Election Cavalcade: Democracy on 16mm, 1932-1977
Oct 27, 2016
(various directors, US, 1932-1977, 16mm, ~100 min)
Presented by The Sprocket Society
As one of the strangest and most disturbing presidential elections slouches towards voting day, revisit the contests and politics of yesteryear.
This special program of shorts on 16mm takes us on a 45-year journey through the highs and lows of American democracy through cartoons, propaganda, mini-documentaries, news, and satire.
Selections include: archival presidential film footage as early as the 1890s; Jean Stapleton narrating an award-winning short documentary on the women's suffrage movement; the jaw-dropping "comedy" of five-year-old Shirley Temple as a DC call girl, and seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. as a tap-dancing president; infamous Christian homophobe and former orange juice girl Anita Bryant gets a pie in the face during a press conference; election campaigns by Bugs Bunny and Betty Boop; and more.
Audio recordings of vintage campaign songs will be played prior to showtime.