From The Archive

Everybody’s Prejudiced (1960)

Presents a comparison between the kind of prejudices we all employ and the unreasoning prejudices of the bigot. Two guys on a park bench reflect on various skits about the problems of prejudice – a guy is prejudice of eggs, a snobby man and his discriminating wine choice, neighboring beatniks and gymnasts talk crap about each other, a young Michael Sarrazin and his dad reflect on their neighbors, etc. “We do not serve Onions”.

This film is available on the Blame Canada! DVD-R

From The Archive

Marijuana (1968)

Discusses the physical dangers, emotional dependency and legalities of using marijuana. Interviews users and non-users. Narrated by singer Sonny Bono.

This film is available on Drugs Drugs Drugs DVD-R

From The Archive

Atomic Age Classics Vol 6 : Love & Marriage DVD

The films on this DVD were created as cautionary tales so couples could look at their own relationships and, hopefully, avoid taking a plunge into truly awful marriages. Films include – Social-Sex Attitudes in Adolescence, How Do You Know It’s Love?, Are You Ready For Marriage?, Marriage Is A Partnership, Should I Marry Outside My Faith?

From The Archive

Crotch Rocket Capers

Short films about motorcycles and the people who ride them. Films include – Not So Easy (featuring Peter Fonda and Evel Knievel), Vicious Cycles, Popsicle, Motorcycle Safety and Courtesy in Traffic and Beginning Motorcycle Rider Course: Unit 2 (Motorcycle Instrumentation).

From The Archive

What Now, Skipper?

Continuing the constant challenge to bring you educational film entertainment in the strangest of places (which have included a moving schoolbus and a sausage factory!), AV Geeks and Alamo Drafthouse challenge you to watch boat safety films on an actual boat! This DVD is a document of the films that we showed including Water Safety – An Introduction, Suddenly Without Warning!, It’s Not Where You’re Going, It’s How You Get There and Back, Suddenly In Command, Right to Live: Who Decides? and Morality For Youth

From The Archive

Get’em at the A/V Geeks Store!

How To Be A Man

For centuries, parents have struggled to usher their children through the magical, often treacherous, journey to adulthood. But in mid-century America, a new form of tutelage was engineered: the classroom film. Suddenly, the prickly issues of sexual development and juvenile delinquency could be addressed in tidy, ten-minute sermons disguised as dramas. To deal with the subtleties of behavior and the importance of fitting in, social guidance films were made on such topics as coping with failure (Planning For Success) and teasing (The Other Fellow’s Feelings). The films in this collection-curated and introduced by Skip Elsheimer, founder of the A/V Geeks educational film archive sample some of the lessons that were routinely taught to boys. In them, one sees slices of Americana, discovers the world of educational cinema (with a language all its own), and gains an insight into the hopes and fears of the parents and educators who relied on the power of cinema to initiate, educate and indoctrinate the young.

How To Be A Woman

As the daughters of the baby boom reached adolescence, the American school system struggled to educate them on matters of sexual and social development lessons that were not always being taught at home. To the teacher uncomfortable with such topics, classroom films were a godsend. They depicted the reproductive system in anatomical detail (Growing Girls) or through puzzling symbolism (The Wonders of Reproduction, produced by the Moody Institute of Science). Beyond sex education, classroom films addressed a wide array of social issues, from the importance of cooking skills (You’re the Judge, starring a young Bonnie Franklin), to self-defense (Attack) and how to appear more pleasing to others (Improve Your Personality). Often corny, sometimes frightening, these cinematic life lessons curated and introduced by Skip Elsheimer, founder of the A/V Geeks educational film archive provide a fascinating window to the hopes and fears of parents and educators in mid-century America.