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: These boys greet their Dad as though they were genuinely glad to see him, as though they really missed him.

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Connections

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Invasion USA (1994)

User Reviews

Propriety never goes out of style.

In an age of Hyper Media Saturation and woefully flagging standards of home decorum one can easily see the value of films as these.

Propriety never goes out of style.

"There is no family so poor but that the evening meal can be eaten in an atmosphere of warmth and gentleness. There is no family so bust that it can come together in the evening for a dinner date that will give its members something to look back upon with happiness all their days." Who in their right mind could argue with that?

The ability to project clearly defined high expectations and habits is how economies separate the wheat from the chaff. Conjointly, children need high objectives. In all things lead by example for this is not an issue of conformity, it is a statement of love.

Try a little tenderness.