AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 11-10-2023

that that for that that film ended just as I bit into a sandwich sorry I finish chewing [Music] offline I'm skip Alzheimer welcome to the a Geeks lunchtime streaming show where we watch old 16 millimeter films and today is Veterans Day and Veterans Day is Bittersweet I am not a fan of War I'm not a fan military but my take is um hate the game not the players and um I think that there was a a social contract with uh the people who participated in these battles who served in the military and that we as a country ow um uh the folks that served uh we owe them for the sacrifice that they gave they gave their youth they gave sometimes their health uh their sanity their mental all that stuff so um honor them and I am suspect of anybody any politician who does not realize that it's not about parades it's about giving veterans access to jobs to housing uh and to health care that's that's what it is but my my father and my stepfather both uh served during Vietnam uh my father was on the forest all and uh during uh when the um explosion happened and has PTSD from that um my stepfather was in the Marines and also uh was exposed to a lot of of conflict and has PTSD from that uh both of them um did this as young young adults um because they were on the verge of drafting being drafted or anyhow we got films for you about um all these things uh first we're going to show a film that I've shown before called military life in you and this is interesting because it's made by uh cornet films and it was shown to young people specifically young men who were on the verge of being drafted it came out in the late uh early 50s and so it was like hey has come up with a way to get young people prepared they're graduating from high school and if they're not going to college they might get drafted so here's a whole series of films about what to expect um so here's military life in you [Music] [Music] enjoy [Music] [Music] 1 2 3 4 Caden 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 here's a familiar site in any military installation in the world if you're a young man thinking about what military life is like you're probably thinking you'll be doing a lot of drilling and you will especially in your early weeks of training no matter what branch of service you might get into no matter what other specialized training you receive you'll spend a lot of time learning how to drill and drilling even the ladies do it and do it well you you may have wondered why the Armed Forces put so much emphasis on drilling this isn't the way a modern Army goes into battle so what are they training for now it does look good in a parade but then this isn't what men are being trained for to look good in a parade of course they do look good somehow you know that whatever situation they're faced with they'll give a good account of themselves they'll meet the job and do the job as good soldiers and these men are learning to be good soldiers for one of the main characteristics of military life is discipline with all the other skills a soldier learns discipline which began on the drill field pays off here in the same way discipline learned on the parade ground pays off here when men of many skills must click as a team discipline learned in Camp pays off here discipline learned on the ground pays off here and discipline pays off here when you're on your own and your imagination plays tricks on [Music] you or is it your imagination and you wish you were safe in the rear somewhere and you feel like running away but you don't run away you've got your orders and you stay at your post to protect yourself and your buddies now it's a long way from that Sentry post somewhere over there to this room somewhere in the USA but over here we'll find a boy who may someday be over there this is Kurt Johnson like most boys Kurt takes a dim view of discipline he calls himself a rugged individualist but what does that mean suppose we do a little thinking about Kurt and about you [Applause] is this so-called rugged individualism or is it self-discipline maybe you don't want to get up but you have to be at school on time so you get yourself up and get yourself ready maybe you're in the habit of making your bed and straightening your room maybe you've taken on others responsibilities around the house think about them aren't they disciplines you've accepted to make it easier for your family to live together oatmeal maybe one time you didn't like it but if you learned to like it you practiced self-discipline that made meals go better yes chances are you're under more discipline than you realize of course that rugged individualism may still show through Kurt why hasn't this been fixed yet gee dad I was going to but there have been so many things going ont we had an agreement about this will you come straight home from school this afternoon and fix it gee dad not this afternoon some of the fellas were going down there it's fixed by dinner time tonight or the car stays in the garage tonight God dead well what do you do in a case like that if you snap out of it take it in your stride and do the job that shows you've developed the self-discipline that characterizes a man if you keep on sulking feel sorry for yourself then you've got some growing up to do before you enter [Music] service in service you get up there's no time to fool around with a socalled rugged individualist who's feeling kind of sleepy there are a lot of men here with a lot of things to do your first responsibility is to take care of yourself and your things and do it right good old mom won't be there to pick up after