7677 The internal dialog of Johnny's girl, in her fashionable clothing, makeup, jewlery... as she disrespects the plain girl walking by on the sidewalk in the first 2 minutes of this film is worth the download and pegs my rating at five stars! The superficial attitude and missing sense of self worth is like nothing I've seen, but is clearly an attempt by the company whose advertisment this is to turn girls into self-doubting, image oriented, subhuman consumers of fashion products. Turns into a fairly ordinary advertising for fabric patterns after that. The color is pretty good (despite some bouncing auto color balance circuits in the transfer from film). Fashion sense Steve Nordby 2003-11-26 19:57:11 2003-11-26 19:57:11 5 9091 This film, all about what you can do with simplicity patterns, is fine, but what really stands this one out is the beginning and the end. Betty and Johnny are 2 BAD acting kids wondering what color she should make her new dress. Betty you see, is a home ec student where she learned 'how to wear our clothes so they look really smart on us' among other things. When she decides to choose red for her dress, from nowhere appear models, ready to help Betty with her project. Did I tell you that this is all taking place in Betty's home? Anyways, the simple task of making a dress is shown. Bobby is so impressed by this result that he suggests, "Say, why not you and some other girls put on a fashion show to get money for new equipment for the basketball team??' (??) Since this is 1948, Betty thinks this is a swell idea. Soon, she's made 112 bucks for the team (none for her!) and everyone applauds! Hurray for female progress! Highly reccomended! Female Pattern Blahness Spuzz 2004-02-01 02:49:01 2004-02-01 02:49:01 4 10694 “Pattern for Smartness” begins with teenage Betty’s boyfriend Johnny walking into her house without asking. “How’d you get in here, anyway?” asks Betty. “Just opened the door!” answers Johnny. This exchange establishes Betty’s lack of autonomy and sure enough, we soon see her showing him a dress pattern and asking, “Which of these colors would you like for my new dress?” This film’s attitude toward home sewing is different from the 1940 Singer Sewing ads in the Archive, whose titles tell a different story. The tough-minded women in “She Caught on Quick” and “Three Smart Girls” wouldn’t have let a guy get away with walking in on them without knocking (the “miracle man” from Singer Sewing either rang the doorbell or came to the front gate). The Singer ads stressed the money-saving aspects of home sewing and didn’t tout home sewing as being particularly creative or high fashion (except humorously). In fact, the ads made clear that the reason the women sewed was because the men (a husband in one, a father in the other) didn’t have the money to give the women what they wanted. This film touts home sewing as creative, high fashion and as a way to be one’s “exciting and attractive self.” The film takes some strange turns. When Betty says, “I just let my pattern tell me what to do!” a huge Simplicity pattern envelope comes on screen and the models on it come to life and carry on a strange dialog in rhyme with an unseen male narrator (Johnny’s not the only one who barged in). Now the film gets down to business. We take a tour of the Simplicity sewing headquarters and see how home sewing patterns are made. Then we watch step-by-step as Betty makes her dress. The dressmaking process is actually explained clearly and well. Betty makes herself a relatively complicated dress on what today looks like a primitive sewing machine—as many women and girls did then. This film, like many Home Economics films, sends a mixed message. On one hand it pushes homemaking, but on the other, as in the scenes at the Simplicity Company, we see women workers outside of the home functioning competently and professionally. When Betty’s dress is done, Johnny suggests the girls in Home Ec give a fashion show to benefit the boys’ basketball team—naturally. We see Betty’s fashion show and the film ends with two girls embracing each other (instead of boys), a “fitting” ending to this ambivalent film. Home Sewing for the "Know-How" Girl Marysz 2004-03-21 20:56:52 2004-03-21 20:40:53 5 Lovely this is a must in the Internet Archives go trendy 5 left wing films 2005-12-02 15:42:41 2005-12-02 15:42:41 I don't think the modern women has the time to make their own clothing anymore. The models were pretty, and the outfits cute, regardless that the fashions were from sixty years ago(but that's just my opinion.Unless you like making dresses, a big segment of this film didn't interest me. Patterns for Smartness dated ERD. 2008-10-27 23:37:04 2008-10-27 23:37:04 3 The way that big pattern board shuffles in is so awkward. oh geez Sara_no_h 2008-12-03 01:30:40 2008-12-03 01:30:40 4 6 4.33