The Celluloid Salesman (DVD)

This fourth collection of classroom shorts from the A/V Geeks Film Library reveals how sly marketers used 16mm films to shape new generations of loyal consumers. Under the pretense of education, these filmmakers in gray flannel suits promoted their products in the guise of phony newsreels (News Cavalcade), classroom shorts (Your Daily Bread), and travelogues (This Is...Elk Country) - forerunners of the modern-day infomercial. They depict an American consumer wonderland in which furniture is doused with DDT (Doomsday for Pests), a blender is a piece of modern sculpture (Comprehending Blending), and sex goes hand-in-hand with the sale of copier toner (Miss Puff).

As an added insight into the world of these real-life Mad Men, THE CELLULOID SALESMAN includes a sampling of rare promotional films not intended for public consumption, such as Freeze-In (a spin-off of TV's Laugh-In, aimed at appliance salesmen) and A Summer Opportunity (in which Alistair Cooke extols the benefits of a career in encyclopedia sales).

Curated by Skip Elsheimer
Produced for video by Bret Wood

The films include:

Movies Move People
Kodak 1969 Color 23 Min.

Comprehending Blending
Hamilton Beach/Portafilms
1963 Color 18 Min.

Doomsday for Pests
Sherwin-Williams/Jerry Fairbanks
1946 Color 14 Min.

Freeze-In
Sears, Roebuck & Co./Calvin Productions
1968 Color 16 Min.

Miss Puff
Labelon Toner
1960s Color 10 Min.

The Adventures of Chip and Dip
Potato Chip Institute/Academy McLarty Prods.
1968 Color 20 Min.

News Cavalcade
Sterling Movies
1965 B&W 13 Min.

The Stage Is Yours
National Cotton Council
1961 Color 13 Min.

Goodbye to Garbage
General Electric
1960 Color 5 Min.

This Is...Elk Country
Schlitz Brewing Co./Centralab/ Edlin Film Prods.
1967  Color 10 Min.
Give the Lady What She Wants
GATX/PC Prods.
1970s Color 21 Min.

Your Daily Bread
American Bakers Association
1957 Color 12 Min.

Ideas in Action
Westinghouse Electric/Jam Handy Organization
1966 Color 6 Min.

Goodbye Weeds
Sherwin-Williams/Jerry Fairbanks
1946 Color 18 Min.

A Summer Opportunity
Collier’s
1969 Color 14 Min.


Curated by Skip Elsheimer
Produced for video by Bret Wood

This collection was mastered from vintage 16mm prints circulated among schools and rescued, decades later, by collectors. The image and sound quality of these orphan films do not conform to Kino’s usual standard.