Program. Glad you are here with us either onsite or online on youtube. Before we begin i would like to give you some instructions on how to participate. For those of you have joined us onsite, welcome. We will take your questions. We ask that you hold on to them until the very end of their presentation. If you can, please use the microphones so we can capture your voice online. For those of you watching online, you too can ask questions. Log into the chat feature of this Youtube Channel and type your questions in. I will then ask the presenters your questions at the end of your sessions. You will find two hotlinks. One will take you to presentation the other to live captioning. Todays program is entitled world war ii and the first Motion Picture films with preservationists. They perform preservation work on Motion Pictures and records held at the National Archives. Before joining the lab in 2006, audrey worked with the film collection. Heidi completed her education at western washington university, earning a masters in history with a certificate in archives and records management. It is a pleasure to have them return to highlight their work. Please join me in welcoming our presenters, Audrey Amidon and heidi holmstrom. Hi. Thank you. Today heidi and i will be sharing films of the first Motion Picture unit. Our goal is to provide an introduction to a group of fascinating films to explain why making them was posht. Everything you see today will be available on the gnash National ArchivesYoutube Channel. We work in the Motion Picture lab. We avessess films for deterioration. Make new film copies and digitize for access. If you want to know more, please check out the short video we made a few years back. Its called out of the dark and is saudi arabia on our main Youtube Channel. How did we end up with the first Motion Picture unit . There was an urgent need to train millions of men very quickly. During world war i, film education than proven to be an effective and efficient method to prepare men to fight. When the United States ramped up production of munitions and aircraft, the United States military turned to film to teach men now to use them. In order to meet demand, in march of 1942, the commander of air forces devised a plan with jack warner of warner bros. Studios to create a separate filmmaking unit for the army and air force. Remember, at the time, at the start of the war, the air force was only a branch of the army, so it depended on the Army Signal Corps for all their film making needs. They believed they needed their own film making unit. To accommodate the specific needs of the branch and to promote itself as a distinct unit. The idea of the first major Motion Picture unit was born. Over three years, they produced several hundred films and recruited members from the ranks of Hollywood Studios. Most notably, Ronald Reagan, william holden, clark table, whose films can be seeing today. While the first Motion Picture unit was being stood up, the armyair force contracted warner others to make several films to serve their needs. At the top of the list was a recruitment film to recruit for the general public that fill thousands of spots. Lieutenant James Stewart, you probably recognize him, was the perfect actor to star in the short film. He was a licensed private and enlisted in the air corps in 1941. He was rejected for being underweight, but ate spaghetti every day. Enlisted as a private, made full colonel by the end of the year. During his first years of service, stewart was assigned to combat duty. He was understandably he when he received orders to make winning your wings. It was so successful, it garnered many new recruits. We see lieutenant James Stewart in all his folksy glory. Well, hello. Looks like i am back in the movies again, huh . As a matter of fact i like to do some talk. Dont go away until i get this thing off. It isnt as if fs the a chore for me to talk to you because i want to speak on my favorite subject. The Army Air Force. I cannot speak from long experience, because ive only been in the air force a year and a half but i want to talk you about what it has to offer. Thats what i want to talk to you about. Right now, the greatest mass globalization in the history of the world is taking place. Men from farms, towns, single men, married then, brothers, sweethearts, husbands, fathers and sons, businessman and workers from the factories and students from colleges and high schools, all over america are mobilizing. Theyre joining up. Or having their numbers pulled out of a fishbowl. This war we are fighting today, tomorrow, and the next day, until we win is a war of the air. The whole world knows that. Our factories know that. Interceptors, light bombers, are rolling out of the factories. 65,000 fighting planes this year. 100,000 fighting planes next year. To keep them flying, 2 million men. Now, that is where you come in. The armyair force needs 15,000 captains, 40,000 lieutenants, 35,000 flying sergeants. Well, thought how about it . Sorry. Another of the Warner Brothers recruitment men and womens made before the Motion Picture was activated. The film starred burgess meredith. You might know him better as the penguin from batman and he is a prolific actor, theater actor, already been in an adaptation of of mice and men. And of course, Ronald Reagan in the bottom right hand corner. The film emphasizes everyone has a role to play. The film follows meredith where he learns his small stature actually ideal for the position of rear gunner. Ronald reagan famously served as the Motion Picture units first chief personnel officer. In july of 1942, the first Motion Picture unit began production in hollywood. The unit was mostly