AV Geeks Lunch with Devin (7-3-2020)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] will you please go out the garage and see if you can pry Carl away from that four-wheeled month just so you'll come in and eat I've called him three times okay dear he's really in a world all his own when he starts working on that car he's going to wear it out taking it apart and putting it together again I thought he had it running perfectly Betty half the fun of owning your first car is working on it and trying to get it run better you go on and put the food on I'll bring him in [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay Carl let's get going Supper's ready your mother's getting impatient I'm getting hungry I'm sorry dad I wanted to finish this before I came in but I guess it's a bigger job than I figured hmm well frankly you know when when you bought this wreck guy I didn't figure you'd ever get it going under its own power again oh man I'm gonna have one of the greatest cars in Central High just where you I finished with this well your mother's gonna be finished with us if we don't get going let's go son [Applause] [Music] thank you you better hurry dear you're going to be late the church I'm not Tony my mom isn't there a youth group meeting well yes but see I've got a ministry building my carburetor before I go anywhere where you were getting to church every Sunday night long before you ever thought of owning an automobile and besides aren't you secretary not cuz I want to be it's a girl's job it's your job you were elected well somebody else can take minutes tonight I've got to finish that carburetor besides I have to work tomorrow after school and then study tomorrow night last night you just had to drive over to Joe's and besides it seems to me you missed last week's meeting - mother's not gonna ruin my life just to miss a couple of Sunday night meetings of course not son but the church and everything it stands for has always been important to our family now if you're too busy for church maybe you better consider giving something up like your job after school well if I quit that how would I earn enough to keep my car up that's a good question when your mother and I gave you permission to buy a car we didn't think it would take quite so much money or so much of your time either we want to be sure that you have enough time for the things that really count okay dad look this will be the last time I'll skip the youth meeting I promise I just gotta get that carburetor finished up tonight well alright but after tonight first things first enough said sure and thanks when you finish that tire I've got a grease just for you okay [Music] hey mr. swell meeting last night yeah I'm sorry look you dad somebody get the minutes okay oh yeah Ruth took some notes for you I'll be there next time yeah we had a real good talk from a missionary he sure gives you something to think about and I never thought of it that way before I mean I mean the way he put it he says there's a difference between what we think we need and what we really do need well I think I know what I need new fuel pump you got stolen the way to school this morning oh we got one in stock not go payday unless maybe you're giving away for free you too huh yeah I need new points and plugs but you gotta wait Wow another week or so a year and all I have the money Oh will you see what I'm gonna do to my car hey we missed you last night yeah what gives bail what is this agreements committee no it's not a bad idea oh here's another tip for you yeah I was just telling them what are you missed I'll be there next Sunday well really well we stopped by for is to remind you of our executive committee meeting Wednesday night we're meeting at the church wondering if you're going to be there Wednesday yeah I guess uh-huh and you will get those minutes right another midori I am I'm just a visitor [Applause] hi hey does this time-travel wolf-whistle little work on my heat I don't seem to be getting any results now I can understand why that thing wouldn't even me a good moose call Oh anyway what the matter was soon Oh her mother corralled her for a shopping tour what's going on we're just talking hey your other racing cams working oh great hop in I'll give you a demonstration but a real rocket feels like okay how about giving missing me a lift down to the church the church well what gives this is Monday we're getting out the announcements for next week's meeting you know you kids are wasting postage mailing those things to me every week why don't you lay off because maybe someday you realize we mean it come on let's go oh stop by tomorrow see about that whistle Edison why don't you drop by the house tonight yeah I got something I want to talk to you about anyway right after supper good okay let's go [Music] maybe you're the one that ought to get him in our youth group no chance just got his own ideas no that's all the more reason we gotta get him in the group well I gotta finish this job I'd be glad to advance you some money for an emergency but it dad I'll pay you back next week when Dave pays me my check that's not the point everything you make and everything you're going to make next week you want to spend on this car you just can't do it you've got other responsibilities too I understand how you feel I remember when I had my first car but you just can't let it completely take over your life I know dad and I guess I don't have to remind you that you've been forgetting the chores around the house look I'll get to him tonight and what about your studies you haven't been hitting the books very strongly I know look I'll be right here [Applause] hi Josh hi Joe see you in the house son Carl you know sue don't you oh sure hi sir hop in I'll show you how the new cams work I'd like to but uh well I'm kind of in a jam I get shorts and stuff maybe that's not all you're in a jam about what does that mean I was gonna tell you this afternoon at the shop I got called into that grade counselor today you're flunking yeah they just like to beat me over the head every so often gives me something to do but while I was there I saw something on the desk I am what your name and your records no kidding so don't be surprised if you get called in to Wow that's all I need but my folks thought that my grades were slipping that are relax maybe it's nothing come on I'll run you around the block sure come on Carl why I told my dad I'd be right in it a little pressure you'll study better let's go besides the way you look your dad will be wondering what's bugging you okay [Music] there he goes again and after our talk with him about first things first what happened to him he's changing so he'd always been pretty sensible about everything ever since he got that car you well if I wanted to make light of it I I'd say he had car fever but I don't feel like joking about it when I see him completely losing his perspective his Christian convictions are certainly being tested and right in how he's really flunking Penn after paying all our bills we have fifty two dollars and six cents left in the Treasury of course twenty dollars of his still earmarked for next payment on the missions pledge that's a fine report Ruth thank you yeah thanks well I guess that about winds it up for tonight except for the minutes which Carl doesn't have I just didn't seem to have the time but I'll have them all up to date next meeting did you have anything more about oh yeah there is one more thing we have to take care of before we go I got a phone call from Mary Kent this afternoon she's supposed to leave the meeting Sunday night she's gonna be out of town so it looks like one of you will have to pinch-hit for how about you Erin or you Pete well maybe you Larry and I could work out something together huh Larry yeah fine Carl you want to help us oh yeah I'm just too busy you know working after school and working on my car you know what since your colors are so wrapped up in your cars and you spend so much time on them why don't we use that for a discussion topic for next