HOW TO BE A GOOD KID (1980)

Director	Larry Yust (and writer)
Producer	E.C. Brown Foundation, Wexler FIlms (Los Angeles)
Contributors	Published by Highland Park, Ill. : Perennial Education
Length	24 min
B&W/Color	Color
UO Library Catalog description:	Uses vignettes and documentary footage to encourage the viewer to consider the repercussions of individuals’ actions and to realize that obeying parents’ wishes or following one’s conscience will not necessarily result in happiness. Stresses the importance of acting on one’s best convictions and accepting responsibility for one’s actions
Call #	Mc308
Genre	Instructional
Rare	YES
Online	YES
Copyright status	Copyrighted
Physical condition	Great
Oregon-related	YES

Notes:

Another instructional film by the E.C. Brown Foundation.  We have many films by this foundation in our archive including A Family Talks About Sex.

Larry Yust, director and writer of this film worked many times with the E.C. Brown Foundation including on “A Family Talks About Sex” mentioned above.  Yust, whose father Walter was the editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, was exposed to films (and filmmakers) at an early age, when his father took him to Hollywood on a business trip for the purpose of collecting data on the film industry for the encyclopaedia. Later attending Stanford University as a drama major, he became involved with the theatre department, and developed an interest in set design, lighting, and directing. After military duty (television programming with Walter Reed Army Hospital as part of the Signal Corps’ Army Pictorial Service), Yust further developed his craft at other television stations, most notably XETV, the ABC outlet in Tijuana.

Yust’s film career began with a series of health and safety films for EB made in 1957, followed by a number of science shorts made in conjunction with Dr. Al Baez.  He also made academic films for Wexler Films (via the E.C. Brown Foundation), televison dramas for PBS, and directed three feature films. He is best known for his outstanding films on dramatic themes.

 

The E.C. Brown Foundation gave a private financial boost for family life and sex education in Oregon starting in the 1930’s.  The three-fold purpose of the then trust and now foundation were 1) the social hygiene on behalf of the youth of Oregon, 2) a reverence for the married state, and 3) the prevention of sexual abuse especially venereal disease.

Tags: E.C. Brown Foundation

A FAMILY TALKS ABOUT SEX (1978)

Director	Larry Yust (and writer)
Producer	E.C. Brown Foundation, Wexler Films (Los Angeles)
Contributors	Published by Northfield, III  Perennial Education,Grant from Blue Cross of Oregon Consultants: School of Medicine, University of Oregon Health Sciences Center
Length	29 min
B&W/Color	Color
UO Library Catalog description:	Deals with common situations parents face in giving their children guidance and information about sex. Emphasizes that if the parent-child relationship is based on love, respect, and trust, then there is reason to hope that the children will make responsible decisions about sex.
Call #	Mc306
Genre	Instructional
Rare	YES
Online	NO
Copyright status	Copyrighted
Physical condition	Great
Oregon-related	YES

Notes:

“A Family Talks About Sex” is a film made by the E.C. Brown Foundation in the United States, and originally intended for parents, teachers, clinicians and other helping professionals; it has won five major educational film awards. Although the actors vary in appearance and race, the characters remain the same as “the family” grows and changes over fifteen years. The message is one of encouragement for information about sex to be an acceptable part of a family’s life in the context of the family’s larger system of values. The film also endorses and supports the rights and privileges of parents, who bear the responsibility for the family’s well-being. In showingthe film to adolescents, however, I found that the young people themselvesresponded warmly to the concerns of the parents in the film, and that they gained insight into the worries and rewards of parental life.

-John A. Bruce, Executive Director, The E.C. Brown Foundation

 

The E.C. Brown Foundation gave a private financial boost for family life and sex education in Oregon starting in the 1930’s.  The three-fold purpose of the then trust and now foundation were 1) the social hygiene on behalf of the youth of Oregon, 2) a reverence for the married state, and 3) the prevention of sexual abuse especially venereal disease.

 

There is one obvious splice mid-way through the film that cuts off a character’s speech and cuts to a kitchen scene.  Other than that the film is in excellent condition.

Tags: sex education, E.C. Brown Foundation

Spring screenings

My independent study student is curating public screenings every week. She’s also learning how to run the big arc lamp projectors in the booth. Today we watched Lumière’s First Picture Show (Blackhawk Films, 1975) and Monkey on the Back (National Film Board of Canada, 1957).

manually threading the projector

Getting it set just right in the gate

Dick Smith, happy and high on heroin.

Poor Dick, withdrawal sucks.

And how.

