“ THE BIG WIDE HIGHWAY ” 1955 CORONET CLASSROOM INSTRUCTIONAL FILM INTERSTATE HIGHWAY MD10074
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
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This 1955 color educational film from Coronet, produced in collaboration with educator Margaret Keysler Hill of the Reading Clinic at the State University of Iowa, takes a leisurely look at a father and son’s trip from a farm to a market to sell turkeys, in a soothing short aimed at young audiences whose understanding of the world around them is still taking shape (TRT: 10:13). The film was made roughly a year before President Eisenhower's campaign to install interstate highways nationally.
Opening titles: “A Coronet Film” (0:08). We meet Sammy and his father, farmers taking turkeys to market in a 1940s International KB series pickup truck. Mother waves goodbye to the flannel-clad father and his son (0:33). The truck drives a rural gravel road, with a silo visible in the background. The truck turns onto a paved road (1:12). Passing cars and trucks on a highway (1:50). A Standard gasoline truck in red, with a stencil, “Flammable” (2:22). Sammy’s father passes an auto carrier stacked with new automobiles. Passing trucks. Sammy points out a curve up ahead. Sammy’s father slows down, with a closeup on the speedometer. A 45mph curve sign (2:42). A motorcycle policeman stops the truck to notify the father of low tire air pressure (3:33). Propeller-driven airplanes sit idle in an airfield. A truck stop offers Mobil gasoline (4:12). Stopping the truck, the father gets out in a parking lot. A yellow truck marked, “Interstate Dispatch” parks nearby. The driver rubs Sammy’s head. A Chippewa Motor Freight refrigerator truck (4:34). A smaller refrigerator truck carries Armour brand meats (5:26). The family truck resumes its journey to market (5:50). A passing locomotive engine carrying a train of refrigerator cars, tank cars, and boxcars (6:22). The truck stops to help a disabled vehicle. Sammy meets another young boy. Together, they examine a highway map, charting a trip from Kansas to Illinois (7:01). Other cars pass along the highway. The disabled vehicle is repaired, and both cars return to the road (8:10). POV inside the International KB truck, a sign: “Junction Ahead.” Sammy and his father turn off (9:00). The truck arrives at a market. The turkeys are safe and sound (9:10). Sammy reflects on his travels as narration asks, “What do you see along the highways?” Title card: “The End” (9:40).
Coronet films, frequently satirized for their wooden acting and often dry approach to educational content, operated from 1934 to 1984, producing hundreds of 16mm classroom shorts. They are best remembered for their contributions to the “social hygiene” movement of the mid-20th century.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...
The color in this old film is beautiful. I was born in 1955 and really enjoyed seeing what our county looked like then.
I'm very envious of how people got to see this country less developed with more nature around. Seeing these old videos is a way for me to live vicariously and I enjoy it.
I was born in 1956 but in Los Angeles, which even then was well on its way building the freeway system there. While the Interstate Highway system was just getting started, L.A. already had close to 1,000 miles of multi-lane freeway built around the Basin. I watched I-5 getting built over the Grapevine, and being built between Long Beach and San Diego. Before I-5 San Diego seemed a world away, as State Hwy 1 was the only highway that linked the two before that. Took like 5 hours back then to get from Long Beach to San Diego. After I-5 was built it took like 90 minutes. Each new freeway outside the L.A. Basin had miles and miles of bare undeveloped land on either side of it. I go back down there now and there's practically no place along the freeways that _hasn't_ been developed.
@@briane173 Now it again takes 5 hours to go from Long Beach to San Diego.
@@tomservo56954 😂😂 Yyyyep. SIX if you take I-15 from Murrieta.
9:26 "And how are the turkeys? Fine, because they have no idea that they're about to get up close and personal with a sharp ax."
I’m a 1954 baby. We watched Coronet films in school in the early 60s….great memories. It is nice to relive the sights of a time that’s gone forever….💕
They were still showing them in the early 70s
We watched these in early 1980's school. The world of the 1950's taught the world of the 1980's.
Sammy's dad has a 48-49 International KB series . They were great durable trucks . Our family had one post war .
