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Mom and Dad (1945 film)

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Filler is material of lower cost or quality that is used to fill a certain television or radio time slot or physical medium, such as a music album.

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53-474: Mom and Dad is a 1945 American sexploitation film directed by William Beaudine , and largely produced by the exploitation film maker and presenter Kroger Babb . Mom and Dad is considered the most successful film within its genre of "sex hygiene" films . Although it faced numerous legal challenges and was condemned by the National Legion of Decency , it became one of the highest-grossing films of

106-479: A Washington Post article covering Babb's career, the film critic Kenneth Turan wrote that Mom and Dad did not "flourish because of its birth footage or because of its puerile plot, which Babb himself disparages ... [its] success flowed, rather, from Babb's extraordinary promotional abilities." The film was exhibited across the United States, and over 300 prints were produced. In the weeks preceding

159-416: A 2004 interview, Leblanc was sincere about the whole affair: “And [Bó] was right; but hey: we didn't spend a dime [on publicity] and everything came out perfectly"; in that same interview, when asked if she really believed there was a true rivalry between Sarli and her, Leblanc replied: "Not in any way. With Armando [Bó] we did have our run-ins because that fame [the publicity controversy] also circulated around

212-410: A concerned physician for a concerned teacher. In 1948, Universal produced a similar film, The Story of Bob and Sally , but was unable to screen it due to the production code , and eventually sold the rights. The volume of imitations led to the formation of Modern Film Distributors , a group of exploitation filmmakers, in an effort to minimize booking conflicts. In 1969, the film was submitted to

265-432: A couple until his death— but also her manager, her film producer and director, and even an authority figure, simultaneously. On the other hand, "La Leblanc", as they also used to call her, had a different background and was already used -from a young age, actually- to make her way on her own, and she was a true self-made woman of her time: she had disputes and argued as equals with producers, directors and distributors; she

318-500: A higher rate than the manga chapters from which many anime draw their source material. Notable anime to feature large amounts of filler include Naruto and Bleach . Television stations also broadcast filler in the form of music video clips, either from record labels or performance recordings from the studio of one of the television stations, to fill in the empty minutes leading up to the actual program time, approximately 2-5 minutes beforehand. Sometimes, filler content can exceed

371-429: A number of sexploitation films produced following this same format. These were widely referred to as "white coaters," because, in these films, a doctor dressed in a white coat would give an introduction to the graphic content that followed, qualifying the film as "educational." The ruling led to a surge in the production of sex films. Language of Love and other Swedish and American films capitalised on this idea until

424-458: A public image of a vamp or a seductress; she was dubbed as "The White Goddess" (La diosa blanca) by the media, and her filmography includes police movies and thrillers. "La Sarli", as they used to call her, was, as an actress, a product entirely created by Armando Bó, since the Argentine director was not only her longtime lover —Sarli and Bó were never legally married, but lived together as

477-423: A standard and detailed pressbook containing cast and crew information, as well as other promotional and marketing materials. Babb's marketing strategy centered on overwhelming small towns with advertisements and letters, in an attempt to create a controversial atmosphere. In keeping with his motto of "You gotta tell 'em to sell 'em," the film became so ubiquitous that Time wrote that its presentation "left only

530-509: A way to fill up time with recorded music to fill up gaps during WNEW 's coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping trial in 1935. In the early days of television, most output was live. The hours of broadcast were limited, and so a test card was commonly broadcast at other times. When a breakdown happened during a live broadcast, a standard recording filled in. On the BBC , a film of a potter's wheel

583-489: Is believed to have had a number of endings, although most typically concluded with the birth of the young woman's child, sometimes stillborn and other times put up for adoption. The official credits also acknowledge The Four Liphams as well as the California State Champion dancers of the jitterbug . Despite the commercially successful run of Babb's debut film, Dust to Dust —a reworked version of

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636-406: Is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity . The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films . The term "sexploitation" has been used since the 1940s. In the United States, exploitation films were generally exhibited in urban grindhouse theatres , which were the precursors to

689-412: Is padded with a large amount of filler . Films of this type were usually produced quickly and at minimal cost, and while filler was sometimes used to increase the production value, the usual motivation was to extend its running time to qualify for feature length status. Eric Schaefer notes that the "primary purpose" of the plot of Mom and Dad was to "serve as the vehicle onto which the spectacle of

742-456: Is widely considered to be the first roughie. Herschell Gordon Lewis and David F. Friedman 's Scum of the Earth! (1963) is another film that is cited as among the first in this genre. Other notable roughie directors include Doris Wishman . In the United States, exploitation films initially played in grindhouse theatres , as well as struggling independent theaters; however, by the end of

795-609: The Motion Picture Association of America for a film rating , in order to allow the film be shown in traditional movie theaters; it received an R rating . The film was such a success that it is still shown decades later around the world. In 2005, a version was added to the National Film Registry. Sexploitation film A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film ) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that

