1945’s Army-Navy Screen Magazine 49 tells the stories of “The Lady From Arvin” and “Tiger Joe.” It opens with footage of driving through a wheat field and then through Arvin, CA. People walk into the U.S. Post Office in Arvin (01:00). Women load packages into a sack. Another woman, Effie Mann, sorts mail in the Post Office. Mann is responsible for putting together a special edition of the Arvin Tiller that is sent to the men from Arvin serving overseas. Women of the Red Cross roll bandages for the war effort (01:40). Mann drives her car down a street (02:15) and stops to give mail to several mothers of U.S. servicemen. Footage shows a few fields around Arvin, including a cotton field. Young wives sit outside and share news of their husbands (03:42) while their small children play in the grass. Footage shows Mexican migrant workers and young women working in vineyards, including several members of American Women’s Voluntary Services (AWVS). Women sort grapes in the Di Gorgio packing house near Arvin (05:28). The film shows new potato warehouses (06:10) and Arvin’s new Bank of America as Mann drives to the Arvin Tiller. Mann arrives at the paper and gives the editor the news she’s collected. The editor runs the printing press, making the second special edition newspaper for Arvin’s soldiers overseas. Next, the film gives viewers a few quick facts about the Lend-Lease program using basic animation. This is followed by the story of “Tiger Joe,” a Chinese orphan adopted by the 14th Air Force. Not far from the 14th Air Force Bomber Base in Kunming, China, a three-year-old boy walks down a dirt road (12:33). Several GIs pull up in a jeep; an old farmer tells the young boy that the GIs are friendly soldiers. Footage shows “Joe” sleeping in the jeep. The company commander meets Joe, who is then washed by a GI. Joe wears a military uniform and sits next to a sergeant. The film concludes with shots of Joe eating in the mess hall with his company, standing for inspection (15:26), and then running after his platoon as they march away.
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