The Fifties: Videotapes in the Media Resources Center, UC Berkeley

	The Fifties

	Documentary Works and Primary Sources McCarthyism and Blacklisting Movies Set In/About the 1950's For Fifties TV programs SEE TV For Fifties TV commercials SEE Commericals For Fifties popular music SEE Musical Traditions of the World For Cold War Propaganda and Atomic Hysteria/1950's Social and Cultural Propaganda SEE Propaganda Peace and Conflict Studies (for documentaries on the Korean War, The Cold War, and the beginnings of the Vietnamese War) The 1960's African American/African Diaspora Studies (for videos on the Civil Rights Movement) The Beat Generation US History, Politics, and Government TV (for TV news and programs of the 1950s) Hollywood and the Movies in the 1950's The Hollywood Ten (includes listing of films by blacklisted writers, directors, and producers) The Literature & Culture of the American 1950s (Professor Al Filreis, University of Pennsylvania) Documentary Works and Primary Sources 45/85: America and the World Since World War II v. 1. From the jubilation of V-J day to the shocking Rosenberg Trial, 1945-1952 -- v. 2. From the invention of television to the first steps in space, 1953-1960 -- v. 3. From the Kennedy era to the final U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, 1961-1975 -- v. 4. From America's bicentennial celebration to the Geneva summit, 1976-1985. 213 min. Video/C 963 Adlai E. Stevenson, Welcoming and Acceptance Speeches at the Democratic National Convention, July 1952. Sound/C 918 Arguing the World. Traces the lives of four of the 20th century's leading thinkers, Daniel Bell, Nathan Glazer, Irving Howe and Irving Kristol. They have been disagreeing with a vengeance since they studied together at New York City College in the 1930s. This film traces their early idealistic days, their controversial role in the McCarthy era, their battle with the New Left in the sixties, and their vastly differing political views today. A film by Joseph Dorman. 1997. 84 min. Video/C 5541 The Atomic Cafe A documentary exploration of the United States government's propaganda promoting the atomic bomb. Relies on film clips of the 1940's and 1950's, including bits and pieces of propoganda films, newsreels, popular songs, and defense training films. Includes such issues as bomb shelters, atomic fallout and teaching children to "duck and cover." 1982. 92 min. DVD 1133; Video/C 1025 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database See Also: Public Shelter Beefcake A chronicle of the rise and fall of queer cult photographer Robert Henry Mizer, creator of the popular 1950's magazine Physique Pictorial. A blend of fact and fiction, Beefcake focuses on the 1950's world of male-physique magazines and Mizer's Athletic Model Guild. Written and directed by Thom Fitzgerald. 1999. 93 min. DVD 1867 The Best of See It Now Contents: Korean War -- Desegregation in the South --Eisenhower/Taft election -- Quality of American schools -- Peacetime uses of atomic energy -- Discussion with the scentists who discovered nuclear energy -- Flying into the eye of Hurricane Edna -- Flooding of the Missouri River -- Conversation with Carl Sandburg -- Marian Anderson's goodwill tour of Asia -- Two American originals: Grandma Moses and Louis Armstrong. Edward R. Murrow; host, Mike Wallace. Hosted by Mike Wallace, this documentary presents original footage from the CBS See It Now television series in which Edward R. Murrow documented the news of the previous week, inviting viewers to witness history and to meet the people directly shaping events. Originally broadcast in 1991. 90 min. DVD 4010; also VHS Video/C 2923 See It Now website (Museum of Broadcast Communications) Edward R. Murrow information (Museum of Broadcast Communications) This is Edward R. Murrow This Reporter Brave New World, The Cold War (People's Century) Just over fifty years ago, Soviet and American troops met at the River Elbe and rejoiced at the defeat of Nazi Germany but their optimism was short lived. This film tracks the building tensions between these two superpowers, from the post-war world of the late 1940s through the early 1960s, as the hope for peace swiftly disintegrated into a "cold" war. Here eyewitnesses recall the meeting on the Elbe, the impact of Stalin, Churchill and Khrushchev, propaganda wars between the two nations, the Berlin blockade, the Hungarian uprising and the installation of the Berlin Wall. 1998. 56 min Breaking the Blacklist.[Audiorecording] This documentary explores blacklisting in the entertainment industry in the U.S. in the 1940's and 1950's. 1998. 56 min. Sound/C 393 Building the American Dream: Levittown, NY. Discusses the history of the housing development Levittown, New York, the first suburb that was made up of tract houses which established the prototype for modern suburbia. Tracing the period from 1947 to the present day, the film includes rare archival footage and photos, an interview with William Levitt and the reminiscences of numerous Levittown residents. The film also shows how a policy of racial discrimination prevented blacks from buying the homes and traces the subsequent collapse of Levitt's construction empire. c1994. 60 min. Video/C 6289 Call It Home. A pictorial history of suburban development planned by developers, government agencies and savings and loan companies. Begins at the time of the Depression (1929-1940) and concludes with the 1960's. Includes garden cities and Levittowns and financial, real estate and building industries. Maps show racial segregation. Depicts the mutual influence of highways and urban sprawl. And ends with interior design and Special features: 17 rare film clips from advertising, industrial and government films. Over 2,800 archival photographs, advertisments, maps, plans, and documents tracing suburban history from 1934 to 1960. Archival audio track with historical radio programs and additional film soundtracks. 24-page booklet with chapter index, full bibliography, image log with notes, and graphic study of comparative suburban morphology. 56 min. Video/D 153 The Century: America's Time. Best Years. Demobilization after World War II meant difficult changes as the U.S., geared up for war, resumed a peacetime existence. This program describes America's new status as a superpower, as the nation shouldered the responsibility for rebuilding Europe and Japan--and for containing Soviet ambitions. The challenge faced by veterans and spouses to become reacquainted after years of separation and hardship is highlighted. 45 min. Video/C 6361 Coming Apart; Picture This. In the late 1940's, while the Soviet Union and the U.S. eyed each other over the Iron Curtain, conservative Americans at all levels of society worried about communist infiltration--especially in the movie industry, since that medium plays a huge role in shaping public perceptions and attitudes. This program reveals a time of McCarthyism and career-ending blacklists, a time when freedom of speech itself became a casualty in the desperate fight to protect democracy from "The red menace." 43 min. Video/C 6351 Classic Commericals of the 50's and 60's Over 50 hours of TV commercial classics. ca 60 min each. Video/C 3932 Part 1-47 CONSULT GLADIS OR MELVYL FOR CONTENTS OF EACH VOLUME For other TV Commercials and Programs of the 1950's, SEE Popular Culture The Cold War. 1998. 47 min. each installment. Comrades, 1917-1945. Though ideological enemies, the Soviet Union and the United States are allies against Hitler during WWII. At the end of the war, Europe is divided, and the one-time allies now confront each other knowing that the United States has the atomic bomb. Video/C 5735 Iron Curtain, 1945-1947. The Soviet Union dominates Eastern Europe. Churchill warns of the consequences. Stalin insists that the governments of the Soviet Union's client states be pro-communist. Impoverished after the war, Great Britain opts out as a world power. The United States assumes the mantle of world leadership. Video/C 5735 Marshall Plan, 1947-1952. The United States adopts the Truman doctrine, pledging to defend freedom worldwide. Secretary of State George Marshall plans to bolster economic recovery in Europe. Seeing this as a threat, Stalin forbids his satellites to participate. The world effectively divides. Video/C 5735 Berlin, 1948-1949 In Berlin, the American, British and French sectors form a Western enclave in the Soviet zone of divided Germany. In June 1948, the Soviets blockade the city, but the Western allies successfully airlift in supplies. In August 1949, Soviet scientists explode an atomic bomb, establishing nuclear parity between the two superpowers. Video/C 5736 Reds, 1947-1953. Following Stalin's domination of Eastern Europe and the loss of China, American democracy falls victim to anti-communist hysteria, but survives it. Eisenhower is elected President. In the Soviet Union, Stalin reinforces the climate of terror on which his rule is based. When he dies in 1953, the Soviet people mourn the end of an era. Video/C 5736 Korea, 1949-1953. In June 1950, North Korea invades the South, with Stalin's blessing. The United States, backed by the United Nations, defends South Korea, and then is confronted by communist China. In mid-1951, the war grinds to a bloody stalemate but eventually an armistice is signed. Aggression has been contained. Video/C 5736 After Stalin, 1953-1956. Thaw is conceivable with Stalin's death. Khrushchev outmaneuvers Malenkov for power