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ABCs of Walking Wisely (1959)

Illustrates how people walk in streets like the alphabet. Shows among others the G-Walker, who doesn't look where he's going but says 'Gee, look at that,' the Y-Walker, who says 'Why walk when you can hitch a ride' and the familiar J-Walker.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Production Company: Davis (Sid) Productions
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: need keyword

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: GE_Pretzel - - January 7, 2006
Subject: A-Walkers are exemplary
This clever pedestrian safety film for children uses various letters of the alphabet to demonstrate proper methods for maneuvering carefully along roads and traffic. A departure from Sid Davis' other works, the tone is quite cheerful, although some of the children do encounter a suspicious looking man evocative of characters from his other films. Helpful for children who need to learn the dangers of roadways and understand the importance of walking prudently.

Reviewer: ERD - - November 26, 2005
Subject: Film drags
The film is somewhat too slow. I personally didn't care fore the theme of using letters.

Reviewer: Marysz - - November 13, 2005
Subject: Kids vs. Cars
A 1959 Sid Davis film produced with the Inglewood School District with a script that could only have been written by a schoolteacher. Letters of the alphabet are used to demonstrate incorrect ways of walking where thereÃÂs traffic; i.e., the ÃÂJÃÂ walker who walks into the middle of the street, the ÃÂGÃÂ walker, who gawks, etc. This film is too true-to-life for me. The elementary school-aged children are filmed walking directly into what looks like actual traffic! I suppose the police were on hand when the film was shot, but this film could never be made todayÃÂthe children are put at too much physical risk. The ÃÂHÃÂ walker hitchhikes; the film downplays the predatory nature of adults picking up kids (unlike ÃÂBoys BewareÃÂ) and simply warns them that the ÃÂstrangerÃÂ might be a terrible driver. These children look very vulnerable walking through the suburban streets of the nineteen fifties. The film also has an ÃÂXÃÂ walker for an ÃÂexÃÂ pedestrian. No doubt there were some real child-fatalities that led to this film being made.

Reviewer: Venckman - - August 19, 2005
Subject: Good advice never goes out of fashion
Words of walking wisdom, imparted by the most maternal cinematic voice since Bambi's Mother. See how sensible girls and nerdy boys set a good example for us all, while cool, weisenheimer boys act up and almost get themselves killed through their own appalling stupidity. Southern Californians will enjoy seeing the city of Inglewood in all its postwar suburban splendor. Walk, don't run, to download this. You won't regret it.

Reviewer: Karma Hawk - - March 22, 2005
Subject: This review brought to you by the letter A and the number 3
This Sid Davis film shows how various people walk in traffic, and equates them with letters(IE: The Y walker says "why walk when you could hitch a ride") this is a cute film that unlike a lot of these films actually could still be shown to children today.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - August 2, 2003
Subject: Don't be an O.
This Sid Davis production tries to get it through our thick little heads how to walk properly in traffic. Remember, Don't be a O, J, Y, or any of the ilk. You'll just get hit by a car (like the kids in the film, I can imagine Sid Davis just saying to the kid "OK Shirley, run out into the street, they'll be a car heading towards you, but don't worry, it'll get out of the way in time!". The kids who obey of course, look like zombies. Bonus points for the Y figure giving the finger. A great film with Sid Davis written all over it. Highly Reccomended!

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - June 11, 2003
Subject: ABCs of Walking Wisely
This Sid Davis children's pedestrian safety film features an annoyingly cheerful and self-righteous female narrator, a cheerfully upbeat and annoying soundtrack, primitive cartoons of anthropomorphic letters of the alphabet, and lots of scenes of kids almost being hit by cars, enough so that you start to wonder about the safety of the child actors in the film. Its premise, that both good and bad pedestrians can be likened to letters of the alphabet, is absurd, but that's par for the course for this kind of film. For a Sid Davis film, this is remarkably mild, though there is a scary scene of one kid almost getting picked up by a hitchhiker, and in Sid Davis' world we all know what that means (except for the narrator, who stupidly supposes the motorist in question might be a "bad driver"). And you don't want to know what the "X-walker" is (though fortunately he is not graphically portrayed). I want the original drawings of the anthropomorphic letters for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Shotlist

worth noting: Short but good overview of children walking (some skip or jog) in small groups by a school (looks very suburban-the buildings look like warehouses). 8:20:43:00

· 8:22:50:20- 8:23:09:20
A little girl and boy walk single file down a suburban