My best college buddy restored one in the mid '70's. Love that shade of green. I had a new IH Scout pickup in '72. That four wheel drive came in handy on the hills of Dubuque County.
When I was a kid my Dad bought a 1950 International one ton pick up that was almost twenty years old. It was very heavy duty. A few years later he bought a used truck camper, the biggest one made. When the guy who sold him the camper was winding down the jacks to take it off his truck my Dad got worried The guy's truck bed kept going up and up as the weight of the camper lifted. His truck was a Ford 250 3/4 ton. But when the camper was fully lowered onto the bed of Dad's International the bed had only gone down an inch or so.
Dad's truck hauled the camper with ease but it wasn't very fast because of the low gearing. And that included a crawling first gear. Dad use to say that gear could pull a house down.
We had one growing up. It had a crash box transmission with no syncronizers.
@@Modeltnick That's right. I remember that now. I learned to double-clutch on that truck.
@@discerningmind Thanks for your response! I remember having to double clutch that truck. I used to love the sound of the gears; something you don’t here anymore!
A different time... I'm a '56 boomer. The nuances and customs of those times lingered into the early and mid 60s and then were gone in a blur.
you born then, you didn't realize anything till you were about 5
@@west4057
From 1961 on. You might want to look up the definition of nuance (s)
I was born in 60, in a relatively conservative mid sized midwestern metro area. From my earliest memories and as a child growing up, I saw a lot of change very quickly. I know the world was not a perfect place then and I can appreciate some of the things that have made our lives better and easier. But as a whole, the country has gone downhill in just about every way.
When I perfect my time machine I will be out of here in a heartbeat!
Golly, that film sure was swell!
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Well said.
I love the old International truck. I had a 1941 KB2 . Best truck I ever had.
That airport is still around. It's off of route 45 in Cook County IL. One side of the highway is the airport and lots of homes now and the other is forest preserve.
An America and time that no longer exists. Even in Iowa - I lived and had a business in small town Iowa for 21 years, it's changed - a lot. Somethings stood out to me (even though I'd seen this years ago) truck drivers in uniforms, courtesy, helping a stranded driver, a cop advising on a small item, courtesy. Are some of the items incorrect? Yep, but it's a production to make some points, it doesn't have to be accurate to make those point. Those old Internationals were great trucks! Hey, I'm 73 and waxing nostalgic this a.m. But what the heck!
Gee Mrs Cleaver, this is a swell film!
I definitely see a bunch of turkeys driving along the highways. 🦃
To hear the narration, it sounds like its for a 5 year old. When I was 3 I would have loved this. Stopping to help someone on the side of the road is a bygone era. Nowdays someone would pull a gun thinking you were going to rob them.
...when I was about five...my Dad and I would walk a few blocks from home to watch them build I-25 through south Denver along the South Platte River...the locals even called it the "Valley Highway"...
1956?
This is a nice episode of the cars and trucks that usesd the interstate highway and the way trucks stops were in 1955 they became classic automobiles of the past
The interstate highway system didn't exist until 1956.
..."Sammy's father has fixed the engine". ...Without any tools of any kind. Father is smarter than the average Father. Way to go, Father. 😆
Love these beautiful films! Thanks
Hold on there, folks. The other kid points to the map and says we're going East somewhere. Sammy and Dad are following that family, as was the big truck going to Los Angeles. Somebody needs a better map.
I noticed that, too. Not sure if the trucker was lost, or the family. I just hope everyone made it to where they were going:-)
Most people nowadays can't even read a map.
Love the Trucks !!! 👍👍
I enjoy watching this you don’t see no rainbows stickers on any of these vehicles
Who cares?
Sound a bit triggered there
If you "don't see no rainbows," it means you see rainbows.
back when America was "normal"... :) OL J R :)
Steady safe pace plenty of time to get ready for bountiful peaceful Thanksgiving meal...thanks periscope
I think I'll make an extra effort to have a Thanksgiving more like that this year. Sounds nice.
How many turkeys could a pickup truck carry?