you if you're finicky about your food get over it with a lot of mouss to feed the cooks don't make it fancy just good solid food one thing more about military life you you'll take orders however you reacted that time when dad ordered you to do that repair job in service you'll take orders and carry them out no matter what your assignment is in service you'll take orders every day some orders you'll understand and some orders you won't understand but you'll still follow orders you'll do what you're told when you're told told how you're told and it won't do you any good to protest or complain or feel sorry for yourself some of the orders you'll follow are in the form of rules and regulations maybe like Kurt you've been wondering how you'll get along trying to follow so many rules and regulations well let's think about that will it really be such a new experience haven't you been following rules and regulations all your life and you might as well admit it you know they're necessary what kind of mess would this corner be if people didn't follow the rules you see as long as just one person is involved in something he can do pretty much as he pleases but whenever people get together to do something we need rules and you know what we call a man who doesn't follow the rules he's a poor Sport and the soldier who doesn't follow the rules is a poor Soldier because he shows no respect for uniform regulations you know immediately that this man is a poor Soldier don't you this man wears his uniform with pride take your pick which kind of service man do you want to be military courtesy that's another part of the same deal standing up saluting saying sir these are the ways a military man shows his respect for his superiors think of it much as saying good morning to a neighbor or your teacher or your boss for of course military courtesy is based upon common everyday civilian courtesy in fact military life on the whole is not basically so different from civilian life we learn discipline from the time we're small kids we stick to rules and regulations whenever people have to do things together the rules aren't hard to learn we learn them quick when we need them rules for baseball or for soldiering the important thing to remember about military life is that it's a life for men the best way to get ready for that life is to grow up here's what we mean maybe you'll be ordered out of the game you won't like it but you know it would be childish to get sore or quit so you follow orders discipline self-discipline is the difference between a child and a man and discipline is the difference between a mob and an army discipline which means your Readiness to conform to the requirements of your leaders and your service think it over if you're going into service you'll want to do a good job military life is strict but it's made up of the same elements that enable people to work together in civilian life courtesy and respect rules and regulations right and wrong ways of doing things and so-called rugged indiv idual ISM giving way to discipline and teamwork those are the things that spell out military [Music] life it's fascinating that disclaimer at the end it's like uh uh cornet uh we we claim responsibility for this content we're no other organization is associated this is our take on it so at some point I hope to find out like what was the impetus behind this who was cornet was pretty Savvy in kind of reading what was happening in the Ed educational realm when when they were making uh educational films and it's interesting that this series exists and their competitors encyclopedia branica did not or Centron did not make a series like this like there must have been some reason that they were like well we're going to do this and I feel like they made five or six films uh of which I probably have four uh or so um and I'm hoping in the in the course of us digitizing a bunch of the uh cornet collection that we run across some of the original materials for it and some of the color materials because I think that would be exciting all right so um let's learn about the GI Bill courtesy of the army magazine now this was a series of uh films that were distributed on 16 mm and were shown to uh soldiers um when they were serving uh across everywhere and so this is an example of uh the efficient way that information was distributed and 16mm uh projectors were a big part of that because it were portable uh you could set up anywhere you could run a generator and run one um so here's a a film about the GI Bill the promises that the government is making to Veterans when they muster out [Music] enjoy [Music] back in 1918 these were pretty exciting pictures the fighting men of America coming home from France down Fifth Avenue they marched with their brass shining and grins a mile wide the crowds cheered and waved flags and the doughbys home from chatau TI and Bellow wood planned on picking up their lives just where they'd left them only for a lot of them it didn't work out that way not exactly some of these marching men wanted to go back to school but discovered they didn't have the money others learned the jobs they'd Left Behind were gone or if they were there they didn't want them they wanted something better but for these returning soldiers no legislation had been passed or any program mapped out to give them the break they deserved they got medals but 15 years later some of these men were selling apples on street corners others were known contemptuously as bonus Marchers what about this time Mac are these Navy boys going to get the same sort of deal what about this man who's fought the long tough fight up Italy and