and visits the West. Germans, Poles and Hungarians attempt to rise against Soviet rule. In 1956, an uprising in Hungary is ruthlessly crushed by Soviet tanks. The United States, pledged to contain rather than overthrow communism, does nothing. Video/C 5737 Sputnik, 1949-1961. In the mid-50s, the Soviet Union seems to be forging ahead. In October 1957, the first Soviet satellite Sputnik orbits the earth--to the dismay and fear of the United States, frustrated by its own ineffectual space program. In 1961, the Soviets launch Yuri Gargarin into space. America will have to meet the challenge. Video/C 5737 The Wall, 1958-1963. The fate of Germany remains unresolved. West Germany has been admitted to NATO. Within East Germany, Berlin is divided between East and West by an open border. Thousands seize the chance to flee the communist system. To keep their people in, the East Germans, with Soviet backing, build The Wall. Video/C 5737 Cuba, 1959-1962. Khruschev decides, with Castro's agreement, to install short-range and medium-range missiles in Cuba, only 90 miles from the U.S. The United States detects the missile sites and blockades the island. The superpowers confront each other; but rather than embark on nuclear war, they each step back. Video/C 5738 Vietnam, 1954-1968. Vietnam has been divided since the end of French colonial rule. The North is run by communists, the South by anti-communists. Ignoring warnings against involvement in a nationalist struggle, the United States commits its armed forces. American protests against the war mount as the U.S. begins to realize this is not a war it can win. Video/C 5738 Committee on Un-American Activities The first film by a private citizen which criticizes a US government committee, includes 1930s footage of House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Chairman Martin Dies (D) of Texas attacking "subversives" in labor unions; the Hollywood Witch Hunts; the Cold War blacklistings; and the 1960 San Francisco hearings. The film contains an analysis of how the HUAC subpoened the newsfilms of the City Hall protests from TV stations KRON & KPIX and used federal facilities to edit them into "Operation Abolition. Among the HUAC's critics shown: Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, civil rights leader Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, Congressmen James Roosevelt & Phillip Burton, and Frank Wilkinson. Freedom of Information Act files also reveal that the HUAC, in violation of the First Amendment, investigated Robert Carl Cohen for making this film. Archival sound reproductions supplied by KPFA-Radio (Berkekely, Cal.); archival images supplied by KRON-TV and KPIX-TV (San Francisco, Cal.). 45 min. DVD 8373 (digitally restored); vhs Video/C 65 Current Events, 1950's Style: 1951/1952. Contains: Nixon's "Checkers" speech (9/23/52) -- See it now (12/23/51) -- See it now (2/24/52) -- See it now (6/29/52). In the "Checker's speech" Richard Nixon responds to accusations of receiving illegal campaign contributions. See It Now produced in the 50s by CBS, though not television's first public affairs program, was surely its most significant. Hosted by Edward R. Murrow, it was the first public affairs show to use its own film footage instead of newsreel; no interviews were rehearsed and it pioneered the use of field producers, who supervised the filming on location. Its first show on Nov. 18, 1951 marked the first commercial coast-to-coast television broadcast. c1985. 112 min. Video/C 7142 Current Events 1950s Style, II. Contents: Plymouth news caravan (4/18/55) -- Plymouth news caravan (4/20/55) -- You can change the world (1952) -- The White House Story (1961). A compilation of television news programs from the 1950s and 1960s. Includes two episodes of Plymouth news caravan, an early television news program produced by NBC with host John Cameron Swayze. You can change the world is a promotional program for the Christophers, a movement that tried to recruit good people into jobs important to society such as education. Jack Benny and other Hollywood stars show their support for the movement. The final program is a tour of the newly renovated White House hosted by Mrs. John F. Kennedy. She discusses the historical elements of the building and furnishings. c1985. 113 min. Video/C 7143 [David Halberstam's] The Fifties. Volume 1: The Fear and the Dream. First segment in a six part series on the United States in the Fifties. In the postwar U.S., new affluence mingled with the fear of the new menace of communism. Film discusses the conditions encountered by WWII veterans, the building of the first housing tract, the development of the nuclear arms race and the hydrogen bomb, anti-Communist hysteria and McCarthyism, events leading to the Korean War and the development of popular literature in the 50's focusing on Mickey Spillane. 90 min. Video/C 5378 Volume 2: Selling the American Way. Still haunted by the Great Depression, Americans needed to be coaxed into enjoying their new-found affluence. This episode shows how the invention of television and the perfection of the art of advertising were used in both commerce and politics. Highlights advertising gurus Norman Vincent Peale and Rosser Reeves, shows how Richard Nixon applied slick new media techniques to save his career and how Washington learned to manipulate the media, hiding undercover operations in places like Iran, Guatemala and ultimately, Vietnam. 50 min. Video/C 5379 Volume 3: Let's Play House. This segment describes the personal unrest sometimes felt in the outwardly tranquil fifties, including dissatisfaction with women's roles as housewives and men's roles in the corporate rat race. Feminist Betty Friedan, Sloan Wilson, author of The man in the gray flannel suit, and Grace Metalious, whose steamy novel Petyon Place exposed small-town hypocrisy, are discussed as representative of the gap between the idealized nuclear family of the 1950s and the way things really were. 50 min. Video/C 5380 Volume 4: A Burning Desire. During this time of social claustrophobia and sexual taboos, a handful of individuals brought a world of suppressed desires into the open. The publication of the famed "Kinsey Report", pin-up girl Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Hefner's Playboy, and Margaret Sanger's crusade for the pill are profiled as key movements that set the stage for the sexual revolution to come. 50 min. Video/C 5381 Volume 5: The Beat. This episode shows how the culture of the Beats and the rise of rock 'n' roll helped forge the youth culture that would explode in the sixties. Focuses on Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, jazz greats Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, the rise of country/rock and Elvis Presley. 50 min. Video/C 5382 Volume 5: The Rage Within and The Road to the Sixties. "The Rage Within" shows how America in the fifties is finally forced to examine issues of racial discrimination through the murder of Emmet Till, the rise of athletes like Bill Russell and Willie Mays, school desegregation, the Montgomery bus strike, and leadership by Martin Luther King, Jr. "The Road to the Sixties" shows American involvement with fast cars, fast food, the space race, the rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba and a rising restlessness as the country hurtles toward the next decade. 50 min. Video/C 5383 Dawn of the Eye: Inventing Television News, 1946-1959; History of Film and TV News, 1946-1959 At first no one knew quite what to do with television news until radio news veterans like Edward R. Murrow introduced controversial subjects and the public began watching in droves. The Senate anti-communist hearings conducted by Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s drew thousands to their TV sets each day. Political conventions in the U.S. entered prime time while Korean War correspondents covered American servicemen in Korea and Canadian journalism followed American television techniques in convering their political campaigns. 47 min. Video/C 5944 December 7th & This is Korea. Two documentaries by John Ford. December 7th is a documentary on the Pearl Harbor attack during WWII with real and recreated footage. This is Korea (1951) is a documentary of U.S. propaganda to bolster sagging morale during the Korean War. 83 min. Video/C 3099 The Eisenhower Presidency, [with] Stephen Ambrose(Conversations; 71). A conversation with Stephen Ambrose, Professor of History at the University of New Orleans, on the Eisenhower presidency, Eisenhower's skills in crisis management and management of large bureaucracies, his sense for the media, and his foreign policy. Recorded in 1987 at the University of California, Berkeley. 30 min. Video/C 1458 Focus on the Last Hundred Years: The Fifties. Uses archival photographs, sound recordings, and film footage to explore world events, sports, life-styles, and scientific achievements of various decades. 58 min. Video/C 1005 Elvis '56. Contents: Music featured: Hush little baby -- Baby what you want me to do -- Blue Suede Shoes -- Good Rockin' Tonight -- Heartbreak hHotel -- Shake Rattle and Roll -- Baby Let's Play House -- Tutti Frutti -- My Baby Left Me -- Blue Moon -- Hound Dog -- He's Only a Prayer Away -- Lawdy Miss Clawdy -- Don't be Cruel -- Trying To Get to You -- Anyway You Want Me -- Ready Teddy -- Love Me Tender -- Peace in the Valley -- Love Me. 1956 was Elvis Presley's breakthrough year, and this program takes you back, including his early television performances on the Dorsey Brothers Show and the Ed Sullivan show, and an entire hour of rare footage and performances captured during the amazing year when Elvis Presley became not only a star, but a phenomenon. 