GREAT AMERICAN DREAM MACHINE, THE, NO. 4 (TV)
Summary
One in this weekly series examining the gulf between American promise and reality in a magazine format of short features, sketches and songs. This episode examines different definitions of the American dream house. Program highlights include the following: senior citizens of Sun City, Ariz., discuss the advantages of living in their tract houses; five men, personifying mechanical devices, perform a song about a vacuum cleaner, a lawn mower, a washing machine, and a garbage disposal; Marshall Efron pokes fun at the high cost of the environmentally hazardous trash masher; Nicholas Von Hoffman discusses the decline of America's neighborhoods; Studs Terkel engages in a barroom bull session with fellow Chicago citizens about what the American dream house means to them; residents of the Hancock Building discuss the advantages of living in Chicago's self-contained, high-rise apartment building with its security staff, restaurants, offices, grocery stores, swimming pool, and nearby schools; Efron gives a tour of his junk-filled apartment; two couples and their five children who live on a bus are profiled; and a photographic montage depicts the apathy of people in the slums and their destitude living conditions. In "The House I Live In," starring Frank Sinatra, Sinatra rescues a young Jewish boy who is about to get beaten up by a gang because of his religion. Sinatra attempts to talk to the gang and tries to change their behavior. This program also features excerpts from Laurel and Hardy's "The Finishing Touch," showing them trying to build a house.
After stopping a gang from beating up a young Jewish boy, Sinatra accuses the gang members of having the same mindset as the Nazis. He reminds the boys of the different religious backgrounds of the World War II American heroes and eventually convinces them to accept the Jewish boy as their friend. Other program highlights include the following: M. Stanton Evans argues against a minimum wage law; and conductor/musician Thomas Schippers praises Cincinnati as the next Salzburg, and talks about his life as an artist. He is shown playing the piano, with clarinetist Richard Waller and opera singer Elly Ameling; and conducting an orchestra during a rehearsal. Also included: excerpts from Laurel and Hardy's "The Finishing Touch," in which they get in each other's way as they try to build a house.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: January 27, 1971 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:18
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T88:0494
- GENRE: Variety
- SUBJECT HEADING: Chicago, Ill.; Housing; Religion; U S - Cities and towns
- SERIES RUN: WNET (New York, NY) - TV series, 1971-1972
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- A. H. Perlmutter … Executive Producer
- Jack Willis … Executive Producer
- Penny Bernstein … Producer
- Ofra Bikel … Producer
- Aram Boyajian … Producer
- Michael Burton … Producer
- Tony Ganz … Producer
- Barbara Gordon … Producer
- Stuart Hersh … Producer
- Arthur Holch … Producer
- Albert Maltz … Producer
- Sheila Nevins … Producer
- Jack Sameth … Director
- Bob Shanks … Producer
- Rhoden Streeter … Producer
- Jerome Toobin … Producer
- Groove Tube … Producer
- Larry Arrick … Director
- Ken Rockefeller … Director
- Robert Englander … Director
- Albert Maltz … Writer
- Elinor Bunin … Animation
- Kenneth Cavander … Music by
- Barbara Damashek … Music by
- Thomas Schippers … Conductor
- Elly Ameling … Singer
- Richard Waller … Instrumentalist
- M. Stanton Evans … Commentator
- Chevy Chase … Cast
- Ken Shapiro … Cast
- Frank Sinatra … Cast
- David Ackroyd
- James Brick
- Marshall Efron
- Oliver Hardy
- Stan Laurel
- James Naughton
- Magnum Photos
- Frank Sinatra
- Studs Terkel
- Stephen Van Benschoten
- Nicholas Von Hoffman
- Henry Winkler