Learn your Lesson from Herk Harvey - 1950s Mental Hygiene Master - Fri. August 14th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Learn your Lesson from Herk Harvey - 1950s Mental Hygiene Master, the 29th in a monthly series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic educational films, mental hygiene primers and TV specials of the collection. This month, we salute Harold "Herk" Harvey (1924-1996), a director of over 400 mental hygiene and educational films and one feature; the cult horror film Carnival of Souls. This program will delve into his early work of 1950s social guidance films on sex, drinking and driving, snobbery, griping, prejudice, good manners and more! These films, mostly produced as part of the Young America series - and all by Centron Films in Kansas - represent some of the favorites of the collection as well as a few brand new finds we've never screened.  Watch mice get drunk and drunks flip cars in the teen drunk-driving scare film None for the Road (1957). In Oddball sex ed favorite The Innocent Party (1959), watch out for loose girls; they probably all have syphilis that they're anxious to spread to you and your unsuspecting girlfriend. In What About Prejudice? (1959) everybody in class has it out for the faceless minority student for a variety of terrible reasons, until he steps up and saves a classmate's life and ends up in the hospital.  Several of the mental hygiene films feature misunderstood outcasts that dare to be different, and end up alone or giving in to the pressure to be friendly, cheerful, and in line with gender norms. George Foster's got a chip on his shoulder, a negative opinion about everything, and a superimposed "conscience" that is tired of trying to keep in-line The Griper (1954). In The Snob (1958), Sarah thinks she's better than all the popular kids and would rather study than party; but that doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings. Barbara is pushy, rude, and loud - and she wonders why she doesn't have any friends - hopefully the library has a book to teach her all about Manners in Public (1958). Plus, a trip to the farm and the slaughterhouse with a later nutritional primer Pork: a Meal with a Squeal (1963), pre-show surprises and we'll be raffling off a DVD of Harvey's feature film Carnival of Souls.

Date: Friday, August 14th, 2015 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com

Featuring:

None for the Road (B+W, 1957)
"Jerry Landon is one of the types that experiments with drinking... The all-out type"
A good old-fashioned drunk driving scare film replete with a white-coater injecting lab rats with alcohol and making them do acrobatics!  The story centers around 3 couples at a sock-hop; the girls are all drinking ginger ale, Keith has had a couple of beers and Jerry has been "holding down the fort" all night and gotten himself blotto.  When he gets in a fight with his gal Eydie, Jerry storms off for his car.  Can Keith catch up to him and make sure he makes it home alive, or will Keith's couple of beers mean the end for him and his passengers?  See who makes it out alive!

The Snob (B+W, 1958)
"All these people you don't like; aren't they happier than you are?"
Why are some girls snobs? This campy mental hygiene primer seeks to answer the question and to illustrate the effects such snobbery has on the perpetrator and those around them. Sarah's got a terrible attitude and thinks she's so much better than everyone, but her hatred of other people just leaves her bitter and alone. Now, if only she could shape up and join the happy people enjoying themselves at a swingin' shindig, but she "just can't help being a snob". Starring Vera Stough as the snob.

Manners in Public (B+W, 1958)
Barbara is new in town and desperately wants to make a friend, although she's never had much luck in the past.  The neighbors have a daughter around her age, maybe if they go to the movies, they will be fast friends.  But when Barbara pushes some ladies, is too raucous on the bus and talks through the whole movie, the neighbor girl is not interested in a rude friend and shuns Barbara until she goes to the library and brushes up on her good manners. Barbara learns about good manners in public- on the sidewalk, on the bus, in the theater, in the store , and in the elevator. Now Barbara is a quiet, well-behaved girl, just like the system wants her to be.

The Innocent Party (1959, Color)

Oddball's all-time favorite VD film: the guilt-tripped noir-like shocker about a “dirty” girl and her hidden secret- syphilis! A young man goes out on the town with his friend and they park with a couple of loose women.  Later, when he feels something happening downstairs, he's got to face it; he's got the syph.  After a visit to his doctor and some grotesque imagery, he must face the insufferable task of telling his girlfriend - who is already super ashamed at her own deflowering a mere days after his dirty encounter. A cool beatnik-jazz soundtrack highlights this sordid tale produced by the Kansas State Board of Health!

What About Prejudice? (B+W, 1959)
"I'm sure glad Bruce didn't come tonight; he's not like us and he never will be"

All the kids in the class hate the new kid (who is some "other" of unnamed ethnicity) and have a bunch of misconceptions about his character, until he sacrifices his own safety to help out a classmate. When the truth is revealed, will this group of bigots see the error of their ways?  

The Griper (B+W, 1954)
“Why do you keep trying to impress everyone with how stupid you think everything is?”
George Foster's conscience is tired, since George is such a little shit. He gripes at everything, from his alarm clock to his father. It doesn't help that everyone in his family is also a griper. Now, Betty Ann has a much better attitude about life and tons more friends.  Will George learn that disapproving of everything the popular kids like isn't in line with social guidance standards of the 1950s? "Does George remind you of anyone you know?"

Pork: The Meal With the Squeal (Color, 1963) 

Is pork really going to be what’s for dinner after your get the low down on the other white meat? You bet your buck it will, what with all the hams bobbling in brine, hot dog strands miles long, and juicy chops sizzling away! Don’t forget to bring your pigskin wallet, hog’s hair paint brush, and other pig-based by products to round out the experience.

Curator’s Biography

Kat Shuchter is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Film Studies. She is a filmmaker, artist and esoteric film hoarder. She has helped program shows at the PFA, The Nuart and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater and was crowned “Found Footage Queen” of Los Angeles, 2009. She has programmed over 150 shows at Oddball on everything from puberty primers to experimental animation.

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.

Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.