Description:

In addition to the burden of teaching the 3R?s, schools were often expected to instill certain life-skills in their pupils, one of these being the ability to get along with others. Although one noble goal of public education was to turnout well-adjusted modern citizens, in practice, courtesy was often simply taught as a desperate attempt to maintain order. Hundreds of kids cooped up in a classroom for several hours a day generated quite a lot of tension! The films on this 101 minute DVD try to persuade the viewer to consider the benefits of ?being nice? and thinking of others? feelings.

Titles Include:

Are Manners Important? - Encyclopedia Britannica, 1954, 11 min
Mickey Taylor thinks politeness is all that grownups think about. His lack of courtesy (and his youth) doesn?t keep him from being elected President of the United States. Will a near riot in the Oval Office convince him to reconsider his policy on good manners?

Helping Johnny Remember - Portafilms, 1956, 10 min
Kids in a purgatory-like limbo space are building a perfect little society out of shoeboxes and poster paint. Johnny has been banished from the town because he can't get along with the others! Can the unseen narrator help Johnny and the other children remember how to get along with each other? And what would YOU do if a Sulky moved into your shoebox neighborhood?

Everyday Courtesy - Coronet, 1948, 11 min
Billy and his mother attend his classroom's presentation on manners and courtesy. Through Billy's illustrations, we learn about simple gestures that make life with other people more tolerable. However, no amount of politeness hides the fact that most of the children's parents didn't bother to attend the politeness exhibit ? although we can pretend that they wrote a nice letter claiming a previous engagement.

Exchanging Greetings and Introductions - Young America Films, 1960, 11 min
First impressions are hard to shake, so this film teaches youngsters the importance of greetings and introductions. Like many films in this genre, the film?s producers are asking a lot of children who just a generation earlier were instructed to ?only speak when spoken to.? Now, it seems, not only are kids expected to quickly assess their family and friends? position on the social ladder, they are also supposed to provide newly-introduced adults with topics of conversation.

Good Table Manners - Coronet, 1951, 10 min
Chuck keeps messing up at the dinner table and once again, the parents aren?t any help in providing proper guidance. Thankfully, future-Chuck appears and straightens out young-Chuck, thus ensuring that Chuck will be able to date in the future. But this creates the classic time-travel paradox: if future-Chuck taught young-Chuck good table manners, who taught future-Chuck how to ?park a fork??

We Play And Share Together - Burnford (Paul) Productions, 1951, 11 min
Irene and Susan refuse to play with Michael and soon learn that they aren?t having as much fun as they could be if they shared. The fact that the girls have made a tunnel and want the boy to enter it with his train shouldn?t be considered as anything sexual ? honest!

By Jupiter - Wilding Picture Productions, 1941, 26 min
Finally, a film for the rude parents! Veteran Hollywood character actor Chick Chandler plays Thornton Poindexter, a hapless everyman who learns that a little kindness goes a long way when the Roman god Jupiter allows him to re-live a particularly miserable day. This film was originally made for Marshall Fields' employees, who must have had a severe enough courtesy problem to warrant the expense of making such a film.