Category Archives: Library of Congress

On behalf of the Library of Congress I am curating an online playlist of American sponsored movies that promote telecommunication platforms.

by Rochelle Sara Miller | May 1, 2015 · 6:01 pm

I Love My Radio

I’m currently curating a playlist of promotional telecommunication films for the Library of Congress. Here is a still from the animated short More Than Meets the Eye (1952) made by United Productions of America (the same company responsible for Mr. Magoo). In every domestic space someone is listening to a radio set.

Other films promoting radio sets, radio shows, and advertising airtime established the convention of presenting montages of white families enjoying domestic bliss with their radio sets. Sponsored telecommunication films 1935-1960. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Animation, Archives, Film Curation, Radio, Sponsored Films, UPA

by Rochelle Sara Miller | April 27, 2015 · 9:29 pm

Something Horrifying For The Kids

I’m currently curating a playlist of promotional telecommunication films for the Library of Congress.

Here are some stills from the terrifying film Adventure in Telezonia (1950) that traumatized generations of Americans while teaching them how to use the telephone. In the movie a young boy travels to the seemingly post-apocalyptic world of Telezonia so that he can learn how to use the telephone, so that he can find his lost dog, so that he can get the hell out of Telezonia!

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Tagged as Adventure in Telezonia, Archives

by Rochelle Sara Miller | · 5:06 am

And, cut to shot of female switchboard operators…

Bell Telephone sponsored films (1935 – 1960)
For many more of the same see Caroline Martel’s superb Le fantôme de l’opératrice (2004)

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Tagged as Archives

by Rochelle Sara Miller | · 4:08 am

Library of Congress: Sponsored Films Project

Stills from the stunning film Land of White Alice (1959) about daily life in Alaska, directed by Willard Van Dyke and written by poet Norman Rosten. I want to make the follow-up! Writing about this film and others as part of a digital project for the Library of Congress.