Tag Archives: Ted Peshak

A Blast From The Past: How Do You Know It’s Love (dir by Ted Peshak)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Jack: “I love you.  Do you love me?”

Nora: “I’ll have to think about it.”

OUCH!  That had to hurt, though I’m totally on Nora’s side here.  Jack is coming on way too strong.  I mean, they were having a perfectly pleasant time and then suddenly Jack has to bring “love” into it all.  They’ve only been dating a few weeks!

Jack and Nora are the two “teenagers” at the heart of How Do You Know It’s Love?, an educational film from 1950.  After Nora’s mother informs her that she’s too young and immature to understand anything about love and after Jack’s brother taunts him for falling in love with a new girl every week, Jack and Nora decide to go on a double date so that they can see what mature love is all about.  The main message of the film is that one shouldn’t mistake attraction for love and that teenagers should date a lot of people before settling down.  It’s not a bad message but it’s one that will probably be missed by many viewers due to the fact that Jack and Nora are both kind of goofy.

Believe it or not, this film was not directed by Herk Harvey.  Instead, this one of the 33 educational films that former journalist Ted Peshak directed in the 1950s for Coronet films.  Though Peshak made a lot of films for Coronet, he was never paid more than $190 a week and, perhaps understandably, he abandoned the educational film game in the 60s and instead went to work in real estate.  I don’t blame him.

Anyway, here’s the film.  Watch and ask yourself the big questions.

Twin Blasts From The Past: What To Do On A Date and Dating Do’s and Don’ts (dir by Ted Peshak)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s been a while since I’ve shared any old educational films here on the Shattered Lens but I figured now might be the perfect time to share an old movie from 1951, What To Do On A Date.  Produced by the good (or so I assume) people at Coronet Films, What To Do On A Date is … well, the plot is pretty much in the title.

Now, to be honest, this could have just as easily been called What To Do On A Date If You Want To Make Sure That Lisa Never Agrees To A Second Date.  Seriously, this is totally squaresville.  Like real Melvin.  But you know what?  I’m notoriously hard to please and, with Valentine’s Day coming up, this may be helpful to someone.

I don’t know who, exactly.  But hey, it’s on YouTube and that’s the important thing.

(I’m all about helping.  You know that.)

If you still need help after What To Do On A Date, you can watch 1949’s Dating Do’s and Don’ts.  It was directed by the same guy who did What To Do On A Date.  People in the 1940s were notorious for knowing what to do on dates.  The Baby Boom didn’t just happen, y’know.

(Apparently, the version of Dating Do’s and Don’ts uploaded to YouTube is incomplete.  But you’ll get the general point.)

 

A Blast From The Past: Are You Popular? (dir by Ted Peshak)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week’s blast from the past is a 9-minute educational film from 1947.  In Are You Popular?, we enter into the world of high school in the 1940s and we discover that our grandparents were amazingly judgmental teenagers.

We start out with a bunch of teenagers sitting in a cafeteria and debating why the new girl at school, Caroline, is so popular.  Then Ginny, the old girl at school, tries to sit at the table but no one’s willing to make room for her.  A stern-voiced narrator informs us that Ginny thinks that she’s popular because she goes “parking” with all the boys.  “No,” the narrator informs us, “girls who park in cars are not really popular…not even with the boys that they park with.”

Interestingly enough, none of the boys are condemned for all “parking” with the same girl.  No, instead, it’s all on Ginny.

Anyway, once Ginny has been properly shamed, the film becomes about the efforts of two boys to win a date with Caroline.  Caroline comes across like one of those girls in high school who would get upset whenever someone wore a short skirt.

Seriously, Ginny is too good for those losers….

Anyway, in the interest of providing a window into the deeply repressed and judgmental world that was 1947, here’s Are You Popular?