848-522: The adult movie theaters of the 1970s and 1980s that featured hardcore pornography content. In Latin America (most notably in Argentina ), exploitation and sexploitation films had meandering and complex relations with both moviegoers and government institutions: they were sometimes censored by democratic (but socially conservative) administrations and/or authoritarian dictatorships ( especially during

901-637: The b-side of singles to generate more royalties for the songwriter or artist. Cover versions are often considered to be fillers, though this judgement varies with the amount of creative interpretation and adaption of the original. Similarly, live recordings, demo versions or remixes follow the same argument. On the subject of music downloads, Courtney Love told the Digital Hollywood conference "If you're afraid of your own filler then I bet you're afraid of Napster ", meaning that other artists may be afraid of listeners being able to listen to

954-469: The motion picture censorship system . It has been claimed that nearly 428 lawsuits were laid against both Babb and Mom and Dad during the film's run. Babb often used the supposed educational value of his films as an offer of defense, and recommended such tactic to theater owners in his pressbooks. One successful challenge was in New York City, where Mom and Dad remained censored until 1956, when

1007-523: The " Golden Age of Porn ." Many theaters which had screened sexploitation films either switched to hardcore pornographic films or closed down. In the late 1960s, American obscenity laws were tested by the Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow) . After the 1969 ruling by the Supreme Court that the film was not obscene because of its educational context, the late 1960s and early 1970s saw

1060-549: The 1938 film Child Bride —his production company Cox and Underwood disbanded, forcing him to form his own unit, Hygienic Productions . Having attended a meeting in Burkburnett, Texas , that discussed the alleged impregnations of young women by G.I.s from nearby Sheppard Air Force Base , Babb was inspired to shoot a film based on the subject. His future wife Mildred Horn drafted a screenplay which later evolved into Mom and Dad . Babb located 20 investors willing to fund

1113-424: The 1940s. The film is regarded as an exploitation film as it was repackaged controversial content designed to establish an educational value that might circumvent U.S. censorship laws. Babb's marketing of his film incorporated old-style medicine show techniques, and used unique promotions to build an audience. These formed a template for his later works, which were imitated by his contemporary filmmakers. In 2005,

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1166-436: The 1970s and 80s ), and at other times they enjoyed an important success at the box office. The term soft-core is often used to designate non-explicit sexploitation films after the general legalisation of hardcore content. Nudist films are often considered to be subgenres of the sex-exploitation genre as well. "Nudie" films and "Nudie-cuties" are associated genres. After a series of United States Supreme Court rulings in

1219-688: The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court overturned the ruling of the censorship board, deciding that human birth did not qualify as "indecent". According to Modern Film Distributors, as of the end of 1956, the film has been dubbed into a dozen languages and attended by an estimated worldwide attendance figure of over 175 million people, at over 650,000 performances. By then Babb claimed it had played in 47 states (excluding Kansas) and 72 other countries grossing $ 22 million worldwide. Card Mondor purchased

1272-594: The Argentine Ente de Calificación Cinematográfica (Film Rating Organization). In that capacity, Tato censored—banned or heavily edited—dozens of erotic or sexploitation films (from Argentina and from all over the world) during the 1960s and 1970s; he also banned or cut hundreds of domestic/international films of any kind and genre during the same era, always using the pretext of a righteous and moral fight against either " Marxism ", "anti-catholic" or " subversive " movies who were, in his view, trying to "contaminate"

1325-405: The censors who wanted to either put him in jail for making "obscene material" or ban his films, which were released mostly in a truncated form, and with many scenes excised from his movies at the time of their release. One of the most notorious agents of government censorship during that period was Miguel Paulino Tato , who worked during de jure and de facto administrations as the director of

1378-452: The clinical reels can be grafted", such as the live birth scene. The marketing materials suggest the latter reason also, and many posters for the film promised that "You [will] actually SEE the birth of a baby!" The dialogue is carefully worded, and uses period euphemisms rather than explicit terms that may have been controversial at the time. In particular, at no time does the film specifically mention sexual intercourse or pregnancy . In

1431-494: The content of the film; such "nurses" were often hired locally. Modern Film Distributors later distributed the film, and sold over forty-five thousand copies of the books Man and Boy and Woman and Girl following Forbes's lecture. The text was written by Babb's wife, and was filled with both biological and sexual education materials relevant to the film's subject matter; generating extra profit items for their distributors. The sales of these books netted an estimated $ 31,000 for

1484-640: The country's values and national identity. Although he exercised a mostly bureaucratic role, Tato was keen on giving interviews to the media describing his far-right authoritarian views and even boasting about being "a nazi " on several occasions. He was also a proud racist, and quite famously said on television, at the time of the Argentinian premiere of Shaft in Africa (1973): " Negros go back to Africa!" ("¡Negros, al Africa!"). Libertad Leblanc's rivalry with Isabel Sarli -who was, and probably still is,