staffed by hollywood veterans, writers, producers, technicians, and actors. As you can see in this still, the unit operated like any Hollywood Studio with one notable difference all of its members were in uniform. The first film turned out to be a bit to rundown for their purposes so they moved to another studio. Legendary comedy producer and responsible for the our gang series and numerous laurel and hardy comedies. By march 1943, they produced their first film, which showed pilots examining their mistakes in the afterlife. This is important too. We arent going the into too much today. In addition to the recruit and films, the first major Motion Picture unit was also in charge of overseeing combat motion. Footage shot by the cameramen was incorporated into the films and used for intelligence purposes. They had a very important job and they were on the front lines. This next extended clip is a film that the Motion Picture unit made about itself. The complete femme is 20 minutes and can be found on our Youtube Channel. Well be showing you about six minutes today . Shoot, im sorry. Sorry. This is the Army Air Forces first Motion Picture unit in cullver city, california. Films which graphically illustrate what we are fighting for, what we are fighting against, i and while we are fighting with. Today we face a task of training men by the millions. To man and maintain the airline thats hurling in everincreasing numbers against the enemies. The maximum number of men and the minimum amount of time. So inspire as well as instruct them. The Army Air Force has got many methods, such as activating many specialized organizations such as this. Men from the first Motion Picture unit are men from all crafts, writers directors, actors, cutters, electricians, cameramen, sound recorders. Men carefully chosen from among the most proficient film technicians available. Men with long years of training in the art and science of major Motion Pictures. While they are making pictures for the army, the army is making soldiers of them. Theyre specialists, yes, but first and foremost they are soldiers. Theyve got to do their job the army way. They have to be strictly g. I. From director to finished film, the course of the air force Motion Picture project is checked by the recruiting office. The script is broken down, converted to men, money, minutes and materials. The Production Office coordinates and expedite the operations of many different departments that make up the first Motion Picture yubt unit. Of all the weapons of world war ii, none have proved more effective than words. Words are particularly potent when used by the major picture writer. Young, vital, compelling. Possibilities for visual education are endless. Virtually unexplored. The soldier writers of the first Motion Picture unit work with close contact with technical collaborating agencies to secure awe tentic footage from air bases throughout the country. These massive structures with the sound stainings of the first Motion Picture unit. Especially structured, soundproofed, air connconditia. Covers an area of 78,000 square feet. Measures 246 feet long, as many as four Production Units can operate simultaneously. Stage 5, films is about to begin on instruct flight. Technicians give the final check and the director calls quiet please. All right, roll them. Quiet. The Art Department an excellent example of how the arts of peace turn into the art of war. They turn detailed sketches, architectural floor plans, blueprints. Often they make miniature models of sets built to scale. Exact replicas in every respect. Here is a model you saw on stage five. This preplanning saves precious manhours and materials and enables the first Motion Picture unit to turn out training films that are economical has well as effective. Here is another model of headquarters somewhere in the south pacific. Reporting for duty here. Glad to have you with us leent. Glad to be here. We can certainly use you. Sit down. Cigarette . Thank you sir. How was the flight over . I made it with the help of a p40. You like our p40. Yes, sir. Its a nice airplane. Maybe we can count on you not to shoot any of them down. I hadnt had any plans to. Its been done. Men with an unfortunate lack of ability to tell a friend from an enemy. Here, members of a bomber crew are being made up for crash scenes in training film project number 1010. Emergency care of paratroop casualties. The makeup expert applies a heavy greece paint. With a few definite strokeshis blending brush, he makes them look like this on the screen. Not many months ago, these serious soldier artists were the very men who put life and laughter in mickey mouse. And donald duck and barny bear. Today they turn their attention to technical things. Things like thrust and torque, the trajectory of a bomb. Inner workings of a flight specialist. Things the student or men must know and the animated sequence of a training film can teach. Complex operations or minute mechanical details the camera cannot capture in actuallity are authentically illustrated in the drawings of these artists. Long famed for he resourcefulness has been the property man. No matter how unusual the prop, the property man has got it in stock or knows where to get it. His department houses thousands of odd and assorted objects. At a moments notice he can provide a b4 bag ar a boom roong. A b24 pedestal or a bunch of bananas and in the clip you just watched, you heard the types of filmed produced by the first Motion Picture unit described at instructional, operational and sbrumtle. Above everything, if films were practical, addressing needs. One specific problem was the failure to tell the difference between the japanese and