My Dad worked at the Calvin Company as an Art Director for a few years in the late 1950s. I check the Prelinger Archives about once a year to see if I can spot him or anything of him in any newly posted shorts and today came through in a big way. The two paintings that you see in the background at about 9:57 are caricatures of characters from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Those two paintings hung in the foyer of our home for as long as I can remember and now are hanging in my sister's house! Weird to see them here. I wish my Dad were still alive to watch this with me, he would have no doubt had interesting anecdotes about the people and filming. And the guy who stars in this is in a bunch of my parent's wedding photos too!

Clearly intended for management eyes, this unintentionally hilarious film offers a rare, candid glimpse into the corporate mind's contempt for the evils of "human nature"--they actually use the phrase as a perjorative--in a paranoiac, Ayn Rand world where the majority of all moochers (sorry, employees) are lazy and can't be trusted. Lost man-hours notwithstanding, the soreheaded boss's chief complaint about coffee breaks is more prosaic: "...they start yakkin' and slippin' the knife into each other like a bunch of old women!" Ironically, films like this did more to fuel the anti-capitalist movement than a boxcar full of socialist propaganda.

Two funny things - two minutes into this, I got up and went to get a cup of coffee, it sounded so good; and these Prelinger Archive films have taken up more of my hours at work than a years' worth of coffee breaks.

But seriously, I agree with a previous post that this is an interesting look into the much less relaxed attitude they had back then about certain things.

Obviously this 1958 film is dated, but it is still interesting to watch. Lots of our behavior and attitudes have changed over half a century ago. As for the coffee break, if the workers did their jobs effectively, I don't think the boss should have worried so much about it. The break probably helped his employees remain alert during the time they went back to work.

Why bother, no chicks or cars. Move on

I was going to show this to my class (I find that they still make a point, even if few in the class can't appreciate the camp value) so we can discuss taking long breaks.

And, then, I saw the guy serving coffee. My class is made up of mostly African-American women. While he's not doing much but serving coffee, the fact that he looks stereotypical is enough to make me pass until I can do some creative editing.

4 stars for the camp value.

i would have to say that this film is even more sexist than "the trouble with women."

i'm wondering if anyone knows any information about the actor playing joe in this film. he sounds like he could be the voice of huckleberry hound.

~~~~

Jim has a problem. His boss is upset about how workers find a way to tack on lots of extra minutes to their coffee breaks with such unnecessary activities as talking, smoking, going to the bathroom, and, oh yeah, getting coffee. Since Jim is the personnel manager, the boss hands the problem off to him, demanding that he make the workers limit their breaks to 10 minutes on the nose, or else! To intimidate Jim more, he gives him a ÃÂgiftÃÂ of an hourglass that measures 10 minutes and orders him to use it twice a day at coffee break time while he spends exactly 10 minutes thinking of the solution to the problem. The boss especially has a problem with women, lambasting them for spending time in the ladiesÃÂ room touching up their appearances (though IÃÂll bet if any of the women failed to do this, theyÃÂd be written up for poor appearance). Not considered is the fact that the workers seem to have to leave the building entirely and patronize a local diner with table service in order to get coffee, something that probably takes a lot more time than 10 minutes. Jim solves the problem by using his 10 minutes to get coffee with a buddy, along with a few extra minutes to have a cigarette and go to the bathroom. This management training film is a lot of fun, with a boss you love to hate and workers who gleefully get as much out of their coffee breaks as possible. The message of wasted time is undercut by the fact that the boss is portrayed as such a control freak with no sympathy for the workerÃÂs position, so that even though the workers are essentially schmoozing on company time, you take their side just to thwart that boss. It ends with a Centronesque ÃÂWhat would YOU do?ÃÂ ending. IÃÂll get back to you on that after I go get some coffee.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

This "What would you do?" film is geared towards that very serious American work stoppage problem, the COFFEE BREAK. A manager is summoned into the Boss's office to be questioned about what makes people extend their breaks by more then 10 minutes in some cases, it's costing the company money! This Calvin film doesnt provide solutions to this (quite common) problem, but it brings up a lot of interessting points, nearly all which are relevant today.