Palmour Street
Palmour Street is a short film from 1957 released on 16mm. It is held by at least two archives, including Prelinger Archives and National Library of Medicine.
| Palmour Street | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Southern Educational Film Production Service |
Production company | Southern Educational Film Production Service |
| Distributed by | Southern Educational Film Production Service |
Release date | 1957 |
Running time | 22:17 |
| Language | English |
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SHOWS THE DAILY life of a NEGRO FAMILY IN GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA. ILLUSTRATES BASIC MENTAL HEALTH CONCEPTS BY SHOWING WAYS PARENTS CAN INFLUENCE THEIR CHILD'S MENTAL & EMOTIONAL GROWTH & HELP HIM FACE PROBLEMS.
"Palmour Street is in Gainesville, Georgia. The people who live on it worked hard to make this picture so that they and all of us might know more about ourselves and our children."
Story of African-American family in Georgia. Many delightful pictures of very happy children running, dancing and playing with themselves and their loving parents.
Charming film.
Shots and sequences of everyday life.
year
Year is uncertain, seems like 1949 or 1950. https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-9000322A-vid
Shots List
AVG
Dad shows son his flexing muscles. Family sits on porch. Sister cradles infant in her arms.
Public health clinic. Child behaving badly. (?) Mother bathes infant in tub. Six-year old child is scared of dog barking. Child learns to pet dog. child plays by himself jumping happily on couch. child and mother shell peas together.
Mother puts children to bed. Children dance on porch.
Mother reprimands her teenage son at the dinner table, hurting his feelings badly. Children crawl over mother happily. Woman is cooking up her laundry in a large metal tub on the stove. She stirs it with a stick.
girl sets table for family dinner. Parents fight; child react with fear and upset. Boy sucks his thumb. Baby cries.
Father plays with his baby son; Kids take shoes off dad. little girl goes off to school. Child tries to go with mother when she goes at work.
Children play pattycake and sing rhymes.
Child hides under bed from his father. Then he cries. going to hospital; father is hurt badly.
Sadness.
"Vernon [being given a bath and smiling about it] is only 9-months old. But he knows he is safe, he is warm and his mother loves him. And that's the best kind of a beginning any baby can have."
- 0:6:36
- aunt -
"Get off this porch! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Dancing to the devil like that. You better get off this porch." "My mom don't care if we dance."
"That boy of mine got hisself into trouble again. Had me down to the jailhouse yesterday. Me a-begging the police to let him go. I was ashamed to death."
"Don't tell me you couldn't help losing your job. Because I know better. It's you and that sassy tongue of yours. "
"Lord am I tired. Ain't you got my dinner done yet? Don't you come here barking at me. I had enough worry all day. Who do you think you're talking to that way? I lean over that stuff all day, sweating my guts out and all I get is blah, blah, blah. . . .Clothes need washing; baby crying every two minutes and all you want to do is eat. Shut up! I'll bust you in the mouth."
"Spoiling one child. Being hard on the rest. When this goes on week after week Mother has problems with them all. "
NLM
[Music]
[Child runs down the street and onto the porch, where he is greeted by his mother.]
[Narrator:] Can parents help their children grow up?
Let's see how one couple is trying.
Here live Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Rogers and their four children.
Next door lives widowed Aunt Esther, with three older children.
[Music]
[Narrator:] Little comes to disturb their life on Palmour Street until one Saturday morning...
[Knock on the door]
[Messenger:] Miz Rogers, I have bad news for you.
[Narrator:] Suppose these were your children.
What would you do?
How can parents help their children grow strong for life's troubles?
[Palmour Street (A Study in Family Life)]
[Presented by the Georgia Department of Public Health,
In Cooperation with the Hall County Health Department]
[Written by...George Stoney, Photography by...Bill Clifford]
[Music by..Louis Applebaum, Sound by.....Phil Bangs]
[Chief technical advisers: W.A. Mason, M.D., M.P.H., E.E. Butler, M.D.]
[Commentary by: Rev. Wm. Holmes Borders]
[Produced by Southern Educational Film Production Service, Athens, Georgia]
[Direction: Bill Clifford, George Stoney]
[Palmour Street is in Gainesville, Georgia. The people who live on it worked hard
to make this picture so that they and all of us might know more about ourselves and our children.]
[Children playing and shouting]
[Boy:] We can't hear you.
[Shouting]
[Music]
[Narrator:] Like father, like son.
Like mother, like daughter.
But children take after their parents in more ways than looks.
Let's watch what happens at the clinic.
[A mother and child walk calmly into a medical clinic.]
[Another mother yanks her child into the clinic as he resists.]
[Baby crying in background]
[One mother looks frustrated and handles her child roughly.]
[Narrator:] What makes this difference in children?
Could it be this difference in their parents?
[The other mother smiles down at her child, her arm around his shoulder.]
[Children playing and shouting]
[Boy:] Justin. Justin.
[Child:] Did it hurt?
[Justin:] No.
[Child:] Mine didn't hurt when I had mine.
