From the box:
A barrage of wacky intermission shorts from moviehouses and drive-ins of the 50’s and 60’s!
Look! Up on the screen! It’s a monster! It’s a nuclear accident! It’s… it’s… it’s a pizza?
Used to be, back in the old days, moviehouses and drive-in theaters (remember them?) would show more than one film each evening. And between features, audiences were shown short films to keep them occupied. They entertained, they advertised, and, sometimes by accident, they even appalled.
Something Weird Video’s Hey, Folks! It’s Intermission Time! is a loving tribute to those cute little films of yore that have, with the passing of time, become the stuff of cinematic lore.
This two-hour collection features a barrage of intermission shorts from the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. If you grew up in any of those decades, you’re sure to get a healthy dose of nostalgia taking them all in on this program.
Included here are items that will not only interest movie fans, but social historians as well. Witness, for example, a 1950’s clip urging theater patrons to “save standard time and stop daylight savings time by writing to your newspaper editor.” The clip suggests “just follow the sun.” Then there’s the anti-TV number that illustrates the tiny dimensions of a television screen, especially when compared to a huge movie screen. It’s a telling reminder of how fearful the movie industry was of the burgeoning TV “giant” in the ’50s.
As evidenced on this tape, the drive-ins of yesteryear were as much a place to pig-out as make out… or watch a movie. Scores of short films display the “scrumptious delights” awaiting Passion Pit patrons at the snack bar. There’s yummy hamburgers! Actually, most look like grilled Brillo Pads. Appetizing hot dogs. Is there something wrong with the projector or do weenies always look some strange shade of green in drive-in movie ads? Spicy California Pizza. Appears to be something else. Perhaps a creature from another galaxy?
Strangely enough, one of the between-show segments features two crudely-drawn crooks robbing a house. A perfect scenario for keeping families comfortable while they are miles from home enjoying an evening at their favorite drive-in theater! — Irv Slifkin
DVD Upgrade: Something Weird Video Presents Hey Folks — It’s Intermission Time
RIP Mike Vraney, founder of Something Weird Video: Daily Grindhouse Obit
