This black and white film is one of a 1950-1960 television series Industry on Parade, produced by the National Association of Manufacturers. It contains four segments. “Cable to Cuba.” The British ship SS Lord Kelvin lays cable in the Gulf Stream. A piece of cable is stripped back to show its components: copper wire inside plastic insulation inside a flexible tube of thin copper ribbons inside jute wrapped with heavy steel wires inside jute. Bell Telephone Laboratories engineers build amplifying stations in a tube encased in flexible sheathing. Each amplifier is hermetically sealed to protect it. The two tubes are loaded onto the SS Lord Kelvin to begin laying cable from Cuba to Key West. The process using individuals with wenches on shore, and barrels and buoy markers is shown. Women telephone operators are shown working in front of a giant switchboard (:30-4:45). An advertisement shows WWII cannons being fired, a steam engine train, and the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima (4:46-5:25). “Treasure of the Deep!” The Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas extracts methyl magnesium from the ocean through a series of pumps that bring in water. Marine life is removed in the open tank process. A crane off-loads oyster shells from a barge. They are washed in large drums and subjected to heat in long rotating kilns. The heated shells are mixed with seawater in the slicker to form magnesium hydroxide. The milk of magnesia is gathered to the center by rotating blades and pumped off to another vat. In the neutralizer tank, other ingredients are mixed in to become magnesium chloride. To become solid, the liquid is evaporated in a brick-lined furnace and then raked into a chute, where it is carried along electric cells where the charges break it down into chlorine and magnesium. A forklift moves bags of magnesium into an already full storehouse. Some magnesium is used by the military in making metal for planes (5:26-8:41). “Beyond the Pipeline.” A woman wearing an apron opens the oven door on her Tappan Deluxe gas stove. Tanks of liquified petroleum gas (bottled propane gas) are stacked at a plant. A large tank is put into place by a crane. Compressed smaller into steel bottles made it available for cooking. A propane tank is attached to a Spinks system. A truckload of bottled gas is transported. A tank outside a home has a “Rulane Gas Service” label on it (8:42-10:19). “Carving a Career!” A man wearing a flannel shirt and suspenders planes wood in his workshop in Mora, Minnesota. He makes an ice stick, his own invention. Ice fishermen choose a frozen spot to fish and chop open a hole. The ice stick is used to support the line without the fisherman holding it. A large Northern Pike is caught on the ice stick and lifted out of the hole. The inventor is shown choosing ice sticks from a large wall of finished products. He nails up his store sign “Mora Ice Stick” (10:20-13:25).

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