1537-520: The decade they were playing in established cinema chains. As the genre developed during the 1960s films began showing scenes of simulated sex. The films were opposed by religious groups and by the MPAA , which was concerned that sexploitation films were cutting into the profits of major film distributors. Customers who attended screenings of sexploitation films were often characterised by the mainstream media as deviant, "dirty old men" and "raincoaters." In

1590-529: The distribution company, while Babb estimated the total sales for all distributions at 40 million copies. Babb insisted that the program be followed closely; a contractual agreement with theaters required that each presentation follow a similar approach. Because the Forbes lecture formed part of the viewing, extra newsreels or short films were not permitted, although previews were allowed. A contractual agreement disallowed matinée pricing, set specific times for

1643-561: The early 1960s, and were a progression from the nudist camp films of the 1950s. The Supreme Court had previously ruled that films set in nudist camps were exempt from the general ban on film nudity, as they were deemed to be educational. In the early 1960s, films that purported to be documentaries and were thus "educational" enabled sexploitation producers to evade the censors. Nudie cuties were soon supplanted by "roughies," which commonly featured male violence against women, including kidnapping, rape and murder. Lorna (1964) by Russ Meyer

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1696-404: The expectations of the producers. For instance, the characters, Bob and Doug McKenzie , were created solely as filler in improvised segments called "The Great White North" for the television comedy show, Second City Television , to satisfy CBC Television 's request for two minutes of identifiable Canadian content in each episode. However, these segments quickly became the most popular part of

1749-660: The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The Academy Film Archive preserved Mom and Dad in 2010. Mom and Dad tells the story of Joan Blake ( June Carlson ), a young woman who falls for the pilot Jack Griffin (Bob Lowell). After being sweet-talked by Griffin, she has sex with him. Joan requests " hygiene books " from her mother, Sarah Blake (Lois Austin); however,

1802-410: The film. In some predominantly African-American areas, Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens was hired to make appearances instead of an actor playing Forbes. The "Elliot Forbes" actors were usually people local to the production company, sometimes out-of-work performers. Along with "Forbes", presentations were often held with "nurses" in attendance, ostensibly in the event that someone fainted due to

1855-449: The greatest sex symbol in Argentine cinema- was very conspicuous in the 1960s. They were the two greatest figures of erotic cinema in their home country, competing for the headlines as well as the box office success, and at the same time the contrast between the two, in appearance and in personality (on screen and off as well) couldn't be bigger: Isabel Sarli was a flashy brunette, with generous shapes and natural attributes. Libertad Leblanc

1908-549: The late 1950s and 1960s, increasingly explicit sex films were distributed. In 1957, Roth v. United States established that sex and obscenity were not synonymous. The genre first emerged in the U.S. around 1960. There were initially three broad types: " nudie cuties " such as The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959), films set in nudist camps like Daughter of the Sun (1962) and somewhat more "artistic" foreign pictures, such as The Twilight Girls (1961). Nudie cuties were popular in

1961-554: The laws were relaxed. In the 1960s Argentine sexploitation films were made within a regular basis. The biggest national stars in that genre were Isabel Sarli and Libertad Leblanc . The genre rapidly declined during the 1980s, particularly with the advent of democracy in Argentina since 1983 onwards , and it disappeared completely in the 1990s, except for some low budget direct-to-video productions. Although these movies were released in their home country, government censorship at

2014-416: The livestock unaware of the chance to learn the facts of life." The local pitch included a variety of limited screenings, including adults-only showings, viewings segregated by gender, and a live lecture by the "Fearless Hygiene Commentator Elliot Forbes" which was often placed during the intermission. At any one time, a number of "Elliot Forbes"es would give simultaneous talks in a number of locations showing

2067-430: The mid-1960s some newspapers began banning advertisements for the films. By the late 1960s the films were attracting a larger and broader audience, however, including couples rather than the single males who originally made up the vast majority of patrons. The genre rapidly declined in the early 1970s due to advertising bans, the closure of many grindhouses and drive-in theaters and the growth of hardcore pornography in

2120-415: The most profitable pre-1960 exploitation film; ranking among the top ten grossing films of both the 1940s and 1950s, even when scaled against those year's mainstream releases. The film was at the center of many high-profile lawsuits and condemnations. The exploitation genre was pitched against numerous challenges during the 1940s and 1950s, and fought many local censorship battles, and fought bitterly against

2173-546: The mother refuses because the daughter is not yet married. Joan later learns from her father, Dan Blake (George Eldredge), that the pilot has died in a crash. She tears up a letter she had been writing to him and lowers her head as the film fades into intermission. The film resumes at the point when Joan discovers that her clothes no longer fit, sending her into a state of despair. She takes advice from her teacher, Carl Blackburn (Hardie Albright), who had previously been fired for teaching sex education. Blackburn blames her mother for

