Prohibition
The Eighteenth Amendment banned the consumption and distribution of all alcoholic beverages from 1920 - 1933.
Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
489773_1_1
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
Prohibition and crowd picketing. Arresting moonshiners. Revenuer dumps booze, shoots a still and impund a car.
United States
Pan across a row of liquor bottles. Bottles smashed with an ax. LS of piles of broken boxes. MS of men destroying alchol. CU of bottle being spilled out. More bottles being smashed. Liquid flowing into sewer. CU of a bottle with liquid pouting out. Liquor bottles being smashed. Barrels being smashed. Liquid flowing into sewer. LS of bottles being destroyed. Law men arresting moonshiners. They check the pockets of the men. G-Men destroy the stills. Car is burned.
Prohibition Supporters
Clip#:
Audio:
428557_1_1
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1937
B/W
Prohibition Supporters
Prohibition had been repealed, but the WCTU (Women s Christian Temperance Union) was a very vocal minority when they convened in Washington. Older women speaking to camera, states " I solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from the use of all distilled, fermented and malt liquors. And that means wine and beer. I don't drink, and I will do all I can to keep you from drinking." Very matronly looking women.
Blast Wrecks Bootleg Still
Clip#:
Audio:
347532_1_1
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1939
B/W
Shaky, dull, dark in contrast and imagery
Government agents capture an illicit 'likker' plant in the woods and seize four men. Nine huge vats and thousands of gallons of 'hooch' are destroyed by dynamite blasts which injure a cameraman! Liquor being poured into bucket, agents pull up in car as men try to run from tent, but are apprehended. Man placing dynamite on still, man pushes down handle, Explosion!
Al Smith Hails Repeal As 1st Liquor Shipment
Clip#:
Audio:
342969_1_1
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1933
B/W
Rolling, jumpy dull contrast in imagery
The happy warrior expresses his pleasure at the repeal of the eighteenth amendment as huge shipments of gin are made with the approval of the federal governmental for the first time in thirteen years.
("Of course I am delighted but not surprised by the primary appeal of the 18th amendment. I felt all along, that when this matter was properly submitted to the rank and file of our people, that they would readily see that it had no place in our constitution. It would be very difficult if not impossible to estimate the benefits that would come to this country from the lesson taught to the coming generation to make it their business to see that no such matter ever again is made the subject of federal constitutional law.")
At the dock you see the first shipment of Liquor loaded on to a cargo ship as young ladies are sitting on the cases of liquor waving some kind of legal documents in their hands gleefully waving them.
Rum Runners Battle With Coast Guard To Land Final Cargoes
Clip#:
Audio:
343027_1_1
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1933
B/W
Rolling contrast dull and light in imagery
Spectacular and exclusive pictures of a battle between the law and liquor smugglers, who attempt to land their shipments before repeal of the eighteenth amendment, obtained by universal cameramen scouting the sea from the air and in high-powered boats. A graphic picture story of the last episode in the life of the 'noble experiment.'
Millions Hail End Of Dry Era By Joyful Crowds
Clip#:
Audio:
343037_1_1
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1933
B/W
Rolling contrast dull and light in imagery
Following the ratification of the twenty-first amendment to the constitution by Utah, the thirty-sixth state to approve it, acting Secretary of State William Phillips, formally proclaims the death of the eighteenth amendment. In big cities vast fleets of trucks begin moving precious liquor cargoes valued at millions of dollars to fashionable hotels and restaurants. Merry throngs in Chicago celebrate, while along the great white way in New York, thousands lift their glasses, filled with fine wines, whiskeys and liqueurs, and drink legally for the first time in fourteen years.
(Street and traffic scenes from downtown Chicago, 1933)
Bootleggers Flee As Prohibition Aids Blow Up $300,000 Still
Clip#:
Audio:
339335_1_1
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
High contrast, rolling imagery
Biggest plant in the state is demolished by dynamite blast - moonshiners had planned to manufacture $15,000. Worth of alcohol a day.
PROHIBITION
Clip#:
Audio:
312663_1_1
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1920
B/W
B/W footage of Prohibition that seems to come from various sources. Some look like they could be newreel/documentary others are clearly staged. Loading of trucks by night; trucks on road at night; truck smashes into car (this looks like it came from a fiction film--continuity editing & good lighting, etc.); truck stopped by men with guns (FBI? Other gangsters?); great shot of row of milk cans shot up by machine gun fire.
Biography: Clarence Darrow
Clip#:
Audio:
459685_1_9
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1918
B/W
Motion film of Clarence Darrow speaking against prohibition movement: "The last election in this country has demonstrated that the people of this nation do not believe in prohibition. No one can be temperate if he is told what to do. He must govern his own life and his own attititude. People are learning that individual liberty is the first concern of every citizen. Without it, life is not worth living."
