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

Enterprise
to Teach Here Lesson of Life,” Atlan Con, Mar. 22, 1919, 10; “Sex Film Used by Small as Bait to Women,”
CT, Mar. 26, 1924, 6; Sex Ed, 10, 21, 31–34; Exploitation, 27–36. HOLDINGS: LC, NARA.
Wartime venereal disease prevention film intended primarily for female audiences. Sponsored
by a public health organization devoted to eradicating syphilis, The End of the Road tells the
parallel stories of two women, one of whom receives instruction in sexual hygiene from her
mother, while the other does not. NOTE: The End of the Road was originally produced for use
by the military. Sometimes referred to as The Story of Life, the popular film was also put in
theatrical release but withdrawn in 1919.
127. ENTERPRISE (1948, sound, 32 min, color, 16mm)
SPONSOR: Cluett, Peabody & Co. Inc. PRODUCTION CO.: Caravel Films. RESOURCES: Copyright not registered;
“Enterprise: The Story of a Town,” Bus Scrn 9, no. 8 (1948): 21; “Story ‘Natural’ Makes Company Film,”
Mod Ind 16 (Nov. 15, 1948): 88; J. Austin Burkhart, “Big Business and the Schools,” The Nation, Nov. 10,
1951, 400–402; Ec Ed, 15. HOLDINGS: AAFF, Orgone.
Film sponsored by the Troy, New York–based manufacturer of Arrow shirts to explain its
reasons for moving its business down south. Enterprise tells the true story of how two World
War II veterans invited the company to occupy an industrial plant that they had built in the
hope of revitalizing Buchanan, Georgia. Five hundred residents signed a pledge stating that
they were willing to work in the new factory. Cluett, Peabody & Co. eventually employed
one-third of the townspeople. Note: Received a Freedoms Foundation award in 1950.
128. AN EQUAL CHANCE (1949, sound, 10 min, b&w, 35mm)
SPONSOR: New York State Commission Against Discrimination. PRODUCTION CO.: March of Time. RESOURCES:
Copyright 15Aug49 MP4608; EFG (1951), 286; “Film Tells How to Integrate Minorities into Workforce,” Mod
Ind 23 (Jan. 15, 1952): 62. HOLDINGS: LC.
Film produced to acquaint minority workers with the sponsor’s services and promote a diverse
workplace. In the story a laborer threatens a walkout after his foreman hires an African American
but learns acceptance after he observes the on-the-job skills of the new hire. An Equal
Chance also illustrates the process through which the commission resolves bias complaints.
NOTE: The film was shown in theaters throughout New York State. For more about the sponsor’s
work, see “State Anti-Bias Unit Ready to Aid Young Persons If Lay-offs Begin,” NYT,
Mar. 16, 1950, 33.
129. AN EVENING WITH EDGAR A. GUEST (1938, sound, 15 min, b&w, 35mm)
SPONSOR: Household Finance Corp. PRODUCTION CO.: Jam Handy Organization. DIRECTOR: Louis Marlowe.
MUSIC: Samuel Benavie. EDITOR: W. Kislingbury. RESOURCES: Copyright 12May39 LU8833; “Advertisers’ Films
Draw Huge Crowds at Nation’s Two Big Fairs,” Sales Mgmt 45 (July 1, 1939): 34–47. HOLDINGS: LC/Prelinger.
Film for the Household Finance Corporation featuring its spokesperson Edgar A. Guest, the
popular poet and radio personality. Guest performs without making any explicit reference to
the sponsor or its products. NOTE: The short was shown under the title A Heap o’ Livin’ at
the 1939–40 New York World’s Fair. Also released in 16mm. For more about the sponsor’s
films, see E.A. Petrtyl, “After Giving 5,330 Shows, Here’s What Advertiser Learned about
Films,” Pr Ink 184 (July 21, 1938): 50–56.
130. THE EYES OF SCIENCE (1930, sound, 15 min, b&w, 35mm)
SPONSOR/PRODUCTION CO.: Bausch and Lomb Optical Co. DIRECTOR/CAMERA: James Sibley Watson. RESOURCES:
Copyright 11Aug30 MP2501; Living Films, 35; EFG (1945), 332; J.S. Watson Jr., “My Films,” in Unseen Cinema,
113–15. HOLDINGS: GEH.
History of optical instruments and survey of their modern applications. The Eyes of Science
illustrates the capacity of precision optics through the use of dramatic photography and visual
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