CATEGORY: Educational & Instructional, Animation, Sound, Color
DIRECTOR: William T. Hurtz
PRODUCER/PUBLISHER: American Cancer Society and United Productions of America
Summary
Since their emergence in the early twentieth century, cancer education campaigns had focused chiefly on recruiting women into programs of early detection and treatment. By the 1940s, the campaigns were developing a focus on men as well. Man Alive! built upon this new appeal to men and added some fresh elements, most notably the film–screening locales. It was shown both in movie theaters as part of the regular schedule and in “non-theatrical” venues, such as factories, clubs, and other locations. Its core themes were similar to earlier films. Man Alive! warned against delay in seeking competent help, against going to “quacks,” and against turning to home remedies. But it added another element: antic cartoon humor that was designed to capture the attention of a larger audience….Read The Essay
Supplementary Materials
Film Stills from Man Alive!
Title Screen
Procucer screen
Ed Parmalee and his wife ride in their convertible down a crowded highway.
Closeup of Ed Parmalee behind the wheel of his car, looking troubled.
Ed Parmalee is worried about his car engine. Above his head is a cloud with worries indicated by words and pictures.
With the hood up, Ed Parmalee’s wife looks unhappy, while a bottle of “Go Car” fluid pours into the engine.
Ed Parmalee and his wife take their car to a ramshackle auto repair shop, with a sign that reads “Garage”.
Ed Parmalee shows “icy disdain” for his wife’s suggestion that he seek help.
Ed Parmalee, behind the wheel of his car and sitting next to his wife, is turned into a jester.
Ed Parmalee, behind the wheel of his car and sitting next to his wife, is turned into a devil with a pitchfork. The entire scene is tinted red, indicating anger.
Ed Parmalee, behind the wheel of his car and sitting next to his wife, is turned into a little boy wearing a dunce cap.
Inside Glassner’s Garage, the auto mechanic looks at his clipboard. Ed Parmalee looks worried, still sitting in his car even while it is on the lift. A sign reads: “Glassner’s: 28 Years of Service Speaks for Itself.”
Ed Parmalee after he has come out the shower is dressed only in a towel. On his right is a red silhouette which represents the state of his body.
Ed Parmalee after he has come out the shower is dressed only in a towel. On his right is an automobile engine which represents the state of his body.
Wearing nothing but a towel, Ed Parmalee sits on the floor of his bathroom, surrounded by a cloud of worrying words and pictures.
Ed Glassner’s medicine cabinet is full of patent medicine remedies. Some of the labels are visible: (“Gastric Elastic”, “Vigo Rigo”, “Lively Liver”, “Pepsikins”, “Rigor Mortis”, “Vesuvius Balm”
The Dangers of Quackery and the City
Ed Parmalee turns into a man wearing a polar fur hood and coat, talking to his wife, who is in her nightgown sitting at a dressing table in their bedroom.
Ed Parmalee turns into a jester, talking to his wife, who is in her nightgown sitting at a dressing table in their bedroom.
Ed Parmalee turns into an angry cave man, wearing a skin, as he comes out of the shower in his bathroom.
The warning signs of cancer and the railway warning signal.
After much hesitation and procrastination, Ed Parmalee gets a thorough check-up from a reputable doctor.
A very simplified diagram of the internal organs of a human being from shoulders to waist.
Two cells float in a very simplified diagram of the blood stream.
The main message made visual.
The tools to fight cancer made visual.
The tools to fight cancer made visual.
The tools to fight cancer made visual.
The tools to fight cancer made visual.
Ed Parmalee and his wife exit from the doctor through the door and head, smiling.
Living happily ever after at the drive-in movies.
Digitized Films on Cancer at the National Library of Medicine
Explore films on cancer in the NLM Digital Collections