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Handy (Jam) OrganizationWhat's It to You? (Part I) (1955)

Dramatic demonstration of the properties and uses of Mylar.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Sponsor: duPont (E.I.) de Nemours & Company
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Materials: Plastics

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Spuzz - - September 11, 2005
Subject: How rude!!
The many many uses of Mylar is discussed by an unnamed narrator and his team of cute assistants dressed in puffy sleeves and berets (??). Mylar you say? Bo-ring! Well, gentle reader the film subject COULD have been boring, but thankfully, the producers of this film thought 2 steps ahead of us and made this film one big science experiment. Mylar is stretched (trampoline experiments!) hanged (acrobat experiments!) torched, cooled dpwn, cooked in acid, punched, scrunched, and yes, BOWLED, and the mylar is STILL STANDING! Wow, I¡¯m impressed! Narrator guy does everything here, speaks AND does the science experiments. Pretty girls just walk on and off doing really nothing in particular lol. Very informative and colorful, this is highly recommended!!

Reviewer: Wilford B. Wolf - - April 12, 2005
Subject: I'm wrapped in a Mylar coating
Jam Handy produced picture for DuPont's Mylar plastic film. What is fascinating about this particular film is how many of the applications listed in the film are still being used today.

Mylar is a crystaline plasic film that has a high resistance to heat, moisture, and tearing. While Mylar is most familiar to us today as a material for metallic balloons, it is used still in audio tape, moisture bearers in housing, electrical insulators, industrial adhesive tape, and envelopes, all of which are covered in the film. Not mentioned in the film is the use of Mylar in survival blankets and haz-mat suits.

The target of this film is potential industrial users of Mylar for manufacturing. While the demonstrations that are done are interesting, there is an air of circus hokery, highthened by the opening demonstrations of a man jumping on a trampoline made of Mylar and a woman swinging on a trapeze hung from a sheet of Mylar. There is also clearly a limit to budget as in the case of another DuPont-Jam Handy picture, "Out Of This World," as music stops and starts abruptly, and minor mishaps with props are kept in.

But there is so much going on, with the narrator providing all sorts of demonostrations for the physical, chemical, thermal and electrical properties of Mylar, I suppose that can be forgiven. Using a clearly eye candy model as an assistant who Vanna White-like turns a game show board that lists Mylar's properties, various applications are listed out. Some of the uses listed, as typical with this period film, do seem a bit surprising, such as the use of Mylar in furniture or metallic thread. Other applications seem a bit overkill given the toughness of the material, such as packing foodstuffs or clothing in Mylar film. The crowning moment of the film is when they present a skunk wrapped in a clear Mylar box to show how it keeps in smells, accompanied by a sudden and strange orchestra sting.

Still, if you ever wanted to find out about Mylar, this is your film.

Shotlist

"The new film was designed to demonstrate dramatically the properties and suggested uses of the new product. A technician swings a baseball bat at a thin sheet of Mylar and can't break it. An acrobat throws his weight on the film and it bounces him back into the air. A girl trapeze artist swings safely on a thin strip of Mylar. The picture was intended primarily for executive and technical personnel in manufacturing and convertising organizations to whom it is being shown by duPont sales personnel. Its impact can be assayed from convincing demonstrations that show how hot steam cannot change the film's properties; nor does dry ice at 80 degrees below zero damage it. Similarly, acids are shown dissolving jewelry in a Mylar bag without affecting the bag itself." (Business Screen 17:4, p. 41, 1956).


Ken Smith sez: This film, sponsored by duPont, introduces "a remarkable new transparent polyester film" to the world -- Mylar. In order to encourage businessmen to think of ways to use Mylar, a guy in a suit performs all sorts of pseudo-experiments to demonstrate its "unusual properties." Another guy rolls a bowling ball into a sheet of Mylar, and yet another uses it for a trampoline. A chunky model wearing a beret and hot pants wraps a skunk in Mylar to demonstrate its ability to trap odors. All of this circus science makes "non-tarnishable" Mylar look pretty terrific -- so how come all we use it for now are tape cassette wrappers and Space Blankets?
MYLAR is DUPONT's registered trademark for its brand of polyester films
Film Department E. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO. Incorporated presents.

18:18:41:19
MCU Man in suit with a baseball bat. Window pane in front of him with writing: WHAT'S IT TO YOU. He shoots ball into it; it does not break.

18:19:11:14
MCU Man trying to tear a piece of clear plastic.

18:20:04:28
MCU Man in circus outfit on trampoline.
CU Trampoline of clear material from underneath; man in view.

18:20:28:13
CU Blue background. Transparent plastic film sheet is being twisted and untwisted.

18:20:33:01
MCU Woman hanging on a trapeze with abstract blue background.

18:20:40:23
LS Man throwing a bowling ball into a clear screen.

CU Ball hitting the screen. Screen deforms slightly.

18:20:48:01
MCU Woman in red beret, tiny red shorts, and white shirt stands in front of four panels. One reads: PHYSICAL (with elephant drawn in background), she turns it to reveal other side which reads: HIGH TENSILE STRENGTH, HIGH TEAR RESISTANCE, HIGH IMPACT STRENGTH

18:21:03:10
CU Last scene.

