Banana Lee Fishbones over at Metblogs has turned up a real beauty of a cold war propoganda CBS public education film from 1957, on Google Video:
In The Day Called X, Portland, Oregon, is struck by a nuclear bomb! That’s right, THIS Portland! In Oregon! The film features real Portland people, no Communist “actors” (the late ’50s weren’t exactly the best years to be employed in Hollywood ). So: There’s footage of Portland’s mayor at the time, Terry Schrunk (who happens to be father of current District Attorney, Mike) and a host of other Portlanders, too. The film begins with a woman not bothering to read the front page of the Oregonian—some things never change. Also, as far as I can see, it features absolutely no black people. (See above). I don’t know about you, but I lap up this local history stuff—pictures of recognizable streets with no cars on them, the cops beating someone up behind a dumpster in the background…how things have changed…