“Once Upon A Time” is an animated film made by Audio Productions. It was created to show the importance of being a careful and safe driver on streets and highways (:15). It is presented by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (:30) which has been in operation for over 145 years and is now known as MetLife. Title screen (:30). The first scene shows cartoon trains, buses and cars on a road (:58). This unique driver safety cartoon, told through a clever song, created as part of an insurance company’s public education program. When Pandora opens her box, goblins “Carelessness” and “Discourtesy” escape to cause traffic accidents. Good fairies “Carefulness” and “Courtesy” charm the goblins back into the box.
In a girl’s room lay a wooden chest which two characters ‘Discourtesy’ and ‘Carelessness’ float out of (1:41). They are to represent bad driving habits throughout the town and begin by hopping into a taxi cab’s car and cause a hit and run accident (2:01). In another car the dubious pair cause the driver to run a red light (2:20). After the accident a boy steals a goose from the backseat and runs through a playground insinuating reckless and careless driving lead to other negative events (3:00). In the ‘Simple Simon’ pie truck, Discourtesy and Carelessness cause the driver to be distracted by eating one of the pies and he begins to weave all over the road (3:22). Cutting off to the side of the road, four characters appearing to represent Cinderella, her step sisters and the prince are trying on a shoe to determine which one is in fact Cinderella (3:42). After he discovers her, the pair hop in a vehicle (4:02). Unfortunately, so does Discourtesy and Carelessness who push the pedal down causing him to blow a stop sign. Here the Cinderella like character hops out of the car and the prince rushes away to meet the pie truck driver who is still weaving and blocking traffic (4:57). He passes on the wrong side causing another wreck (5:07). The negative aspects of backseat driving are depicted and a driver and passenger get stuck on train tracks, pulling up just in time (5:52). In the kingdom, the King sings a tune about how bad driving has caused wrecks and injuries (6:51). Here a magician appears to conjure up two angels to represent Carefulness and Courtesy (7:49). As they play their harps Discourtesy and Carelessness slowly are put to rest in their wooden chest again (8:15). The prince and Cinderella characters sing a tune about careful driving (8:19), and this tune moves around the town and is sung by the other previously bad drivers (8:43). The short film wraps up and the King leaves viewers with a message that courtesy and carefulness are necessary to guide drivers on the road (9:00).
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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 and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
