This 1955 color educational film from Coronet, produced in collaboration with educator Margaret Keysler Hill of the Reading Clinic at the State University of Iowa, takes a leisurely look at a father and son’s trip from a farm to a market to sell turkeys, in a soothing short aimed at young audiences whose understanding of the world around them is still taking shape (TRT: 10:13). The film was made roughly a year before President Eisenhower’s campaign to install interstate highways nationally.
Opening titles: “A Coronet Film” (0:08). We meet Sammy and his father, farmers taking turkeys to market in a 1940s International KB series pickup truck. Mother waves goodbye to the flannel-clad father and his son (0:33). The truck drives a rural gravel road, with a silo visible in the background. The truck turns onto a paved road (1:12). Passing cars and trucks on a highway (1:50). A Standard gasoline truck in red, with a stencil, “Flammable” (2:22). Sammy’s father passes an auto carrier stacked with new automobiles. Passing trucks. Sammy points out a curve up ahead. Sammy’s father slows down, with a closeup on the speedometer. A 45mph curve sign (2:42). A motorcycle policeman stops the truck to notify the father of low tire air pressure (3:33). Propeller-driven airplanes sit idle in an airfield. A truck stop offers Mobil gasoline (4:12). Stopping the truck, the father gets out in a parking lot. A yellow truck marked, “Interstate Dispatch” parks nearby. The driver rubs Sammy’s head. A Chippewa Motor Freight refrigerator truck (4:34). A smaller refrigerator truck carries Armour brand meats (5:26). The family truck resumes its journey to market (5:50). A passing locomotive engine carrying a train of refrigerator cars, tank cars, and boxcars (6:22). The truck stops to help a disabled vehicle. Sammy meets another young boy. Together, they examine a highway map, charting a trip from Kansas to Illinois (7:01). Other cars pass along the highway. The disabled vehicle is repaired, and both cars return to the road (8:10). POV inside the International KB truck, a sign: “Junction Ahead.” Sammy and his father turn off (9:00). The truck arrives at a market. The turkeys are safe and sound (9:10). Sammy reflects on his travels as narration asks, “What do you see along the highways?” Title card: “The End” (9:40).
Coronet films, frequently satirized for their wooden acting and often dry approach to educational content, operated from 1934 to 1984, producing hundreds of 16mm classroom shorts. They are best remembered for their contributions to the “social hygiene” movement of the mid-20th century.
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