Classroom Filmstrips have been a staple of kitch fans since time immemorial (that’s about four decades, in Kitsch Years), yet the Web still lacks a truly marvellous repository of the things. (Note: You can go here, but they are mostly films.) Collectors are apparently afraid to let them out of their little plastic tubes for fear they’ll crumble in the air. Others would rather compile them onto equally crumbly paper and weigh in on the matter with their own two cents. I found a few promotional items, like this Esther Williams swimming pool endorsement, and some from Ford Motor Corporation. But the only school related material I found relates to the sub-genre of anti-drug propaganda. But I’ve found little that relates to such all-important topics as personal hygene, public safety, good citizenship and religious instruction.
Thusly, I couldn’t resist a box of Sunday school filmstrips during a recent antique store outing. I also couldn’t resist scanning a couple of them, adding the included soundtrack records, and combining the whole mess into a couple nifty QuickTimes files — just the thing for an upload to YouTube. The colors have faded and dust has burned permanently into the images, but the somber message for our little ones is as clear as on the day these filmstrips were manufactured. After weighing the pros and cons of simulating the film-roll experience, I ultimately ruled it out. It would have been too much trouble. (That is to say, I forgot about that built-in transition effect until i was too late.)
Today’s lesson is the intriguing story of the little cloud who gave his life to help humanity. Not only is it a terrific primer for helping kids visualize fluffy Casper-like supernatural beings floating overhead affecting our lives, it also introduces children to the concept of self-sacrifice (very important in a society that relies upon a standing military), the value of prayer in an agrarian economy, and the scientific role of cloud sadness in the production of rain.
Note: This strip seems to predate the use of a “beep” for an aural cue. Instead, it uses an organ arpeggio which, since it has six tones instead of one, is six times longer!
I’m glad to see stuff like this being preserved. You should upload the scans and audio to the Internet Archive.
Also, it should be fairly trivial to get a “push up” transition b/t the slides.
Copyright?
I’m a creative commons fan myself….
This is brilliant.
I would say that the anti-drugs film strip appears to have had a decidedly non-school 21st century audio track added at a later point.
I think it’s a good way to explain intelligent design…
Please sir, may we have more?
I’m going to post one more soon. In the meantime, you can go here:
http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger
Very amazing. I was cleaning out boxes of old family “stuff” and among hundreds and hundreds of 1960s vacations slides was a small box with seven filmstrips: “The Little Cloud” (with paper script) “Martin the Shoemaker” “The Little Match Girl” “The Last Journey to Jerusalem” “Unfaithful Servant” “How the Birds Got Their Colors” (with paper script) “My Beloved Son” I understand from another webpage that Cathedral Films, headquartered in Burbank, California, hired animators from Walt Disney Studios for some of their artwork.
I’m young enough that I can just barely remember “The Little Cloud”, “The Little Match Girl”, and “How The Birds Got Their Colors”.
To put it mildly, stumbling into “The Little Cloud” on UTube was a mind-altering moment.
Thanks for the posting.
That’s different from my set, which was a more secular collection. “Cloud” was the one with the most religious content; the rest of them were more historic (i.e. “Young Abe Lincoln,” which was unfortunately missing from my set) or civic (like “Bike Safety”).
Hearing about your filmstrips definitely makes me want to keep visiting the local antique shops!
I have a set from Cathedral Films titled “Walt Disney’s Tales of Jiminy Cricket”. It contains 5 filmstrips, missing #2. and three LPs that go with the stirips. Also the teacher’s study guides, and the master guide . It also has the study guides (four) for a different series titled “Story of the Prophets”. Strips are in great shape and feature great scenes and characters in color.
I Believe it was Cathedral Films that produced a series of filmstrips called “Parables from Nature”. It had animated characters named “Bushy the squirrel”, and “Corky the crow”, to name a few. It was explained that a parable as it related to the teachings of Jesus was an “earthly story with a heavenly meaning”. These were very instrumental in whetting my appetite as a 6-8 year old in wanting to know Jesus in a personal way in order to understand his teachings and ultimate sacrifice on the cross because of his love for mankind including each individual. So you can understand my interest in looking into the possibility of obtaining a copy of this filmstrip series. I know several Baptist churches in the “60s” used these in their Sunday school or Children’s church curriculum. Do you have any ideas where I might find out where to get a copy of these filmstrips? Thankyou for anything you might be able to tell me.
I believe I have the Original art work for “How the Birds Got Their Colors”. Done at Disney for Cathedral Films about 1947. It gives credit to Gracia Caines for the story but can’t find any reference to her. About 25 Art Boards with 2 Cell Overlays each. Would be interesting to see a Film Strip to compare.
Looking for an appraisal as I need to get rid of stuff in storage.
Have about 16 other sets of Cathedral Film Art Boards, all religious but so clearly detailed they had to be done by real talent ! Also have 4 Can’s of their Movies.
To learn more about Cathedral’s founder, see http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/327.htm
OH MY GOODNESS! Thank you so much for posting this filmstrip. My mother used to teach Sunday School and used “The Little Cloud” often during the 60′s. I couldn’t remember much from the storyline, but I did remember the organ cue to switch the pictures and the angry storm clouds.
We have looked everywhere for it…thank you for posting this…made my day!
Great news Donna! Glad to be able to help!