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Television commercials

 Subject
Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Found in 6 Collections and/or Records:

Audiovisual, 1932-2009, undated

 Series
Accession: 20100108-ZTVIdentifier: 20100108-ZTV-XXII.
Scope and Content:

The materials in this series are mostly promotional videos and brochures for new automobile models circulated by automobile manufacturers. The series consists mainly of VHS tapes, but also includes small numbers of cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, promotional brochures, and a small amount of correspondence. Only a handful of items concern other forms of transportation, including airplanes and helicopters.

Dates: 1932-2009; undated

Cavalcade of America, 1953-1954

 Series
Accession: 1995-300Identifier: 1995-300-VI.
Scope and Contents:

Cavalcade of America television show was an anthology drama which aired on NBC from 1952 to 1953 and ABC from 1953 to 1957. The show was adapted from a radio show of the same name sponsored by the DuPont Company. The DuPont Company created the Cavalcade of America as a promotional tool. The program dramatized historical events, focusing on individual stories of heroism, and occasionally presented a musical performance. The stories were presented as uplifting and emphasized human achievements, progress, and technological innovations.

The episodes aired every other week for the first season and weekly for the following seasons. There were 133 episodes which aired over five seasons. The show changed its name to the DuPont Cavalcade Theater in 1955, and in it's final year was known as DuPont Theater. The show was replaced by The DuPont Show of the Month.

This series contains one episode, “The Skipper’s Lady” and four reels of commercials which aired during the show.

Dates: 1953-1954

Commercials, circa 1950s-1995, bulk 1968-1989

 Series
Accession: 1995-300Identifier: 1995-300-I.
Scope and Contents: The Commercials series consists of DuPont Company commercials for more than fifty DuPont products. The products most heavily represented are Teflon cookware, Silverstone cookware, Lucite Paints, Rally Car Wax, medical products, and agrichemicals. Medical products include the Automatic Clinical Analyzer, Diamond Knife, Luminescence Biometer, mammography, mass spectrometer, overdose antidote, Teflon voice boxes, Thallium heart attack prevention, and X-ray subtraction. Commercials on agrichemicals cover DuPont research, crop protection, agrochemical testing, Extrazine II herbicide, Krovar herbicide, nitrogen fixation studies of soybeans, and pesticides. There are several commercials related to DuPont safety measures taken at plants to ensure workplace safety, as well as the safe transportation of chemicals, double wall oil tankers for marine life, and noise and vibration reduction. There are also several commercials related to DuPont programs for alcohol rehabilitation, energy conservation, personal safety program for rape prevention, and job training programs for inmate rehabilitation. Commercials for DuPont’s man-made fibers include Coolmax, Kevlar, Lycra, Tyvek, and Nomex fire retardant suits. The automobile products represented in this series are for Gas Booster, Exhaust Manifold Reactor, Nomex filter bags, Refinish, safety auto glass, and Zerex Antifreeze. One of DuPont’s marketing campaigns used the tagline “There's A Lot of Good Chemistry Between Us.” These commercials generally feature a narrator having a conversation with one or more people in a particular situation being informed about how a DuPont invention impacts their life without them even being aware of it. The commercial generally does not focus on a single product, but rather on a single material that is used in a variety of products. For example, in one commercial, a family is walking through their new home while it is under construction and the narrator is explaining to them how Methanol is used to make various parts of their home. Another advertising campaign termed “The Originators” commercials, again does not focus on a particular product, but rather on a significant contribution DuPont scientists have made through research in a particular area. Each commercial features a DuPont scientist talking about their research area. For example, one commercial features Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, discussing all the different uses of the synthetic material. ...
Dates: circa 1950s-1995; bulk 1968-1989

DuPont fashion films, circa 1980s

 Series
Accession: 1995-300Identifier: 1995-300-IV.
Scope and Contents:

The DuPont fashion films series consists of seven reels, each containing several short films about DuPont’s textiles for men and women’s fashion, including swimwear. The fashion films feature various sport coats, suits, dresses, casual wear, sports wear, and swimwear. The films are mostly fictional narratives of men and women wearing clothing made out of DuPont fabrics. Some films feature a different travel destinations and highlight what to wear while on the trip. Featured fabrics include Dacron, Polyester, and Qiana Nylon fabric for clothing and lycra and spandex for swimwear.

Dates: circa 1980s

The DuPont Show of the Month, 1957-1960

 Series
Accession: 1995-300Identifier: 1995-300-VII.
Scope and Contents:

The DuPont Show of the Month was an anthology drama series that aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. Unlike Cavalcade of America,the the storylines did not feature historical events, but, rather, were often adaptations of literary classics. There were thirty-five episodes which aired over four seasons. Each episode was ninety minutes. The show was nominated for twelve Emmy Awards. This series contains seventeen episodes (six titles) - the films aired in two or three parts, each part being one episode.

Dates: 1957-1960

The DuPont Show with June Allyson, 1959-1961

 Series
Accession: 1995-300Identifier: 1995-300-VIII.
Scope and Contents:

Also known as The June Allyson Show, by Four Star-Pamric Production. This anthology drama series aired on CBS from 1959 to 1961. There were fifty-seven episodes over two seasons. Each episode was thirty minutes. Actress June Allyson (1917-2006) was the third woman to host an anthology series on network television. She began her career on Broadway and later signed with MGM, where she established a “girl next door” image. Allyson stars in a little less than half of the episodes. Many episodes feature prominent actors such as Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Dick Powell, Ron Howard, Carolyn Jones, Harpo Marx, Ronald Reagan, Anne Baxter, Don Rickles, and Dean Stockwell. The last episode, “Death of the Temple Bay”, starring Lloyd Bridges, was the pilot for The Lloyd Bridges Show. This series contains fifty-one of the fifty-seven episodes.

Dates: 1959-1961