I love watching the old educational films from the 1950s. Whether they are dealing with the threat of outside agitators, the need for families to eat dinner together, or the importance of obsessive grooming, these films often provide an interesting view into the past.
(Though, as far as I’m concerned, obsessive grooming is a theme that will never get old.)
Two weeks ago, I first came across The Snob on YouTube. In the days since I first saw it, this 13-minute educational film has become something of an obsession of mine. Some of this is because this film deals with a universal subject. Though I don’t think I’ve ever been a snob, I’ve certainly known a few. Even more importantly, everyone in this film is just so intense. If Edward Albee wrote an educational film, it would have been a lot like The Snob.
Also, is it just me or is the kitchen scene between Sarah and her father kind of creepy?
Through the Shattered Lens 
Don’t hate Sarah, she just knows a bunch of phonies and fakes when she sees them. If you think you’re better than others when you’re not, you’re a snob, but if those people whom you despise really are beneath you, and you make a point of removing yourself from their stupid antics, then you’re just exercising good common sense. Sarah knew that even though her neighbours were supposedly just listening to records and dancing, soon the evening would turn to drunken wild casual sex, goofballs and giggle sticks. Sarah wanted absolutely no part of it, and should be applauded for her good judgement. Sarah also shows a keen eye when it comes to judging art. The jerk who submitted a blotch as valid “yearbook cover art” and had his entry selected at the expense of Sarah’s undoubtedly refined illustration is obviously one of those pretentious art snobs who thinks that abstract crap qualifies as a masterpiece. Sarah isn’t a snob for hating a snob. Also, how can you possibly hate Sarah with her expressive vocabulary? More people ought to use the term
“apple-polishing” and its various off-shoots. The rest of the folks in this clip are linguistically inferior to Sarah, stuck in a verbal rut with their mindless recitals of fifties-isms such as “Gee whiz” and “swell”. Even her own father is not immune, comparing Sarah most gracelessly to a dumb vegetable-fruit, and I was hoping that Sarah would chastise her father for infantilising her with the pet name “Pumpkin” (Al Bundy got away with it for years with daughter Kelly, but Sarah shouldn’t have been so tolerant of her own father). With women like Sarah, it’s all in the approach. You need to know how to relate to a gal like that. Clearly, those goofs just weren’t in her league. Let’s face it , in a room full of jerks and phonies, the one who sits alone and refuses to degrade herself to curry favour from the rejects is to be admired, not dismissed as some type of snob. Sarah realises that quality and not quantity is what counts when choosing friends. Sarah just knows how to enjoy her own company. Despite the condescending speech from Mister Voiceover at the end of the film, it’s not Sarah, but the rest of the folks who have the problem. They are in fact the ones who are missing something inside, not Sarah. Trust me, I know. She doesn’t need to run with the pack to feel whole. She doesn’t crave the adoration from idiots, as do so many insecure “celebrities. Besides, Sarah bears a strong physical resemblance to Lucy Van Pelt, which makes her rather cute, and she has this intelligent, proud, yet sensitive glimmer in her eyes. She’s not so bad, she’s just misunderstood. Don’t hate her for being better than everyone else.
LikeLike
Trivia: this film was directed by Herk Harvey, and if that name seems familiar, he helmed the cult favourite “Carnival of Souls” (1962), his sole feature film credit as a director! By the way, whatever happened to Vera Stough?
LikeLike
Neat! 🙂 For an educational short film, “The Snob” is an unusually intense little film and that same intensity can be found in Harvey’s sole feature film. As for Vera Stough, she will be featured in another educational film that I’ll be sharing within the upcoming week. 🙂
LikeLike
It seems as if Vera Stough was rather common in educational films, whereas Herk Harvey carved pretty much his entire career from the medium.
You may notice similarities between Mary Henry, the character played by Candace Hilligoss in “Carnival of Souls”, and Vera Stough as Sarah in “The Snob”. There is a scene in “Carnival of Souls” where Mary Henry informs the doctor that she has no interest in forming relationships with people and has never felt otherwise, and we see other moments in the film where it is made clear that Mary doesn’t warm well to other people (e.g. the Minister telling Mary “You cannot live in isolation from the human race, you know”, plus the episode with Linden, whom Mary clearly doesn’t like, with Linden finally declaring that Mary is “off her rocker”).
Clearly, Mary Henry (“I don’t belong in the world”) and Sarah share the same sense of isolation from others. I think that Herk Harvey was on to something here.
LikeLike
Pingback: A Blast From The Past: The Gossip (1955) | Through the Shattered Lens
Pingback: Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/26/21 — 8/1/21 | Through the Shattered Lens