This is a 1960’s era color film produced by the Bemis Bro. Bag Company. It is called, “Rough and Tough: A companion film to Bemis’ ‘The King’s Other Life’”. It is the story of how raw jute is processed in India and Pakistan and made into burlap bags in the United States. The purpose of the film is to showcase the quality of Bemis production facilities for burlap products. U.S. Color photography by Marshall C. Barnes. Produced by Packaging Service, Bemis Bro. Bag Co. Map shows the location of Pakistan and India. Map shows the increase of India’s production of raw jute 1:05. Animation shows how burlap is moved from India to US and then into international products that funnel back to India 1:12. Farmers are shown planting seeds for the crop 1:33. Cows pull the till on the farm 1:44. Harrowing prepares the soil for sowing 2:07. Seeds are sown 2:12. Boy spreads seed over the harrowed soil 2:23. The jute grows fast and is thinned out by men in the fields 2:40. Man displays the jute plant and its leaves 3:02. The plants grow on average from 8 to 10 feet high 3:12. When the flowers appear on the plant, it is time to harvest 3:14. Men harvest the fields 3:31. Jute stalks are loosely bundled 3:40. Man carries a bundle of jute 4:11. The jute is soaked in water for 10 to 14 days to remove the fibers from the plant 4:30. A young boy is shown gathering the washed fibers 4:45. Bundles of fibers are shipped to market on carts and by boat 5:00. Bundles of processed jute are loaded on boats 5:15. The jute reaches the press houses where the jute is sorted for color and quality 5:43. The roots are cut off if the jute is going to a foreign market 6:00. The jute goes through a process of combing 6:06. Jute of similar grades are made into bundles, 6:20. Men carry bundles onto river barges 6:55. Families live on the side of the river 7:25. A village of jute workers raises their families on company property 7:40. 5,500 workers are employed at this huge jute mill 8:00. The jute is laid onto a machine where it is straightened and combed. The jute is run through several machines where the fibers are spun and finally to the spinning machine 8:43. The spools spend the jute into yarns 8:57. The jute is now ready to be woven into burlap 9:05. Balers compress each bale and make it ready for shipment 9:30. Burlap bags are loaded by crane onto a boat 9:55. The Statue of Liberty is shown 10:14. The burlap has arrived in New York 10:24. The burlap is unloaded from the ships in New York Harbor 11:00. Jute cloth produced in India is known as Hessians or Hessian fabric 11:19. Bemis operates its own importing business for burlap 11:54. Bemis grading is accepted as the standard for testing burlap in the United States 12:08. Burlap enters a Bemis factory for production into bags and other products 12:18. Trucks are loaded with burlap 12:30. A map is shown with 16 factories and Bemis plants across the United States 13:04. Man unloads bolts of fabric at the Bemis factory 13:23. Burlap goes onto rolls for printing 13:51. Printing plates are loaded into a machine to print bags 14:00. Bemis workers do multicolor printing on a machine 14:30. Rolls of burlap are cut into bag length on a machine 14:50. Paint is put into machines 15:00. Printed burlap bags are stacked on a pallet 15:35. Folded seams are sewn into bags 15:57. Bags are stacked and compressed for shipping 16:20. Different brands are shown printed across the burlap bags 16:48. Rough and tough inexpensive material for colorfully printed burlap bags manufactured by Bemis, America’s number one burlap bag maker. Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. “Jute” is the name of the plant or fiber used to make burlap, hessian or gunny cloth. Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibers, and second only to cotton in the amount produced and variety of uses. Jute fibers are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose and lignin.

Bemis Inc. was founded by Judson Moss Bemis in 1858 in St. Louis, Missouri, as a manufacturer of printed cotton bags for food products. Two key innovations Bemis’ company originally pioneered were the printing and machine-sewing of bags. (Traditionally, bags were stenciled and hand-sewn.)

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