has been knocked out what's going to happen to him is it going to be the same for these GIS hitting the beach at saan or the sigfred line or the gothic line or any line that's needed hitting when it's all over is it going to be like last time for them no this time it's going to be different yeah what makes you so sure because in Washington there were a group of congressmen with long memories who were in the last war they knew that when a man gets out of the army or Navy or Marines he's worried most about a job an education and a home and that's why Congress led by the president passed the law the serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 better known as the GI Bill of Rights and to make sure it works a Veterans Administration is already busy in Washington with General Frank Hines in charge sounds all right sounds great in fact but I'm from Missouri you got to show me brother happy to let's take a typical example ex Le we'll call this Corporal who saw action in Italy Vic Jones here he's signing his name to one of the most important documents of his career his honorable discharge after that he bucks his last GI line to get his mustering outp pay everybody get the same pay no the amount depends on the length of a man's service $100 for the man who's only worn a uniform 2 months 200 for the gis who served here here in the states more than 60 days and $300 for the soldier who's been overseas like Jones he gets 100 now another 100 in a month and the last 100 in two months pretty nice huh after all a 100 bucks is a lot of bucks I'm not complaining so far but changing over from a GI to a civilian costs money by the time a guy has bought himself a new outfit and looked around trying to remember his saluting Days Are Over most of his do is pretty well shot what happened s that's where the GI Bill of Rights comes in Jones by law like every discharged Soldier must report back to his draft board there if he wants his old job back he finds out if he's eligible and how to go about it but suppose his ex- boss doesn't want to give him back his old job if necessary the local draft board will get the United States Attorney to go to batf for the Corporal at no cost and his ex- boss will have to rehire him for at least a year if not at his his old job then one with equivalent seniority status and pay not bad not bad but what about the guy who was unemployed before he entered the Army and what about a guy like Jones here who wants a better job than when he went in the United States employment service has 1500 officers throughout the country with a special veterans employment representative to assist ex soldiers in fighting the right job but what if the right job doesn't turn up so fast and he's unemployed for a while then like T here who's eligible he receives unemployment insurance $20 a week up to a maximum of one year depending on his length of service or take the case of a man like Albert folk who goes into his own business after he's discharged if things are a little slow in getting started and he's earning less than $100 a month then through the GI Bill of Rights he receives a check each month making up the difference you said something about an education what about a man like Sergeant Brown here who's just been let out before the Army got him he was going to school now he'd like to go back Veterans Administration offices have been set up in every state and it's here the ex Soldier goes if he wants to continue his education under the GI Bill of Rights all he has to do when interviewed is prove that he was not over 25 when he entered the service or show that his education was interrupted you mean he can get any kind of education he wants now you're getting the idea any kind of education and in any part of the country High School trade school College University the ex Sergeant after Consulting the Veterans Administration decides he wants to go to New York University and here he calls on the registar who also serves as a veterans adviser Brown tells the registar what he'd like to do the courses he'd like to study then don't tell me I know the GI Bill of Rights looks at after the money end too that's right tuition is taken care of funds are provided for laboratory fees books supplies and equipment are included through the GI Bill of Rights the government pays Sergeant Brown's School up to $500 a year while Brown gets $50 a month for subsistence if he were married he gets 75 for how long depending on the length of service a veteran can go to school from 1 to 4 years if the ex solders already completed college and wants to take a postgraduate course such as law there's nothing to stop him oh yes one more point every Soldier or sailor should remember that refresher and retraining courses are open to everyone regardless of age if a man wants to he can brush up on his training or plan to take new courses nice house isn't it sure it's nice and if I'm lucky after I get out in 5 or 10 years I'll have one pretty much like it well George Tobin just driving in didn't have to wait any 5 or 10 years as soon as he got out of the Navy he applied to the Director of Finance Veterans Administration in Washington and they were able to help him get a loan by guaranteeing it up to $2,000 of course George like every veteran had to meet certain conditions prove he was a reliable citizen but he was able to do that all right I guess I was all wrong about it being like last time but wait a second what about the beautiful blonde don't tell me the GI bill of rights guarantees every returning service man one of those too no that's still up to the veteran just as it's up to him to take advantage of the GI