Sunday's meeting um how to own a car and still be a Christian or something like that say now I think Ruth has an idea then yeah that just stop and think of it take joking for instance oh yeah in suit can't much he's told me car can be a problem in more ways than one and how do you talk about Church and being a Christian the kids like that I mean about the only thing Joe ever listens to anymore is the sound of his motor how do we compete I was reading the other day where a survey showed that when fellas in their junior year got cars the majority of them developed lower or failing grades wow I knew it was bad but I didn't know was that bad well doesn't that depend on the kid I mean maybe these people were poor students in the first place the same article mentioned that a number of parents groups put their foot down and said they would no longer allow their children to own automobiles while they're still in high school well that sounds Karam ruff well you have to admit that when a teenager gets a car some happens they become a lot more mobile for one thing they run around a lot let things slide and they spend a lot of money on their cars no you know car gives a fellow feeling of real independence you know having your own set of wheels in that well it's true but look when kids spend practically all they earn in their part-time jobs just to keep the car going now they're probably spending more than their money and time will allow it costs a lot to put a car in good shape oh you said it yeah but what about the pressures around school you know a kid is just a nobody unless he has his own car that's a good point but really the best way to be as somebody is to be the best somebody that God wants you to that's why this whole business of cars is so important having a car isn't a sin but if having a car causes a person to neglect his own spiritual growth and well look you can see a crumpled fender right but you can't always see the damage done to a person's spiritual life by overdoing it with a car or anything else but the damage is there nevertheless well I think we have our discussion topic for next Sunday Bob why don't you bring in some of those things you mentioned here tonight and Larry you and I have to get together and work out some good discussion questions and Ruth why don't you plan the worship I was thinking maybe we could plan out a panel discussion or how about setting up a a mock trial or oh well we have to work on now unless there's something else I guess that about wraps it up for tonight good night Bob good night Carl could I see you from it tonight sure good night Larry Carl there was nothing personal tonight those remarks I made about teenagers and cars but I couldn't help but notice you seemed a bit well uncomfortable you're not getting yourself in the jam with your car you nothing I can't handle you know Carl you have changed in some ways since you got your car huh what do you mean well it's hard to be specific but well take the minutes prisons the last four meetings we haven't had our minutes written that oh I don't mean to imply that attending meetings and keeping minutes up-to-date or all there is to being a Christian far from it but yeah it could be an indication of something you know I have been busy I'm sorry I don't mean to sound as though I'm bugging you but I just don't want that car to prevent you from becoming the best person that God wants you to become it's you are interested in Carl out the car see when a fella begins to drift away from his commitment to Christ he's in real danger of cutting himself off from the Holy Spirit from fellowship with God gives him strength to live day by day the way God wants him to live from spiritual strength to choose the right things from Christian friends to back him up [Music] I sure it's slower on here today yeah hey Carl uh-huh what's uh what's he eating it nothing oh come on level with me I mean the way you acted at the meeting last night and here today no you just not yourself old buddy is there something I can do thanks Larry but there's nothing you can do no something is wrong though yeah counselor is sending a note home to my parents about my grades I've been trying to figure out what to do when they get the bad news well you always got good grades I did until now I guess I just haven't been hitting the books enough well my folks find out you do have something to worry about yeah is there any way I could help I mean we could get together and study or something well thanks Larry but that won't help me now naturally we're disappointed that you've neglected your studies like this and let your grades take such a tumble but I think we're even more disappointed that you didn't come to us and tell us about this in the first place I didn't think it was really that serious yeah it's only temporary y'all get my grades back up but Carl this is your senior year you know how important it is all your plans for college and everything you you can't just throw that out the window don't worry yeah you know I'll work everything out I I guess I just haven't been trying hard enough did anybody slips up occasionally you know I'm not the only one to get a notice sent home it happened to a lot of other kids we're not the parents of a lot of other kids but we are responsible for you now what are you plan to do about this are you gonna build these grades back up again I work out something that Dori everything will be fine can I can I go now I think we'd better be a little more specific than that son I could be studying this is more important than studying right now so [Applause] do you think it's your car you know you make it sound as if the car is to blame for everything yeah I really think you're making too big a deal out of this whole thing what do you want me to do go back to riding a bicycle that might be better than walking what do you mean I'm afraid you're not gonna have the choice between a bicycle and a car your choice is gonna be between a bicycle and walking what about my car the car stays in the garage for a while you mean I'm grounded the car is I'm sorry son but I'm afraid it's gonna have to stay there until you can prove to us that you understand the responsibilities of owning an automobile [Music] [Applause] yes oh no a Carl's not sick he's in school are you sure yes yes I will of course hello this is mrs. verdict may I speak with my husband please yes I'll wait Arthur are to be the attendance clerk just called and Carl is not in school his car no I haven't looked but you don't think he all right hang on just a minute I look [Music] I'm sorry mr. verdict but I don't know where Carl could be I mean I was surprised when he didn't show up to school today well I figured maybe he had to stay after school and he didn't show up for work well I thought maybe you might have heard from him not like Carl to go off like this without letting someone know where he is I know he was pretty well upset last night when we had to ground him but I really didn't think he'd go to this extreme well maybe he's off someplace by himself trying to figure things out maybe so well if you hear anything I'd certainly appreciate it if you give me a call oh sure we'll let you know right away yeah we sure will thanks a lot all right mr. Purdy now what do you suppose that kids gone and done [Music] [Applause] [Music] Dave's Auto Center car where in the world are you I'm calling from Webster Junction what are you doing out there everybody's looking for you my fuel pump ke baad is there any chance you can sent out a new one with someone maybe with Joe Keene you said he was gonna stop by after school you take it out of what I got coming I oughta take it out of your hide your folks are worried sick what are you trying to prove I'm not trying to prove anything I just had to have some fresh air well how about it can you send out a pump with Jill well alright alright I'll send out some help sit tight Larry I try that Karl [Music] thanks Larry I appreciate the help sure [Music] [Applause] remember when I had my car in the backyard all last June