The Nation at Your Fingertips

The Nation at Your Fingertips 1951

1

Promotional film introducing self-service long-distance dialing using a prototype service in Englewood, New Jersey. Demonstrates how direct dial and the new area code system enable callers to make contact instantly without operator assistance.

1951

Body Care and Grooming

Body Care and Grooming 1947

3.10

This educational film emphasizes the importance of good grooming and personal hygiene habits. Clothes should always appear clean and neat, and should be appropriate to the classroom setting. (Inappropriate dress makes you uncomfortable and conspicuous, not a good thing!) The functions of the skin are examined in scientific detail. Methods for cleaning the skin are demonstrated. Besides maintaining skin and body health, good grooming habits will help you "fit in" in various social situations, and may even help a gal attract a boyfriend!

1947

A Day in the Death of Donny B.

A Day in the Death of Donny B. 1969

6.50

A portrait of a strung-out heroin addict scrambling through New York City to score some cash for his next fix.

1969

Love, Honor and Obey (the Law!)

Love, Honor and Obey (the Law!) 1935

1

Love Honor and Obey the Law: Harry Langdon and Monte Collins in a 1935 industrial film intended to promote Goodrich Tires.

1935

Famous Scenes from Pagliacci

Famous Scenes from Pagliacci 1934

1.00

Scenes from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera with Canio, the clown, introducing actors who are seen in pantomime while the operatic voices are heard off-screen. Canio discovers his wife has been unfaithful but carries on with his performance.

1934

Seconds for Survival

Seconds for Survival 1960

1

Cold War film illustrating the defense capacity of America's telephone network, highlighting AT&T's role in the design and construction of the nation's integrated defense structure, including the Distant Early Warning Line and the North American Air Defense Command. In the dramatic ending, rockets and missiles are fired at hostile forces in a readiness exercise and score a direct hit.

1960

Tom and Anne: Making Out

Tom and Anne: Making Out 1969

1

Tom goes out with Anne because Olivia turns him down. Anne likes Tom more than Tom likes Anne. How do they continue after the date?

1969

Frontiers of the Future: A Screen Editorial with Lowell Thomas

Frontiers of the Future: A Screen Editorial with Lowell Thomas 1937

1

“Where are tomorrow’s opportunities? What’s ahead in America for you and your children?” asks narrator Lowell Thomas. Looking into the future, Thomas predicts economic revitalization made possible through industrial research. The “frontiers” are emerging fields such as aviation and television broadcasting that will create new opportunities and products for Americans.

1937

Telstar!

Telstar! 1962

8.00

The story of how the Bell System, in cooperation with NASA, developed the Telstar satellite and participated in the launch and the subsequent successful transmission of signals to and from the earth and space.

1962

Diesel Engine Governors

Diesel Engine Governors 1942

1

Operation Of Diesel Engine Governors, Overspeed, Overspeed Trip And Regulating Governors.

1942

A Modern Aladdin's Lamp

A Modern Aladdin's Lamp 1940

1

With Western Electric Vacuum Tubes in the starring roles, this film tells the fascinating story of tube development from the first crude bulbs of Edison and De Forest to the powerful and efficient tubes in use today, and shows the prominent part they play in radio, long-distance telephony, public address systems, sound motion pictures and the phonograph.

1940

Gasoline for Everybody

Gasoline for Everybody 1947

1

This 1947 film depicts the process of gasoline production from prospecting / surveying to consumer consumption. Detailed graphics describe the oil refining process down to the molecular level. Ethyl Corporation, a fuel additive company founded in 1923 by General Motors and Standard Oil of New Jersey, presents the film. Ethyl Corp distributed tetraethyllead, an organolead compound used as a petro-fuel additive, at the time of the film's distribution.

1947

The Step by Step Switch

The Step by Step Switch 1951

1

This AT&T informational film describes in detail how step-by-step switches work, and demonstrates their real-time operation by calling a 5-digit phone number from another dial telephone.

1951

It's Wonderful Being a Girl

It's Wonderful Being a Girl 1960

1

An informative film about menstruation presented by Personal Products Corporation, makers of Modess pads.

1960

Irish Melody

Irish Melody 1934

1

Robert C. Bruce’s “Musical Moods” travelogues

1934

KOOL Penguins

KOOL Penguins 1935

6.00

One of the oddest animated short advertising films ever made is the 1935 Kool Penguins cartoon, produced for Brown and Williamson, a subsidiary of the British American Tobacco Company. The film tells the story of refugee penguins leaving their home under threat of being skinned to go work in the Kool Cigarette factory in Louisville, Kentucky. They almost instantly adapt to their new factory jobs. On their way across the ocean to the U.S., they notice that New York is feeling down in the dumps under a very ‘happy’ sun. By the end of the cartoon, New York is a happy place to be once again, and to top off the evening’s events, the Statue of Liberty even gets a lesson in coolness.

1935

The Story of a Star

The Story of a Star 1956

1

The Deering Milliken Research Corporation sponsored this visually striking production to push Agilon, a "new and better stretch yarn for stockings." A narrator tells us that "people want better, newer, more beautiful things" and that Agilon is superior to standard Nylon, which has "no standard for stretch." The rhetoric in this film is more or less typical, but its stylish visual look makes it memorable. Lots of leggy models and sparse fifties sets.

1956