61 min. Video/C 5362 Endangered Planet, 1959 (People's Century) Throughout the 20th century the natural world has been assaulted as never before by advancing technology. This film chronicles the rise of the environmental movement which began in the late 1950's when it was first uncovered that unbridled industrial and economic growth can have a devastating impact on the quality of life on earth. 1997. 56 min. Video/C 6435 Forbidden Love. The ten women interviewed in this film paint a portrait of lesbian sexuality and survial during the sexual dark ages of the 1950's and 60's. 85 min. Video/C 3206 ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries Ghosts Along the Freeway In the 1950's new freeways gave Americans increased mobility but also became instruments of destruction. This film examines the effects the coming of the "super highways" had on two established neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Area. Rondo Avenue was the heart of St. Paul's African-American community, and Lowry Hill once boasted many of Minneapolis' most lavish homes. When the freeway tore through these two communities, the character of these neighborhoods was changed forever. 1991. 10 min. Video/C 4550 Great Speeches - The Presidents. Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan. Video/C 3179 Happy Daze. (1953-1960). (The Century: America's Time; 9.) The post-war baby boom, suburban living and Elvis Presley epitomize the contentment of the Eisenhower years. But these were also years marked by the Korean War, rabid McCarthyism, violent civil rights demonstrations, and a frightening escalation in the Cold War. This program probes the tensions between these crosscurrents in American history. 45 min. Video/C 6362 Heavy Petting. A satirical look at American sexual habits through vintage 1950s film clips and revealing interviews with such artistic heroes as Abbie Hoffman, musicians David Byrne and Laurie Anderson, comedienne Sandra Bernhard, actors Josh Mostel and Spalding Gray and a dozen more. Also featured are screen legends Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elvis Presley, and Tuesday Weld in their most memorable screen takes in such classic movies as "Rebel without a Cause" and "The Wild One." 1989. 75 min. Video/C 6019 Historical Political Commercials. Shows US political ads from 1952-1980, including ads from the campaigns of Eisenhower, Stevenson, Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson, Goldwater, Humphrey, Wallace, McGovern, Carter, Ford, Reagan, Anderson. Video/C 1432 History of Rock 'n' Roll. 10 videocassette ca. 60 min. each. Video/C 3939-3949. See MRC Music Videography for complete contents See also the series Rock 'n' Roll Historical Political Commercials: Negative Ads. Shows US Negative political ads from 1952-1980, including ads from the campaigns of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Goldwater, Nixon, Wallace, Humphrey, McGovern, Carter, Ford, Kennedy, Reagan, Hart, Mondale, and from local campaigns. Video/C 1429 Historical Political Commercials. Shows US political ads from 1952-1980, including ads from the campaigns of Eisenhower, Stevenson, Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson, Goldwater, Humphrey, Wallace, McGovern, Carter, Ford, Reagan, Anderson. Video/C 1432 *How are the Mighty Fallen (Europe, the Mighty Continent; 11).* Discusses the post-World War II establishment of the Iron Curtain and the beginning of Cold War tensions which reached a climax with the 1948-49 Russian blockade of West Berlin. 52 min. Video/C 474 How Arnold Won the West This is a hilarious and insightful documentary that tells the story of the bizarre 2003 California recall election. Documentary filmmaker Alex Cooke followed the campaign from the moment Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy through to his victory. 135 candidates took part in this extraordinary gubernatorial race, personally paid for by Republican Congressman Darrell Issa to eliminate Democratic Governor, Gray Davis. Written & directed by Alex Cooke. 2005. 80 min. DVD 3474 Inauguration Addresses of the Presidents of the United States: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: address, January 21, 1941; January 20, 1945. -- Harry S. Truman: Inauguration address, January 20, 1949. Sound/C 869 Inventing Television News (Dawn of the Eye) At first no one knew quite what to do with television news until radio news veterans like Edward R. Murrow introduced controversial subjects and the public began watching in droves. The Senate anti-communist hearings conducted by Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s drew thousands to their TV sets each day. Political conventions in the U.S. entered prime time while Korean War correspondents covered American servicemen in Korea and Canadian journalism followed American television techniques in covering political campaigns. 1997. 47 min. DVD 4529 Last Call at Maud's. A look at the world's longest running lesbian bar, Maud's in San Francisco. Film interweaves rare archive film of the gay bar scene in the 1940's, the vice raids of the 1950's, the gay counter culture of the 1960's and "coming out" in the 1970's up until the bar closed its doors in 1989. 77 min. DVD 4172; vhs Video/C 3184 Elley, Derek. "Last Call at Maud's." (movie reviews) Variety v350, n7 (March 15, 1993):66. Holden, Stephen. "Last Call at Maud's." (movie reviews) New York Times v142 (Fri, March 19, 1993):C6(L), col 5, 11 col in. Leonardi, Patricia. "Last Call at Maud's." Cineaste v20, n1 (Wntr, 1993):46 (2 pages). Seligman, Craig. "Last call at Maud's." (movie reviews) Advocate, n640 (Oct 19, 1993):75. Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist. Examines the long-term effects of the investigation of alleged communists activities in Hollywood by the HUAC. Also includes interviews with women whose husbands were blacklisted actors, writers, producers and directors. 60 min. Video/C 2149 Rothenberg, Robert S. "Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist." (video recording reviews) USA Today (Magazine) v123, n2596 (Jan, 1995):97. Schrecker, Ellen W. "Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist." (video recording reviews) Journal of American History v75, n3 (Dec, 1988):1050. Bibiliography of materials on Hollywood and the Movies in the 1950's Hollywood Ten page (UCB) The Literature & Culture of the American 1950s (Professor Al Filreis, University of Pennsylvania) The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters. Examines the Hollywood-to-Nebraska career of Reynold Brown, the man who created the realistic to surrealistic movie posters that enticed a generation of movie-goers. 59 min. Video/C 4461 March of Time March of Time: The American Family. The war years, 1941-1945 -- The postwar years, 1946-1948. Selected news stories from The March of time, which document the concerns of U.S. families during and after World War II, such as rationing, the "baby boom, " marriage and divorce. 178 min. Video/C 1112 March of Time: America's Post-war Problems. Part I Contents: Post-war jobs -- Post-war farms -- The returning veteran -- Wanted: more homes -- Problem drinkers -- Is everybody happy? -- The American cop. Compiled from segments of The march of time newsreel series originally produced by Time magazine between 1941-1948. Video/C 4790 March of Time: America's Post-war Problems. Part II Contents: The teacher's crisis -- Your doctors -- New trains for old -- T-Men in action -- The presidential year -- Stop-heavy traffic -- The nation's mental health. Compiled from segments of The march of time newsreel series originally produced by Time magazine between 1941-1948. Video/C 4791 March of Time: America's Post-war Problems Beyond. Part I. Contents: World food problem -- The Soviet's neighbor, Czechoslovakia -- Germany-Handle with care! -- Storm over Britain ; XIII/13 -- Turkey's 100 million -- End of an empire? (Indonesia) -- Policeman's holiday (Scotland Yard). Video/C 4792 March of Time: America's Post-war Problems Beyond. Part 2. Contents: The new U.S. frontier (Guam and Asia) -- Palestine problem -- 18 million orphans (Philippines) -- Justice comes to Germany -- Report on Greece -- The new France. Video/C 4793 March of Time: Postwar Problems and Solutions: Modern Main Street, U.S.A. Contents: Public relations...This means you -- The case of Mrs. Conrad (Medicine) -- White collar girls -- Watchdogs of the mail (Mail fraud) -- Farming pays off -- Mid-century: half way to where? -- Where's the fire? Compiled from segments of The march of time newsreel series originally produced by Time Magazine between 1941-1948. Video/C 4794 March of Time: Cold War, 1946-1951: Changing Attitudes 1946-1948. Contents: Atomic power -- The Russia nobody knows -- The Cold War, Act I: France -- The Cold War, Act II: Crisis in Italy -- Cold War, Act III: Battle for Greece. Video/C 4795 March of Time: Cold War, 1946-1951: Hostility Grows 1948-1949 Contents: Battle for Germany -- America's new air power -- Answer to Stalin (France and Germany) -- Asia's new voice (India) -- Report on the atom. Video/C 4796 March of Time: Cold War, 1946-1951: Peace or War? 1949-1950 Contents: Sweden looks ahead -- MacArthur's Japan -- A chance to live (Italian war orphans) -- As Russia sees it (Instigation of Korean War)-- The gathering storm (U.S.). Video/C 4797 March of Time: Cold War, 1946-1951: Time Marches On 1950-1951 Contents: Tito: new ally (Yugoslavia) -- Strategy for victory (Mutual Defense Assistance Program) -- Flight plan for freedom (Strategic Air Command) -- Moroccan outpost -- Crisis in Iran -- Formosa: island of promise. Video/C 4798 The Marihuana Story. "This Latin import [from Argentina] is a serious, carefully made examination of one man's attempt to penetrate the drug-drenched shadow-world that claimed his wife as a victim--only to fall victim himself." Videocassette release of a motion picture originally produced in 1951. In Spanish with English subtitles. 