working on it yeah well I was just an excuse my parents had granted me you're kidding no they lowered the boom oh yeah I didn't want anybody else to know well what why did they do it well they thought I was heading for trouble and well you remember how I tore around when I first got my car yeah you were really making history I was also making a first-class jerk out of myself I thought that having my own set of wheels automatically made a big man out of me and nothing else really mattered I want to so bad to be somebody but I forgot just about everything else well my parents tried to show me how the car was getting in the way of a lot of other things but I couldn't see it so they took away my driving privileges so I'd have to think about it well why is it that you never told anybody well I wasn't exactly proud of myself especially when I realized what I've actually been doing I was putting the car at the center of my life making it more important than anything else even more important than my commitment to Christ I I guess that's what Bob Hall was trying to tell me the other night at church well I had to learn the hard way it happens all the time to lots of kids and I guess that's one of our biggest temptations is just not putting first things first frankly I'm glad my parents lowered the boom on me and I think you should be glad your parents did it too [Music] what do you suppose it's keeping and why doesn't he come home it's probably taking them longer than they figured putting in that fuel pump [Music] what are we going to say to him when he does come back that depends a lot on Carl himself [Music] [Music] well son I'm sorry you better keep these for a while I I guess I have some more growing up to do son you're well on your way to becoming a man when you can admit that I guess it's never easy to admit you've been wrong no it's not boy that's another mark of maturity I just don't know how I get so turned around but you figure a guy who's been raised in a Christian home or Christ has always been put first suddenly letting other things become so much more important oh it's okay now am i I think I'm getting things back into focus these car keys when do you think I should give them back I guess we'd better wait till I get a few things straightened out at school at church with my friends and with myself [Music] [Applause] [Music] you hello everybody.welcome I'm skip Alzheimer this is our AV geeks lunchtime streaming event we've been doing this since mid-march watching films from our archive that last film was car fever which was made by family films and family films were making Christian educational films almost this series is almost like a TV series and that you have these families that are coping with different situations and this one of course was their sons of obsession with a car and how that was driving him away from being a good Christian and how they reconciled it you know I guess it was kind of looking at the fact that that teen boys love to get cheap cars and try to fix them up and that was their obsession so I'm happy today to have with us I'm going to switch over to zoom here have with us dr. Devin or Geron who is a professor emeritus at NC State film studies and a longtime friend say hi Devin hello skip we known each other since 2003 2002 yeah yeah he's like showed up at a film show I was doing at a local gallery and you introduced yourself and we've had a long truthful friendship sense where we've done interesting projects together worked on different different things that you were doing you kind of gave us gave me a little academic star which I didn't have because she gave some legitimacy to what I did which I'm sure gave me Street credit awesome a guy and nebbish with 27,000 stones can give somebody those years I think you came to my class or my various classes and in fact were essentially like a co-teacher for one of my classes for a long time so it was we've collaborated a whole bunch yeah no it was really great and now you were in California living the high life so to speak yeah and the humidity has kicked in here and do you guys even have humidity where you are no maybe in our pool it's really I there are days when they're like oh it's eight percent humidity I'm like and they're complaining and like oh my god there's nothing but we we had your partner on a couple of weeks ago Melissa diamond and she was talking about a project she was working on and it made sense I'm like well I've known Devin longer so I need to have him on at some point and so I let you kind of come up with some ideas about what types of films from my collection you wanted to watch and you you picked inventors technology and tinkerers why did you pick that I print the primary reason is that at the end of this month had the word situation what's call it not not sort of turned out the way it did we were scheduled to have a symposium in Bucksport Maine called the Northeast historic film summer symposium and it was going to be you know the very end of July the beginning of August and the thematic this year for that symposium was kind of the thematic of our chat today it was focused on invention and tinkerers and technology and the idea was that you could kind of wrap into that a sort of show-and-tell with other fellow film nerds that would maybe share some of their small-gauge film technology and film inventions and things that kind of led to the history or blended with the sort of known history of cinema and so that was the idea and I'm you know just sort of in the background of all this I'm also just a lifetime fan of invention and I was I don't know if you watched this but in the 70s I was addicted to shows like real people and that's incredible and I especially loved the profiles they had with just weirdos that were building things in their garages yeah and so I just thought it a fun way to celebrate that spirit especially because a lot of us are now tinkering more than we usually do in building things I just found real people on there's a site called to be TV yeah and they have the entire run of real people that is dangerous information yes I watched the first episode it's a little raw but it's it's still really amazing because yes I it was also of that age where I loved watching stuff like that so I showed car fever so it seems like the the logical tranche and transition would be into this film which is called Bates car sweet as a nut yep and it is an odd odd odd thing I apologize like for some reason zoom was only showing me and I've now made it to where it shows both of us for some reason so there was a lot of you talking to me just going nodding so I apologize you're a really highly skilled matter well and also I have like 10 windows open on this machine right now so it's hard to keep track of what's going on so okay so this is a National Film Board of Canada film but I think that guy is actually based in UK I can't remember but this is one of those wacky inventors this is like I said Bates car sweet is a nut [Music] mr. gates what do you think of that system of yours go to Sammy come back to this shop and I'll point yes it is very cheap very simple and very easy for the only man in the street to understand nothing complicated about it and there's a lot of things it cuts out the pollution it's very cheap to install [Music] well it's the only thing possible when the battle goes anyway Harold Bates is an inventor for 17 years he's been driving along the lanes of Devon in a car powered by methane gas it's a standard car modified by a simple converter he's invented and he makes his own methane gas from barnyard mignon now this is the material but methane gas is made from in nature it's rotted down they takes some thousands of years to form natural gas or methane gas it's all the same thing but to do a quick thing on it and to form which instead of thousand viewers to forms in a week's time I use manures on the best type of menu our client for setting the thing off quickly and producing gas within a week there's a mixture of pig manure poultry manure straw and water