Natural Timber Country (1972)

Director	Ron Finne
Producer	Teknifilm
Contributors
Length	53 minutes
B&W/Color	Color
UO Library Catalog description:	Tells the story of the logging industry in Oregon, with emphasis on older logging techniques.
Call #	FILM MD24
Genre	Documentary
Rare	No
Online	No
Copyright status	Public Domain
Physical condition	Fair
Oregon-related	Yes

Notes:

Natural Timber Country was filmed by Oregon native Ron Finne and is the story of old-time logging in the forests of the Northwest. The film was originally available only by mail order from the director’s home in Springfield.

The film lacks a traditional narrator, instead giving us interviews with loggers taped in the field or their homes. To help us visualize the words of the loggers, Finne edits them together with shots of the Northwestern wilderness, both in Oregon and Washington. Also featured is old footage and photographs of loggers stump-rigging trees, skidding felled logs down greased tracks, and one of the first mechanical improvements in the logging business, a steam powered engine for moving larger timber. Also recalled are stunts and jokes of the loggers, such as standing at the very tip top of a limbed and topped tree, or jumping from one log to another as they rolled down a hill.

Above all, the message of the Natural Timber Country is an environmental one. As one man says at the outset of the film. “Timber all around you, you just never figure you’d use it up.”

We have multiple films in the University of Oregon archives made by Ron Finne, a Eugene/Springfield, OR local.  We own films of his including The Wale (1971) and Tamanawis Illahee Rituals and Acts in a Landscape (1983)

Tags: Country, Finne, Logging, Natural, Northwest, Oregon, Ron, Timber, Washington

Zlateh The Goat (1973)

Director	Gene Deitch
Producer	Weston Woods Inc.
Contributors	Consultation – Maurice Sendak, Original Story – Isaac Bashevis Singer
Length	20 minutes
B&W/Color	Black and White
UO Library Catalog description:	A heartwarming story about a little boy and his heroic family goat who must survive stranded in a harsh blizzard
Call #	FILM MB192
Genre	Feature
Rare	No
Online	Yes
Copyright status	Protected
Physical condition	Poor
Oregon-related	No

Notes:

Zlateh The Goat is an adaptation of a children’s story from Israel, written in 1966 by Isaac Bashevis Singer. In order to survive in a time with little work, a man sends his son Aaron to the butcher with the family goat, Zlateh. On their way to town, a terrible blizzard sets in, and they are forced to take shelter in a haystack, where Zlateh keeps Aaron alive for three days with her warmth and milk. When Aaron returns to his family alive, they are overjoyed, and decide to keep Zlateh after all.

The characters of the film remain silent, while light music and the amiable voice of a narrator keep us informed of the story.

The film is directed by Gene Deitch, known for his animated work on Tom & Jerry and Popeye.

Maurice Sendak, renowned creator of Where The Wild Things Are, and original illustrator of the print edition of Zlateh The Goat, is credited as a creative consultant.

Tags: children's, goat, isaac bashevis singer, Israel, story, weston woods, zlateh

High-Speed Motion Pictures of the Human Vocal Cords (1940)

Director
Producer	Bell Telephone Laboratories
Contributors	Motion Picture Library, American Medical Association
Length	12 minutes
B&W/Color	Black and White
UO Library Catalog description:	Illustrates apparatus developed for high speed photography of the human vocal cords. Describes briefly the position and action of vocal cords. Presents mirror views of normal larynx during production of sounds of different intensity and pitch. For laryngologists.
Call #	FILM MB294
Genre	Instructional
Rare	Yes
Online	No
Copyright status	Public Domain
Physical condition	Fair
Oregon-related	No

Notes:

This silent film documents (using Bell Telephone Lab’s patented down-the-throat camera) the physical motions of human vocal cords while at rest and while producing different notes and pitches. Also recorded are the effects of helium gas on the vocal cords.

Tags: cords, high-speed, human, laryngology, motion pictures, throat, vocal

How The Eye Functions (1941)

Director	Karl Kurt Bosse
Producer	Knowledge Builders Films
Contributors	Supervision of McRory Studios
Length	12 minutes
B&W/Color	Black and White
UO Library Catalog description:	Illustrates the functions of the various parts of the eye and explains focal adjustment. Includes animated drawings.
Call #	FILM Ma2
Genre	Instructional
Rare	Yes
Online	Yes
Copyright status	Public Domain
Physical condition	Fair
Oregon-related	No

Notes:

A classroom film from the 1940′s, How The Eye Functions is a short, partially animated feature that explores the intricacies of the human eye, including the machinations of the cornea, iris, retina, and tear ducts. It explains concepts such as focal adjustment and eye rotation. The film features sound and music, opening with an overture of “The Blue Danube.”

Tags: animation, eye, function, Instructional, ocular, Science