Scary watching them go so slow in that old truck with the big trucks going past! Also it was dangerous when he just ran up to the strangers at the truck stop!
I kept expecting Mystery Science Theatre to cut in...
LOL That would be friggin' perfect and hopefully some industrious UA-camr will take this and do exactly that.
Everyone makes out just fine except for those poor turkeys!
Nobody told Sammy that the roads were racist, and that there was no environmental equity. What DID we do before Buttigieg and Thunberg came along?
Those truck drivers are so well dressed. What planet was this filmed on?
Planet 50s
3 speed hat, Chain drive wallet, uniform and clean cut.......Its tough enough today in my super nice Freightliner with air ride everything and AC. Back then, no insulation, no AC, no sleeper and maybe no heat. I have driven no AC trucks in the south and desert....when I was young. Tough then
This was the era when all men wore suits everyday. So work uniforms were just as spiffy.
Reminds me of my family's Big Commute Down I-95 and Parts of I-4.
thanks
Sammy and his Father won't have a farm once the Interstate splits their land in half.
2:25 Never seen 3-D letters on a truck before. Very cool!
3:11 You know that truck is old when 50 MPH is in red on the speedometer.
4:50 OMG! BAD TOUCH!
6:24 Chicago and Northwestern ALCO's?
9:20 That turkey market will soon be history because the new Interstate will bypass it or be a victim of urban renewal.
Won't matter anyway, because Farmer John went bankrupt when he couldn't compete with Agrocombine, Inc., and their 10,000 turkey ranch.
Or when the small local turkey market is bought out by a gigantic meat company conglomerate outsourcing the work elsewhere.
@@skydiverclassc2031 I was about to say, Don't worry -- Dad sold out to Tyson Foods right before the Interstate got built through his property.
WOW !!!! A TRUCK !!!!!!WOW !!!!
Smiling policemen, polite truckers, friendly strangers...what planet is this?
Soon super interstate travellers don't wanna know or take time to help anybody but themselves..darting down interstates with blinders on.. state highway patrol trying nail them good..peace too all thanks periscope
4:28 This is a truck stop. And _these_ are lot lizards. They're here to service the truckers.
Lmfao
4:27 US 41 & IL 176 looks just a bit different in Lake Bluff today
Cop: Your left rear tire looks about 10 pounds low. I'll let you off with a warning...this time.
good thing he stopped the on the way to market, if after they sold the turkeys and had cash in the cab during a search the cops might claim the cash was maybe going to be used for drug money and do a civil forfeiture. Grab the truck too and both Sami gunderson and Mr Gunderson would be hoofing back home to mom.
Before the low tire pressure light era
Today it would be a fine for an unsafe vehicle, a lengthy commercial vehicle inspection, a fine for not having the load tied down and confiscation of the Turkeys for not having their shots and no medical certificate. Then he would have to prove they were his. The way WA state is.....
Sammy's Dad: You'll never take me alive!
@@johnfoltz8183 Those d@mn things don't work half the time anyway... buy a tire gauge for a buck fifty at Walmart and do it the old fashioned way! They can keep the idiot lights... OL J R :)
There was no Interstate highway system until 1956. There were plenty of turnpikes and divided highways that went from state to state. But, strictly speaking, no capital-I Interstate highways.
Join us next week as Sammy learns what an abattoir is…
GEE, GOLLY, SHUCKS !!!!!!!! DARN !
I think that's Nicolas Cage as the motorcycle cop!
I like split windshield.
get an LS into that truck Sammy
Hey! Where's Joel and the Bots?
Push the button, Frank.
Who needs them , they’ve got US writing the comments hehe
now....trucks carry items that are made in China....nothing is made in this country anymore....sadly
"...taking the turkeys to town."
Why does the title include the word interstate? They were not on an interstate highway
The highways kept getting bigger and wider, eight, ten, twelve lanes, it was never enough. And it only takes one reckless or intoxicated driver, one maypop tire to bring the whole thing to a halt.
Unless the NIMBYS kvetch about having to widen the roads and they are left in their obsolete ways.
