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AUTOMOBILE AND AMERICAN PROSPERITY 1950s CHEVROLET PUBLICITY FILM 88634

4,107 views · Published 18 April 2016 · 10:58 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: PeriscopeFilm · 2016 · Education

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Made in 1952 by the Jam Handy Organization for Chevrolet, "The Key to Our Horizons" shows America and the planet Earth with an increasing amount of cars and traffic. In fact at the time the movie was made, 50 million cars and trucks (which could circle the earth 7 times) were in the United States. Today they are 250 million.  

The film promotes the role of the auto industry in the nation's economy, and the role of the automobile in everyday life. The film features images of assembly lines, and states that one in every seven Americans are involved in producing (directly or indirectly) automobiles today. One sixth of all business in the USA at this time was connected to the automobile...

The film shows the City of Milwaukee including Demery's Dept. Store (8:00)  and also Los Angeles (4:00), as well as a cross section of the USA with farmers, miners, and other people working hard to keep the nation running strong. 

At 2:45, a man is shown testing car horns in a factory. 

The film starts with a segment showing a Daguerre still camera in use — and interestingly the camera does not show traffic on a busy street because it is so slow that it does not record moving objects.

Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. We collect, scan and preserve 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have films you'd like to have scanned or donate to Periscope Film, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the link below.


This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

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