Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

AFL-CIO President George Meany fares eamera erews engaged in produetion of the half-hour dociunentary film, "Land of Promise." The film, which traees the history of the American labor movement, features an appearance by the federation president. before the oiirushing tide of the industrial revolution. The issue of southern slave labor is raised and related to the Civil War episodes. The final third of the century is characterized as being dominated by the pushing back of the frontier, the influx of Eastern European immigrants, and the degradation of men, women and children in sweat shops and factories. Newsreel clips and still photographs are used to depict the events of the twentieth century. The curtain raiser is a vivid description of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire where 154 women perished, all for the lack of a fire escape. The boom which began with the preparedness program of World War I and ended with the stock market crash of 1929 is characterized as a "ticker tape prosperity" that yielded no substantial gains for the man at the bottom of the economic pyramid. The decade of the 1930's is portrayed largely in terms of the human costs of the depression and the measures taken to alleviate this misery and revive the economy. The flashback segment is brought to a close Clean Film the Modern Way Edwal COLOR FILM CLEANER —Anti-Static —20 Times less toxic than carbon tetrachloride Fast, Reliable, Economical 4-oz. 65c 1-gal. $8.25 Ask your dealer Edwal Scientific Products Corp. 555 W. 119th Street • Chicago 28, Illinois with a tribute to the wartime productivity of the laboring men of the Free World. Mr. Average Worker is delivered back to the traffic jam of the 1960's, where his blessings are recounted and related to the basic programs and goals of the labor movement. Particular emphasis is placed upon the educational, recreational, and community service functions of the modern union. In the epilogue, Melvyn Douglas and AFL-CIO President George Meany join in a discussion of the economic future of our nation. Mr. Meany maintains that, among other goals, we should strive for better schools and better paid teachers, slum clearance, and improved minimum wage and social security legislation. Appraisal Land of Promise certainly should appeal to the high school social studies teacher who is striving to overcome the tendency of .some students to learn their American history as a series of political cliches and military rallying cries. This film can provide a firstrate springboard for a discussion of the many important economic undercurrents of our society. There is no doubt, of course, that the film will find frequent employment in college courses in history, economic history and labor economics, as well as similar adult education classes. Since this film was produced by one of the important special interest groups in our nation, it seems appropriate to comment briefly on the subjects of content and bias. First, it should be noted that the film is not a history of the organized labor movement but rather a politico-economic history of the working classes. A though references to trade unions ai not wholly absent, it is nonethele; true that the film avoids touching o any of the titanic struggles betwee labor and management. There are n Pullman, Homestead or Little Stei strikes, and no name calhng or ri criminations. Similarly, in the trea ment of the working class theme, coi siderable restraint and moderatic have been used by the writers. Ar labor historian worth his salt cou have painted a much blacker pictu without distorting reality. Conside ing its source, Land of Promise a be commended for its remarkably m ture approach to a potentially contr versial subject. It should not be implied, howevt that the film is flawless. One mig inquire, for example, why the foun ing date of the AFL is given as 188 A predecessor organization, the Fed< ation of Organized Trades and Lab Unions, was formed in that year b certainly not the American Fcderati of Labor. It is also rather remarkal that at two points it is alleged tl there are 14 million organized worki in the United States. Since the AF CIO has about 14 million meinbe one is left to wonder if the scve million additional workers in the Rf road Brotherhoods, the Teamsters, t United Mine Workers, and other dependent unions are henceforth be referred to as the "disorganiz labor movement." It is obvious tl these questionable aspects of the fi are relatively trivial and should i be thought of as detracting from overall excellence. —Dale Bricki Wind At Work (Pat Dowling, 1056 South Robert Blvd., Los Angeles 35, California) minutes, 16mm, sound, color, 19 $110. Description: The wind is constantly at work u) the earth's surface, sometimes violent and destructive ways but id often in a useful manner aiding r in his daily existence. Basic exp. ments and a variety of examples wind's actions used in Wind at W' help clarify for children the air mc ments which cause atmosphi changes. There are obvious ways in wl the wind can be seen at work wl are often taken for granted. \V helps a child to fly a kite, an airpi to remain aloft, a bird to soar 234 Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide— May, 1