This fascinating and somewhat hilarious tease of a movie initially appears to be a public health film, but in reality it was a sales film for a book about romance. The movie was presented by Roadshow Attractions (:14) and features the author of “The Art of Love: Your Sex Problems Solved”, Dr. Homer Blodgett (possibly a pseudonym for Hildegarde Esper). Blodgett provides a lecture based on his book, which was published in 1945 and sold — as the production company name implies — in a traveling road show. A note opens the film informing viewers that our strongest motivational drive comes from sex, sex-urge and love (:30). Dr. B beings speaking at (1:49) introducing the audience to the topic of sex which is considered to be fairly taboo (2:28). Churches, schools and parents refrain from divulging too deeply into the subject (3:59) which often leads to important health and safety practice questions being left unanswered (4:07). Statistics from the mid to late 1940’s are looked at which show over a million illegal “sex operations” in the United States (11:49). Dr. Homer addresses illegal and unsafe abortions which many women felt forced to do being left with few options (5:15). The US was also second highest in deaths caused by childbirth (6:20). He attributes the high divorce rate in the country to the general ignorance of the subject (6:51). Dr. Homer also draws comparison to American men and their European and other foreign counterparts who were, often times, more educated in the subject (8:48). He cites a study conducted in a national magazine which attributes marital affairs to men again being uneducated or without time to become proficient on the art of love (9:06). A female night club dancer or flapper twirls from behind a feathered outfit (10:25) as the sex industry plays largely on presenting it’s women as scantily clad as possible as men are aroused easily by sight. He announces to the audience that the ushers were to pass out copies of the book to the audience for purchase (11:34) and then holds a copy of the book up (11:49). Within the book, sex terminology is broken down (12:05), contraceptives are explained (12:30) as well as childbirth and sexually transmitted diseases or STDs (13:06). The film begins to wrap up as he explains the final chapter which is to display a step by step process as to how to get the most from your sexual encounters (13:34) and a long advertisement for the book showing it to be priced at one dollar for sale (16:26).

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