84 min. Video/C 6078 **Memphis Dreams: Innocence and Rebellion. (Century: Events that Shaped the World; 7.) Elvis: Iconoclastic phenomenon, inciting hysteria in teenagers and indignation in parents. On his way to the top he combined the R&B of the Mississippi delta with rocka-billy and tapped into the turbulent forces of youth, sexuality, class, and race, transforming American culture. This program documents the astounding career of Elvis Presley, from his first hits with Sun Records to his final days at Graceland. In the words of John Lennon, "Before Elvis there was nothing." 43 min. Video/C 6348 Modern Presidential Campaigns. v. 1. The modern era begins [1920-1944] (51 min.) -- v. 2. From train to television [1948-1960] (80 min.) -- v. 3. Turbulence, populism and power politics [1964-1976] (82 min.) -- v. 4. Images & sound bites [1980-1988] (81 min.). 294 min. Video/C 2284 New York in the Fifties Presents the story of a unique time and place, New York in the 50s, a hotbed of new artistic expressions, free love, drinking, hot jazz and radical politics. Combines archival footage with interviews and footage of the icons of the day -- Kerouac, Ginsberg, Baldwin, Mailer, Basie, etc. and offers modern day perspectives through reminiscences of writers, actors and artists. Special features: Director interview ; theatrical trailer ; scene access ; interactive menus. Based on the book by Dan Wakefield (Main Stack PS3573.A413.Z474 1992). 2001. 72 min. DVD 1527 Nixon. (American Experience) Covers the span of Richard M. Nixon's political life from his early political career to his resignation from the presidency. 174 min. Video/C 1809:1-3 Nixon. Directed by Oliver Stone, 1995; starring Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, James Woods. Drama about the fall of President Richard Nixon portrayed as a complex man whose chance at greatness was ultimately destroyed by his passion for power-- when his involvement in conspiracy jeopardizes the nation's security and the presidency of the United States. 191 min. Video/C 999:1440 Separate bibliography of articles and reviews of Nixon Nixon: Checkers to Watergate. A compilation of archival still and motion picture photography showing speeches, interviews, and press conferences by Richard Nixon, as candidate, Congressman, Vice-President, and President. Concentrates on well-known sequences such as the McCarthy hearings, the Nixon-Kennedy debates, the Checkers speech, and clips concerning Vietnam and Watergate. 20 min. Video/C 811 Nixon, Richard M. The Checkers Speech. Sept. 23, 1952 29 min. Sound/C.162 Listen to online recording of the Checkers speech (with RealAudio) Our Secret Century. (CD-ROM for Macintosh). Media archaeologist Richard Prelinger presents ten hilarious, disturbing, and revealing archival films. Volumes 1 and 2. Contents: 1. The rainbow is yours -- 2. Capitalist realism. In vol. 1, seven color films explore how 1950s glitz 'n' glamour seduced Americans into an obsession with the look of designed objects; includes "American Look," the definitive Populuxe film, and General Motors' 1956 motorama musical, "Design for dreaming." In vol. 2, two black-and-white 1930s industrial films attempt to humanize the face of mass production, very much like Soviet propaganda, and "Valley Town" tells the story of a depressed steel town. Compu/D 345 Volumes 3 and 4. Contents: 1. The behavior offensive -- 2. Menace and jeopardy. In vol. 3, nine comic and creepy social-guidance classics document the postwar social crusade to instill family values, 1950s style. Highlights: Are you popular?, Shy guy, and Habit patterns. In vol. 4, seven safety films shot between 1936 and 1962, lecture about the perils of haste and carelessness. Classics of this genre include Time out for trouble, More dangerous than dynamite, and Safety belt for Susie. Compu/D 346 Volumes 5 and 6. Contents: 1. Teenage transgression -- 2. The Uncharted landscape. In vol. 5, six movies explore the not-so-golden years of the late fifties and early sixties. White and Chicano gangs in working class L.A. call a truce in Gang Boy. Robert's downward spiral in The Dropout includes a stint in the malt shop waiting on his one-time peers and The Terrible truth is that nice girls get hooked on "horse". Vol. 6 is a rare visual record of the changing face of urban and rural America, the blank slate upon which fantasies of growth and prosperity were enacted. In the Suburbs celebrates the swingin' white suburban dream (a paradise for advertisers), and in American Harvest the exploitation of our bountiful natural resources culminates in...a Chevrolet. Compu/D 347 Volumes 7 and 8. Contents: 1. Gender roll call -- 2. Tireless marketers. Vol. 7 considers how and when girls and boys learn to be true to their sex in the inflexible fifties. The Home Economics story points out that "cooking is practically applied chemistry," and dinette doubles as darkroom when Mike's photographer wife solves those pesky two-career problems by quitting her job. Vol. 8 documents the growth of mass advertising and its migration from movie theaters to television. These sweet and subtle precursors to the infomercial include the journey of an animated drop of gasoline through the fuel-efficient 1935 Chevrolet and "RFD Greenwich Village," a suburban oasis where the modern villager relaxes in mod duds of all-cotton corduroy. Compu/D 348 [Person to Person] The Best of Person to Person Host: Edward R. Murrow. From 1953 to 1959, Edward R. Murrow formally welcomed television viewers into the homes of the twentieth century's most well-known stars and celebrities on 'Person to Person.' Disc 1 features eleven interviews with notable Americans. DVD 6594 Disc I: Interviewees: Dick Clark, Billy Graham, Andy Griffith, Oscar Hammerstein, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Norman Rockwell, Eleanor Roosevelt, Danny Thomas, Art Linkletter, Esther Williams. Disc II: Interviewees: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Gene Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd. Disc III: Interviewees: Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sid Caesar, Liberace, Carol Channing, Helen Hayes. Edward R. Murrow information (Museum of Broadcast Communications) This is Edward R. Murrow This Reporter Edward R. Murrow bibliography [Person to Person] The Best of Person to Person Host: Edward R. Murrow. The television series "Person to Person" which was central to the career of Edward R. Murrow as a developer of modern American journalism, introduced audiences to the private lives of celebrated figures. 90 min. Video/C 2923 Edward R. Murrow information (Museum of Broadcast Communications) This is Edward R. Murrow This Reporter Edward R. Murrow bibliography Post-war Hopes, Cold War Fears.*(A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers.) Describes life in America after World War II, a time of rash optimism and neuroses. While the dollar was strong and everyday life improved, the 1950's also saw the lowering of the Iron Curtain, the loss of China to Communism, the Korean War and the Red Scare. 3/4 in. UMATIC 58 min. Video/C 806 Rock & Roll. 5 volumes, 2 installments per tape, 60 min. each. Video/C 4158-4162. See MRC Music Videography for complete contents. See also History of Rock & Roll* The Satellite Sky(The American Experience) Film and television clips from the 1950's tell the story of the beginning of space exploration. 1990. 58 min. Video/C 1875 [See It Now] The Best of See It Now. Hosted by Mike Wallace, this documentary presents original footage from the CBS See It Now television series in which Edward R. Murrow documented the news of the previous week, inviting viewers to witness history and to meet the people directly shaping events. Uses original footage from the CBS See It Now television series in which Edward R. Murrow documented the news of the previous week, inviting viewers to witness history and to meet the people directly shaping events. c1991. Contents: The Korean War, Desegregation in the South, The Eisenhower/Taft election, The quality of American schools, Peacetime uses of atomic energy, A discussion with the scientists who discovered nuclear energy, Flying into the eye of Hurricane Edna, Flooding of the Missouri River, A conversation with Carl Sandburg, Marian Anderson's goodwill tour of Asia, Two American originals: Grandma Moses and Louis Armstrong. c1991. 