once the thing is set up any other kind of manure can be added to it and the digested is filled the pig manure forms heat and a poultry manure forms nitrogen and the water forms hydrogen with straw form of Carl but I won't eat ingredients together cause the bacteria in the manure to get to work they first consume the oxygen from the water this leaves hydrogen and then all those bacteria get to work on the hydrogen and form it into methane gas now then after about a week at 70 degrees Fahrenheit the gas begins to come off because producing 25 pounds per square inch pressure of gas to make sure it is producing gas I am I light up the bouncing burner the gas is going through water this is just to clear any writing you from them in Europe there's a gas being produced now let know this gas so I turn it off the gang from the diet yes and connect the pipe from the diner on to the compressor now the other end of the part from the compressor is connected to the gas bottle you see so what we do now is to start up the compressor which draw the gas from the digested and pumps it into the gas bottle then we take the gas bottle and put you in the boot of the car connects it up to my gas converter with them enables a car browser to use either gas or petrol by switching from one fuel to the other when you're running on methane gas you have a high octane gas about hundred and twenty seven you can't make an engine knock on it you can start up in Top Gear there's no carbon monoxide there's no poison fumes and what's more a car that's been running on petrol and then switched to methane the methane will decarbonize the car and blow the carbon out of the exhaust and the only exhaust on the methane is a slight water vapor which vaporizes out in the exhaust system so you've got a clean gas and a powerful gas because gasoline produces 27 percent complete combustion where methane gas produces 98% complete combustion therefore you know that you're more power and then away we go and the actual cost of the gas is nothing but you get this manure for nothing and there was as long as the risk as long as they human beings and animals there'll be no and along with his manure there be methane yes so therefore we've always have power when all the Carboniferous fuels are finished right well I'll show you the gas pump supplies the engine we think gas now this small bottle I use on this car only contains the equivalent of about three gallons of gasoline but you actually get more mileage on gas when you doing gasoline this is connected via tube underneath the car up to the convert in the under the bonnet that supplies the gas into the carburetor so that you can switch from gas or petrol or diesel or whatever you're using how'd you're going along right getting out of the car mister bait uses only a three gallon bottle he can fill it with the gas produced from about 50 pounds of dry manure you've got a very high octane fuel which is completely antiknock it's really what you thought we chose of not now the gas bottle in the booth is connected by tubing up to what I call the auto gas converter device well this is a very sensitive suction or vacuum operated valve now the gas bottle is connected here to the suction end of the the inlet end of the auto Gatsby by go through the the device and the outlet end is connected to a gas jet in the carburetor here the suction from the carburetor operates the device and pulls it open and shut as you operate the accelerator well this allows the gas to come through into the carburetor and there the old thing is it's automatic is all work from the foot accelerator and it can be fitting to take me off one car put it onto another they can be fitted on in one horsepower engine or a 50 horsepower engine the same thing mate operates the same are you use any other gas with it propane butane hydrogen what have you I'm changing over to my things now [Music] Foreman some gas is better impetuous faster that 10 mile an hour faster top speed and quicker acceleration right nu runs cooler never dirty the plugs takes about five or six years before your engine is decoking if at all [Music] [Music] nowadays it's got to be reliable it's got to be efficient but the same time it's gonna be cheap then the average price of one in America is $400 and - $34 is there of a difference in the last few years the public debate about pollution clean cars the energy crisis has brought a flood of inquiries to this quiet spot in southern England in a modest way huddled bait has become famous [Music] is there another one from Antwerp another phone I don't know that's wrong it's like France this is from nice from Germany you've got one ear from hunger a lot of these they are inquiring for how much is the device and how come they send the money and then amongst them we get about a dozen or so orders from people that have already written to it you see we've given over the details but they usually Univ average of about 50 or 60 inquiries and some days is 90 and 100 some days we get about a dozen orders and another day we might get 20 but we've got 10,000 letters in the house I've received letters from about 22 companies now want to manufacture the thing in America including the event for for oil companies but I've put all that that kind of thing in the ends of our bank so the bank money is going to handle it for me and put on an agency to deal with anyone like that abroad because it's impossible to deal by post with that sort of thing I've got so many things to do I've got a lot more invention that I want to develop and of course I can't do it while we we have so much work on hand there's only the two of us and we're working sometimes till three o'clock in the morning what are writing letters oh well I got an electric car that should be self-propelled whenever go at man fire a flight of self-propelled bicycle things well this is a self-propelled bicycle or partly self-propelled anyway the tire were invented and worked on my spare time you know when they do that with a bit of spare time but I haven't finished it yet there are one or two things one or two books to be ironed out there one of the biggest nags is when you get up to speed you have a job to stop it well it's quite easy to go up to 40 mile an hour only now idea sit you sit on it undulations of the road caused the saddle to ride and fall and that drives the back wheel you think it's action the action will be a weight on the saddle the rough of the road the faster it goes now we wait on the saddle and they drive the back wheel that drives a bike off and every movement of the saddle is driving the bike forward going up pretty fast saying it's uphill here when it's rather ideas for road work at the moment was belts really to test out on the track useless but suitably geared and makes it very simple to pedal and it's pretty well effortless when once you get on the main road he's almost airborne the all the apparatus fitted on the back that's causes it to be self-propelled it's made so it can be bolted on to any any existing bicycle because already millions of them and therefore you won't have to to build us anything special you sell the equipment to bolt on and then you've got a bike the two will be a good as motorcycle but we no tax on it but no garage Giannini but no insurance me oh me no nothing no petrol no anything yeah on each and of course it's a it's an improvement on the only bicycle this is the bicycle hasn't been improved for 70 years except the looks of it all right so this is a one way out a bit of getting any easier ride no well good night mr. big thank you very much thank you she's here what well cheerio all right [Music] [Music] all right we are live so Devin besides the fact that that film takes place in Devin why did you like this film I love it because it seems to have everything that all of our favorite fictional inventors are famous for right like he's a little disheveled he has a uniform right he wears the bow tie which inventors like to wear because the bowtie won't get caught in the machinery in the apparatus and I'm sure they