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What ever happened to...

As I drift off to sleep each evening, I often turn to boring video to act as a soporific aid.

Having now watched every B-grade scifi movie ever made from the 1940s through the late 1960s, I've shifted my subject matter to more educational material.

Most recently I've been watching the plethora of movies created by (mainly) US companies in the 1930s through 1960s to inform consumers and promote their wares.

These movies come from the pre-internet, pre-TV era when movie reels were often shown before the main feature at the theatre when you went to watch the latest blockbuster movie.

US car makers feature prominently in this genre of content. Ford, Chevy, Oldsmobile, Dodge and all those great names of the era were incredibly busy churning out material that showed the amazing processes involved in the manufacture of their vehicles.

Although the obvious end-game was to prove the value and quality of their offerings to an audience of potential customers, the additional benefit was that these movies represent a fantastic form of historical documentation, and not just about the cars themselves.

Watching men toiling on assembly lines without any form of safety equipment and while sucking on cigarettes is a window into a long-gone era.

Computer companies and telcos were also in on the act.

Watching the promo films for mainframe computers from long-gone brands such as Remmingon-Rand, Sperry, Univac, RCA and the like is fascinating and an amazing reminder of how far we've come.

A 1960s mainframe with memory measured in kilobytes and hard drive storage that came in multiples of 5MB disk packs show into sharp contrast the incredible power of even a lowly Raspberry Pi, with its up to 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD hat. Processors that worked in the low megahertz range just 60 years ago are now sloth-like compared to the multi-gigahertz capabilities of even the cheapest smartphone.

I find it kind of tragic that companies have simply stopped making these advertorial movies. In another 60 years' time we won't have the same window back in time that those reels from the mid 20th century give us. Goodness knows what will happen to all the dross that ends up on social media in the form of "influencer shilling" and reviews but I suspect much of it will just be bit-rotted into oblivion in just a few short decades.

Perhaps the most eye-opening awareness that these movies create is just how much optimism there was in the world during the post-WW2 era. Conflict was just a memory and it appeared that the world was now a prosperous place with so many opportunities ahead. The average US worker had a good job, a house in suburbia, a car and a growing range of "modern" appliances that were making life easier.

These people were living "the American dream" and I suspect many really old people who are still alive today would be happy to tell you how much better things were back then.

While, in some cases, that may be true, it's also sobering to see that almost every indoor venue was thick with cigarette smoke and people were constantly sucking on tobacco products. It was also easy to see that nobody from the 21st century would feel "lucky" to live in those times because there was no internet, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no sat-nav, etc. What's more, the very appliances we consider "essential" were newfound "luxuries" back in that era. Fridge-freezers, electric washing machines, vacuum cleaners -- all that stuff was new and exciting, not to mention quite expensive.

As someone who grew up in the 1950s/1960s I honestly believe that I've gotten to see the very best times that mankind has experienced. Only by contrasting the world today with the world of my childhood can I truly be amazed by how far we've come in the span of a single lifetime.

Life is good, while it lasts.

Carpe Diem folks!

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