Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Dinah: See The USA, 1952, The Complete Version


The full version from the prelinger archives. Definitely blogworthy
some comments that I found that accompanied the movie there
Reviewer: Robin_1990 - 5 out of 5 stars - April 22, 2008
Subject: Dinah Shore is the Greatest Jew of All Time!
Although I'm not Jewish, I might become one just because of Dinah Shore. Those who met her say she was just as nice off-screen as she was on-screen. She hosted several popular TV series including "The Dinah Shore Show" (Of which I have uploaded one episode to IA). Dinah was HOT!
Hey Rick, If you have any more commercials with Dinah Shore, Please Upload 'Em!
Reviewer: bread - 5 out of 5 stars - August 17, 2006
Subject: wonderful
this wonderful chevrolet ad is a delight for both Dinah Shore fans and chevrolet fans.one of the best ads i have ever seen.
Reviewer: ERD - 5 out of 5 stars - July 27, 2006
Subject: Bubbling Over
Dinah Shore is full of charismatic energy in this theatrical promotional for the 1953 BelAir by Chevy. She gets your interest by singing "I't A Most Unusual Day" from the MGM film "A Date With Judy," then makes a smooth transition into promoting the car. The theme song for Chevy is excellent, and the showing of beautiful places in America motivates the driver. A well crafted production.
Reviewer: Gojoe283 - 4 out of 5 stars - July 24, 2006
Subject: Not a Production Chevy but a Prototype!
B"H
A wonderful film, but the car shown is a preproduction model. The production '53 model did NOT have the rear vent windows! The vent windows were deleted at the last minute before production commenced.
Reviewer: Robin Banks - 5 out of 5 stars - April 18, 2004
Subject: Jam Handy was amazing!
I'm a Union Stagehand here in Detroit, where Jam Handy was really located. (The other offices were just that, offices... the real filming happened here, or on location, but the crew came from here in Detroit.) Some of the old stagehands from Handy are still around our local, but not too many. The stories of how many of these props (like cars, fridges and the like) ended up in their garages, "rec rooms" and elsewhere in their homes are hilarious. (I know one stagehand that got a new 1957 Chevy, because GM just never came and got it after the filming... no kiddin!) Interesting too are the many, many stories I've heard about the "old days at Handy" from some of these guys at lunch or coffee. Someone should really write a book about Jam Handy, as I'm sure it would be quite an interesting read. In fact, perhaps the Handy films deserve their own place here on the archive. For those that don't realize it, Handy, at one time, used more film than Hollywood, and were located just down the street from the GM Building on Grand Boulevard in the north end of Detroit. There's a reason they were so close to GM... look at who most of their films were made for!
By the way folks, it's "Jam Handy Productions". I've seen it called other things here and there around the site, but it's Jam Handy. Trust me.
Some of these other film companies from Detroit (those that did industrials and commercials) were just the Jam Handy guys, churning them out under different company names. In a few cases, it WAS a different company, but it was the same old Handy crew doing it.
You can thank the stagehands of Detroit IATSE Local 38 for these wonderous films, and I'm glad to have some of them as friends and fellow stagehands. I've shown some of these films to them, and you should see the smiles as they say "Hey, I remember working on that one!". (grin)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Very sad to see this clip. I remember viewing it not long after it came out. 1953 was the year of the execution of the Rosenbergs (KV residents!), the Army McCarthy hearings, domestic blacklisting, the last days of the Korean War, the antisemitic Doctors' Trials in the USSR and Slansky trials in Czechoslovakia, etc. But... network television broadcasted consumer fantasies and the vapidity (albeit sweetness and admirable energy) of Dinah Shore. By the mid-50s Dinah was ending her Chevy jingles with the cold-war-spirited tag line: "America is the Greatest Land of All!" -- and this prior to the civil right movement.

This said... I tremendously enjoy your weblog!

Stephen Lewis (Seward Park HS 1963) http://hakpaksak.wordpress.com; http://bubkes.org