Focus on the 30s
Clip#:
Audio:
492886_1_3
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
TLS/LSs man threatening to jump from building in New York City (suicide jumper), authorities trying to talk him down. End of Prohibition montage: TLS/MSs people drinking, bartenders shaking & pouring martinis; MCUs chef pulling wine form wine rack; MS men in Bavarian garb balancing steins of beer, then toasting & drinking. TLS/MSs Wellesley College girls rehearsing dance number for musical review. LS/MSs summer camp girls doing a Busby Berkeley-style rowing & swimming routine in a lake. MSs kids & their dads flying gas-powered model airplanes in field. TLS/MSs revelers celebrating the New Year in Times Square, 1936.
Retrospective 1929-1931
Clip#:
Audio:
499349_1_2
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
MS elderly black man dancing, flanked by several African-American men & women dressed in rural Southern U.S. clothing, clapping. MSs two young white couples dancing to jazz on street. LS Times Square, neon signs advertising for Pepsodent, Chevrolet, others, night; superimposed over Times Square are nice CUs neon, twinkling lights. TLS/MSs chorus girls dancing, kicking on stage at nightclub; MSs young white people sitting at table in nightclub, drinking alcohol, having a ball; CU flapper smoking cigarette; CU waiter rolling bottle of champagne between palms; superimposed shots of alcoholic drinks being poured, room spinning uncontrollably; ah yes, the Jazz Age. MSs exhausted young white people competing in dance marathon, some partners mere limp rag dolls.
Retrospective 1929-1931
Clip#:
Audio:
499349_1_4
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
TLS tall mast schooner sailing in bay; TLS three police boats speeding through bay, small American flags flying from bow; TLS men loading bootleg booze (alcohol, bootlegging, rum running, rum-running). CUs secret knock on door of speakeasy, lookout peephole opening, eye peering through, latches being unlocked; MSs men entering speakeasy during Prohibition, standing, drinking whiskey at bar. MSs storefront of liquor store, woman walking out w/ bottle. LS large crowd gathered in street, police in FG; MS cops & detective w/ white female suspect; MSs cops loading body of (smiling) dead man onto wagon. High angle TLS bank robber walking to bank teller in busy bank, drawing gun; MS bank teller holding hands up; CU foot on emergency pedal; TLS vents of gas or smoke erupting, flooding the bank, foiling the hold-up. TLS police officer leading a train of men (criminal suspects) onto police wagon, although one man struggles, manages to get away.
Depression Days
Clip#:
Audio:
499761_1_1
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
Master 1480 - Tape 1
MS white men and women hoisting & swinging filled beer steins while singing, celebrating repeal of Prohibition via FDR's Beer Bill. MS four unemployed white men squatting on street, eating hot meal & drinking coffee during Great Depression. TLS/LSs dilapidated wood houses & abandoned mills in rural farming communities and company towns during the Great Depression era, including one shot with a scrawny dog wandering along dirt road, passing by wood shack. TLSs white people standing in line to receive ration of coal; MS men wheeling carts or carrying sacks of coal. MS elderly Jewish man with long white beard pushing cart of coal across street, passing through crowd of pedestrians.
Enforcing Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
501250_1_1
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1920
B/W
Master 1782 - Tape 1
Brief MS large black bow placed on front doors of closed bar (public house, watering hole) during Prohibition. Great TLS light-medium U.S. Army T1 tank rolling over & crushing pile of kegs & alcohol-making vats on city street while crowd watches on-- smashing rum-running, quite literally. MS white male law enforcement agents emptying bottles of beer into wooden sluice. TLSs wooden crates of alcohol burning in large pile, law enforcement agents watching on.
War Comes to America
Clip#:
Audio:
487654_1_6
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1940
B/W
TLS brief beach. MS people hunting & fishing. TLS sports scenes. (things Americans love) TLS/MS means of travel, scenery, sign, "Arizona Welcomes You." MS food stands. CU types of food & drink. MCU club symbols & insignias. CU people & their radios. Montage MS/MCU jukebox people dancing, listening to music, playing it. MS/MCU variety of printed word (magazines, books, newspapers) & churches (all denominations) emphasizing liberty & enterprise. MCU making alcohol in bathtub. Text
War Comes to America
Clip#:
Audio:
487654_1_7
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1940
B/W
Text, "Prohibition." MCU making alcohol in bathtub. Text, "Prohibition repealed." MS ticker tape machine falls off table. MCU young men walking. Aerial view of highways, buildings. MS people, men & woman going to work. MS/MCU people at church, church. TLS streets, beach. MS dead body, dead bodies floating in river. Text, "1917." MS artillery firing. TLS/HA/MCU U.S. troops man trenches in France in 1917 past camera. MS tanks firing. Text, "Armistice Day Nov 11, 1918." TLS/HA people in New York city celebrating, confetti falling, people dancing, waving flags. CU map of America, represent decrease in size of military. MS European & Asian city. Text, "1931." MS boys playing baseball. CU map of Manchuria w/Japanese bayonet jabbed in. TLS Japanese soldiers moving, fire in BG. MS/MCU Manchurians tied up. CU newspaper headline, "Stimson Denounces Japanese Aggression." CU HENRY STIMSON speaking. CU headline, "Bonus March on Washington." MS bonus march, breadlines, drive by (drama), dust, exile, shacks.