@@johnfoltz8183 more lanes have never reduced congestion. It’s called “induced demand,” and it has taken several decades to figure out the money scheme of traffic engineers and DOTs.
I have an International KB Stake Rack Die Cast Model Truck in 1/35? Scale in my collection..
Will Sammy and his father ever make it to town with their turkeys?
Sammy might still be alive
The CNW track is probably torn up like thousands of miles of railroad lines on Iowa
Run Spot run! Will Spot make it across the hiway?
For reals....
When I was in school (started '55) I found this crap painful then! It still is. The announcer dumbing us all down by his presentation.
Today's educational films in schools are about why you are not the gender you were born as.
You said it !
Thats when it started now look at this Q morons it worked.
I wonder what happened to Sammy in 2022 ...
0:53 It's funny how both the kid AND his mom sound the same! As the narrator! What are the chances?
2:38 OHHHH I get it now -- DAD is the narrator.
8:13 talk about tailgating. Woah Nelly!!!
I can’t help but wonder if the car was being towed. I looked at it several times and it appears the bumpers are almost touching. It’s hard to tell. 🤷♂️
Lol! Towing in the left lane
More than likely the back car is pushing the front car.
This is some 1955 road rage right here is what you're seeing.
I thought the first car was towing the second car or maybe I was just really HOPING that’s what I saw lol!
kid's don't even know how to use a map today. it's all about the gps today
GPS is a lot easier, more up-to-date, doesn't need folding or someone else to read it as you drive. It also tells you what lane to use on an unfamiliar road. I'm old enough to have used both systems and I'll take GPS over maps any time.
The gps is a map lol
Sugar Plum, GPS is great until it isn't. I have a term for Satnav that gives you a bum steer and you windup in the shit, Scatnav! You should always have a reasonable idea where you are and how to read a map. We still teach navy officers how to use a sextant! I used a map once after Satnav to escape flooding on the road by following contour lines.
@@COIcultist
Yes, you should always have an idea where you are and it's not wasted knowledge learning to read a map, particularly at sea...LOL. However, GPS systems are getting better and better all the time. Only rarely, at least in my case, have I ever been sent on a wild goose, although years ago it did land me smack dab in a sheep field! As an unfortunate individual who has little sense of direction, Google has been a godsend. I can travel with confidence and have my directions read to me in real time.
@@sugarplum5824 Sadly there are a lot of people whom have become dependent on GPS and cannot read a map or know how to find their way.
ahh , heck..gee dad....can we stop for a malt on the way home?
Just as soon as we get to Hill Valley and pick up McFly....
Reminds me of a story Grandpa told me one time... He and Dad paid for the farm by baling small square bales of hay back in the 50's and 60's... hot, dirty work handling hundreds of bales by hand that weighed 75-90 lbs each in 100 degree weather, loading them in an out of barns on and off the truck and trailer. Anyway, they'd delivered a load and stopped to get a soda pop on the way home... no AC in the vehicles back then only air conditioning was open the windows at 50 mph... Anyway they went in this little gas station/roadside store and bought a couple sodas, and there was a poorer guy and his kid came in, and the kid wanted to buy a bottle of Dr. Pepper... the Dad said, "your Mom will MAKE you a Dr. Pepper when you get home..."
Even back then when a coke was a nickel a bottle, some folks couldn't afford it...
Later! OL J R :)
He will need one when dad tells him what really happens to those turkeys at the market !
How God blessed our country...after defeating the Nazi's in WW2
I was a young driver in 1955. It was considered terribly impolite to pass up a car or truck stopped on the shoulder without stopping, if for nothing more than to get help in the next town in those days before mobile phones.
Holy NASCAR tailgater batman!!!! At like 8:10 to 8:16, are we witnessing undocumented 1950s impotent road rage?
I thought so too, but I think it's a tow.
And to make it worse today, people tailgate you with their LED high beams, a portable sun shining right in your eyes.
More than likely the back car is pushing the front car.
Wait, so where are the turkeys going again? To market? I'm not sure.
This little turkey went to market,................
