# Vintage Promotional, Industrial, Educational films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 26, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084 "2025-12-26T23:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/21 "2025-12-28T07:15:42Z")
[Archive.org](http://Archive.org) has a lot of these educational films. Here’s a fun one on Forest Rangers. [" FOREST RANGER " & CONSERVATION FOUNDATION CARTOON 1950s EDUCATIONAL FILMS FOREST FIRES XD6587 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/wTVhaALtih8x3zjqwRhhMcLnW3VhEw) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/22 "2025-12-28T15:31:58Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > To those who clicked on the Prelinger link in the Internet Archives: it originally had scads of videos, but a few minutes later was denied access. I went back and regained access via the [main menu](https://archive.org/) That’s because the url was misspelled with a T at the end. The actual link is: > **[Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies,...](https://archive.org/details/prelinger)** ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/23 "2025-12-28T23:18:17Z")
Ooh, they have a number of School “Health Class” Films from the '40s and '50s: [“Dating Do’s and Don’ts”](https://archive.org/details/DatingDo1949) [“Junior Prom”](https://archive.org/details/JuniorPr1946) _“Margaret believes that a girl shouldn’t make it difficult for a fellow to ask for a date…”_ And the dorkiest: [“A Date With Your Family”](https://archive.org/details/DateWith1950) (This was one of my favorite clips on MST3K!) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/24 "2025-12-28T23:22:04Z")
**Hemo the Magnificent** is one I saw as a kid in school [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/08QDu2pGtkc/hqdefault.jpg "Hemo the Magnificent - Complete") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08QDu2pGtkc) I remembered it well enough that when excerpts showed up in “Gremlins” I recognized it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/25 "2025-12-29T16:00:10Z")
Hmm… do you like cryogenic liquids? [https://ia801801.us.archive.org/5/items/81844ManFromLoxVwr/81844%2BMan%2BFrom%2BLox\_vwr.mp4](https://ia801801.us.archive.org/5/items/81844ManFromLoxVwr/81844%2BMan%2BFrom%2BLox_vwr.mp4) [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Liquid\_Helium\_II\_-\_The\_Superfluid.webm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Liquid_Helium_II_-_The_Superfluid.webm) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/26 "2025-12-29T16:02:51Z")
How about, knot theory [https://yewtu.be/watch?v=OI-To1eUtuU](https://yewtu.be/watch?v=OI-To1eUtuU) [https://yewtu.be/watch?v=IrlaVaATiOY](https://yewtu.be/watch?v=IrlaVaATiOY) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/27 "2025-12-29T18:53:21Z")
Fun, well made and educational- > **[Our Mr. Sun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Mr._Sun)** > > Our Mr. Sun is a 1956 one-hour American television film in Technicolor written, produced, and directed by Frank Capra, with animation by UPA. It is a documentary that explains how the Sun works and how it also plays a huge part in human life. It was first broadcast on television by CBS in 1956. > The film starred Frank Baxter as "Dr. Research", and Eddie Albert as "the fiction writer", the other recurring character in The Bell Laboratory Science Series. Marvin Miller voiced the animated Sun. St... > **[The Bell System Science Series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_System_Science_Series)** > > The Bell System Science Series consists of nine television specials made for the AT&T Corporation that were originally broadcast in color between 1956 and 1964. Marcel LaFollette has described them as "specials that combined clever story lines, sophisticated animation, veteran character actors, films of natural phenomena, interviews with scientists, and precise explanation of scientific and technical concepts—all in the pursuit of better public understanding of science." Geoff Alexander and Ri... ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/28 "2025-12-29T19:11:20Z")
[Bathtubs Over Broadway](https://www.bathtubsoverbroadway.com/) is a fun documentary about this subject from a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/29 "2025-12-30T00:24:15Z")
I half thought I had imagined seeing this in elementary school, until it came up in the “suggested” feed a while back. Viewer discretion advised. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UwQBPkMEmoc/hqdefault.jpg "The Child Molester (1964)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwQBPkMEmoc) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/30 "2025-12-30T00:26:43Z")
I couldn’t edit the above and keep the link. It ends with two crime-scene photos, which commenters say came from a double murder that happened in 1962. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/31 "2025-12-30T00:52:33Z")
They made us watch that in Cub Scouts. I wonder if they’d still do something like that today ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/32 "2025-12-30T00:54:29Z")
I did a little sleuthing, and found out that the girls, who were 7 and 9, lived across the street from each other, and one of them had just moved there the previous week! Their murderer was an 18-year-old who already had a long juvenile history of similar crimes; he was sentenced to a state mental institution, and died there in 1977 at the age of 33. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/33 "2025-12-30T03:54:49Z")
_Delicious Dishes_ (1950) is a wonderful, fast-paced demonstration about preparing vegetables. It was shown in theaters that gave out the twelve tools demonstrated, one each week. The salesman is a smooth talker, and makes you want to be as skilled as he is at making delicious (vegetable) dishes. Plus, he’s a real hoot to watch. > **[Delicious Dishes (Short 1950) ⭐ 6.3 | Documentary, Short](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1815668/?ref_=ext_shr)** > > 13m ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/34 "2025-12-30T04:00:08Z")
Man, there are a lot of replies! I haven’t had the opportunity to watch the links! But… > [@JohnGalt](#): > > _Delicious Dishes_ (1950) I’ve seen this one. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/35 "2025-12-30T04:15:26Z")
You can’t have a discission of educational films without including at least one of the many, many illustrations of atomic fission using ping pong balls. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tl9BX5APuRM/hqdefault.jpg "Chain reaction of an atomic bomb ilustrated by ping pong balls") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl9BX5APuRM) ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/36 "2025-12-30T04:28:30Z")
I saw _Delicious Dishes_ one day while scrolling on TCM. They have lots of these shorts, and classic cartoons too, especially Saturday mornings. They’re like going to the movies in the 1950s and seeing what was shown before the main movie. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/37 "2025-12-30T04:37:01Z")
How to use a telephone, including how the phone system works, for 70’s kids: [Telezonia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr7P7K_aYYM) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/38 "2025-12-30T13:36:44Z")
Disney animators explain syphyllis and gonorrhea. (We watched this in Grade 9 Health class.) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qtnsI32Cxog/maxresdefault.jpg "Walt Disney Productions "VD Attack Plan" (1973)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtnsI32Cxog) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/39 "2025-12-30T13:46:58Z")
My favorite still has to be **Julia Child Shows you How to make Primordial Soup** (1973), made for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum origimnally, but now shown occasionally at the Julia Child exhibit in the historical and cultural building. I’ve aso seen it at the Boston Museum of Science., and on a VHS tape called _Federal Follies_. The science is kinda outdated, but it’s still fun > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHJDQY4mWFg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHJDQY4mWFg) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084/40 "2025-12-30T13:49:10Z")
This first animated versio of Edwin A. Abbott’s **Flatland** (1965) is pretty cute, too > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBbZmwROv84](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBbZmwROv84) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-promotional-industrial-educational-films/1026084.md?page=3)