Bill of Rights and not expect the government to come after him the GI Bill of Rights is not a reward or a handout or a gravy train but rather an American way to make it easier for each man to take his place once again in the community and get some of those things for which he went to war a job a business an education a [Music] whole um yeah like it just reeks the socialism reeks of it like how dare we uh invest in this vast uh amount of people who serve for the country and serve to protect our democracy how dare we invest in that by giving them um an education and uh helping them acquire a home all that stuff that's horrible what a horrible thing that is uh and I think we uh we're experiencing dividends from that horrible thing that happened there's uh a lot of housing that was built because of that there was a lot of people that were able to transition uh and get educated in trades and skills um the educational film industry was all filled uh and grew because of veterans who served in the Army signal Corps uh they were camera people and they got out of school got out of the military and were like wow you know we uh educational films 16 MIM films are a very efficient way to get information uh out into the world um and we should build a company that does that for schools and make money off of that uh likewise there was a surplus of audiovisual equipment that the military had and they gave them to schools much to the complaints of bell and Halal and Amo and all these other entities who were like no wait you're cutting into our business it's like well guess what you made a bunch of money uh with these military contracts like but it helped grow uh what we do with avgeeks basically was uh because because of these post-war uh things that happened all right uh this next film it's long but it's it's fascinating uh it's called easy out and it essentially uh is a cautionary tale for people in the military who are looking to get a dishonorable discharge to get out um rugged individualists who are like I want out of this chicken outfit like what can I do and so this basically is it shows a person who did that and then all the horrible things that happened to them um it's it's really kind of interesting now unfortunately you know sometimes people get got desirable discharges because of things that were kind of beyond their control uh as far as mental issues uh substance abuse issues other things um that led to them getting kicked out and then their their life was also so very miserable so here's easy [Music] out [Music] yes Judy go see who at the door okay mommy hi uh Mrs FP live here uhhuh oh Mommy T she got a sign for it dear these things scare me so where's it from I don't know lady just sign here oh thank heavens he's all right Judy he's all right and he's coming home see momy I feel weak sign here please oh arriving tonight on 6:00 just charged yesterday tell Mary love Paul I haven't heard from my boy in so long and since he went into the service I'd be frightened to death of telegram yeah thanks going to stay home for good now Mommy yes we're good Judy thank God and can we have a party and go down the train and everything and everything oh look it's late uh you run down to Bernett and tell Mary and tell her we'll expect her here for dinner I'll call Dad okay all right my brother's coming home oh Judy stop at vetom and get some chicken I'll call him and tell him what I want I'll get Uncle deck and Aunt NAA too oh Judy I tell Mr Coleman to save me two quarts of ice cream oh Mommy I want to go all right go ahead hello Fred elen SE Fred what do you think Paul he'll be here tonight yes he's being discharged and he's coming home why it isn't even inide yet it kept telling you mother we have plenty of time is the train going to be late daddy do just about now dear well I hope we haven't forgotten anything Mary you were a dare to help out glad I could never could have done it without you and you being so calm and all of course she isn't much excited about his coming home how soon you're going to have a wedding in the family now Mary Uncle Jeff please stop what TR my de don't know that it is dear let's go in and check and see if it's on schedule okay I hope he isn't late dinner's all ready reminds me Mary of when your dad and me came home from France in 1918 did we have a time so I've heard not about this you haven't now dick don't stop making up things about Mary's day is he coming down to the station Mary no he has a legion meeting but he said for PA the come on over after coming he's coming the's [Music] coming I when there [Music] d d [Music] you look B PA are you all right well sure Mom how about your bag son that's all I've got with me well how does it feel to be out huh great what do you think but why haven't you rid you've been so worried PA where's your uniform why AR you wearing it well yes where is it well I thought I'd like to wear civy bir change that's all certainly a lot we have to catch up on oh my yes oh Paul we're going to have a party chicken ice cream and all our favor mother really had a good dinner didn't she mother does a well here's to well here's to the returned Warrior and the timely custom that only the brave deserve the fair we'll all drink to that Paul why don't you finish up that last piece of chicken do you good put on a little weight here you go no really I couldn't I'm I'm stucked well you've hardly eaten anything the matter don't they teach you to eat in the service anymore that's something we really learned I'll bet you ate plenty of good service food eh son no The Cook's ruin it besides I don't give you time enough to eat work drill scrub poor Paul