View movie

View thumbnails
Run time: 8:59

Stream (help)

64Kb Real Media (dialup)
256Kb Real Media (broadband)

Play / Download (help)

(27 MB)Cinepack
(37 MB)512Kb MPEG4
(37 MB)Ogg Video
(38 MB)64Kb Real Media
(83 MB)HiRes MPEG4
(90 MB)256Kb Real Media
(238 MB)MPEG2

Resources

Handy (Jam) OrganizationChevrolet Leader News (Vol. 2, No. 4) (1936)

Promotional newsreels featuring a variety of Chevrolet-centric stories, including: the "Boudoir Express," dressing rooms on wheels in which women can change into swimsuits; Detroit police directing traffic with a "talking safety car"; miniature model planes at the International Air Derby; petroleum geologists X-raying the ground in search for oil; a seagoing, amphibious automobile navigating a lake; and Mickey, the firefighting cat of Minneapolis.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Sponsor: Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corporation
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Car culture: Newsreels; Automobiles: Advertising

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 5,818 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: Spuzz - - March 8, 2003
Subject: Swimsuits! Safety! Soaring! Searching! Speedboats! Scaredycats!
Final one in the 2 series...
First clip is a.. Chevrolet Automobile! attached to a boidoir so that the women can change on the WAY to the beach. MAN, what a great idea!
In a clip I've seen in one of Prelinger's collections, the talking car of the future (very 1984ish) warns passengers to OBEY!
Next up we see a plane competition, quite fun to watch.
In a boring scientific clip, we see men hunting for oil, using explosives and seisomolgy machines. Ho-kay.
The next clip features a man who had a brilliant idea to change his... Chevrolet Automobile! into a boat. What I want to see is someone change a boat into a car..
The final clip somewhat dissapointed me, when I saw the cat, as it didn't fulfill my expectation to see it chucked in, on top of, stuffed into or strapped on to a.. Chevrolet Automobile! Instead, we see a firehouse cat named Mickey, who watches the Firefighter play dominoes UNTIL... the firebell rings! All the firemen jump to action and slids down the poles. In a scene that I wowed out, Mickey HURLS down that pole as well. They're off to the fire, and that ends this film!

In a note, they seemed to have totally changed things around in this volume. New logos and music. Not for the better though.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - October 7, 2002
Subject: Chevrolet Leader News, Vol. 2, No. 4
The biggest highlight of this newsreel features the Voice of Safety, which is essentially a loudspeaker mounted on top of a car, through which the driver yells at other drivers and pedestrians who break safety rules. If this isn't the biggest invitation to accidents, or, indeed, violence, I'll eat my Gallagher "STUPID!" flag. I'm sure we all wish we had one, though. A real jaw-dropper. Other silly stories include a car that tows sunbathers, an amphibious car, and a fireman's cat that slides down poles. There are also some boring stories about oil drilling and model airplanes.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Shotlist

DETROIT POLICE HAVE TALKING SAFETY CAR. MINIATURE MODEL PLANES. AMPHIBIOUS CAR. SCIENTISTS X-RAY GROUND SEARCHING FOR OIL. MICKEY, THE FIREFIGHTING CAT OF MINNEAPOLIS. NEW CANVAS VEHICLE PERMITS BATHERS TO CHANGE CLOTHES EN ROUTE TO BEACH.

Newpapers 'hot-off-the-press.'
Folded newspapers coming off printing press.
Title Card: "Chevrolet Leader News" over montage.
United States map.
CU map of United States with blinking lights representing cities.

Title Card: "Hurry! Hurry! Last Call For the Boudoir Express" over women huddled in carts.

Women changing into swimwear in dressing rooms on wheels.
VS (from above) women changing clothes (and in stages of undress) while being pulled in dressing rooms on wheels; carts rolling passed hotel with palm trees. Automobile pulling carts (from above). Women, wearing swimsuits, reclining in carts (from above). Carts in front of cabana; women (wearing swimsuits) exit carts and run toward camera. Women running on beach (umbrellas, palm trees, ornate Spanish-style hotel in BG). Beach; women run to water and as tide comes in they turn and run away.