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
_This_ little turkey sold bonds....
I love how the curve sign (03:20) shows a recommended speed of 45 so dad slows to 25. Nowadays such a sign is more often interpreted as meaning 'speed up'.
What was the real purpose of this film?
Government grants to film studios to produce PSA's. You want a tax break for your studio? Then you need to produce some basic educational material like this.
To push the idea for a nation wide network of interstate highways
The purpose of films like this was to educate school children in the days before Internet, mobile devices, satellite and cable TV, and even widespread broadcast television. (About a third of U.S. households still did not have any television set in 1955.)
@@davidfifer4729 Yeah I was in elementary school in the mid-late 70's and films like this were shown quite a bit in school... always enjoyed "film day" regardless of how dated or "sappy" the content might be... this was back then the teacher had to go check out the film from the school library and get the projector cart from the library storage room! Later! OL J R :)
When highways were 2 Lane roads but with faster speed limits 45mph 🤔
this is for age groups from 3 -5....lol
shit...... OUT OF THE WOMB !!!!!
Still neat to see cars and trucks of the era in normal usage.
This was like a first or second grade film in school back then... yeah they kinda pandered to kids back then... spoonfed them stuff... LOL:)
Now they pander to them a totally different way! OL J R :)
One of the truck drivers from Chicago came out of the cab dressed like the Nazi high command. 😁
I was sad to hear about sammy’s brutal murder
He shouldn't have been trying to snuggle that stuff in a turkey truck
Excuse me,why do the people wear hats in the video?😕
To hide the horns on their heads.
@@devally2432 no way really?I never would have known that!welp my parents pretty much said it too or are playing with my head.. but I believe you 😕
@@devally2432 cool pfp btw
Wow how far removed from reality are we ? Being pulled over by a screaming teapot. 🤣
Just a bit of careful editing in of traffic accidents of the time and you could make "The Big Wide Blood On The Highway." out of this.
Wait... okay, that's just weird running across you in comments here too. This roo says hello! Furfolk are everywhere, even in highway video comments.
Gas, time...how much did he sell that turkey for?
I don't know...I wouldn't think you could get that many turkeys in a pickup truck, though.
Gas was probably about 6 cents a gallon back then. So not to worry. Grandpa started farming in '55 and he had 2 8N Ford tractors... he had them converted from gasoline to propane because back then farm gas was 6 cents a gallon and butane was 3 cents a gallon!!! OL J R :)
@@lukestrawwalker Mote like 26 cents a gallon
Irritating with these time-codes in the picture. Otherwise good!
They own and rent these films.
The film’s a lie. There are no curves on the highway in Iowa.
Not so, ever drive from Burlington to Ft Madison?, Curves can be found
Especially since this was actually filmed in Illinois.
Moral: Sammys dad drives like an Asian woman: 0 need for blinkers and mirrors.
Not required at the time but did have a driverside outside mirror. In fact that pickup could still be driven legally on the road today.
@@dwightl5863 Highway Sultan Dwight called it, you heard him here first folks!
LOL I laughed at this because my late wife WAS an Asian woman who drove like an Asian woman. Even when she HAD blinkers and mirrors she didn't use them 🤣
@@dwightl5863 Yes...vehicles don't have to be refitted to meet later safety standards, although many do.
That truck was built before they had to have blinkers... it didn't have blinkers on it. People used to use hand signals instead... pointing right meant you were moving or turning right, pointing up meant you were moving or turning left, and putting your hand straight down palm flat behind you means you were stopping... back before they even had stop lamps on vehicles, but that's WAY back.... They still had these signals in the driver's handbooks in the 70's that you read before you took your driving test because they could be on the driving written test! Later! OL J R :)
It's a real shame this driving advice isn't followed. Perhaps it was once. Who knows.
Life before DemocRats
truck driver grabs his head like a pervert !
Like a Brandon would !
Where are the black people
Happy in their own communities back then
Maybe they saw the curve in the highway and turned around .
Great old films. And it was all powered by fossil fuels!!!!! Drill, drill, drill!!!
wtf?!