Facet: “Ladybird Ladybird”
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This is a kinescope of a episode of an arts program “Facet”, produced by Chicago’s PBS station, WTTW. This episode is a play acted out in the satirical improv comedy style of early Second City commenting on the Vietnam War, politics, and the state of the nation. “It is an attempt to draw serious thought out of laughter.”
Credits
Roger Smith (executive producer); Peter Kuttner (producer); Peter Kuttner (director); Peter Kuttner (writer); Ted Ashford (music); Berliner Ensemble of Chicago (performing group); Ron House (performer); Felton Perry (performer); Warren Lemming (performer); Herb Felsenfeld (performer); Jerrilou Johnson (performer)
Complete catalog record
Cfa collection: Peter Kuttner Collection
Distributed by: WTTW (Television station)
Subjects: Politics and government; War; Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Places: North America > United States > Illinois > Chicago
Language: English
Shot log: 00:08 LS of actors on stage showing cameras and lighting equipment of TV Studio, the set has three levels and walls covered in newspapers, scroll explaining that the points of view expressed in this film are not those of the station, various shot two men with army helmets on complaining about being in the war and wondering why their in the middle of this mess, from their look and attitude it appears that they are talking about Vietnam, but the joke is that they are in Mississippi, LS setting up chairs for next scene, various shots of game show where three contestants(including actors playing Dean Rusk and Robert MacNamara) have to guess the identity of the mystery guest (an actor playing Hubert Humphrey); 05:00 MS three actors pretending to be under fire in Vietnam, CU of actor playing Captain giving humorous patriotic speech,; 10:00 LS actor playing solider shows up with actress playing Ho Chi Minh in a stereotypical Oriental style, LS actors looking up at sound of airplanes but instead of dropping arms the planes drop food from the War on Poverty, Zoom into MS of actor playing captain; 15:00 Zoom into CU of captain, “The End” over shot of nuclear explosion, MS actor with patriotic tophat playing the American Eagle, LS actress playing his wife Ladybird, third actor playing a hawk, fourth actor playing dove, with narration telling fable about American foreign policy,; 20:00 LS Hawk warmongering around stage and runs dove off stage, Zoom into actor playing eagle, LS actors setting up microphone, actors list other countries that are as free as America, end credits scrolling over shot of mushroom cloud and Supremes song, “Where Did Our Love Go”, out 22:59
Cfa elements: Print, 850 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/2855
Distributed by: WTTW (Television station)
Subjects: Politics and government; War; Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Places: North America > United States > Illinois > Chicago
Language: English
Shot log: 00:08 LS of actors on stage showing cameras and lighting equipment of TV Studio, the set has three levels and walls covered in newspapers, scroll explaining that the points of view expressed in this film are not those of the station, various shot two men with army helmets on complaining about being in the war and wondering why their in the middle of this mess, from their look and attitude it appears that they are talking about Vietnam, but the joke is that they are in Mississippi, LS setting up chairs for next scene, various shots of game show where three contestants(including actors playing Dean Rusk and Robert MacNamara) have to guess the identity of the mystery guest (an actor playing Hubert Humphrey); 05:00 MS three actors pretending to be under fire in Vietnam, CU of actor playing Captain giving humorous patriotic speech,; 10:00 LS actor playing solider shows up with actress playing Ho Chi Minh in a stereotypical Oriental style, LS actors looking up at sound of airplanes but instead of dropping arms the planes drop food from the War on Poverty, Zoom into MS of actor playing captain; 15:00 Zoom into CU of captain, “The End” over shot of nuclear explosion, MS actor with patriotic tophat playing the American Eagle, LS actress playing his wife Ladybird, third actor playing a hawk, fourth actor playing dove, with narration telling fable about American foreign policy,; 20:00 LS Hawk warmongering around stage and runs dove off stage, Zoom into actor playing eagle, LS actors setting up microphone, actors list other countries that are as free as America, end credits scrolling over shot of mushroom cloud and Supremes song, “Where Did Our Love Go”, out 22:59
Cfa elements: Print, 850 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/2855
Sources
- Chicago Film Archives · record ↗ — title, year, creator, length, format, color, sound, genre, description, credits, catalog record, video
Record added 2026-11-08 21:25:09