110 min. DVD 4010; also VHS Video/C 7182 Edward R. Murrow information (Museum of Broadcast Communications) [See It Now] Current Events, 1950's Style: 1951/1952. Contains: Nixon's "Checkers" speech (9/23/52), See it now (12/23/51), See it now (2/24/52), See it now (6/29/52). In the "Checker's speech" Richard Nixon responds to accusations of receiving illegal campaign contributions. See It Now produced in the 50s by CBS, though not television's first public affairs program, was surely its most significant. Hosted by Edward R. Murrow, it was the first public affairs show to use its own film footage instead of newsreel; no interviews were rehearsed and it pioneered the use of field producers, who supervised the filming on location. Its first show on Nov. 18, 1951 marked the first commercial coast-to-coast television broadcast. c1985. 112 min. Video/C 7142 Edward R. Murrow information (Museum of Broadcast Communications) The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. (c1996) The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. 1, Human Interests. A film on the popular culture of the 1950s beginning with footage of children followed by films of animals. Includes newsreels of beauty contests of children and women and concludes with novelties and popular entertainments like the circus, yo-yo games, water fights, car and boat shows, underwater boxing, and more. Contents: Kids of the fifties (13 min.) -- Animals of the fifties (16 min.) -- Ladies of the fifties (8 min.) -- Fun of the fifties (20 min.). 57 min. Video/C 7687 The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. 2, Disasters. Presents disasters of the 1950's including the power of hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, floods, earthquakes, avalanches, shipwrecks and landslides. Also includes newreel footage of airplane crashes, train wrecks and fire and gas explosions. Contents: Plane crashes of the fifties (13 min.) -- Train wrecks of the fifties (4 min.) -- Nature's fury in the fifties (22 min.) -- Shipwrecks in the fifties (5 min.) -- Fire in the fifties (8 min.) -- Landslides and explosions in the fifties (6 min.). 58 min. Video/C 7688 The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. 3, Inventions. Starts with new items in underwater trucks and moves on to motorcycles, bicycles, moving sidewalks, elevators, robots and future cars. Includes new aviation and speed achievements in sky rockets, the B-47 and B-52 bombers, a car plane, helicopters and supersonic jets and the newest in speed boats, jet cars and boats and new kinds of weapons including tanks, rifles, jets, guided missiles and atomic submarines. Contents: Gadgets of the fifties (21 min.) -- Aviation news in the fifties (18 min.) -- Speed in the fifties (9 min.) -- Weapons of the fifties (9 min.). 57 min. Video/C 7689 The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. 4, Fashion. Presents the world of international and domestic fashions in the 1950's in newsreels highlighting dresses, shoes, hats, swim wear, furs, lingerie, and sports wear. The latest in hair styles and the hottest clothing from Paris, Italy, England, France and the United States are revealed here to assist the ladies in keeping up with the seasonal style changes in fashions. Contents: International fashion scene (28 min.) -- United States fashion scene (29 min.). 57 min. Video/C 7690 The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. 5, Royalty. Newsreels of royalty starting with the British Monarchs King George, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and The Queen Mother, including newsreel excerpts of the impressive coronation ceremony of young Queen Elizabeth. Next viewed are Prince Rainier and his wife, former film star Grace Kelly and their children. Queen Juliana of the Netherlands travels the world and addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Concludes with King Paul and Queen Frederica of Greece visiting New York, followed by brief looks at the royal life of Japan, Spain, Denmark and Austria. Contents: British royalty (38 min.) -- Monaco's royalty (13 min.) -- Dutch royalty (7 min.) -- Greek royalty (3 min.) -- Japanese royalty (3 min.) -- European royalty (3 min.). 61 min. Video/C 7691 The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. 6, Faces. Begins with newsreels of movie stars of the fifties in public appearances, traveling, at awards ceremonies and making public service announcements, four of them for U.S. savings bonds. Key world statesmen in newsreels are presented followed by major sports legends of the times and other famous faces including the mobster Frank Costello, Pope Pius XII, and a rare early view of the Dalai Lama of Tibet. / Contents: Stars of the fifties (36 min.) -- Leaders in the news (13 min.) -- Legends in the news (5 min.) -- People in the news (7 min.). 59 min. Video/C 7692 The Unforgettable Fifties: The Newsreels. 7, Sports. Presents games and entertainments of the 50s starting with logging competitions, sand surfing, water and snow sports, stock car racing, rodeo, bull fighting, weight lifting, ping-pong, woman wrestlers, bike racing, kayaking, and other fun and games. These popular sports are followed by the golf scene with Ben Hogan, horse racing with Native Dancer, boxing with Sugar Ray Robinson, Wimbledon tennis with Althena Gibson, baseball's 18th all-star game, Don Larsen's perfect game, the N.Y. Yankees winning the world series, Army-Navy football, the running of the bulls and more. 57 min. Video/C 7693 The Unquiet Death of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg An investigation of the conspiracy case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Investigates both the case itself and the political climate in which it occurred. 1987. 83 min. Video/C 1126 War and Peace in the Nuclear Age [each segment is 60 min.] For a more detailed description of each segment check on the MELVYL or GLADIS on-line catalogs using the long display format. Program 1: Dawn. Video/C 1281. Program 2: The Weapon of Choice. Video/C 1282 Program 3: A Bigger Bang for the Buck. Video/C 1283 Program 4: Europe Goes Nuclear. Video/C 1284 Program 5: At the Brink. Video/C 1285 Program 6: The Education of Robert McNamara. Video/C 1286. Program 7: One Step Forward. Video/C 1287. Program 8: Have and Have-nots. Video/C 1288 Program 9: Carter's New World. Video/C 1289. Program 10: Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. Video/C 1290 Program 11: Missile Experimental. Video/C 1291 Program 12: Reagan's Shield. Video/C 1292 Program 13: Visions of War and Peace. Video/C 1293 ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries The Western Tradition. Programs 49 End of World War II saw the creation of the United Nations, and trying to establish a balance of power between the greater and weaker powers. Explores the events that saw the formation of NATO, Warsaw, and the Marshall plan. Studies the shifts in power. 25 min. Video/C 1524 Witness to History: Days That Shook the World : 1950-1959 Part of a documentary series covering milestones of the 20th century including political turmoil, the horrors of war, medical, scientific and technological advances and social upheaval that made this century. Part six covers key events in the decade of 1950-1959. Contents: 1950-1959: Introduction -- June 25, 1950 - The Korean War Begins-- November 1, 1952 - U.S. Explodes the First Hydrogen Bomb -- March 5, 1953 - Death of Joseph Stalin -- March 26, 1953 - Salk Polio Vaccine Successfully Tested -- June 2, 1953 - The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II -- February 25, 1954 - The End of Joseph McCarthy's Reign of Terror -- May 8, 1954 - Dien Bien Phu Falls to the Communists -- October 31, 1956 - The Suez (Sinai) War -- November 4, 1956 - Soviets Crush Hungarian Revolution -- October 4, 1957 - Sputnik - The Space Age Begins -- January 1, 1959 - Castro "Liberates" Cuba -- September 15, 1959 - Kruschev Visits the United States -- Epilogue. Video/C 8793 Wonderland. A documentary about the planned community of Levittown, New York. The film producer conducts interviews with longtime and one time Levittown residents in an effort to explain how architects and developers took the idea of a suburban paradise to extremes. The film shifts from a historical/sociological perspective to a humourous and poignantly personal look at the lives of the people who still reside in the decaying community. 1997. 80 min. Video/C 6316 You Can't Get There From Here: Ephemeral Films, 1946-1960. Clips from 19 rarely-seen motion pictures, leftovers from the golden age of American consumerism. Video/D 21 Contents: A report to home builders (1946) -- Shy guy (1947) -- Are you popular? (1947) -- Technicolor for industrial films (1949) -- Meet King Joe (1949) -- Dating: do's and dont's (1949) -- The last date (1950) -- A date with your family (1950) -- Treasures for the making (1951) -- What to do on a date (1951) -- A young man's fancy (1952) -- Ike for president (1952) -- Mother takes a holiday (1952)-- Sniffles and sneezes (1955) -- Two-Ford freedom (1956) -- Design for dreaming (1956) -- The relaxed wife (1957) -- American look (1958) -- A wonderful new world of Fords (1960). McCarthyism and Blacklisting Hollywood and the Movies in the 1950's An American Ism, Joe McCarthy. Uses archival film segments and interviews with friends, business associates, and politicians to provide a film biography of Joseph McCarthy. 84 min. Video/C 124 Arguing the World. Traces the lives of four of the 20th century's leading thinkers, Daniel Bell, Nathan Glazer, Irving Howe and Irving Kristol. They have been disagreeing with a vengeance since they studied together at New York City College in the 1930s. This film traces their early idealistic days, their controversial role in the McCarthy era, their battle with the New Left in the sixties, and their vastly differing political views today. A film by Joseph Dorman. 