learned that the hard way I'm sure yeah at some point he choked and said I'm switching to haze and and I also really the the profound thing for me is I just adore the labeling of every single piece of equipment in his entire garage slash laboratory right it's um and it's all very meticulously hand-painted in 1974 I think time DiMeo already started making the label maker which I'm a big fan of somebody should have bought him a label maker I think half of his labor was spent hand painting those beautiful signs everywhere digester I just want to start putting the word digester on things around the house yeah I really I really love it but I I also love the technology right like aside from the sort of the quirkiness of the character and and I like that the film the person behind the camera at some point says they the bait was mildly famous he was pretty well known as an inventor and had applied for a great number of patents on on the contraptions he shows here but other ones as well and was very active in in making medical inventions and I just I loved him as a character um I feel I feel like in some ways he's the inspiration as I said earlier the inspiration for a lot of our sort of like cartoon inventors and it just seems to a lot of people said he look like Isaac Asimov I guess with fair enough yeah and I'm kind of slightly ill-fitting black frame glasses yeah I've seen this film a couple of times and what always resonates with me is when he's driving down that just barely one lane little road that just you know flanked by like plant vegetation and he's honking the horn so that he doesn't have a head-on collision with somebody oh yeah I somebody made a comment on I think it was on YouTube that maybe the horn has something to do with the release of gas little bit to sort of slow down I also love the the the guy who rides the bike can't stop the bike yeah they know nothing about it they say like the only problem is we haven't really figured out a very effective way to stop them and he's barely he's going really fast and it's like dude you're not gonna be able to stop what looks like a pretty uncomfortable bike yeah you told but I like I like the idea all right so this next film we're gonna watch is called search for happiness and this is part of a series march march of time and these would have been shown in theaters there would have been you know short one of the short subjects that they would show before they showed the feature along with cartoons and things like that and this kind of highlights people's search for aspirations towards a better life and we get to see a celebrity in here at least one who I'm very excited to to show because we've never seen a pic I well I've only seen illustrations of him clustering his his hand like this he says see if you guys can guess who this is so this is search for happiness master of the sky above and the earth beneath modern man out of speed and comfort in some of his most deeply desired objective happiness he has surrounded himself with ever more complicated mechanisms to reduce mental and physical effort to a minimum [Music] man is ever employing his vast scientific resourcefulness for the creation of entertainment devices to provide him with constant distraction [Music] year by year the number of appliances and gadgets contributing to man's convenience multiplied around him [Music] but despite all the mechanisms he has invented in his pursuit of personal happiness man is finding existence in the modern world full of frustrations and vexation [Music] today the machines man has invented to conquer his environment seemed themselves to be conquering men drivers driver I have to be at Penn Station at 3:30 and it's 20 after now listen lady I can't pick up this hat and carriage can I [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in the calm of America's universities are many thinkers who pondering the pressure of today's mechanised world are seriously concerned with the effect of modern living upon mankind among them is Professor Ernest Albert Putin of Harvard eminent anthropologist who studies of the human race from the Stone Age to the present have left him totally impressed by recent technological advances and none too hopeful of the prospects for happiness of the tottering biped known as man took millions of years for man to evolve from a super ape into a thinking animal but during the past thirty thousand years of increasing gadgetry man had back slid mentally and physically technology perfects machines that even feeble minds can operate the unintelligent user of gadgets still retained the mentality of primitive man he resorts for moral support the mumbo jumbo just as it is savage ancestors machines get better and better illogical beliefs persist mechanized and moronic man moves toward extinction corroborating dr. Putin is the American press where reports of the current trend toward mental disorders and crimes of violence testify that man is far from happy one out of every ten Americans is due for a nervous breakdown one American in every 200 is now a patient in a mental hospital the great variety of popular books on mental problems bears witness to the everyday Americans troubled state of mind among the commonest worries of most people is the problem of how to succeed in one's job [Music] no less urgent to the average man or woman is the problem of how to attract the opposite sex [Music] based by these and other problems troubled people have always turned to the traditional counselors the family doctor experienced and reliable the schoolteacher instructor of the young the man of God who ministers to the spirit and the elders of the family group but that traditional counseling is not always adequate is shown by the success of syndicated newspaper columns of personal advice read by over 15 million Americans every day is the most popular of these columns written by the venerable Dorothea Dix with my boy a married man with whom I am having an affair shall I ask his wife to give him up so that he can marry me no sensible man is likely to give up home and career for a light of love you're wasting your time on your marriage sweetheart turn your guns airwave equivalent to the lovelorn columns are the personal counseling programs on the radio which broadcast the troubles of unhappy people to millions of listeners every week you have just been listening to experienced teachers Elmer P Lightwood personal counseling program are you unhappy depressed in trouble right a frank statement of your problems an Elmer Peter life would care of the station to which you are listening he can help you as he has helped out troubled people by the thousands send in requests for advice every week and from among them the radio counselor picks the most theatrically effective for discussion on his program carefully withholding the names of the participants the counselor probes their dilemmas before a nationwide audience and what's your problem is why well I don't know my fiance was killed in the war life doesn't seem to mean much to me anymore why many of us have lost persons due to us in the war but we've learned not to take it so hard think of the sunshine miss why and all the beauties of nature can you think of all those glorious everlasting things and still say that you don't want to live I don't care about anything that's how I feel oh so you're going to turn your back on things hey you're going to say no to life is that it when I let me tell you young seriously concerned about the morbid interest these programs aroused and the quality of the advice given is dr. George Stephenson medical director of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene listen to experienced teachers next week another gripping human half hour you know these radio programs that exploit people in distress on the pretext of pumping them should not be allowed advice given by self-styled counselors who are prepared scientifically to deal with human problems is apt to be both misleading and dangerous of equal concern to doctors is the blind faith of many