american fighters. Leading to incidents of friendly fire. The solution was recognition of the japanese fighter. You saw an excerpt but the real utility of the film comes from animated sequences pinpointing the differences between the p40 and the zero, which i highlighted on the screen. These differences are accompanied by a dramatic story, sh showing Ronald Reagan as someone who thinks he really knows his stuff, making a common mistake. The day finally came. The flyer was on his own. Out jap hunting. Do not expect too much, lieutenant. Not on your first day. Whats up . You see something . Its a plane all right. What sort of a plane . Friend or enemy. P40 or zero . Now is the time to remember your recognition. Now, is it a deep radiator . Round curving nose, inline edges . Then its a p40. Or has that plane an oil cooler, a scoop, pointed nose away. Radio engine. If it has, its a zero. Tough to tell from here. Maybe if you cut closer. Start climbing. Take another look. Hold it, saunders. Make sure. Now look at that plane. Thats no zero. Thats a p40. Lucky you missed. Its coming back. Want to take another shot on it . Wish i could apologize from here. Following the identitification laid out by the film and downing a zero. The cope that we scanned for that is the copy that comes from the Ronald Reagan library. Another famous face in the first Motion Picture unit was clark gable who joined the military to honor his wife who died in a plane crash to sell war bombs. Gable received manned of a sixperson Motion Picture unit accompanying the 351st unit to unit. He flew five missions to germany, earning the medal and a cross. He returned to hollywood to edit the film from overseas. It was used in a few notable films, most notely combat america. He was also recruited to make a film titled wings up. One flying fortress. Made in seattle now flying in the pacific. Pretty isnt it . Its been flying for 3,000 miles. Unfortunately, its lost. Its this mans fault. His nerve is gone. Everything he has been taught has left him. They have to fight off half a dozen planes besides and now theyre lost on the way back. One week late will snap the chain. Too bad, for our side that. Plane was worst 350,000. I dont know what amount you would hold on the men. How much would you take for your life . Why did this man get this job . Isnt there an xray machine that can look into a man and say, hell do . Yes, there is such an xray machine and it looks into mens hearts, mind, and souls and find them adequate or wanting. Its called the school at miami air force and its itch situated in miami, florida. Stands for i sustain the wings. These men, their mind and discipline lies in the hope we will always keep them flying. How does this school test these men . How does it expose those that must not lead and teach those who can to lead in where and how do we get these men . Thats important enough to know. Wings up provide an overview of a programics police italy designed to weed out those who could not perform turned pressure of combat. In the next clip, we could see a little bit of what the recruits were subjected to. Still in the process. Give your last name. Whats the process . Halls. You a Real Estate Agent . You look like you want to buy the place. When you come back, feet at a 45 degree angle. Jump. How would are you . You got a girl . Two . Two more wrinkles for them. Halt. Get the chest up in the air. Get it up. Way up. Get some wrinkles in that chin. More wrinkles. When i tell you to jufrpment i want you to jump this high. Why did you come down . Wipe that smile off our face. Stomp on it. Halt youre in it now, misters. For the next six weeks until youre upper classmen, you move only at double time. West point is not harder. Every minute of your waking time is accounted for so you must hurry, hurry, hurry, youre allowed seven hours sleepment youll be lucky and a very bright student if you can manage five. Youre not to eat in a public place. Say, is this necessary in maybe youre the kind of person who doesnt lend himself to this sort of discipline. You know its necessary, but its not for you. Youre too dignified. Or maybe you have your pride. Why, thats all right, mister. Just resign. Nothing will happen to you. Youll go back to your old rank. No one will hold it against you. Unless you hold it against yourself. But we want to find out now, whether you have been picked to command can learn to obey. The soldier who cant stand up under strict regulations cannot discipline himself or others. This is where we must find out. Not here. Not when all these lives are involved. Remember that clark gable would have undergone that kind of training himself. So now im going hand it back to audrey to speak about the next couple of films. The next two films feature two parts of the same process gathering and analyzing airline evidence. Youll notice they dont have interesting titles, because they were not made for the general public. They were for internal use. The first film is a separating forward process based training film that focuses on the steps of process and the names of unit that participate. While parts of the film are really dry, there is a strong attempt to overlay a story line that features reconnaissance pilot tim grover seeing a old friend who serves in the navy. In the top right hand still, you can see captain tim grover on the left, and then his friend is in the middle. Thats phil bowen. He serves as the audience surrogate while captain grover expert witnesses the process of photographic evidence. It also features allen ladd as captain smith, a sherlock hoemsian analyst complete with a pipe and magnifying glass. You see him in the two bottom stills. The ambassadorle rath films