ksf-2 From the 1950s... it's the typical "How To...." educational film from the days of Stop, Drop, and Roll, or how to be a good human, also known as Big Brother is Always Watching!the goofy high school students share these awkward moments about how to do things in every day life. It's SO dated, basic, and awkward, it's campy now. We watch as they set up a sock hop, or whatever they are doing. The narrator talks about hanging around in groups, so clearly this would avoid any personal, one on one romantic contact. Apparently, Jeff (Robert Casey) didn't dig the hollywood scene... he disappeared after just three small roles. No other cast listed. Directed by Ted Peshak, who made a ton of these educational short films during the 1940s, 1950s. Pretty droll stuff. This one is shown on Turner Classic Movies, and sometimes as a quick short shown on Mystery Science Theater episodes. Yawnnnnn.....

ackstasis The human courtship ritual is a veritable minefield riddled with hidden explosives and tattered fragments of cardiac tissue. I was feeling lost, unsure as to how to approach that "special girl". Thankfully, director Ted Peshak had already catered for my social inadequacies. 'What to Do on a Date (1951)' is a Bible of essential information for any love-sick adolescent. A date needn't be expensive, the film tells us; just take your Juliet to a scavenger sale. Yes, that's right, to help set up. (Woohoo, free manual labour!) As we might expect, based on our experience with reality, the date goes very well. So well, in fact, that manly hero Nick scores himself a second date, with Kay agreeing to attend a dubiously-named "weenie roast." So... now that I've got the full dope: who wants to help me set up a garage sale next Friday?

pinetarrag This short tells of Nick, a shy guy who has long had a desire to ask sweet Kay out on a date. Jeff his buddy, suggests taking Kay to a "scavenger sale" a kind-of indoor garage sale, and Nick does only after his attempt to take Kay to "Wagon Train" is foiled because Kay has seen the film. They end up having a nice time and Nick sees a schedule of things to do, so he sets another date with Kay to go to a weenie roast.Overall this short film was sweet and gave some decent advice for dating, (make sure the other person will enjoy the activity, double date, choose dates that aren't too expensive etc) but the acting is wooden and the styling is badly dated. Still you can do worse for education shorts. "Drugs are Like That" for instance.

Mike Sh. Man, girls sure scare me. I mean, I like them and all; they sure are swell, but I just don't know what to do or say when they're around. If I see a girl I like, how do I ask her out? And if she says "Yes" (Hey, hope springs eternal, right?), then where do I take her? What do we do on a date? My own ideas of shopping for roofing nails or going to the supermarket and playing with the electric doors always fall flat. Fortunately for me, and all the other socially-challenged basement-dwelling geeks out there, this film exists to instruct in the ways of social interc-, er, interaction.In this film, Nick, a gangly, goofy, but good-natured young fellow, yearns for the wholesome Midwestern affections of Kay, the wholesome Midwestern girl next door. He's in the same mess I am - how to convince Kay that being seen in public with him would not be the social suicide she fears it is? Nick's smirking know-it-all buddy Jeff is ready with lots and lots and lots of condescending and unsolicited advice. Soon Nick and Kay are hitting the town, going to all the hottest and hippest scavenger sales around. They seem to be on track to live happily, wholesomely and Midwesternly ever after.This instructional short from the early 1950's is a corny, but sweetly affable example of the genre. And that Kay sure is a cutie. Rrrrrowwrrr!