people that diet alone will solve all their problems the addiction of Americans to food fads as a means of bolstering themselves up has enabled many a diet theorist to build his private formula into a flourishing business a use dafair brain spinal cord heart kidney nixon reduces overall vegetable that fixed up gray hair wrinkles betty sagging chin brittle nails if somebody has sex problem the referees are over but the currently popular help theorist has by no means crowded out the colorful medicine man with his nostrils guaranteed to cure every ill and solve every problem fight us all remedy works carrying a stern destroying properties to every corner of the human system ridding it of impurities that's the Mayfield's wonderful vital remedy brings a new springs here walk new life t worry jaded eyes and already glow of health care pale cheeks only one dollar a bottle my friends for doctor Mayfield fighters own surpassing all the medical specialists at all of hospitals of the globe who's gonna be the first to buy our wonderful bottle of fighters old I see a fight intelligent young jet over there you'll thank your wonder who's gonna be with unflagging optimism man has been buying potions and pills for centuries forever sure that a miraculous solution of all his problems is just around the corner another means of self-improvement mail-order causes in muscle-building have four years enjoyed a phenomenal success from offices which cover a whole floor in a New York skyscraper strong men Charles Atlas operates a million dollar business from all over the world pour in the inquiries of clients young and old all of whom were ambitious to achieve a torso like atlases by only other day a very rich man called me up and said Charlie I have just lost a half a million dollars I'm going to blow my brains out so I tell him to forget it and get to exercising let me teach you how to become strong like this [Music] today some doctors have grave reservations as to the value of exercise for everybody prominent among them is dr. William H Sheldon noted authority on the human Constitution for some people physical culture is a good thing for some others it may be disastrous but despite wise counsel millions of men and women continue to search for happiness each in his own strange way ever seeking to win the admiration of others never daunted by his previous failures man is forever sure that next time he'll hit the jackpot part and parcel of every man spirit of hope is his immemorial desire to know what the future holds in store upon fortune tellers and fortune-telling devices the American public spends some one hundred fifty million dollars a year [Music] the fact that the same person may hear three or four contradictory versions of the future from as many practitioners seldom does anything to shake her faith in the ancient arts of sooth same now here's your hotline certainly get ready of attention in the world don't you [Music] bad confluence is looming up next year do not swim in the ocean that would be faithful moon and Pluto in the air sign Gemini hmm your love life's not very satisfactory is there [Music] naturally you've had bad luck with the name right root barrel the letters don't coincide with your astral influences now if you'll change your name to this one I've worked out for you you'll be in tune with the infinite and all your problems will vanish what's my new name your new name is ricotta profile for the pretensions of numerologists and astrologists who base their predictions on the stars there is no respect whatever among astronomers whose job is to study the Stars scientifically men like the Hayden Planetarium chairman Gordon met water astronomy is the science of the Stars astrology is a cult a cult which claims that the Stars have a direct influence upon people's lives and that they may be used to foretell the future astrology has no scientific basis whatsoever if any of you have come to the planetarium expecting us to cast your horoscope you have come to the wrong place but watching man's fumbling pursuit of happiness from among primitive evidences of human irrationality even the sardonic professor Houton is not completely pessimistic people who consult mystics diviners and prophets of the occult employ the same sort of subhuman reasoning has produced these masks and magical paraphernalia you seem to take a very dim view of humanity professor Houton haven't you any hope for the future of man certainly but we must realize that we need not merely gutter machines and sounder beliefs but wiser and healthier men when we have learned what qualities of mind and body combine in heredity to make superior individuals we may then produce intelligent human beings who will ultimately salvage civilization bolstering up the scientists hope a national committee of 13 with a campaign of good-humoured burlesque to expose the baselessness of humanity's fears and phobias is trying to prove on a popular level that superstition can be eradicated backed by people as well-known as illustrator John Vassos the committee feels it may in time get mankind to substitute logic and common sense for its eternal wishful flight from reality to educate by example these iconoclasts publicly violate all the time-honored taboo for with the scientists they believe but until men learned that their future lies in them sell me ages will still elude them time marches on [Music] so I went back and looked at my notes to see why I picked this film and is because I looked at my database and I was looking up for inventions gadgets machines and this one mentioned gadgets in the description and also mentioned Charles Atlas and I was like I do it I totally want to see Charles Atlas so that's kind of why we picked this film it doesn't really fit the tinkerers and Benner's yeah I feel like it does in some ways I feel like it has this well first of all it's compared to the last film which is by the National Film Board of Canada which has a really beautiful kind of distant approach right it's like it's like you're actually really close it's like you're there with the person that's being interviewed and it's it's very sort of kind of fly-on-the-wall documentary style and this is this is very in some ways it's very pointed like it has an axe to grind and and it's imparted in for most of many of us especially people who've done any kind of peering into the field of media studies this is a really old argument of how technology media in particular but how technology is ruining some aspect of society or society as a whole and this one is just a really shocking and kind of hilarious version of that on I know you and I kind of chuckled as as it was playing with the sort of clear lionizing of a eugenicist definitely I mean yeah it was I was like a better human a superior human that's not the language I mean that's the language of what we defeated just a couple years earlier not exactly this is 1946 I what's remarkable to me though is just this the idea of this argument the basic in this film which is technologies fine but but it's not going to make you happy right and it was it's an argument that just comes up over and over again every every few years we need to be reminded of the fact that all of this tinkering and all of this advancement is is not where it's at and it's just a funny thing it's a funny kind of paranoid it's it's its own kind of paranoia that comes up periodically and I think it's really on wonderful display as yeah I mean it just resonates but you know I guess that calm the the two films relate in that it's aspirational we are trying to improve ourselves this is this is we're trying now as many people pointed out in the comments the search for happiness didn't really give anybody any sense of happiness there was no happiness to be found in any of these searches but you know they're still trying yeah and I as I mentioned to you even before the this film started streaming there is an alternate version of this film that was released some years later with the slightly more hopeful sounding title is everybody