Title Card: "Police Direct Traffic with New 'Voice of Safety!'" over cars on highway.

Police car with speaker mounted on roof admonishes citizens for traffic safety violations.
CU police car (Dept. of Safety Education) driving in Detroit with large speaker (labeled "Safety Car") mounted atop roof. VS car driving on busy street. Pedestrians observed through car windshield (from back seat), driver and passenger in FG. LS city traffic (pedestrians entering crosswalk as cars come to stop at intersection in FG). Woman observed jay-walking (through car windshield); she looks at safety car with surprise and scurries back to curb; traffic, seen through windshield. Car pulling up beside car and double-parking. CU safety car. Car swerving from behind double-parked car (drug store with crowd outside in FG) and passing. Man reading newspaper while seated in car; alarmed, he drops newspaper on seat and leans out window to look behind him; pulls head in window and drives away with safety car following. VS safety car in traffic, traffic, seen through windshield.

Title Card: "Model Planes Show Speed At International Air Derby" over airstrip.

Model airplane championship.
Automobiles parked beside airstrip; people walking on runway. Crowd of boys and young men on grass with model airplanes. CU boy with model airplane; ECU boy's hand adjusting model airplane engine. CU, ECU boy spinning propeller of model airplane. Boy hurling model airplane into flight; VS airplane in flight against cloudless sky. VS crowd of (predominantly) men and boys, shielding eyes against sun, looking skyward. Airplane loses power and crashes. Girl tinkering with airplane; boys watch her spin propeller. Model airplane taking off from ground. CU Air Force man glancing at stopwatch and looking skyward. Model airplane makes perfect landing as crowd runs toward it. Automobile driving passed parked cars stops abruptly; young boy exits quickly and opens back door. Stack of boxes (seen through small car window. Man and boy remove fuselage and wing of model airplane from car and hurry to workbench (crowd observes); hand places completed model plane on scale (man with pencil records weight). CU hand squirting gas into airplane engine with medicine dropper. Man and boy start airplane; boy sets it in motion and it takes off. Boy standing on running board of rapidly moving car while pointing skyward; waves arm (as if to coax airplane to one direction); airlane lands smoothly; boy jumps from moving car and runs to it.

Title Card: "Engineers X-Ray the Ground In Search for New Oil Beds" over patch of scrubby desert.

Seismologists detonating explosives (underground) in search of oil deposits.
VS surveyors working in scrubby desert; measuring, etc.; raising flag. VS trucks and surveyors; trucks with drilling equipment. Men removing box of dynamite and detonator from truck; man unraveling hose mounted on truck; CU man inserting seismic detector in ground. Man climbing into back of truck; CU tinkering with machine (camera). CU 2 men handling length of pipe (dynamite charge). 2 men beside detonator (one talking on field telephone). Small explosion producing cloud of debris and dust. Diagram of strata (layers of rock); live action explosion superimposed as sound waves emanate. Man in small photography lab (in back of truck) develops seismic picture (resembling roll of tape); CU seismogram. Man, wearing safari hat (pith helmet) closing truck's back doors. 3 drilling trucks driving in scrubby desert.


Title Card: "Weigh Anchor! Here's Fun In a Sea-Going Automobile" over car/boat beside marina.

Sea-going automobile cruising in lake.
People boarding sea-going automobile (boat) at marina. Dapper man (wearing captain's hat and outfit) climbs into boat as other man loosens moorings. Dapper man removes car trunk (on boat) and climbs in; others join him. CU driver's side window opening; large flood light mounted above it; woman settles into seat. ECU hand turning ignition key. CU vibrating engine. Crew removing moorings. Boat (Chevy-Chase) cruising on lake with 2 men seated in rear; joined by woman. VS cruising boat, inc. CU frontal; riding choppy waves. CU American flag waving in breeze as boat leaves wake and spray in BG.