Focus on the 30s
Clip#:
Audio:
492860_1_9
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1933
B/W
Repeal of Prohibition: CU beer being poured into glass; CU beer bottles traveling on conveyor; MSs bartenders pitching steins to happy folks, toasting to their spirits. Political cartoons depicting the dozens of new federal programs (Uncle Sam the NRA member and a host of acronyms). Return to industry montage: TLSs men & women walking to factory; TLS/MSs people working in various manufacturing factories. MS President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking: "Our troubles will not be over tomorrow but we are on our way and we're headed in the right direction."
Speakeasy
Clip#:
Audio:
511986_1_1
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1931
B/W
Same as catalog #313084
MS young men and women seated at table having fun drinking alcohol. CU woman taking sip from glass. CU of hands pouring liquor out of flask into glasses, a warning message is superimposed over the beverages. CU woman exhaling cigarette smoke with image of man's hand holding lighter superimposed. Images dissolve into hands gently agitating champagne on ice. Image dissolves into hand pouring champagne into glasses. MS young men and women seated at table, man lights a cigarette. Shot of show girls performing dance routine. Nice look at late 20's-early 30's lifestyles and fashion.
Biography: John Barrymore
Clip#:
Audio:
479978_1_21
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1920
B/W
Excellent Roaring Twenties montage: MS's of traditional jazz bands, speakeasies, dancers, parties. CU's of bottles being opened and poured, feet shuffling on the dance floor, and so on; there is also great use of superimposition.
Life in the Thirties Part 1: 1930-1936
Clip#:
Audio:
494633_1_12
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1933
B/W
End of Prohibition! MS workers dust off cobwebs in brewery. Var shots work begins again in brewery, pouring hops in, lines of beer bottles moving along on machine. Horsedrawn beer wagon, one of the 2 horses bucks, kicking high. CU sign "Welcome back Old Man Beer." MCUs/ CUs berer mugs. Var shots beer glasses slide down bars. CU fat old guy drinking beer. People with beer mugs dancing in tavern. Var shots of celebrations, dance floor. Bartender with cocktail shaker. CU bottles of liquor on shelves behind bar. CUs of liquor being poured into different types of drink glasses. Socialites toast with champagne. Fat businessman drains mug of beer.
Biography: Thomas Dewey
Clip#:
Audio:
491429_1_7
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1920
B/W
Prohibition montage: MS's of federal agents breaking wooden kegs of bootlegged liquor with axes. LS of a gangster car shooting a delivery truck off the road (inc CU of gunner at gun port). MS of agents shooting metal kegs of hootch with machine guns. LS of joyriding gangsters tossing grenade at store at night. The storefront explodes. LS's of stores and cars exploding. Car shot features charred corpse at wheel. MS of windows being broken. MS's of shootout; newsreel of cops arriving at murder scene, 3 bodies lying in street. MS of JOHN DILLINGER behind bars. MS's of gangsters being led into booking by arresting police.
1930s America
Clip#:
Audio:
311312_1_2
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
GV FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) giving his 1933 inauguration speech. GV inside Congress. Bank Holiday: woman leaving a grocery store with her items, clerk helps her out with a smile, sign in store window reads "Never Mind the Holiday, We Will Trust You". CU sign reading: "You don't need Money, What Have You Got? We will take anything". MS man approaching shop with a guitar case. MS man showing his guitar to shop keeper hoping to trade for groceries. Prohibition Montage: CU alcoholic beverage being poured into glass. CU bottles of uncapped foaming beer moving on assembly line. MS bar keeper sliding beer mugs along the counter. GV men at bar toasting their beer mugs. Political Cartoons focusing on FDR's administrative programs (NRA,TVA, etc). Labor Montage: GVs men and women arriving for shift at a textile factory. MS top of factory smokestack. Interior GV of women at work at the textile mill, looks sweltering in there. MS/GV employees operating automated machinery within the factory. MS men pressing hats. GV men loading cart. MSs women on the assembly line. MS FDR speaking from behind desk. GV Nazi rally with Hitler marching among his followers. MS male member of the Nazi party holding his young child in his arms during a rally/parade. MSs Hitler supporters marching in the Nazi salute.