happy and I think you're right I think ultimately it might have better been called is anybody happy it isn't really seem like yeah but I have to say that the payoff of this film of course is Charles Atlas yeah we're sure you know he tells the story really happy know the guy who lost a million dollars I'm going to blow my brains out and so then that is the cue for Charles Atlas to take his take his clothes I think about people calling me I'm gonna rip apart a phone book fascinating yeah and you know both films had like you know people processing hundreds of letters you know that was the way to communicate is you know you know this I'm interested in whatever you're doing to make me happy or to advance my life in some way so yeah mmm this next film is the most polished of the three and it's made by Saul Bass who we know for his amazing title work with many many films and his super weird film phase 4 which is about ants and this one was really really great and I can't remember if it won awards or not I'm gonna look it up while I watch it but this is why man creates and he did this for a steel company I think it was a sponsored film but it has has legs and it kind of talked about why we as a you know as a kind a race of people are constantly creating and kind of has these little things that kind of talk about it so let's watch why man creates [Music] [Music] labor Terry do you realize you just invented the wheel [Music] [Music] all was in chaos till Euclid arose and made order what is the good life and how do you lead it who shall rule the state the philosopher king the other istic rat Bobby you mean all the people what is the nature of the good what is the nature of justice what is happiness [Music] [Applause] Roman law is now in session Allah be praised I've invented the zero what nothing nothing what is the shape [Music] what happens when you get to the edge ear moves the earth is round the blood circulates there are worlds smaller than ours there are worlds larger than ours Hey what are you doing I'm a painting the ceiling what are you doing man is an animal what man is not an animal [Music] mm-hmm shall we start from the beginning I'm a bio major my mother better [Music] needlework outfit now let's give it a try what do you think it worked all men are created life liberty and the pursuit of the world government of the people by world must be made safe for the Lord in the league well I see 1/3 of a nation hill [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning ladies and gentlemen today we will discuss the bone structure of the cranium you will note first at the base of the skull is divided by two transverse ridges forming the three Basel FRC over the cerebellum that euro separates the occipital lobes from the cerebellum by the tentorium cerebelli along the bases code 900 for six social security number five two four two two three five eight eight telephone eight seven six zero nine three oh seven seven two two one four three two one six eight four five seven two seven five three four two one eight four two one eight five five two eight seven one four four four six nine two nine three three oh two one four four six seven oh four six [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] man you gotta break up to get the money bags forget the hang-ups freedom man that's what it's all about yeah freedom man that's what it's all about today Western God is not as in their minds but the satisfaction of their own egos remaining and I know times have changed but certain things remain constant I mean like the wrong we knew the value of a dollar and we knew the meaning of hard work affects today's where do ideas come from I'm looking at one thing and seeing another from fooling around playing the possibility speculating changing pushing pulling transforming and if you're lucky you come up with something maybe worth saving and using and building up that's where the game stops and the work begins [Music] [Music] I admit it I had days of such discouragement that I ached to give it all up but something kept me going I guess it was faith the kind you have when you're very young and don't know any better [Music] when the stuff comes alive and turns crazy on you a writer it better be in pretty good shape with good legs and a counterpunch and ready to fight like hell to the bloody end [Music] [Laughter] [Music] as one grows older one sees the impossibility of imposing a lid on the chaos with brute force but if you are patient they may come that moment when while eating an apple the solution presents itself politely and says Here I am an American flag [Music] finally that moment when society makes its contribution to the creative process [Music] ridiculous and I must say we're getting quite a reaction from the crowd let's see if we can get some more sir could you tell us what you think of it it's decorating and you sir gonna hurt us abroad and you ma'am it's alright if you like mom I going too far I can't say what I think about it because I'm an old old American and you know how they think from the best I think it's kind of a put-on I think it's all right Zack in fact it seemed like it secretion of some servile making newsmen man's mind it represents the decline of the West this guy's a nut habit you should be shot people I do a thing like that paying them [Music] money go god thick superficial I like it I'm not an expert but speaking strictly as a mother it seems to me the material alone Leslie weighs at least $100 [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] highway [Music] [Music] [Music] now have you ever thought of radical ideas threaten institutions then become institutions and in turn reject radical ideas which threaten institutions no see for a minute I thought I had something [Music] dr. doback oh we've heard some news of a breakthrough well yes I think we are on to something important we haven't been working with a small virus which we know induces cancer a small Barros means that it does a few things when it enters the cell we have been trying to find out which ones of these functions changes the normal style into a cancer cell you already have ruled out to several of these functions and we know enough about the others so that we can now make a really conclusive experiment we are very optimistic and we hope to have the positive results within say five years dr. dubenko has been working on cancer research for twenty years when I began working on the world food problem only one person out of three across the world went to bed hungry today in spite of all our progress two out of three people go to bed hungry more than two billion people in the world as a whole this is because the greatest increase in world population has occurred in those areas that have the lowest productivity of food the problem just continues to expand as we work on it what specific progress have you made doctor we have just developed strains of tomatoes and of these that can grow in areas where these crops couldn't be grown previously we have also now produced strains of cereals that have all of the nutritive value of a piece of meat I think that we'll be able to get the whole problem under control soon say 15 or 20 years dr. Bonner has been working on this problem for 12 years now actually this makes for a very interesting dilemma see the big bang theory says that 15 billion years ago a gigantic explosion blew all the matter in the universe apart and it's still dr. Greenstein is working on the origin of universes we should find 30 percent helium ok I now have the technology to observe very much fainter old stars and I find they have no alien and my colleagues agree if this apparent discovery is true the Big Bang Theory is false and we will have to develop an entirely new theory to account for the origin of the universe but the other possibility is equally provocative that I'm wrong at what you observe at the surface of a star doesn't have to be what's really the doctor Greenstein has been working on the origin of the universe for over 20 years well we've hit a blank wall for