A Date with Your Family (1950)

Educational short showing how you should never show any emotions at the dinner table.

Director:

Edward G. Simmel

Writer:

Arthur V. Jones

Stars:

Hugh Beaumont, Ralph Hodges

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Hugh Beaumont	...	Narrator (uncredited)
Ralph Hodges	...	Brother (uncredited)

Storyline

Two teenage kids come home from school and look forward to dinner with the family - it's a date. Mom and sister do the cooking, set the table, and arrange a bouquet. Brother does homework then helps junior, the youngest, clean up. Dad gets home from work, joins the boys for pleasant conversation, then it's time to eat. The narrator emphasizes the importance of being relaxed and pleasant. The family illustrates a few dinner table "don't"s, then good manners and good sense reassert themselves. Table manners, pleasant and unemotional conversation (good for the digestion), graciousness, and ceremony mark the event. All families, no matter how poor or busy, should have these dinner dates.

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Plot Keywords:

etiquette | argument | social guidance | ephemeral film | voice over narration | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Simmel-Meservey

Technical Specs

Runtime:

10 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Seven minutes' worth of color, silent outtakes exist for this short, which offers an interesting insight into how the short was made. (see video clips)

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Quotes

Narrator: Pleasant, unemotional conversation helps the digestion.

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Connections

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Shorts (1998)

User Reviews

WOW... gender role reinforcement at its scariest

Those of us who were not around in the 1950's are vaguely skeptical at the thought that the media and these sort of school movies could possibly be SO laden with gender stereotypes and that weird force of conformity... but here it is. Yikes. It's hard to believe these sorts of movies were ever even produced -- Mother and Sister change into their best dresses to be pleasant to look at for their men... and, of course, Mother and Sister are doing all the cooking and other dinner preparations while Brother does his homework [I guess Sister doesn't need good grades to land that husband someday] and Junior is off having fun... then Father comes home from a hard day at the office to enjoy some "pleasant" conversation with Brother and Junior... gag me! Glad I watched this on MST3K. That made it a little less terrifying that this sort of crap passed for education at one point in our history. Joel -- "'Dad, I had an emotion today' 'Well, stop that, Son'"