s The Truck Farmer. Minorities never played the roles of the squeaky-clean American family members learning social etiquette or fire safety. Those important lessons were reserved for the white, affluent members of society. A Date With Your Family (1950) is a textbook example of the white family unit portrayed in most of these films. It features “Mother,” “Father,” “Daughter,” “Junior,” and “Brother,” an otherwise nameless family, and follows their preparations for dinner. The male narration fills the film with a steady stream of commandments and observations, most centered on the theme of making the meal as “pleasant” as possible. The white teens in this film are urged to “…greet their dad as though they were genuinely glad to see him, as though they really missed him...” putting off any “unpleasant” topics of conversation, such as raises in allowance, until such a time as their father can stomach them. The roles of Mother and Sister are clear by their near constant presence in the kitchen, and they are urged to change their clothes as they “owe it to the men in their family” to look attractive for them. In the end, A Date With Your Family offers a picture of a middle-class home, furnished with the trappings befitting a particular social status, and a very white family who repress their way to the American Dream. What It Means To Be An American (1950) is a somewhat unusual film in that it does feature a person of color in a key scene, and mentions the phrase, “men of many nationalities,” an unheard of concept in most educational films of the era. Though it shows African-American “Bill” as a foreman on a construction site, all of the shots of the happy families in their homes and shopping are white. Bill is relegated to labor, only. For all its ideals about social harmony and meritocracy, the overriding message of the film is that while a black man like Bill, who works very, very hard, can achieve a certain rung on the ladder of success, true prosperity in the form of buying power and a nice home, is the domain of white Americans. While films in this category illustrated the very specific version of who can attain the American Dream, two other types of films told viewers how.
If the audience was of the proper social class (white and reasonably well off), conformity films presented to them their next step in how to live the American Dream. Shy Guy (1947) is an early example of a conformity film, extolling the message that fitting in with society’s conventions is the key to social happiness. Phil (a young Dick York, of Bewitched fame) is the new kid in school. After spending a few lonely days watching the others kids get along well, he asks his father for advice. Dad tells him to learn how to fit in by “pick[ing] out the most popular boys and girls, and keep[ing] an eye on them.” Though the film does offer that, “everyone is different…that’s what makes life interesting,” it also shows Phil making friends once he starts wearing the same sort of sweaters the other guys do, and trying to turn his interest in electronics into something that will benefit others, in this case fixing a radio for a party the popular kids are having. Shy Guy reflects the postwar belief that personal happiness and success comes from being part of the group. During this time, after the years of self-sacrifice in service to the greater good of winning the war, any individualism was seen as selfish and uncouth (Smith 36). The similarly themed Habit Patterns (1954) presents another treatise on fitting in as the path to the American Dream, this time from a girl’s point of view. Barbara is a tardy, sloppy, slouchy teen. The relentless female narrator follows her through a day in which her bad habits of sleeping late and wearing stained sweaters result in social humiliation. When Barbara is invited to popular Anne Tolliver’s house after school, the voice-over reminders her that, “Yours is a changing social world and the opportunities to be part of it must be taken when they arise.” Thus Barbara goes to the unnaturally formal gathering of schoolgirls who talk like middle-aged art patrons (“I’ve bought tickets to the entire concert series” “I just love the museum, they have a wonderful costume exhibit”) and exhibits her poor grooming and rough manners. Implied in Habit Patterns but never discussed outright is Barbara’s lower social class. The narrator gleefully reminds her "how easy it is not to be invited again," and "how quickly you can be left out of the crowd" commanding that she change her sloppy ways and pull herself up out of her lower class status. By the end of the film, Barbara has resolved to make a new “habit pattern” for living, and the narrator finally gives her a respite from the constant haranguing by urging Barbara to get a “good night’s sleep.” Once Barbara has mastered the art of fitting in, she will no doubt need to learn social guidance films’ final lesson: how to buy the American Dream.
