6min | Short , Documentary | April 1943 (USA)
Laurel and Hardy demonstrate the uses of wood in this World War II propaganda film.
Director: Charles McDonald
Stars: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Pete Smith
Laurel and Hardy demonstrate the uses of wood in this World War II propaganda film.
Director: Charles McDonald
Stars: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Pete Smith
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00♪
00:14Hey, you mugs! Uh, I mean, gentlemen!
00:18Well, well! It's Laurel and Hardy, as if I didn't know!
00:21Hello, boys! This is Pete Smith, as if you didn't know!
00:24Say, I'd like your help here for a minute, do you mind?
00:27No, of course not! I just want you lads to show the audience how much wood the average person totes!
00:33Wood! Got any?
00:36No, like most guys, you don't realize how many articles made of wood products you carry around!
00:41For instance, that newspaper!
00:44Yup, that newspaper is largely made of trees, wood pulp!
00:47Of course, most people know that, but many people don't know that a lot of other objects come from a wood base!
00:53Take Stan's glasses!
00:56The rims are plastic. About 60% of plastic is wood flour. Powdered wood, my friends!
01:02Got a fountain pen?
01:05Just as I thought, plastic barrels!
01:08Okay, gents, anything else in your pockets?
01:12Be careful of fishhooks, Stan!
01:15A billfold! Imitation leather made with cellulose acetate, a wood product!
01:20Uh-oh, what's up?
01:24Why, Mr. Laurel!
01:29Oh, sure, your wife's, of course! Anyway, their rayon, another wood product!
01:34Well, what else, boys? A cigarette case?
01:37A plastic! Also a cigarette holder! More plastic!
01:42Any more wood, my lads?
01:46No, but there's wood in his hat! The sweatbands!
01:50Right, more imitation leather!
01:58A new spring hat, eh? Ouch!
02:00More? Yup, a pipe, the bowl of which is wood, the stem, plastic!
02:08Book matches! These matches are wood pulp, so is the cover!
02:12It's amazing the amount of wood we use, ain't it the truth?
02:16And now a penknife, a handle, plastic!
02:21Let's see what's in the suitcase, boys! The suitcase, do you mind?
02:26That's it, let's see what we have here. Any slippers?
02:29Yes, here we are! They're real leather like your shoes and belt,
02:33but tanned and made durable by tan bark from the forest!
02:37Then, too, the counters and insoles are wood fiber!
02:41Okay, Ollie, let's proceed!
02:44Wood in bottles? Well, hardly! Uh, hardly, no pun intended!
02:49Anyway, witch hazel and cascara are just two of several hundred drugs and
02:53remedies from trees! Next, an imitation leather toilet case!
03:00Mirror with plastic back! Brush back is plastic!
03:04Bristles of both brushes are cellulose plastic!
03:08This bottle top is plastic! So is soap container!
03:15Bath sponge is cellulose plastic, and I'm not at all surprised!
03:20Hey, Stan, what else you got? Come, come, fellas, don't tell me you're running out
03:25of plastics! Let's take a look at some more of your
03:28junk, uh, I mean your nice things! Ah, a razor! Handle is plastic as are most
03:32electric shavers! Ouch! That blade ain't no plastic, bub!
03:39And now, writing paper, scratch pad, envelopes, and book!
03:47Old wood pulp, kiddies!
03:52Pajamas are rayon, and rayon is a wood product, remember?
03:56Hey, what you got there, chum?
04:00Oh, shorts, eh? More rayon! But Stan, such color!
04:08And now, a shirt, tie, and socks, all rayon!
04:18Say, the suitcase! Yup, even that's made out of laminated wood
04:22covered with canvas! And it's a good thing these lads didn't
04:25come around here with a trunk! We'd be here for days! Oh, boys!
04:29You can go now! Goodbye, Stan! So long, Oliver! And thanks very much, guys!
04:33Darn nice of you to help! Hey! Oh, well, they need exercise anyway!
04:37Goodbye now! And thanks to you, Pete Smith, this is Lee
04:40Vickers carrying on. Well, Loll and Hardy Little realized the
04:44importance of wood to their daily lives. And I wonder if most of us know just how
04:49important forests and research are to the winning of this war.
04:54The answer may be found at Madison, Wisconsin, where the United States Forest
04:58Service maintains its forest products laboratory.
05:05Here, for years, has been carried on a broad program of research
05:09to increase uses of forest products and find new uses for waste materials.
05:15Here's where they figuratively put the tree in a test tube.
05:27Research makes very important contributions to our welfare,
05:31not only during peacetime, but doubly so in wartime.
05:37Without flash or fanfare, these men patiently carry on.
05:42Engineers, foresters, scientists, chemists,
05:45practicing their magic, searching out ways to make our warplanes lighter and
05:50therefore faster, pressing together thin veneers of wood,
05:54developing materials suitable for training planes
05:57with a strength comparable to that of steel.
06:05No glue is used and it comes out with a piano finish.
06:09This saves time. This compregnated slab is strong enough to bear the weight of a
06:15four-ton elephant. Believe it or not.
06:40And here it is, an all-wood training plane.
06:43Light, sure, swift, and safe. Even the gas tank is wood.
06:49Research has determined the best woods for pontoon bridges.
06:52The planking and rails are light, but strong enough to take
06:56terrific punishment.
07:03A shortage of material for gas-masked charcoal
07:07was answered by our chemists, finding a better charcoal
07:10and an improved filter paper.
07:16Wood for horse-drawn artillery must be tough and light.
07:20A pound may still be only 16 ounces, but at the end of the day it seems more.
07:28Shipping cases for food and other war material are tested.
07:32This is called a shimmy machine.
07:46Cases for rifles and other munitions must be strong, and every inch saved
07:50means more cargo space. And cargo space is very important
07:55to our lend-lease program. These are some of the little things that help to win a
08:00war.
08:03Wood cellulose is an essential element in gunpowder. Research for greater
08:07efficiency is continuous. Barracks to house our soldiers and
08:11trucks to move them, all wood or partly wood. Mess halls,
08:16recreation halls, armories. Here is a laminated arch with a span of
08:2184 feet. It will rest on the walls without
08:25further support. A laboratory triumph. The steel it
08:30replaced can now go into a battleship.
08:36Some 30 types of skis were put through grueling tests.
08:46Now when our boys start out for ski patrol on distant mountains,
08:50they can feel confident their skis are dependable.
08:58Forests and forest products are indispensable.
09:02America should make sure they are produced abundantly and perpetually.
09:06America should develop from its forests new uses,
09:10new industries, so that when these boys come home again,
09:14there will be a job for each one of them.
09:33To help do this, to produce better war supplies for the front,
09:38and most important of all, to help teach pirate nations that the American
09:44people hold those liberties conceived by our
09:48patriot forefathers, baptized in precious blood at Valley
09:52Forge, at San Juan Hill, at Chateau Thierry, and at Pearl Harbor.
09:59Those liberties so jealously guarded by our national government,
10:03more important than life itself. That is the number one job of the men
10:11at the Forest Products Laboratory. The men behind the men, behind the guns.
10:16Let us, too, help keep it flying.