now the line of investigation we have been pursuing seems to have led nowhere but that's the nature of the process you get what you think is a marvelous idea and it just doesn't pan out how long have you been working on this problem dr. wheeler seven years what are you going to do now I don't know why does man create [Music] [Music] [Music] men have struggled against time against decay against destruction against death [Music] [Applause] some have cried out in torment and agony some have fought with arrogance and fierce pride [Music] some challenged the gods matching power with power [Music] [Applause] some have celebrated life some have burned with faith [Music] some have spoken invoices we no longer understand [Music] have spoken elephant some have spoken inarticulately some haltingly some have been almost mute yet among all the variety of human expression a thread of connection a common mark can be seen that urge to look into oneself and out of the world and say this is what I am I am unique I am Here I am [Music] so Kaiser aluminum he made it for them he spent all their money to make that film yeah you're going all crazy here with your camera dude I'm having trouble so we both kind of talked about this and looking looking it up you pointed out to me that this was a part of this was shown on the first episode of 60 minutes which is just weird well that's kind of mind-bending I feel like 60 minutes must have been 90 minutes just a really different show but it's also interesting to think of this like I you know the last film that we that we showed I feel like this in some ways the SOB ass film is like an answer to it or an antidote to it because it is it kind of rescues the idea of creativity or technology in some ways where the you know the last film the news on the March film or march of time I got it confused the Citizen Kane it's just so grim and so and so kind of desperate and this is really hopeful and sort of forward-looking and I just like it's it's organization like I like the fact that in sort of discussing the idea of creation he uses as a kind of bookmarking device the note-taking right taking those by hand and numbering them making an outline which is really familiar but it also kind of and it brings you into that process because this is about this films about the creative process it's not about devices or gadgets or specific inventions it's about the process which i think is is unique and really interesting and it's gotta be one of the reasons this film was so well-loved when it came out in 1968 yeah and it won an Academy Award for Best Documentary short and it's now on the National Film registry and I'm wondering if he made it as a like a management film like this is something that Kaiser aluminum would show to their managers and like kind of they think out of the box film or you know I don't know I like I'm not sure what you know the intended effect was there but you know it's visually it's stunning I wanted to get into it more because I I feel like a lot of those the really slick sponsored films like this one that are backed by you know big corporations often they you know they were used internally but they're also to sort of create and and bolster a kind of public image like how do we want to be perceived by the public that's at this exposition right right how do we get our company profile to look like and and I think this one is for an aluminum company actually which is really really forward-looking and kind of strangely a little meandering right like it takes on a very wide kind of perspective and is interested in the this notion the very broad notion of creation in ways that it's almost amazing that it got greenlight it yeah you know and that's that's what's fascinating and what's interesting is I have other films that are in this style and deal with very similar content I want to say that I have one by the Eames that's this but at the time Olivia gave me I think so maybe yeah but I also have one that was made for Sandoz you know the people who made LSD and it's surprisingly not as psychedelic as this film is but it's like a it's like an hour long thing about the great you know how great the human drive for innovation is it's like yay hooray humanity for being so inventive and you know sites similar things that this movie sites but yeah yeah it's it's I think there was like this kind of cheerleading going on at different points we're like yeah yeah it's great we're awesome well Devon the the news one is as powers of 10 I think right yes um but I wanted to thank you for joining us and picking these films or you know green lighting the films that I let you I said let's show these and spending time and talking is there anything you wanted to mention as far as projects that you're working on we talked a little bit about the summer symposium yeah I mean really I would just sort of bring that up again the the symposium was cancelled this year and we're not because it is it takes place in Bucksport Maine and it is very sort of focused on the location in some ways we decided not to do an online version of it and so we're gonna hold it and use the same thematic so basically the stuff we're talking about today but with the addition of sort of specifically film technology and we're gonna do it we're gonna try and do it if the world doesn't explode we're gonna try and do it next year at the same time so the end of July beginning of August and so people are working on projects related to you know media that has to do with technology and invention you know give me a shout and we'll we'll see if we can fit you in the program it's a great symposium and added a really fun time I was there last year and it was really great what I like about it is that it's it's no distractions it's not like having a conference in a giant city it's like where you're there the reason you're there is to watch films and the only time I played hooky was that there was a raid going on outside I have to go watch but otherwise it was it was really quite quite nice yeah sleepy little town awesome ice cream really excellent ice cream and and you know Maine is it's a special place it's fun to fun to visit once a year it makes me sad not to go this year but hopefully hopefully next year awesome so I wanted to round out because tomorrow's fourth of July and there's gonna be a lot of them legal fireworks going off and there's a constant mention of psychedelia today so I have to show my pro-us psychedelic film 200 let's watch 200 and everybody have a good fourth of July I'll be back on Monday Devon thank you again so much for spending your morning with us you're in Palm Springs by the way which somebody asked about and so everybody have a good fourth of July and let's rock out to some 200mm enjoy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so I just wanted to quickly say that film Venza Collins was a known animator psychedelic animator I had an email conversation with him he applied for a grant there was a Bicentennial film grant that he got to make the film and he made it for the United States Information Agency which is our propaganda branch of the government and so this is propaganda about the Bicentennial that was shown on television and lots of places in the US and also around the world and it's crazy and it's I asked him like did he intend for there to be this kind of subtle message about commercialism with like all the TVs and the cars and the hot dogs coming out of the cornucopia and he was like nah that's just what what I wanted and they loved it and didn't question me so everybody have a good safe fourth of July and thank you so much for the week for the fundraising Steven thank you for the the coffee that you bought today and thanks so much for the donations that paid for shelving that we actually ordered and they showed up today so I'm gonna have to go and slap some shelving to keep it safe from the weekend but thank you again so much for your kindness and for your sharing and commenting and have a safe weekend and we will see you on Monday take care 20 [Music]