This 1953 color sponsored film produced by Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. for the Chrysler Corporation courts women drivers, demonstrating the power-steering capabilities of the New Yorker and DeSoto Firedome models using an extended cartoon animation segment featuring a boy who enlists the help of a magic steering genie to win a flying carpet race (TRT 13:46).
Opening titles: “Chrysler Corporation Presents, The Gentle Touch” over a leaf falling into a pond. Credits: Story by Tom Byrnes; Directed by Wallace Fox; Photography by Al Gilks; Animation by Norman Wright; Editor William Minnerly (0:10). Animation lifts our gaze to a starry sky. Celestial bodies pass each other at close range, orbiting the sun. The moon circles the earth (0:43). Zoom on earth. A model sailboat is retrieved by a young boy. He adjusts the rudder and relaunches it (1:33). “Jimmy” is called by his mother from a Chrysler automobile. He asks to steer, but his request is denied (2:04). Closeup on the steering wheel. A 1953 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Newport. A 1953 DeSoto Firedome passes a slower car on the left (3:00). The New Yorker drives a rural road. Closeups on the grille and white walled tires, interior upholstery (3:22). “Aunt Alice” drives a crowned road with ease in the DeSoto. She takes an unpaved detour (3:57). The New Yorker drives a windswept gravel road. The tires leave, then regain the pavement (4:28). Handing smooth curves on a winding road (4:47). The steering wheel re-centers itself. The New Yorker in autumn (5:08). The Firedome parallel parks on an urban street. Jimmy’s mom stops and greets Aunt Alice. A date is made to discuss drapery material (5:41). Inside the car, Jimmy still wants to steer. He dozes off. Dissolve to animation (6:35). A cartoon boy outside “Bagdad Flying Carpet Sales Salon” advertising the “Latest Model Flying Carpet.” Flying carpets pass overhead. Cartoon Jimmy kicks an oil lamp and a genie appears (6:58). The Genie grants a wish to steer a flying carpet. Jimmy isn’t familiar with carpet traffic laws (7:45). A flying carpet appears, complete with a steering wheel, which the genie turns from below with a firm grip. They fly away (8:24). They dodge a tower and enter an obstacle course (8:57). Sight gags: A wacky race of flying carpets takes shape (9:24). The cartoon carpets fly through the race (10:26). Jimmy takes a shortcut to the finish line. The steering genie winks (11:30). Arriving home, Jimmy awakes with a story about easy steering, but mom is unimpressed. Jimmy exclaims, “Mommy, you have a genie too!” Aunt Alice arrives (12:05). Title overlay: “The Gentle Touch, a Chrysler and DeSoto Presentation” (13:13).
The first power-steering system for a production car debuted in 1951 with the Chrysler Imperial. This film helps to illustrate how quickly the concept caught on and spread through their main product line, as well as their DeSoto brand. To date, Chrysler has yet to unveil a flying carpet with a pre-installed genie.
The DeSoto Firedome was a full-size automobile produced between 1952-59 by the DeSoto division of the Chrysler Corporation. The 1953 model heralded DeSoto’s 25th Anniversary in 1953, and arrived as the new top series, displacing the Custom. Firedome prices started at US$2,740 and about 64,000 were produced.
Animator Norman H. Wright was best known for his earlier work on the Nutcracker Suite segment in Disney’s “Fantasia” (1940), and as a sequence director for “Bambi” (1942). He later contributed to the “Magical World of Disney” television series.
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