“Industry On Parade was a television series created by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) from 1950-1960. The series consisted of weekly episodes that highlighted American manufacturing and business. Hundreds of companies and products were documented during the [program’s] decade-long run.”
This film is a collection of three episodes from the series (episodes 45, 79, and 88). The first episode, number 45 from 1951, takes viewers to the Magnus Harmonica factory in Newark, NJ (00:38). Women make toy harmonicas, concertinas, and plastic bagpipes. A man takes out the plastic reeds molded in a large machine (02:28). A woman assembles a drone of the bagpipe (03:22), and another woman attaches the bag to the drone. A young girl plays the plastic bagpipes. At a Michigan factory (05:25), men and women make furniture out of white pine. A man uses a band saw to shape a piece of pine (06:38). Another employee builds a stool called a “captain’s chair.” A man sands down a coffee table made of white pine. Women spray clear lacquer on the finished furniture. Other women sew the upholstery for the furniture. The next segment shows an aerial view of military planes sitting on an airfield (08:43). A man sprays a liquid plastic “cocoon” protective wrap on a plane. Manufacturing liquid plastic to surround and protect military equipment and other machines for storage. At the Camden, NJ factory of R.M. Hollingshead Corporation, men manufacture the liquid plastic. At the firm, men make the liquid of the cocoon. A woman on the research staff tests the tensile strength of the plastic “skin” (10:22). A man seals a 50-gallon drum of the liquid. Men peel the protective plastic skin off of a plane. In the next segment, viewers are taken to the New York Harbor, where the Green family lives in a barge and operate a floating filling station. The owner and his children fill up boats with fuel and sell boaters refreshments.
1952’s episode 79 gives viewers a bird’s-eye look at Niagara Falls and the power plant of the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation. Inside the plant, viewers see the massive turbines turned by the rushing water and the large generators that sit atop the turbines, as well as inside the control room of the power plant (17:13). At the Security Banknote Company in Philadelphia PA (18:35), men and women print stocks and bonds. Engravings are rolled onto a steel plate (19:44). Men go into a secure room where the printing plates are stored. Sheets of stocks are printed on a printing press, and a woman inspects them for accuracy. Next, the episode shows a train and tank car at the Reichhold Chemicals plant in Detroit, MI (21:03). Inside, scientists research plastics and synthetics. A man pours a liquid into a mixer, testing new paint prototypes. A man runs a machine to process synthetic resin, which is pumped into a train tank car. The final segment of the episode shows a group of kids eagerly reaching for cookies (24:08). At the Burry Biscuit Corporation plant in Elizabeth, NJ, men dump ingredients in a large mixer (24:28). A man shovels dough into a machine that cuts and stamps the cookie dough, which then runs through a massive oven (25:54). Women box the cookies for shipping.
In the final episode of this set, number 88, viewers see U.S. Navy ships sailing at sea (28:13). The head of the Capitol Machine and Switch Company of Danbury, CT takes viewers on a tour of the subcontractors that he uses to build a switch for the Navy. A man and woman manufacture parts for the switch. Next, viewers go to the Hallmark Greeting Card Company’s headquarters in Kansas City (31:30), where women paint and draw images for the greeting cards. Printing plates are made from photographs. A man inspects the colors of a print. Another man demonstrates a card model; he takes it to the board for approval. In the next segment, a man shows a combustion lighter at American Clad Metals Company in Carnegie, PA (34:38). Men press steel and copper alloy sheets (35:40), then send them through a roughing mill, making the sheets thinner and longer. Men pull metal plates from a furnace, and the plates are used to make jackets for bullets (37:37). A man shows the finished bullet jackets in an office. The final segment shows a man making popcorn in his basement in Duluth, MN (39:30). The man refills a self-serve popcorn machine at a store, and a female customer soon fills a bag of popcorn.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
