Coronet Films
Coronet Films (also Coronet Instructional Media Inc.) was a producer and distributor of American educational films from 1946 to the early 1970s founded by David A. Smart. The company, whose library is currently owned and distributed by The Phoenix Learning Group, Inc., produced instructional short films aimed at young teenagers and high school students which were produced by dozens until the mid-1950s when production tapered off. Social guidance on topics such as dating, family life, courtesy and citizenship were typical themes of the films with occasional educational topics such as the solar system and the human body.
Coronet was active during the 1973-1974 school year when they placed over sixty titles for evaluation with Project METRO of the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), in central Connecticut. Titles included "A Is For Alphabet", Color, Color Everywhere", "Dating Scene", and "Understanding Shakespeare: His Stagecraft." [1] Many of the titles in their catalog were produced early in the post-war film boom; they were typical of the quality, production values, and content of media of the period: no better, no worse, and often humorous in the context of the post mid-1960s sexual revolution, but true artifacts of their time.
After the earliest films entered the public domain (a large percentage of the library is still privately owned), the films of Coronet were recognized by many as notable kitsch, especially after a few became shorts for the cable TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 which mocked the films' production values and underlying messages. Shorts featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 include Are You Ready for Marriage? and What to Do on a Date. The 1947 film Shy Guy featured an early appearance of a 19-year-old Dick York. Many films were directed by Ted Peshak. Many of Coronets other films were later riffed by Rifftrax, a successor to MST3K, created by former MST3K cast member Michael J. Nelson.
Listing of Coronet Educational Films (Incomplete)
- Act Your Age (1949)
- Alaska: A Modern Frontier (Revised) (1948)
- Am I Trustworthy? (1950)
- American Square Dance (1947)
- Ancient Egypt (1976)(?)
- Ancient Rome (1949)
- Ancient World Inheritance (1946)
- Appreciating Your Parents (1950)
- Aptitudes and Occupations (1941)
- Are You a Good Citizen? (1949)
- Are You Popular? (1947)
- Are You Popular? (1948)
- Are You Ready for Marriage? (1950)
- Attitudes and Health (1949)
- Banks and Credits (1948)
- Basketball for Girls Fundamentals (1948)
- Basketball for Girls Game Play (1948)
- Beethoven and His Music (1953)
- Beginning Responsibility (1951)
- Beginning to Date (1953)
- Better Use of Leisure Time (1950)
- Bookkeeping and You (1947)
- Build Your Vocabulary (1948)
- Capitalism (1948)
- Choosing Your Marriage Partner (1952)
- Choosing Your Occupation (1949)
- Citizenship and You (1959)
- Clothes and You: Line and Proportion (1954)
- Communism (1952)
- Control Your Emotions (1950)
- Date Etiquette (1952)
- Dating: Do's and Don'ts (1949)
- Developing Friendships (1950)
- Developing Self-Reliance (1951)
- Developing Your Character (1950)
- Earning Money While Going to School (1950)
- Everyday Courtesy (1948)
- Exercise and Health (1949)
- Facing Reality (1954)
- Family Life (1949)
- Forest and Conservation (1948)
- Friendship Begins at Home (1949)
- Fun of Being Thoughtful (1950)
- Fun of Making Friends (1950)
- Fun that Builds Good Health (1950)
- Getting Ready Physically (1951)
- Going Steady? (1951)
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1958)
- Good Eating Habits (1951)
- Good Sportsmanship (1950)
- Good Table Manners (1951)
- Gossip (1953)
- Health: Your Posture (1953)
- High School: Your Challenge (1952)
- How Billy Keeps Clean (1951)
- How Do You Know It's Love? (1950)
- How Friendly Are You? (1951)
- How Honest Are You? (1950)
- How Quiet Helps at School (1953)
- How to Be Well Groomed (1948)
- How to be Well Groomed (1949)
- How to Develop Interest (1950)
- How to Keep a Job (1949)
- How to Say No (1951)
- I Want to Be a Secretary (1941)
- Improve Your Personality (1951)
- Improve Your Spelling (1948)
- Introduction to Electricity (1948)
- Introduction to Foreign Trade (1951)
- Joan Avoids a Cold (1947)
- Keeping Clean and Neat (1956)
- Law and Social Controls (1949)
- Let’s Play Fair (1949)
- Let's Share with Others (1950)
- Let's Share With Others (second edition 1967)
- Life in the Central Valley of California (1949)
- Lunchroom Manners (1960)
- Making Word Pictures (1973)
- Marriage is a Partnership (1951)
- Mind Your Manners! (1953)
- More Dates for Kay (1952)
- Mother Goose Rhymes (1958)
- Mozart and His Music (1953)
- Nature of Sound (1948)
- Office Practice: Your Attitude (1972)
- Our Wonderful Body: How It Moves (1968)
- Our Wonderful Body: How We Breathe (1968)
- Our Wonderful Body: How We Keep Fit (1968)
- Overcoming Fear (1950)
- Personal Hygiene for Boys (1952)
- Plantation System in Southern Life (1950)
- Powers of Congress (1947)
- Punctuation Mark Your Meaning (1948)
- Puritan Family of Early New England (1955)
- Rest and Health (1949)
- Right or Wrong? (1951)
- Rivers of the Pacific Slope (1947)
- Safe Living at School (1948)
- School Rules: How They Help Us (1952)
- Schubert and His Music (1953)
- Secretary’s Day (1947)
- Self-Conscious Guy (1951)
- Selling as a Career (1953)
- Service and Citizenship (1951)
- Sharing Work at Home (1949)
- Shy Guy (1947)
- Snap Out of It! (1951)
- Social Courtesy (1951)
- Southwestern States (1942)
- Spring Comes To The City (1967)
- Starting Now (Are You Ready for Service? No. 4) (1951)
- Taking Responsibility for Your Actions (1953)
- The Apache Indian (1945)
- The Benefits of Looking Ahead (1950)
- The Mighty Columbia River (1947)
- The Solar System (1950)
- Trading Centers at the Pacific Coast (1947)
- Understanding the Dollar (1953)
- Understanding Your Emotions (1950)
- Understanding Your Ideals (1950)
- Ways to Settle Disputes (1950)
- What is a Corporation? (1949)
- What is Business? (1948)
- What is Money? (1947)
- What Makes a Good Party? (1950)
- What to Do on a Date (1951)
- Where Does Our Meat Come From? (1960)
- Who Are the People of America? (1953)
- Why Punctuate? (1948)
- Why We Respect the Law (1950)
- Writing Better Social Letters (1950)
- You and Your Family (1946)
- You and Your Parents (1949)
- You and Your Parents (1950)
- Your Family (1948)
- Your Thrift Habits (1948)
Production
Select Coronet productions are now available as public domain resources, here are a few examples:
References
- ^ Source: METRO's "1974 MULTI-MEDIA EVALUATION REPORT" (privately printed and distributed to member school districts in central Connecticut)
External links