18:21:40:27
Sign reads: THERMAL (with thermometer drawn in background). Panel turns, other side reads: THERMAL FROM MINUS 80 DEGREES TO OVER 3000 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT.

18:21:52:26
MLS Man with apron next to table with bottles and containers for experiments.

18:22:03:09
MLS Man putting on plastic glove and protecting his eyes with a mask, putting liquid into a plastic container.

18:22:10:26:
CU Plastic container with colored liquids interacting.

18:22:17:05
Camera pans glass containers with signs: NAPHTHA, METHYL ETHYL KETONE, CARBONE TETRACHLORIDE, ETHYL ACETATE, XYLENE, ELECTRICAL VARNISH, METHANOL, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, ACETONE. A thin ribbon of plastic film soaks in each container.

18:22:49:14
LS Four glasses with ribbon of film soaking in each; accompanying signs read: COTTONSEED OIL, LARD, MOTOR OIL, OIL.

18:23:01:13
MCU Man with apron puts on glasses and looks at an experiment (container with green liquid).

18:23:03:04
CU Experiment

18:23:18:11
MCU Woman with red beret with panel: CHEMICAL, turns the other side to reveal, RESISTANT TO MOST SOLVENTS, ALKALIS, AND ACIDS.

18:23:32:10
MLS Man in suit putting gloves in front of two antennas.

18:24:32:17
CU Panel reads: ELECTRICAL, other side, HIGH DIELECTRIC STRENGTH, GOOD INSULATION RESISTANCE, LOWER POWER FACTOR, HIGH VOLUME RESISTIVITY.

18:25:11:16
MLS Man in suit in the middle of two panels; one reads: PHYSICAL ELECTRICAL, the other, CHEMICAL THERMAL.

18:25:24:19
CU Three drawings of different arrangements of molecules.

18:25:57:12
MCU Man in suit pouring two liquids from bottles into plate.

18:25:59:08
CU Two bottles with flowing liquid; one reads, ACID, the other, ETHYLENE GLYCOL.

18:26:02:05
Camera pans down an industrial building made up exclusively of pipes and tubes.

18:26:19:00
CU Factory equipment; sheets of plastic film pressed between two revolving cylinders.

18:26:25:00
CU Rolls of plastic film

18:27:13:23
MLS Man standing next to round panels that read: FORM, PRINT, METALIZE, LAMINATE, COAT, FABRICATE.

18:27:17:01
MLS Woman with red beret displays a roll of plastic film

18:27:18:23
CU Advertising panel which reads: NEW! DUPONT MYLAR POLYESTER FILM... TOUGH, CLEAR, STABLE, INERT.

18:27:23:06
MLS Blond woman displaying a large silver sheet; then folds it.

18:27:30:03
MLS Brunette woman displaying a hard plastic panel made up of squares of fake wood.

18:27:34:18
CU Square of fake wood.

18:27:36:24
CU Colored plastic squares (red, silver, blue).

18:27:43:05
CU Hands with red nail polish touching the plastic pieces.

18:27:55:02
CU Plastic audio tape next to colored adhesive tape.

18:28:00:13
CU Hand of a woman on a pile of transparent plastic tubes.

18:28:08:25
CU Tubes of various colors (silver, gold, red...).

18:28:30:25
LS Housewife in apron sponges a studio set kitchen.

18:28:44:26
LS Same (kitchen) wall from the other side (revolving); woman is now dressed for a party.

18:29:00:06
CU Woman at fake window.

18:29:04:18
CU Woman's ankles, blue dress, and silver-plastic-heeled shoes.

18:29:35:09
LS Woman putting a shawl around her shoulders.

18:29:56:02
MLS Man in front of table with chemical and physical experiments.

18:31:03:03
CU Capacitors, coils, motors.

18:31:28:25
CU Wires

18;32:05:18
MCU Man in suit with apron waters a piece of equipment with a hose.

18:34:12:05
CU Piles of adhesive tape (yellow, red, blue, white).

18:34:48:01
MCU Woman in blue silk shirt smiling and holding a tin in one hand.

18:35:15:00
CU Polecat/skunk wrapped in plastic film cage/bag.

18:35:35:06
MCU Man in suit displaying various items wrapped in film (sheets, to car).

18:37:23:05
CU Items wrapped in film; animated sequence: a box of BRAND, FINE PASTRIES (MYLAR), shirt, hosiery, style, gloves, brand deluxe shirt, stationary paper.

18:40:29:21
LS Woman with raincoat and rainhat stepping out window doors.

18:40:36:05
CU Camera pans a table with pickles on it.

18:40:42:29
CU Cracked fissured pane and man mending it with adhesive tape.

18:40:49:22
CU Woman in convertible car.

18:40:58:05
MLS Woman in evening dress getting out of convertible car.

18:41:50:07
The End.

MYLAR PLASTIC WRAP SYNTHETICS TRAPEZES WOMEN MEN DEMONSTRATIONS PRODUCTS SURREALISM HUMOR STUNTS TRAMPOLINES AGILITY FANTASY CHEMICALS MODELS MODERNISM