Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Looking For An Old Friend

This morning, I spent a little time looking for an old friend on the 'net: Primitive Pete.

Many of you who attended high school in the 1970's like I did will remember this guy from your shop classes. Primitive Pete was the main character in a safety film that Disney produced for General Motors in the 1940's, "The ABC's of Hand Tools."

Every year, we looked forward to the annual showing of the movie-- I mean a movie, on a projector. We didn't have none of them stinkin' vcr's and dvd's! It was required showing in each shop class. And of course, the movie was untintentionally hilarous.

I searched Youtube in vain for the movie, so me and my fellow forty-somethings will have to content ourselves with these links:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/old-brew/disneys-abcs-of-hand-tools

http://www.bobsokol.com/PrimitivePete/

The Bob Sokol site has a link to a PDF of the accompanying book. Enjoy!

7 comments:

  1. Good God, you really do have to find a new job.

    Very cute; this is how I pictured you as a construction worker.

    Maybe if I bribe you you could put on some cut-offs?

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  2. Anonymous10:20 AM

    Obviously this is where you acquired a good deal of your mechanical skills. It takes a very special mechanical luddite like yourself to short out an entire building while trying to put up Christmas Lights ....

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  3. I've never heard of it, but then again, I come from the generation where girls took cooking/sewing while the boys got to take shop. Of course, I'd rather had taken shop.

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  4. Kim-
    I look like I belong on Belmont and Broadway when I wear cutoffs.

    Elk-
    No, it just took a bunch of beer, and 20 year old Christmas lights I bought at a garage sale.

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  5. Kristi-
    Yeah, unfortuately those were segregated days.

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  6. I remember Pete! And I remember projectors, and the film jamming, and the single frame that was in front of the lamp burning...

    Ah yes, the high tech world of the 70's.

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  7. Yes, I remember that-- how hopelessly lost teachers were trying to thread the projectors, and when the projectors (and the film) melted down!

    When I was setting up my classroom at the beginning of the year, I came across an old filmstrip machine. It brought back memories of 6th grade.

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