- How does 40’s TV compare or contrast with our current television shows?
- Does television reflect what society looks like?
- Compare TV then of TV now.
· Write down some things that were interesting to you from the video.
· What do you think of the commercials and what was most interesting to you?
The History of Television (particularly important to those of you planning on studying communications, media journalism, and/or broadcasting) is quite interesting. How much do you really know about that flat screen you have hanging on your wall? Read the article and link.
Drive-In Theatres: A little history.
Richard Hollingshead, a young sales manager at his dad's Whiz Auto Products, invented something that combined his two interests: cars and movies.
Richard Hollingshead's vision was an open-air movie theater where moviegoers could watch from their own cars. He experimented in his own driveway in New Jersey. Hollingshead mounted a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car, projected onto a screen he had nailed to trees in his backyard, and used a radio placed behind the screen for sound. Clever!
The inventor subjected his beta drive-in to vigorous testing: for sound quality, for different weather conditions (Hollingshead used a lawn sprinkler to imitate rain) and for figuring out how to park the patrons' cars. He lined up the cars in his driveway, which created a problem with line of sight. By spacing cars at various distances and placing blocks and ramps under the front wheels of cars, Richard Hollingshead created the perfect parking arrangement for the drive-in movie theater experience.
The first patent for the Drive-In Theater (United States Patent# 1,909,537) was issued on May 16, 1933. With an investment of $30,000, Richard opened the first drive-in on June 6, 1933 at a location in Camden, New Jersey. The price of admission was 25 cents for the car and 25 cents per person.
The design did not include the in-car speaker system we know today. The inventor contacted a company by the name of RCA Victor to provide the sound system, called "Directional Sound." Three main speakers were mounted next to the screen that provided sound. The sound quality was not good for cars in the rear of the theater or for the surrounding neighbors.
The largest drive-in theater in patron capacity was the All-Weather Drive-In of Copiague, New York. All-Weather had parking space for 2,500 cars, an indoor 1,200 seat viewing area, kid's playground, a full service restaurant and a shuttle train that took customers from their cars and around the 28-acre theater lot.
Please take a look at these clips. Drive in down memory lane...
Clip A.
Clip B.
Science Fiction (or sci-fi)
The Cold War and the fear of nuclear annihilation by the communists is reflected in the many b-films made in the 1950's. Here's a sampling. Enjoy!
Forbidden Planet (1956) (starring Leslie Neilson, this is based on Shakespeare's The Tempest)
The Blob (1958) (starring Steve McQueen)
Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) Ed Wood’s terrible film masterpiece!
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
Attack of the Giant Gila Monster (1959)
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
Ed Wood (Jr.) (10 October 1924 – 10 December 1978) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, actor, author, and editor, who often performed many of these functions simultaneously. In the 1950s, Wood made a run of cheap and poorly produced genre films, now humorously celebrated for their technical errors, unsophisticated special effects, large amounts of ill-fitting stock footage, idiosyncratic dialogue, eccentric casts and outlandish plot elements, although his flair for showmanship gave his projects at least a modicum of critical success.
Wood's popularity waned soon after his biggest 'name' star, Béla Lugosi, died. He was able to salvage a saleable feature from Lugosi's last moments on film, but his career declined thereafter. Toward the end of his life, Wood made pornographic movies and wrote pulp crime, horror, and sex novels. His posthumous fame began two years after his death, when he was awarded a Golden Turkey Award as Worst Director of All Time. The lack of conventional film making ability in his work has earned Wood and his films a considerable cult following.
- Glen or Glenda (1953)
- Jail Bait (1954)
- Bride of the Monster(1955)
- Plan Nine from Outer Space (1956) Written and shot in 5 days! (and it shows!)
Corman has apprenticed many now-famous directors, stressing the importance of budgeting and resourcefulness; Corman once joked he could make a film about the fall of the Roman Empire with two extras and a sagebush.
It Conquered the World (1956)
We will begin screening one of Hitchcock's masterpieces, Rear Window (1954) starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly.
From IMDB: Cast
 | James Stewart | ||
 | Grace Kelly | ||
 | Wendell Corey | ||
 | Thelma Ritter | ||
 | Raymond Burr | ||
 | Judith Evelyn | ||
| Ross Bagdasarian | ||
| Georgine Darcy | ||
| Sara Berner | ||
 | Frank Cady | ||
| Jesslyn Fax | ||
| Rand Harper | ||
| Irene Winston | ||
| Havis Davenport | ||
HOMEWORK: Please read about Samuel Z. Arkoff & the Blueprint for Success. If you did not read about the emergence of television, please do so! Your test is coming up, next week June 12.
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