Field Guide to Sponsored Films - National Film Preservation ...

Crossroads for America
Melodrama loosely based on the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in New York City,
in which 146 workers died. This industry-funded film places the blame for a factory fire on
a careless smoker as well as on negligent management.
100. CROSSROADS FOR AMERICA (1947, sound, 35 min, b&w, 16mm)
SPONSOR: Research Institute of America. PRODUCTION CO.: Academy Films. RESOURCES: Copyright not registered;
“Sees Output Way to Combat ‘Isms,’” NYT, Oct. 1, 1947, 41; “Communists Aren’t under the Bed,”
Mod Ind 15 (Apr. 15, 1948): 87–88; EFG (1951), 285; Ec Ed, 11; Raymond Spottiswoode, “Crossroads for
America,” in Ideas, 199. HOLDINGS: MacDonald, UCLA.
Anticommunist film produced by an employer-funded group to drive home the communist
threat to labor unions. In the story “a typical communist” tricks worker Dave Nelson into
leading a strike, but later Nelson sees his error. The film points to faults in America’s free
enterprise system, such as high food prices and poor housing, but argues that communism is
not the answer. Crossroads for America suggests that business should fight leftist propaganda
by providing accurate information to workers about operations and profits. NOTE: Raymond
Spottiswoode writes that the film was seen as a response to the union-sponsored Deadline
for Action (entry 110).
101. CROWDED OUT (1958, sound, 29 min, color, 16mm)
SPONSOR: National Education Association. PRODUCTION CO.: Agrafilms Inc. DIRECTOR: Irving Rusinow. WRITER:
Sid Abel. CAMERA: Pinckney Ridgell. MUSIC: Gerhardt Maasz. EDITOR: Wilkes Straley. RESOURCES: Copyright
not registered. HOLDINGS: AAFF, LC/Prelinger, MacDonald.
Film urging parents to join forces with educators to solve school overcrowding during the
1950s baby boom. In Crowded Out, a teacher is assigned so many students that she is unable
to respond to their individual needs and must resort to rote instruction. Dissatisfied, she plans
to resign. The film recommends that parents work through their parent-teacher associations
to secure increased school funding. NOTE: The credits also acknowledge the involvement of
affiliated state education associations. A short version was released under the title I Wish I
Could, Kathy. Viewable online at Internet Archive, www.archive.org/details/crowded_out.
102. CRY FOR HELP (1962, sound, 32 min, b&w, 16mm)
SPONSORS: Louisiana Association for Mental Health; National Institute of Mental Health. PRODUCTION CO.:
George C. Stoney Associates. DIRECTOR/WRITER: George Stoney. NARRATOR: James Daly. RESOURCES:
Copyright not registered. HOLDINGS: AAFF, LC/Prelinger, NLM.
Exploration of the psychological reasons and “triggers” for suicide. Made for professional psychiatric
audiences, the film recounts the fictional story of a suicidal Chicago policeman, who,
pressured by job stress, bad health, and family demands, courts death with his reckless behavior.
Like other works by George Stoney, Cry for Help serves as both a psychological profile and
a perceptive cultural study. NOTE: Received an award at the American Film Festival in 1963.
103. DANCE LITTLE CHILDREN (1961, sound, 25 min, color, 16mm)
SPONSOR: Kansas State Board of Health. PRODUCTION CO.: Centron Productions. DIRECTOR: Harold “Herk”
Harvey. WRITER: Margaret Carlile Travis. Resources: Copyright not registered; EFL, 765; Sex Ed, 71–72, 132–33;
Mental Hygiene, 132–33. Holdings: MacDonald, UKansas.
State-funded film produced to encourage the prevention of venereal disease. Dance Little
Children tells the story of a syphilis outbreak among teenagers in a Kansas town. Epidemiologists
and public health investigators eventually track down the cause of the disease. More
perceptive and balanced than most films about VD, this Centron production contextualizes
the problem by exploring the peer pressures faced by teenagers and the sexualized culture of
the period. NOTE: Shot in Lawrence, Kansas, Dance Little Children is a sequel to another state
government film, The Innocent Party. Produced in Eastmancolor.
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