Smart Americans know that our Lifestyles USA series answers important questions about life, business, and society. Like… how pencils are made. Well, don’t you wanna know?
THE LIFE OF A PENCIL (color) explains how those tiny pieces of soft lead get inside those hard sticks of wood. First, giant Cedar trees are cut down, sliced up, and shipped to the Eberhard Faber company in Pennsylvania. There, giant scary machines cook graphite, and something called an extruding machine takes over and… and… Good lord. This process is so idiotically complicated that I still have no idea how those tiny pieces of soft lead get inside those hard sticks of wood. Maybe those smarter than me will be able to follow this film but, personally, I understand rocket science better than all this.
THE ART OF BRUSHMAKING (color) is, mercifully, easier to understand. Why? Because it all comes down to hair: Red Russian Sable, Turkish Badger, Skunk hair, and Russian Squirrel! And bristles - originally from hogs but now made of nylon, which is what most house-painting brushes are made of. (But, please, stay away from horsehair brushes. They just don’t last.) How all that hair gets connected to a wooden handle is then lovingly shown. And, let me tell ya, it’s a helluva lot easier to understand than making pencils.
HOW THE EXPERTS DO IT (b&w). Do what? Why, paint the sides of buildings, fences, and parking meters, of course! But, in direct contrast to the above short, this one sings the joys of paint rollers. And that means that we also learn everything we never wanted to know about those rollers. At the EZ Painters plant, we see how they’re made and what they’re made of, including those adorable steel paint trays. Boy, oh, boy, this one’s a thrill a minute!
GILLETTE SAFETY RAZORS (color) starts with a clip of W.C. Fields giving a man a cruel shave, then proceeds to tell us the history of King Camp Gillette and his disposable safety razor. Lots of old ads and commercials as well as the opening of TV’s Gillette’s Cavalcade of Sports, plus a micro look at a cheek being shaved, make the mere thought of shaving a lot of fun.
IT’S AN AUSTIN NICHOLS BUY-CENTENNIAL YEAT (1976, color) offers us a ghost from the Revolutionary War who somehow equates American history with Austin Nichols’ Wild Turkey. Yes, indeed, what could be more patriotic than good ol’ American booze! So do like the folks at the end of this short raid your local liquor store!
BEAUTIFUL BEDROOM (color) is a showcase for Nettle Creek bedspreads, headboards, draperies, and pillows resulting in some of the most garish, eyeball-popping 70’s-style bedrooms ever seen on the earth.
AIRTRAINS (color) promises that in The Future, every city will have monorail “air trains” that will whisk us right to the airport. Won’t that be great? Don’t you wish The Future was today?
27 сен 2024