1997. 84 min. Video/C 5541 Can the Rosenberg Case Be Reopened? A historical review of the Rosenberg treason case, followed by interviews with one of the Rosenberg's two sons and two civil rights attorneys about the legal possibility of re-opening the case. They discuss the complex legal issues involved and the continuing efforts to force the FBI to unseal their extensive files of the case. Videocassette release of a film originally televised in 1957. Interviewer: Robert Cohen. Robert Meeropol (Son of Rosenberg), Ben Margois (attorney), Luke McKissack (Attorney). 86 min. Video/C 6133 Chinatown Files A documentary exploring the legacy of McCarthyism on the Chinese American community. For the first time, Chinese American men and women who were hunted down, jailed and targeted for deportation speak out on how they and their friends were investigated and persecuted by government agents during the McCarthy witch-hunts of the fifties. At the height of the hysteria, thousands of Chinese immigrants and American citizens of Chinese descent were investigated because of their ethnicity and alleged risk to national security. This is a cautionary tale of xenophobia and hysteria that serves as a reminder of the fragility of constitutional protections today. 2001. 57 min. Video/C 8426 Filmakers Library catalog description Coming Apart: Picture This. (Century: Events that Shaped the World; 10.) In the late 1940's, while the Soviet Union and the U.S. eyed each other over the Iron Curtain, conservative Americans at all levels of society worried about communist infiltration--especially in the movie industry, since that medium plays a huge role in shaping public perceptions and attitudes. This program reveals a time of McCarthyism and career-ending blacklists, a time when freedom of speech itself became a casualty in the desperate fight to protect democracy from "The red menace." 43 min. Video/C 6351 Committee on Un-American Activities This documentary presents 1930s footage of House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Chairman Martin Dies (D) of Texas attacking "subversives" in labor unions; the Hollywood Witch Hunts; the Cold War blacklistings; and the 1960 San Francisco hearings. The film contains an analysis of how the HUAC subpoened the newsfilms of the City Hall protests from TV stations KRON & KPIX and used federal facilities to edit them to produce the film "Operation Abolition," attacking its critics as disloyal. Among the HUAC's critics shown: Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, civil rights leader Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, Congressmen James Roosevelt & Phillip Burton, and Frank Wilkinson. 1963. 45 min. Video/C 9345 A Crime to Fit the Punishment In 1956, during the height of the Cold War and despite severe pressure from McCarthy ravaged Hollywood and the U.S. government, blacklisted filmmakers joined together to create the controversial pro-union semi-documentary Salt of the earth. This film investigates the background and political atmosphere surrounding the film's production through interviews with the film producer Paul Jarrico and actors, newsreels from the '50s, and clips from the film. 1992. 46 min. Video/C 9289 Doing Justice: The Life & Trials of Arthur Kinoy. A biography of the civil rights lawyer, Arthur Kinoy, from his attempt to stay the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, through the civil rights movement, to the unanimous Supreme Court decision on wiretapping. 1993. 51 min. Video/C 4130 Edward R. Murrow Collection: The McCarthy Years. Narrated by Walter Cronkite, this documentary turns back the clock to the 1950s, a time when the country lurched into a murky period of blacklists and witch-hunts for alleged communists, all led by a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy. Murrow made a controversial series of broadcasts that challenge McCarthy's abuses of power, which -- as this program investigates -- signaled the emergence of television news as a highly influential force in American life. DVD 4009; also VHS Video/C 3167 Transcript of Murrow's "A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy." [See it Now CBS-TV, March 9, 1954)] Transcript of McCarthy's rebuttal to Murrow [See it Now (CBS-TV, April 6, 1954)] Short audio clip of Murrow on McCarthy (from Radio Days web site) See It Now website (Museum of Broadcast Communications) Edward R. Murrow information (Museum of Broadcast Communications) This is Edward R. Murrow This Reporter Hollywood on Trial Details the hysteria and paranoia of the blacklist era through presentation of key events leading up to the Cold War, actual extensive footage of the Hollywood Ten and the 1947 House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings on Communist infiltration into the movie industry, and present day interviews with formerly blacklisted actors, writers, producers, directors and members of the Un-American Activities Committee. Featuring: Herbert Biberman, Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., Albert Maltz, Dalton Trumbo, Adrian Scott, John Howard Lawson, Samuel Ornitz. Other appearances: J. Parnell Thomas, J. Edgar Hoover, Walter Bernstein, Howard Da Silva, Larry Parks, Millard Lampell, Ben Margolis, Zero Mostel, Otto Preminger, Ronald Reagan, Martin Ritt, Gale Sondergaard, Leo Townsend, William Wheeler, Gary Cooper, Robert Montgomery, Eric Johnston, Walt Disney, Robert Taylor, Jack Warner, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Stripling, Joseph McCarthy. 1989. 90 min. Video/C 5751 Hollywood Ten (1951) Directed by John Berry; produced by Paul Jarrico. A documentary about blacklisted writers and directors who defied the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947 and were imprisoned for contempt of Congress. Special features: History of the Hollywood blacklist; Congressional testimony of the blacklisted filmmakers. DVD 682; also a supplement on DVD 2088 An Interview with Ring Lardner, Jr.: The Blacklist Years [sound recording] Ring Lardner Jr. talks about his years as one of Hollywood Ten and about the investigation by the Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947. Los Angeles, Calif.: Pacifica Tape Library, [1983?] Sound/C 403 Johnny Got His Gun: Dalton Trumbo Interviewed by Larry Bensky. [sound recording] Film director and writer Dalton Trumbo discusses his movie, the Attica uprising, & the days of McCarthyism and blacklisting in America. Originally broadcast on KPFA, September 20, 1971. Sound/D 230 McCarthy: Death of a Witch Hunter A film by Emile de Antonio. Examines the man whose name has become synonymous with the blacklisting fervor of The Cold War through an overview of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings. Includes excerpts from the television footage shot during the six weeks of hearings and an introduction by Paul Newman, who places the excerpts in historical perspective. 1964. 120 min. (see also longer version of this film, released under the title: Point of Order Video/C 3167) McCarthyism. Recorded form a broadcast of the television program "Firing Line." William F. Buckley, Roy Cohn and others discuss the McCarthy army hearings, and McCarthyism and communisms in general. Sound/C 431 Operation Abolition and Operation Correction Operation correction: A film by the American Civil Liberties Union produced as a rebuttal to the House Un-American Activities Committee's film "Operation abolition," that was an attempt to characterize as communist inspired, the May, 1960 student and activist demonstrations against the activities of the Committee. "Operation Correction" entirely deconstructs that film, making the same case against the committee that the students and activists were. Produced by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California; director/narrator, Ernest Besig. 1961. 44 min. DVD 4454 Ordinary Americans: The Red Scare Examines the history of official and unofficial attempts to find and punish communists, both in and outside the U.S. government. Hear the personal accounts of key political figures leading the hunt for communists, as well as what it was like for ordinary citizens entangled in the early years of the Cold War. Includes newsreel footage of air raid drills in Times Square and of testimonies given before the House Un-American Activities Committee, the blacklisting of the "Hollywood Ten" and other authors and entertainers. 1999. 35 min. Video/C 6589 Point of Order. Director, Emile de Antonio. Documents the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings through excerpts from the television footage shot during the six weeks of hearings. Includes an introduction by Paul Newman, who places the excerpts in historical perspective. 102 min. 1964. Video/C 1918 (see also shortened version of this film under the title McCarthy: Death of a Witch Hunter) DVD 4684; also VHS Video/C 3167) Red Hollywood Film fragments and interviews provide a survey of the filmwork created by the victims of the Hollywood Blacklist. Includes Alfred Levitt, Paul Jarrico, John Berry, Joseph Losey, Dalton Trumbo, Cy Endfield and Abraham Polonsky who were involved as directors and/or writers. An effort has been made to separate the authors' ideology from their contributions to Hollywood cinema. This is not a film about their politics or their martyrdom. In the film, excerpts that follow credits are limited to screenwriters and directors who were Communists, ex-Communists, and occasional sympathizers. Written and directed by Thom Andersen & Noel Burch. 