funny I thought we fed our servicemen pretty well these days they watch over you every minute rules regulations you never get a chance to do what you want to do but Paul we all have to live by rules we've got rules down at the shop but we get along all right don't bother the poor boy tonight Fred oh Paul I saw Mr Sun on the street this afternoon when I went down to tell Mary and he says that anytime you wanted a job to come down and see him what doing did he say I said said Paul's going to college Mr Sutton on his GI Bill Paul and Mar worked it all out before he went away maybe I will go down and see him I said maybe he's even going to be a lawyer you mean not go to school son you know I might get a better deal at the factory more money you know not more than a lawyer Paul certainly wish I'd had a chance to go to college with the government paying your way Paul you wouldn't pass that up I don't know maybe school's a lot of work but I thought we I know but I changed my mind can a guy change his mind once in a while young lady it's way past your bedtime up you go oh please mama just this once I want to see Paul you can see Paul all you like tomorrow J it is late maybe we should start Paul dad's waiting up to say hello okay say good night and up you go good night night good night good night Dar I'm so glad you're home Paul so am I Kido and when you come tell the kids at school about where you've been and all just like the other kids Brothers do well sure kiddo we'll try and fix it okay good night good night good night dear dinner was delicious thanks so much well thank you tell Mary I'd never have done it without you certainly was good here the keys son okay good night good night dear good night good night and remember you two I expect you to take her straight [Laughter] home wait a minute don't go in yet but dad's waiting I can see the light let didn't wait another couple of minutes I've been waiting a lot longer than that why didn't you write darling we've been so worried I told you I I was busy I didn't give us time you always found time before well I I had different Duty you know things change yes I do know people change too meaning what PA you you're different you've changed somehow how well I don't know you nothing I'm just tired I guess let's go in dad wants to talk to you about joining the legion he's District Commander now you know when he takes it all so seriously yeah big wheel he's trying to get everyone coming out of the service now to join up you'll make a big hit if you say yes I can imagine come on Paul hey wait a minute you know before we go in maybe there's something you should know something your old man might not go for what you see I I got out before my hitch was up in chelis no what do you mean well on the books I still got nearly 4 months to go well how did you manage to do that it's simple if you know your way around ever hear of a BCD no what is it it's an easy out if you and the military don't mix that fits me exactly what do you mean Paul what did you do I haven't done anything don't give me that tone I just got fed up and wanted out it's military stuff for the birds I overstay leave a little they give me a rough time I well I just didn't like it I found out if you follow up often enough even on little things they toss you out so that's what I did you mean you got into trouble on purpose just little things nothing much why won't dad like it you know these outfits like the legion they're pretty sticky you got to have a white ticket what's the white ticket honorable discharge and what have you got I told you BCD what does that mean bad conduct discharge Paul your mother and father know about this no they wouldn't understand i' bother them is this why you didn't write yeah as a matter of fact it is you see I I had to do some time I didn't want them to find out about it I see for God's sake say something you act like I've committed a crime or something it's because I'm smarter than these other suckers what did you say who heard me two of those suckers happen to be my brothers I didn't mean them they get along all right in the service well so what I don't like it stop yelling at me I'll yell all I like not at me you won't let me go look Mary just because I want to get out of the service before my time was up why should you everybody else serves this time well I smartened up you sure did too smart for me yes Mr Sutton there's a Mr Elon to see you Paul Elon yes that's right well send him in come right in well Paul welcome home awfully glad to see you what's good to be back I ran into Judy yesterday and she told me the good news she sure is proud of her brother yeah she she mentioned seeing you said something about a job that's right here sit down Paul sit down thanks I I thought you said something about your going to college well I I've been thinking about it but there's no hurry I I thought I'd look around first sure well we've got some openings some pretty good ones too and we can go over all that the starter uh fill out this form here okay what I would suggest is that we try to arrange on the job training for you what's that oh didn't you know since you're a veteran the government will pay part of your salary while you learn a new job oh yeah they they did say something about that you get better training that way and you take home more money which I guess is okay with you huh yeah sure we do that with all the returning vets now well how does it work you just go down at the post office with your discharge papers there's a VA representative there once a week the day is his day I uh suggest you go down there right away okay I'll do it post office you