While films like A Date With Your Family and Habit Patterns were unyielding in offering viewers a version of a single, static, seemingly perfect future represented by a white male adult and resolving any contested voices into a single, correct one, they were at least produced by film studios that had education and moral guidance as their true objectives. Not so of a large body of films watched by countless students – films with what historian Ken Smith calls “sneaky sponsors” (83). A bevy of titles such as The Prom: It’s a Pleasure! (1961), Your Permit to Drive (1952), and A Date For Dinner (1960) were produced, not as educational tools, but as a surefire method of getting a sponsor’s name in front of impressionable, captive audiences. Coca-Cola, General Motors, and Kimberly-Clark sponsored each of these films, respectively, and hid their products behind dinner etiquette and driving instruction. Films like these sold a version of the American Dream along with the idea that the Dream itself could be purchased through the sponsor’s product. Less subtle were concept films that hid their message of capitalism behind lectures on the “red menace” or “freedom.” Destination Earth (1956), brought to students by the American Petroleum Institute is a seemingly silly cartoon that teaches kids about the American free market system. A Martian is sent to Earth in order to discover the secrets to America’s greatness. His research points to petroleum products, and the competition between petroleum companies, as the reason that America thrives. Not only does he educate his fellow Martians about the greatness of oil, but in doing so he topples the despotic rule of the “Master” of Mars. Destination Earth offers a two-for-one punch: oil makes America great, so buy a car and gas it up in order to be part of this great nation and you’ll end Communism, too. An interesting study of a hybrid sneaky sponsor and conformity film, Mr. B Natural (1956) is somewhat amusing to the modern viewer. Produced for C. G. Conn, Ltd., at the time the world’s largest musical instrument manufacturer, Mr. B Natural tells the story of Buzz, an awkward and unpopular kid who discovers acceptance and social status by purchasing a Conn brand trumpet (Prelinger 25). The titular character, Mr. B, is a Peter Pan-like elfish person, played by a woman, who represents the “spirit of music,” and urges Buzz to not only pursue music, but to buy social acceptance through purchase of the best possible trumpet – a Conn trumpet.
Mr. B Natural, A Date With Your Family, and Shy Guy help us to construct the postwar vision of The American Dream taught to children in American classrooms. Through these films, students learned that the American Dream was available to a member of society who was white and affluent, who conformed to be just like those around them, and who was willing to purchase the right products. These types of educational films, more than others, explicitly taught students that there was a “right” and “wrong” way to live their lives in America (Ellsworth 45). They specialized in portraying life as it should be by glorifying those who followed the rules of being white, middle-class, fitting in at all costs, and being good consumers. While initially well-intentioned, postwar social guidance films offered a version of the American Dream that left far too many children behind. Viewed now, these films seems laughable and without value, but their legacy permeates through our modern media. The all-white, rich, suburban, materialistic American Dream is still the dominant message of advertisers. Perhaps fifty years from now, our reality shows, infomercials, feature-film product placements, and cable news shows will be just as telling, and damning.
Bibliography
Corliss, R. (2000, February 7). Camp in the classroom. Time, 155(5), 76.
Ellsworth, E. (1987). Educational films against critical pedagogy. Journal of Education, 169(3), 32-47.
Gallin, A, & Ivinski, P. (1997, November). The wonder years. Print, 51(6), 16.
Harper, R., & Rogers, L. (1999, December). Using feature films to teach human development concepts. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development, 38(2), 89-97.
Prelinger, Rick (2006). The Field Guide to Sponsored Films. National Film Preservation Foundation.
Smith, K. (1999). Mental Hygiene: Classroom Films 1945 – 1970. New York: Blast Books.
The Films
Most of the films mentioned in the research, and other examples of postwar social guidance films can be found at the Internet Archive: www.archive.org
A Date For Dinner. Douglas Productions for Kimberly-Clark. 1960.
A Date With Your Family. Dir. Edward C. Simmel. 1950.
Destination Earth. Dir. Carl Urbano. 1956.
Habit Patterns. Knickerbocker Productions. 1954.
Mr. B Natural. Dir. Phil Patton, Kling Films for C.G. Conn Ltd. 1956.
The Prom: It’s a Pleasure! Jam Handy Corporation for Coca-Cola. 1961
Shy Guy. Coronet Instructional Films. 1947.
The Truck Farmer. Encyclopedia Britannica Films. 1954.
What It Means To Be An American. Dir. Emily Benton Frith. 1952.
Wheels of Tragedy. Dir. Dick Wayman. 1963.
Your Permit to Drive. General Motors Photographic. 1952.