Pursuit of Happiness - PT5
Clip#:
Audio:
493512_1_6
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1935
B/W
POV of a crowded beach as seen from moving Ferris Wheel. MS of youth racing hand in hand into water. MSs urban children playing in pool created by open hydrant. MS "I.L.G.W.U." driving in street. MCU first female Secretary of Labor FRANCES PERKINS. MS men celebrating the appeal of prohibition by marching in parade w/banner reading "beer". CU beer mug. MSs of land erosion. Areial of agricultral land. MS FDR speaking at event.
Boom Days - PT3
Clip#:
Audio:
538152_1_10
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1932
B/W
TLS Franklin D. Roosevelt standing at podium at 1932 DNC, waving to crowd; panning LS crowded convention floor; TLSs FDR speaking about Prohibition-- "This convention wants repeal. Your candidate wants repeal. I am confident that the United States of America wants repeal." "That admirable document, the platform which you have adopted, is clear. I accept it 100%.:
All the Chief Executives Since the Screen was Born. United States Presidents ...
Clip#:
Audio:
492829_1_13
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1933
B/W
Signing the Curran Beer Bill in 1933 marking the end of a fourteen year dry era. Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) signing papers. This may be the Cullen-Harrison Act which was the end of prohibition.
Roaring 20s Montage
Clip#:
Audio:
540549_1_1
No
Year Shot:
Video:
1920
B/W
Roaring 20s Montage
GV/MS female dancers performing floor show with short skirts and high kicking. MCU men and women drinking table drinking alcohol, looks like speakeasy. CU flapper woman giving a huge smile after drinking some booze. MCU cocktails being poured. CU woman exhaling ciggarette smoke. CU Champagne bottle getting chilled and poured into glasses. MCU man lighting cigaerrtet, next to him are two beautiful flapper women with botles of hard liquir in front of them. GVs floor show with women high kicking.
Dealers in Death Part 1 - Al Capone and Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
540757_1_3
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1929
B/W
Great Roaring Twenties/gangster montage: CUs machine guns & pistols firing, sometimes into the camera; thugs tossing rocks into window of store; gangsters with rifles in car at night; beer barrels being shot up, destroyed; a car is run off the road by another car; bootleg liquor being destroyed. CU business card for protection agency (aka the mob). MSs feds with seized slot machines (illegal gambling). MSs white men drinking at bar. Shots of hidden spigot on truck full of bootleg liquor; the feds drain it of its contents. Prohibition.
Dealers in Death Part 1 - Al Capone and Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
540757_1_4
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1927
B/W
The Mona Lisa Club; CUs "Queen of the Speakeasies" Texas Guinan. Shots inside posh nightclubs: well-to-do white folks dance, drink, have a swell time. Prohibition, speakeasy.
Dealers in Death Part 1 - Al Capone and Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
540757_1_8
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1929
B/W
Breweries being destroyed, beer barrels being broken open with axes. More shots of guns and automatic rifles being fired (allegedly by gangsters). Prohibition
Dealers in Death Part 1 - Al Capone and Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
540757_1_14
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1929
B/W
Men destroying bottles of bootleg liquor, smashing them against a wall. Prohibition
Dealers in Death Part 1 - Al Capone and Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
540757_1_16
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1929
B/W
Push to end Prohibition. "End Prohibition - We Want Beer" parades in Washington DC and New York City (Mayor Jimmy Walker on route).
Dealers in Death Part 1 - Al Capone and Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
540757_1_17
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1929
B/W
NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia delivers fiery anti-Prohibition speech to camera: " for a howdown on Prohibition. 145 members of the House of Representatives, representing over 14 million people, have petitioned Congress to re-submit the question of Prohibition to the American people. After 11 years of dismal failure of the so-called nobel experiment, we maintain that the American people have a right to decide finally on the question."
Dealers in Death Part 1 - Al Capone and Prohibition
Clip#:
Audio:
540757_1_18
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1929
B/W
United States Capitol building. Franklin D. Roosevelt ends prohibition with the signing of the Beer Bill. Shots of horse-drawn beer trucks. Shots of packed taverns and bars. A bathing beauty dives into a barrel of beer in a promotional stunt. End of Prohibition
Biography: Franklin D. Roosevelt (some scratches on film)
Clip#:
Audio:
541489_1_7
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1933
B/W
The Beer Bill is passed, the end of Prohibition. Beer bottles being filled on an assembly line. A glass being filled with beer. Men singing "Happy Days are Here Again" and toasting merrily at Paris Inn. Young Caucasian woman drinking, smiling.