1995. 118 min. Video/C MM431 Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist A compelling look at a terribly troubled period in American history, the 1950's -- a time of blacklists, loyalty oaths and slandered reputations, the "Red Scare". These are the stories of African-Americans, like Paul Robeson, Hazel Scott, Jackie Robinson, and Harry Belafonte, whose loyalties were questioned, whose careers were shattered, and whose struggles for social justice were subverted. 1999. 60 min. Video/C 7895 Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists A documentary about the history of the American Communist Party from the thirties onward. 100 min. Video/C 2931 Three Films Films by Frederick Marx. House of unAmerican activities (1983, 17 min.): A profile of the filmmaker's father, a German-Jewish refugee, distinguished sailor in the U.S. Navy during WWII and American Communist who was tried by the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities. Dream Documentary (1981, 5 min.): Using excerpts from other films the filmmaker creates a surreal and foreboding societal landscape. Dreams from China (1989, 30 min.): A diary-like film essay of daily life in China immediately before the Tiananmen Square incident. c1994. 52 min. Video/C 7706 The Trials of Alger Hiss Documentary and factual review of the Whittaker Chambers-Alger Hiss controversy. Consists of archival film and interviews. 165 min Video/C 766 The Un-Americans Between 1945 and the early 50's the lives of thousands of ordinary citizens were destroyed because they were accused of un-American activities. Teachers, writers, anyone who expressed a liberal opinion could be accused. In this film both the anti-Communists and the victims of the notorious McCarthy witchhunts talk candidly about the era of anti-Communist hysteria and blacklists. Among them we meet men and women who did join the Communist Party out of idealism and in reaction to injustices in American society and lawyer Arthur Kinoy who recalls his efforts to stay the execution of the Rosenbergs, which marked the culmination of the hysteria. 1992. 50 min. Video/C 7657 Movies Set In/About the 1950's Movies made in the 1950's Film Noir Hollywood & the Beat Generation American Graffiti(1973) Directed by George Lucas. The misadventures of four California teenagers one late summer night in 1962 become the focal point for an audience trip back to the last "innocent" years of the 50's and early 60's. Featuring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ronny Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy 112 min. DVD 246; also tape Video 999:757 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Sodowsky, Alice, et al. "Epic world of American Graffiti." In: Movies as artifacts : cultural criticism of popular film / edited by Michael T. Marsden, John G. Nachbar, and Sam L. Grogg, Jr Chicago : Nelson-Hall, c1982 (Main Stack PN1993.5.U6.M67 1982; Moffitt PN1993.5.U6.M67 1982) Back to the Future (1985) Directed by Robert Zemeckis. In this comic fantasy, a typical American teenager of the 1980's is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean "time machine" invented by a slightly mad scientist. During his amazing trip back in time, the teenager must make certain that his parents-to-be meet and fall in love so he can get back to the future. 116 min. DVD 4291; vhs 999:966 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Botting, Fred. "Back to the Author: Romanticism, Postmodernism, de Man." Textual Practice, vol. 5 no. 1. 1991 Spring. pp: 25-39. Gordon, Andrew. "Back to the Future: Oedipus as Time Traveller." Science-Fiction Studies, vol. 14 (3) no. 43. 1987 Nov. pp: 372-385. Richardson, Elizabeth A. "Back to the Future: Yang-Yin=O, Yang+Yin=1." Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy, vol. 29 no. 2. 1988 Summer. pp: 128-139. Back to the Future II(1989) Directed by Robert Zemeckis. An exhilarating visit by Marty and Doc to the year 2015 seemingly resolves a few problems with the future McFly family. But when the two return home, they soon discover someone has tampered with time to produce a nightmarish Hill Valley 1985. Their only hope is to once again get back to 1955 and save the future. 116 min. DVD 4291; vhs 999:967 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Badlands (1973) Directed by Terrence Malick. Featuring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri. Set in South Dakota in 1959, this is the story of Kit and his girlfriend Holly, two people alienated from everyday life, who go on a killing spree. Based loosely on the 1950's killing spree by Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. 95 min. DVD 201 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Creekmur, Corey K. "On the run and on the road : fame and the outlaw couple in American cinema." In: The road movie book / edited by Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark. London ; New York : Routledge, 1997. (Main Stack PN1995.9.R63.R63 1997) Danks, Adrian. "Death Comes as an End: Temporality, Domesticity and Photography in Terrence Malick's Badlands." Senses of Cinema Henderson, Brian "Exploring Badlands." Wide Angle 1983, 5:4, 38-51. McGettigan, Joan. "Interpreting a man's world: female voices in 'Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven'." Journal of Film and Video v52, n4 (Wntr, 2001):33 (11 pages). Bugsy (1991) Directed by Barry Levinson. Cast: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Joe Mantegna. The incredible true story of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, the playboy gangster who betrayed the Mob for love. A cold-blooded killer who dreamed of Hollywood stardom, a crazed "patriot," who plotted against Mussolini, and the brilliant visionary who carved Las Vegas out of the dry Nevada desert, Bugsy had it all until he fell in love with a woman who wanted more. Their love affair was passionate, tempestuous and ultimately tragic. 136 min. DVD 5336 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Bye Bye Birdie (1963) Directed by George Sidney. Featuring Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Maureen Stapleton, Bobby Rydell, Jesse Pearson, Ed Sullivan,Paul Lynde. When rock star Conrad Birdie gets drafted, his manager organizes a nationwide contest in which one lucky girl wins a farewell kiss on The Ed Sullivan show. 112 min. DVD 5722; vhs 999:2019 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Chinatown (1974) Directed by Roman Polanski. Featuring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, Bruce Glover, Joe Mantell, Roy Jenson, Diane Ladd, Dick Bakalyan, John Huston. The plot is a labyrinth of successive revelations having to do with Los Angeles water reserves, land rights, fraud and intra-family hanky-panky, climaxing in Los Angeles's Chinatown. DVD 162; VHS 999:381 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) Directed by Carl Franklin; featuring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Jennifer Beals, Tom Szemore, Mauri Chaykin, Leon Lee. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is a decorated war hero who returns home to work as a private eye. His job of finding a missing socialite puts him between the white power elite and the vibrant black commumnity of Central Avenue. As soon as Easy and his trigger-happy friend Mouse find Daphne Monet, trouble follows. 101 min. DVD 3806; vhs 999:1811 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine Diner Director, Barry Levinson. Performers: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser. Set in 1959, a group of long-time buddies since high school gather in a local diner to share their escapades and make sense of their lives. As one by one they drift off to join the mainstream of life they still cling to their shared boyhood dreams. 110 min. 999:2500 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Far From Heaven (2002) Directed by Todd Haynes. Cast: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, James Rebhorn. Cathy is the perfect 50s housewife, living the perfect 50s life: healthy kids, successful husband, social prominence. Then one night she surprises her husband Frank having sex with another man, and her tidy world starts spinning out of control. In her confusion and grief, she finds consolation in the friendship of their African-American gardener, Raymond--a socially taboo relationship that leads to the further disintegration of life as she knew it. 107 min. DVD 1713 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Fellow Traveller(TV, 1989) Directed by Philip Saville. Cast: Ron Silver, Hart Bochner, Imogen Stubbs, Daniel J. Travanti. In Hollywood during the 1950's, screenwriter Asa Kaufman reflects on his Communist associations and knows that he will soon be forced to testify before committees investigating "Un-American" activities. He can no longer find employment in Hollywood anyway, so decides to flee to England and get work there writing children's TV. Soon after arriving, he hears that his best friend since childhood, actor Clifford Byrne, has committed suicide. Asa is sure that this is related to the witch-hunts, and has to find out exactly what the relation is." [Internet Movie Database] 97 min. 999:3691 The Front (1976) Director, Martin Ritt. Performers: Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Michael Murphy. A searing indictment of the McCarthy era blacklisting and Communist witchhunts of the 1950's. Woody Allen plays a hapless ghost writer fated to become a symbolic hero. Directed by Martin Ritt who experienced blacklisting firsthand. 