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2226-542: The movie, and hired William Beaudine as director. Production of the film cost Babb and his investors a total of $ 67,001.12. The movie was shot in five separate studios over six days in 1944, and was spread across various Monogram Pictures lots; co-producer J. S. Jossey was a Monogram stockholder. On January 3, 1945, Mom and Dad premiered at the Warner Bros. theatre in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . The plot

2279-455: The problem, and accuses her of "neglect[ing] the sacred duty of telling their children the real truth." Only then is Joan able to confront her mother. The film then presents reels and charts that include graphic images of the female anatomy and footage of live births – one natural and one Caesarian. In some screenings, a second film was shown along with Mom and Dad , and contained images portraying syphilis and venereal disease . Mom and Dad

2332-557: The rights to exhibit the film in New Zealand and Australia during the mid-1960s, almost twenty years after the film's debut. In the late 1970s, a story on Babb by the Press-Enterprise estimated that the film had been dubbed into 18 languages. The film's success spawned a number of imitators, who sought to saturate the market with genre imitations. In particular, Street Corner (1948) recycled Babb's plot, substituting

2385-456: The rivalry between her and Sarli in the media, as well as the popular conscience. In order to promote her first film, La Flor de Irupé (1962), Leblanc suggested a promotional poster with a black and white nude and a caption that read: "Libertad Leblanc, rival of Isabel Sarli". Although Isabel Sarli did not say anything at the time, Armando Bó, in a wrathful rapture, accused Leblanc of deviously using Sarli's international fame. Some time later, in

2438-626: The screening, local presenters sought to attract the attention of the town's inhabitants by distributing letters to local newspapers and church leaflets protesting against the film's moral basis. This strategy often utilized fabricated letters supposedly written by the mayor of a nearby city, who wished to register concern about local young women in his area who had seen the film and were awakened enough to discuss problems similar to ones of their own. The campaigns were usually orchestrated by employees of either Hygienic or Hallmark Productions, and they nominally based their campaign from information provided by

2491-410: The segregated viewings, and prohibited the screening of the film on Sundays. Mom and Dad is the third highest-grossing film of the 1940s in dollar value, and returned close to $ 63 for each dollar invested by its backers. The Los Angeles Times estimates that the film grossed between $ 40 million and $ 100 million, and it has been cited as the most successful sex hygiene film ever released. It remains

2544-453: The series. Albums of music were typically of a set size determined by the physical medium such as the vinyl record (typically 22 minutes per side ) or CD (maximum 80 minutes ). It was normal, especially in the 1960s, for artists to attempt to "pad out" their material to the standard length by including filler tracks of lesser quality. Often, songs written by the artists or the producer of an album were included as filler and/or released on

2597-442: The time (Argentina alternated between democracy and dictatorship for most of the 60s and 70s) was prone to -or had the steady habit of- heavily editing the films before their release, threatening with a full ban if the studio or the director did not comply. Armando Bó , who made several sexploitation and erotic films with his romantic partner and muse Isabel Sarli, is one of the most well-known cases in Argentina of having disputes with

2650-563: The world. But she is divine; very naïve , yes, but she is a gorgeous woman...". Filler (media) During the Golden Age of Radio , when a scheduled program was unavailable or delayed or when a program ran overtime or undertime leaving space to fill until the next scheduled program. Radio stations would have musicians (and orchestras or bands in the case of networks and larger stations) on hand to perform live musical interludes. The long-running show Make Believe Ballroom began as

2703-405: Was her own manager and she co-produced almost all of her films -at a time when no woman did so-, as well as being almost always in charge of the distribution and promotion of her films. In this regard, a Mexican producer, with whom Leblanc made eight films, once told the media that "Libertad Leblanc, when talking about business, has a mustache". In fact, it was Libertad Leblanc herself who installed

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2756-415: Was instead rather slim, reportedly had breast implants, dyed her hair platinum blonde, and maintained her distinctive white skin by constantly avoiding exposure to the sun. Sarli had a shy and somewhat innocent personality, and she always exuded a "homely and easy-going" public image; her movies were usually melodramas and comedies with a lot of nudity. In contrast, Leblanc was uninhibited and cunning, and gave

2809-631: Was often used for this purpose, filmed at the Compton Potters' Arts Guild . Similar short films, such as a kitten playing, were also used as interludes or interstitial programs to fill gaps in TV schedules. In the United States, these have their roots in the old Saturday afternoon horror movies hosted on independent stations. The fishcam is a particularly widespread form of filler in this tradition. Anime series sometimes need to include filler arcs, as televised anime episodes are generally published at

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