“Another Shade of Green,” a 1960s short film and documentary on the importance of Monsanto’s creation of artificial grass — brand name Astroturf — for the college sports landscape of America. Produced, directed, and written by Ron Jacobs for Monsanto. Narrated by the legendary John Facenda, best known for his affiliation with NFL Films. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by James M. Faria and Robert T. Wright of Monsanto. The first installation of “ChemGrass” was at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island. After its first use at the Houston Astrodome in 1966, the product was rebranded as AstroTurf. While it would eventually be installed worldwide and have a great reputation, early versions of Astroturf were criticized for allegedly causing injuries, and having traction and directionality issues.
(0:07) An athlete opens a football locker and puts on his protective gear and uniform as a narrator describes him (1:37) Shot of his back as he walks through the stadium tunnel and into the field. Shifts to Boston University players running as a team. Cheerleaders dance in front of the crowd, players gather before the game, and the game commences (3:27) “Another Shade of Green” title card (3:50) Shots of the streets of Boston and students walking around campus as the narrator discusses Monsanto’s development of synthetic surfaces and astroturfs for fields (4:48) Close-up to zoom out of Monsanto company logo (5:04) Scientists in white coats in a Monsanto lab. Shots of carpeting, consumer garments, and household products (6:23) Exterior of the Houston Astrodome, where synthetic Astroturf was first installed (7:04) Men huddle over maps and planning documents. Workers begin preparing for an installation with measurements and tractors driving across the pavement (7:50) A tractor sprays adhesive onto a cement ground. Underpad cushions are rolled out and the Astroturf is placed on top. A worker crawls on the ground as he carefully aligns the Astroturf seams (9:12) Various games taking place on Astroturf, from baseball to football (10:31) Interviews with men in suits and collegiate gear talking about the benefits of Astroturf at their universities (14:22) Football players performing various routines during practice (15:03) Compilation of college bands, cheerleaders, and football games (17:04) A man walks into an empty football field and looks into the distance as the camera zoom out to an exterior view of the Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO (18:40) Credits roll over the St. Louis skyline with the Gateway Arch in the distance.
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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