94 min. 999:806 Bibiliography of materials on Hollywood and the Movies in the 1950's Hollywood Ten page (UCB) The Literature & Culture of the American 1950s (Professor Al Filreis, University of Pennsylvania) Godfather II (parts 1 & 2) (1971-74) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Featuring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire, Diane Keaton, Lee Strasberg. The saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family continues with the roots and rise of a young Don Vito and the ascension of Michael as the new Don. 200 min. DVD 908; vhs 999:137 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Good Night and Good Luck (2005) Directed by George Clooney. Featuring David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey, Jr., Frank Langella. Takes place in the 1950's America, during the early days of broadcast journalism. It chronicles the real-life conflict between television newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. With a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public, Murrow, and his dedicated staff - headed by his producer Fred Friendly and Joe Wershba in the CBS newsroom - defy corporate and sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics perpetrated by McCarthy during his communist 'witch-hunts'. A very public feud develops when the Senator responds by accusing the anchor of being a communist. In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on and their tenacity will prove historic and monumental. min. DVD 5223 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Grease (1978) Directed by Randal Kleiser. An exuberant musical celebrating the 50's era of rock 'n roll centering around the romance between a teen-age gang leader, his naive girlfriend and other "hip" seniors at Ridel High School. Featuring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Eve Arden, Frankie Avalon, Joan Blondell, Edd Byrnes, Sid Caesar, Alice Ghostley, Didi Conn, Jeff Conway, Sha-na-na. 103 min. DVD 5693; vhs 999:1896 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Guilty by Suspicion(1990) Directed by Irwin Winkler. Cast: Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, George Wendt, Patricia Wettig, Sam Wanamaker. Based on the McCarthy witchhunts of the 1950's, Guilty by Suspicion tells the story of the destruction of the career of a director- all he has to do to revive his stalled career is testify against friends who are suspected of being Communists. 105 min. 999:2035 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Hey Babu Riba (Bal na vodi) (1986) Director, Jovan Acin. Comedy about four teenage males growing up in the 1950's in Belgrade who love American movies, jazz and a girl named Esther. The film cuts between the early fifties and the present as they are seen recalling their youth when they are reunited at Esther's funeral. 109 min. 999:1954 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database L.A. Confidential (1997) Directed by Curtis Hanson. Featuring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito. Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slaying of the patrons at an all-night diner. A lush tribute to tough film-noir crime films. Also includes a behind-the scenes documentary "Off the record'" with the film's creators, lead actors and novelist, James Elroy. 156 min. 999:1977 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database La Bamba (1986) Writer-director, Luis Valdez. Starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosana De Soto, Elizabeth Pena, Joe Pantoliano.The man, the myth, and the music that brought America to its feet and catapulted 17 year-old Ritchie Valens to rock 'n' roll stardom live again. 103 min. Video/C 999:269 Credits and other information from Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine The Long Walk Home (1991) Directed by Richard Pearce. When Odessa Cotter, a quietly dignified woman, honors the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott by walking an exhausting nine miles to and from work, Miriam, her employer, offers her a ride. Defying both Miriam's racist husband and the powerful White Citizen's Council, Miriam and Odessa put their lives in danger for civil rights. Their shared experiences draw them closer as a deep respect and lasting friendship forms. Together, in a difficult world of black versus white, they manage to discover a common ground. 98 min. Video 999:940 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976) Directed by Richard Pearce. Cast: Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Christopher Walken, Lois Smith, Dori Brenner, Antonio Fargas, Lou Jacobi. Larry, an aspiring actor, leaves his home and heads for Manhattan where he moves into an apartment in Greenwich Village. Between acting classes, auditions and odd jobs he spends time with his eccentric friends. 111 min. DVD 8129 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Notorious Bettie Page(2005) Directed by Clint Eastwood. Cast: Gretchen Mol, Chris Bauer, Jared Harris, Sarah Paulson, Cara Seymour, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor. Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up photos made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day. Bonus features: Audio commentary with Gretchen Mol, writer/director Mary Harron and writer Guinevere Turner; an inside look at the "Pin-up queen of the universe"; theatrical trailer; presenting Bettie Page: a provocative performance, starring Bettie herself. Director of photography, Mott Hupfel ; editor, Tricia Cooke ; music by, Mark Suozzo ; costume designer, John Dunn ; production designer, Gideon Ponte. 90 min. DVD 6467 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Irving Klaw Classics. Vol. l, The Bettie Page Films DVD 7524 Novemberkatzen (November Cats) (1986) Directed by Sigrun Koeppe. Tells the story of a young girl, growing up in Germany in the 1950s in a lonely, friendless environment. Her divorced mother beats her and when she is sexually molested by a boy, she finally flees to live with her grandmother. In the end, she learns to stand up for herself. 100 min. 999:3127 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Pleasantville (1998) Directed by Gary Ross. Cast: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, J.T. Walsh, Don Knotts, Reese Witherspoon. 90's teens David and Jennifer get zapped into the perfect suburbia of a black & white 50's sitcom, Pleasantville. 90's pop culture clashes with 50's family values and chaos ensues, turning the town of Pleasantville upside down and black and white into color. 132 min. DVD 7385; vhs 999:2458 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine Quiz Show (1994) Directed by Robert Redford. Cast: John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, David Paymer, Paul Scofield. Fame and fortune become a hotbed of scandal when a Washington investigator uncovers corruption beneath the glittering facade of American television's hottest quiz show which implicates both the wildly popular champion and the disgruntled ex-champ. Based on true events in the late 1950s concerning the investigation of cheating in the quiz show "Twenty One." 133 min. DVD 1137 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Vera Drake (1961) Directed by Mike Leigh. Cast: Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Peter Wight, Alex Kelly, Daniel Mays, Adrian Scarborough, Heather Craney, Eddie Marsan, Ruth Sheen, Sally Hawkins, Fenella Woolgar, Lesley Sharp, Anthony O'Donnell, Jim Broadbent. Vera Drake tells of a woman in 1950s England who is devoted to caring for her family, but secretly aids women who want to terminate unwanted pregnancies. When the authorities find her out, Vera's world and family life rapidly unravel. 125 min. DVD 3721 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Veronica Voss (Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss) (1982) Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. A journalist in the 1950s becomes involved in the life of a faded German film star under the influence of a doctor who supplies her with narcotics. 105 min. DVD 1945; vhs 999:551 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database West Side Story (1961) Directed by Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins. Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chikiris. Musical based on the Romeo and Juliet story, set in New York's West Side slums during the late 1950's, with gang warfare erupting when Maria, sister of the leader of the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, falls in love with the brother of the leader of the rival Anglo gang, the Jets. 153 min. DVD 1747; VHS 999:115 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database When Father Was Away on Business (Otac na Sluzbenom Putu) (1985) Director, Emir Kusturica. Set in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in the 1950's, this is the comic story of a family's efforts to get along when the head of the household is sent to a labor camp for fooling around with the voluptuous object of desire of a Communist Party Official. 144 min. DVD 4691; also vhs 999:1190 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database To the top