# Prelinger Archives **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454 "2011-03-04T05:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/1 "2011-03-04T05:13:35Z")
I’ve been surfing through the [Prelinger archives](http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger) recently, and found some quite amusing videos. I like how [this one](http://www.archive.org/details/six_murderous_beliefs) uses the “Don’t swim an hour after eating” bit. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/2 "2011-03-04T06:45:13Z")
It should be noted that the Prelinger Archives include old striptease (stag) films, which are _not_ specially-marked on the Internet Archive. Take care when clicking around at work or in a public place. (Note to mods: The link in the OP obeys the two-click rule. The stag films are 1950s ‘racy’ as opposed to, say, 1980s ‘hardcore’ anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/3 "2011-03-04T14:01:14Z")
I love love LOVE the Prelinger Archives. I interviewed Prelinger for a project I did in graduate school, and I’ve used material from the Archives in other projects and assignments since then. The films are a lot of fun to watch and critique. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/4 "2011-03-05T04:49:35Z")
A very unromanticized view of WWII: [The 957th Day](http://www.archive.org/details/957thDay) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/5 "2011-03-05T05:17:32Z")
I love free culture. First, watch [Perversion for Profit](http://www.archive.org/details/Perversi1965) (and [part 2](http://www.archive.org/details/Perversi1965_2)), a rather shrill anti-pornography propaganda piece linking porn to the Filthy Commies and Homosexuals who wish to Destroy America. (A number of the comments are either from dedicated trolls, people who sincerely think Hugh Hefner is in it with Satan and Stalin, or a mix of both.) If you can’t make it through all of both, don’t worry; you probably know most of the words and all of the music by now. Then, to clean the sick off your palate, watch [Come Join The Fun!](http://www.archive.org/details/come_join_the_fun2004), which is a clever re-edit of the above not-intentionally-funny film into a much snappier little pro-pornography piece. It’s a fine example of how new value is created once works come to be owned by everyone, in the public domain. (Yes, some of the comments on that one are fairly rabid as well.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/6 "2011-03-05T13:01:07Z")
I am another person who can spend hours surfing around the archives. Fantastic! ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/7 "2011-03-05T20:33:46Z")
[Kittehs!](http://www.archive.org/details/ThreeLit1938) Totally squee-worthy! ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/8 "2011-03-05T21:33:32Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It should be noted that the Prelinger Archives include old striptease (stag) films, which are _not_ specially-marked on the Internet Archive. Take care when clicking around at work or in a public place. > > (Note to mods: The link in the OP obeys the two-click rule. The stag films are 1950s ‘racy’ as opposed to, say, 1980s ‘hardcore’ anyway.) It would really be something to be fired for watching racy films older than your parents or grandparents. “There goes Johnson, that black & white, tassel-shaking, pervert.” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/9 "2011-03-05T22:12:08Z")
There must be enough frequent fliers around here to get a kick–a wistful kick–out of 6 1/2 Magic Hours, Pan American’s [promotional film](http://www.archive.org/details/612Magic1958) on their introduction of transatlantic “Jet Clipper” service in the late 1950s. The narrator alone is worth the money (or lack thereof), as we ‘fly above the weathuh in a jet clippuh’! Evidently the editors of my 1960 World Book took some stills from this film and used them in the _Airplane_ article. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/10 "2011-03-05T23:28:04Z")
I love the Prelinger Archives! They gave me my first taste of popular music from the 1920s-30s, which has since become a huge part of my music collection. [78 RPMS & Cylinder Recordings](http://www.archive.org/details/78rpm) – check it out, there are some real gems in there! [Here](http://www.archive.org/details/1925-29-annetteHanshaw-101-107) are a bunch of cute songs from the late '20s from my favorite singer of that era, [Annette Hanshaw](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Hanshaw). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/11 "2011-03-07T04:43:34Z")
And now–belatedly–off to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Quarter\_Lane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c68b51/32.png) [@Quarter\_Lane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quarter_Lane)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/12 "2011-03-07T07:02:08Z")
Remember, boys and girls, flash floods are caused by forest fires and [hoodlum raindrops](http://www.archive.org/details/Adventur1948). ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prelinger-archives/573454/13 "2011-03-12T18:11:19Z")
While the Prelinger Archives are the core of the video selection, there are videos of interest not in that collection. I’ve been watching NASA videos from 1960, when they were gearing up to send a man into space. One thing I notice is that they didn’t call it NASA, they called it en eh ess eh And this proves that advertisers haven’t changed much since 1960 - [Utica Club Brewing Company: Utica Club Beer, 1960s (dmbb10621) : Utica Club Brewing Company : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](http://www.archive.org/details/dmbb10621)