Title Card: "Mascot Mickey, Chief of Cats, Chases Fires Instead of Rats" over cat intently watching game of dominoes.

Cat watches firemen play dominoes, then accompanies them on call.
CU cat on tabletop watching men play dominoes. Several men (firemen), seated around table, holding meeting (beds in BG); one man stands before group pointing at diagram and gesturing. MS 3 men (wearing shirts and bow ties), seated at table, playing dominoes (cat on table watches); all suddenly jump from table to run o.s.; firemen seated around table rise and scurry o.s. Rows of beds; firemen run to, and slide down, firepoles in FG; firemen sliding down poles. ECU fireman's legs jumping onto pole. Cat jumps onto, and slides down pole; runs o.s. Fire engines speeding from firehouse. CU man seated in car, cat perched atop back seat. Car exiting firehouse; driving down street with cat's head hanging out of window. CU man driving car (cat perched with paws over front seat in FG). ECU cat (wearing firehat) licking whiskers.




Admonishment Air Force Aircraft Airplanes, Model Airstrips Alarms American Flags Animals Automobiles Beaches Beds Blinking Lights Boats Bow Ties Boxes Cabanas Cameras Carts Cats Coaxing Communications, Electronic Competitions, Model Airplane Crashes, Model Airplane Crowds Debris (from explosion) Deserts Detonations Detroit, Michigan Diagrams Dominoes Double Parking Dressing Rooms Drilling Equipment Drug Stores Dust (from explosion) Dynamite Engines, Automobile Engines, Model Airplane Exploration, Oil Explosions Fire Engines Fire Trucks Firehouses Firemen Firemen's Hats Firepoles Flags Flags, American Floodlights Fuselages, Model Airplanes Games (dominoes) Gasoline Geology Gestures Glare (shielding from sun's) Hats, Firemen's Hats, Safari Helmets, Pith Hobbies Hoses Hotels Ignition Keys Intersections Inventions Jay-walking Keys, Ignition Landings, Model Airplane LawÊEnforcement Leisure Lights, Blinking Lights, Flood Machinery, Drilling Maps, United States Medicine Droppers Meetings Military Model Airplanes Models Newspapers Newsreels Oddities Palm Trees Parking, Double Patriotism Pedestrians Pets Photography Pipe, Galvanized(?) Pith Helmets Poles, Fire Police Cars Printing Presses Propellers Reactions Reading (newspapers) Reclining Recreation Reprimands Resorts Rocks, Layers of Running Running Boards Runways, Airport Safety Scales (weight) Science Scurrying Seismograms Seismology Sexuality Skyward Glances Sliding (down firepoles) Slips, Women's Sound Waves Speakers, Amplified Spectators Sporting Events Sports, Water Stopwatches Storefronts Strata Stunts Surprise Surveyors Swimwear Tape, Seismic Telephones Ties, Bow Timekeeping Tinkering Traffic Traffic Violations Transportation Trees, Palm Trucks Trucks, Fire Umbrellas, Beach United States Maps Water Sports Waves, Choppy Waves, Sound Waving Whiskers (cat licking) Windows, Automobile Wings, Model Airplanes Workbenches NEWSREELS ODDITIES GAGS CHEVROLET ADVERTISING AUTOMOBILES POLICE CITIES MICHIGAN DETROIT HEALTH AND SAFETY ACCIDENTS PEDESTRIANS DRIVERS AIRPLANES MODELS HOBBIES RECREATION AMPHIBIOUS CARS NEW YORK BUFFALO GIZMOS X-RAYS RADIATION OIL PETROLEUM ENERGY HUMOR CATS ANIMALS FIRES FIREHOUSES POLES SWIMMING CLOTHES FASHIONS BEACHES