said that's right then come on back here and we'll be all set huh [Music] okay so Mr Sutton thought I should come down and see you first good that's what we're here for got your papers with you yeah okay wait a minute I guess I didn't understand Elon what do you mean you've got got a bad conduct discharge here given by a general court how do you expect to get GI benefits not even this uh on the job training thing afraid not as I understand it you don't get anything state or federal well I I knew I couldn't go to school no no on the job training no bonuses or educational benefits no home or business loans nothing I see the services give a man a pretty fair trial we find they don't pass these things out without good reason well what about getting this thing changed in 6 months I heard something about writing to Washington well you can write to Washington but getting it changed is another matter these things are never changed without good cause you think you got a fair shake well I you got a fair trial didn't you yeah you Council to represent you see that all your legal rights were considered that there was no Prejudice yeah I I guess so I well then and I doubt Elton that under the circumstances something will want to take you into his Factory here why not well this is outside my baileywick you understand but let me ask you would you take on a man with a BCD I don't know it depends that's it it depends on a good deal a BCD is a danger flly it suggests a man's unreliable or irresponsible that's the problem you have to face once you get one of these things it stays with you well I I guess I'll live through it some guys aren't so particular I hope you'll find it that way send in your papers if you like we'll do what we can though I doubt it'll help much no skip it I'll get by okay I hope so Elon good luck anyway thanks Paul you old son of a guy Charlie how's it guy great I'm great I heard you were back when'd you get in just yesterday oh and first thing you hot put it down to the VA with your hand off boy you haven't changed a bit I don't know how about yourself I finished up school on the GI Bill and now I'm buying a farm no kiding yeah the winter place I just came in to fix up the loan and uh you'll have to come on and see us sometime well I I I'd like to but I'm going to be sort of busy so I I don't oh that's right you're going into the factory I hear who told you that Miss Sutton I just ran into him the news travels fast around here boy sure does I'll try and get out okay do that and uh remember me to your folks yeah sure so long [Music] well love Here's To The Returned Warrior just like the other kids Brothers do what do you mean Paul what did you do I ran into duty yesterday and she told me the good news she sure is proud of her brother do your mother and father know about this would you take on a man with a be I get along all right in the service new TR B around here boy you mean you got into trouble on purpose you got a fair trial didn't you everybody out the time boy you haven't changed a bit well you're different youve changed someh help poor Paul Paul oh [Music] a BCD is a danger flag once you get one of these things stays with you [Music] [Music] [Music] wow they laid it on pretty thick pretty thick uh and that was 54 when that came out uh which meant that this was post War II and so this is uh Korean folks who were uh potentially drafted and then had to uh um yeah so this is a way to kind of close that Gap make people uh ashamed and realize what they're losing if they get an easy out um so and what's unfortunate is in the real life situation I'll reiterate uh the reason that they might have gotten a dishonorable discharge uh might have been because they needed help because they needed help because of PTSD because of uh emotional issues thing other things that made it difficult for them and so when they came out of the military uh it was a rough road for them especially rough like all those things have been disconnected and so um yeah anyways Ellen Burston I'm looking at the comments someone said that Ellen Burston was in that yeah um we'll have to look that up um anyhow uh thanks for tuning in today I know the message today was a little heavy but it's Veterans Day and so it's time to kind of reflect on the sacrifices that uh veterans have made for us um and not just people who lost their lives serving the milit milary but people who are still around like how you can support them and I really think that a guide a way you can support them Beyond you know emotional and support is to actually uh see who you're voting for and make sure that they recognize the the importance of veterans and what they've done and what they've contributed uh Etc and that there are some Scoundrels who do not respect veterans uh and are eager to send them to war but not eager to help them on the other end of it um so um that's all I'm going to say I'm going to soapbox a little bit but just you know thank a veteran by voting to support them and uh that's that anyways love you guys uh I'm going to be out of town all next week because I'm going to a film conference uh Amia is in Tulsa Oklahoma so I'm going there and I'm presenting on different things and doing different things uh but so it'll be a lot of pre-recorded stuff but maybe we'll try to get some uh other archists on there like we did last year um so yeah but I'll see you uh we'll still do shows and I'll still show you stuff etc etc uh everybody have a great rest of your weekend um and uh we will see you soon uh hit the thumbs up the like button and if you like what we do watch more a Geeks uh videos on the YouTube channel enjoy bye for