Best Made Plans, The
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Uses the setting of a young child's birthday party to show how Saran Wrap can be used both for food preservation in the refrigerator and freezer and as an element in creative home and party decorations. PORTRAYS CREATIVE & TIME SAVING IDEAS FOR MODERN HOMEMAKING. SHOWS FREEZING, DECORATIVE IDEAS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY & IDEAS FOR PROTECTING SILVER, CHINA, LINEN, SEASONAL CLOTHING & EQUIPMENT USING PLASTIC WRAP. DESIGNED FOR TEACHING.
The Best Made Plans is a treasure house of fifties cliches, not a document
of "real life" during the early Cold War. The wife and mother is field
marshal of her household, administering chores, social activity, and
leisure by command and persuasion. (The unnamed actress who plays her also
appears in Office Courtesy: Meeting the Public, on the Free to Obey disc.)
Steady at her side is her passive, bumbling, whining husband, who wears a
barbecue apron-a given in pop-cultural representations of fifties
suburbia-and obeys her every command, even as family schedules change to
accommodate in-laws. The characters are living in Children's Standard Time,
an eternal suburban present. The adults have little agenda other than to
meet the needs of their children. The daughter is queen of the household;
nothing is permitted to frustrate or disappoint her, and excessive
attention is paid to her birthday whims. Still, Mom manages to get in a
long session with the home economist during which she learns how to wrap
meat for freezing, a crucially important skill in the paranoid fifties.
Lest we forget about Saran Wrap, The Best Made Plans presents it as a
product with nearly infinite uses. The film reaches the height of absurdity
when Mom packs for baby Tommy, stopping just short, it seems, of wrapping
up Tommy himself.
Plastic wrap Packaging Painting Husbands and wives Sex roles Gender roles Girls Daughters Barbecues Barbecue aprons Packaging Freezing Appliances Silverware China Linen Recreation Leisure Homes Houses Food Preparation Plastic Saran Wrap Narratives Men Women Families Children Birthdays Parties Picnics Automobiles Driving Garages Absurdity Humor Suitcases Babies Home Economics Housework Diapers Painting Sex Roles Cooking
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- Addeddate
- 2002-07-16 00:00:00
- Ccnum
- asr
- Closed captioning
- no
- Collectionid
- 09460
- Color
- C
- Country
- United States
- External-identifier
- urn:storj:bucket:jvrrslrv7u4ubxymktudgzt3hnpq:BestMade1956
- Fil-transport
- boost
- Identifier
- BestMade1956
- Identifier-commp
- baga6ea4seaqjuepvigrpmvhekvdlbd3ezmvdrfrwff3mt5cxzqhkumhb2v4ugeq
- Numeric_id
- 175
- Proddate
- 1956
- Run time
- 21:19
- Sound
- Sd
- Type
- MovingImage
- Whisper_asr_module_version
- 20230731.02
comment
Reviews
Subject: That's a Wrap
Yes, it's the 1950s, when father can't figure out how to make party favours or find a shaving kit. One thing he CAN do is barbecue burgers in the suburban back yard (it IS the '50s after all). And there's a Ford station wagon. Shockingly, this '50s family doesn't have a dog (unless it's wrapped and nestled in the freezer).
The title refers to the fact that this Cold War family had their day upset by some woman who insisted she HAD to demonstrate a new freezer an hour later.
The woman gave a lot of really obvious instructions on how to wrap food (in Dow Chemical's Saran Wrap) for storage. The wife then spends her day wrapping when she's not bossing around her husband, who hoped he could relax on his vacation from work. The way he's pushed about, he'll be back to a three-martooni lunch in no time.
The narrator sounds as if he's reading an affidavit to the panelists on "To Tell The Truth." As the narrator is an uncredited Bud Collyer, that shouldn't be a shock.
Subject: Infomercial - 1950's Style
Never mind that by the time the party favors were completed, Kathy was already 11. The kids look puzzled as there were only 6 candles.
This henpecked hubby will be gone in no time. The '60's became "divorceville."
The scripted events (stacked one on top of another) made me anxious.
Subject: Kathy's bangs and a Talented Man!
The dad was such a hero! Can you imagine a man from the 50's able to BOIL WATER???????
Subject: its no wonder
Subject: Superficial, but fun to watch
Subject: I Think We Are Forgetting Someting-
Subject: Plastic: the cause of and answer to all of life's problems
Subject: The Best Made Plans
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.
Subject: Saran Wrap will solve ANY problem!