[Talking in background]
[Mother washes her baby in a washtub in the kitchen.]
[Narrator:] Vernon's only nine months old.
But he knows that he is safe, he is warm, and his mother loves him.
And that's the best kind of a beginning any baby can have.
[Dog barking]
[Narrator:] Kenny's scared and that's natural.
But it isn't good for him to stay scared.
For right now, when he's six years old, Kenny's beginning to decide
if he's going to stay scared of things all his life.
[Mr. Rogers:] Rex, come here, boy.
The dog ain't going to bite you. Come here, Kenny. He won't bite.
See that? Good dog. Good dog. See there.
Ain't you a good dog, Rex? That's right. That's right.
You go play with him now. See there?
[Child laughing, rolling and jumping on a couch.]
[Mrs. Rogers:] Randall!
Randall, get off of that couch.
It won't be fit for any party.
[Randall is helping his mother shell peas.]
[Narrator:] Children of three are not too young to begin learning things like this.
One [inaudible], it helps them to get the feeling that they can do them.
Mother, too, is building self-confidence in her child.
But there are times when it's hard to be patient.
[Kenny says something as his mother puts the baby in its crib.]
[Mrs. Rogers:] Be quiet.
[Dorothy:] Momma, look what the teacher showed.
[Mrs. Rogers:] Can't you see I'm busy?
[Narrator:] She's busy, but when Mother doesn't want to hear about school, will Dorothy care about it?
[Mrs. Rogers:] What'd you want to show me, honey?
[Music, and children laughing and dancing on the porch]
[Dorothy:] Whoo! Whoo!
[Laughter]
[Children shriek with delight.]
[Aunt Esther:] Get off this porch.
You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
Dancing for the devil like that.
You'd better get off this porch.
[Girl:] Let's go to your house.
[Dorothy:] Yes. My momma don't care if we dance.
[Mrs. Rogers sings while stirring a pot on the stove.]
[She hears the girls outside and goes to the porch to join them.]
[Girls:] Whoo. Whoo.
[Music and laughter as all dance.]
[Aunt Esther walks over with a fresh pie.]
[Dancing on the porch continues.]
[Aunt Esther steps onto the porch with her pie and looks on disapprovingly.]
[Mrs. Rogers:] That pie looks good.
[Aunt Esther and Mrs. Rogers are doing the laundry together.]
You may be right about the dancing, Aunt Esther. But I think it's best if you know about what they're doing.
Coming to our party Saturday?
[Aunt Esther:] That boy of mine has got himself into trouble again.
Had me down to the jailhouse yesterday. Me!
I'm begging the police to let him go. I was ashamed to death.
[Officer:] Mrs. Neal, you were notified to appear here today
in answer to a complaint of delinquency filed against your son, James.
Are you ready?
[Aunt Esther:] I didn't hear a word about it 'til the police came by my house.
[Mrs. Rogers:] I declare to goodness!
[Narrator:] But Aunt Esther, you didn't tell 'em what happened two weeks ago.
[Aunt Esther:] Don't tell me you couldn't help losing your job, because I know better.
It's you and that sassy tongue of yours. Oh, yes it is.
You young'uns think you can do any old way now, and people will take it from you. Getting so smart. Think you're as good as anybody.
[Music]
[Aunt Esther:] You're lucky.
[Mrs. Rogers:] Yes. I got a good man, and children just as good as anybody's.
[Mrs. Rogers works in the kitchen.]
[Narrator:] A good man. Still, things like this will happen.
[Mr. Rogers:] Lord, am I tired. Ain't you got my dinner done yet?
Don't you come here bopping at me. I have enough worry all day.
Who do you think you're talking to that a way?
I lean over that stuff all day.
Sweating my guts out. And all I get is blah-blah-blah.
[Mr. Rogers:] [inaudible] in this kitchen. Clothes need washing.
Baby crying every two minutes.
And all you want to do is eat, eat, eat.
[Mr. Rogers:] Shut up or I'll bust you in the mouth. Shut up.
[Narrator:] Wonder what she's thinking about.
What does this mean to Dorothy?
Even Vernon isn't too young to know that something has gone wrong.
No one's coming to any great deal of harm, though,
if most of the time it's like this.
[Kids, playing on the floor:] Momma. Momma. Brrmm. Brrrmm.
[Mr. Rogers:] Got my dinner ready yet, honey?
[Mrs. Rogers:] Be ready in about 15 minutes.
[Little boy:] Brrrm.
[Mr. Rogers:] What are you doing there, boy? Speeding?
[Little boy:] Brrrm.
[Mr. Rogers:] Huh?
[Mrs. Rogers:] Why don't you go out on the porch and rest a while?
[Mr. Rogers:] Okay. Come on boy. Let's go. Come on. Come on.
Here. Let me get the baby out of the way for you.
[Mr. Rogers and the children go out on the porch.]
[Music]
[The children play with their dad's feet and shoes.]
[Mrs. Rogers brushes her hair and tidies for dinner.]
[Mrs. Rogers:] Supper's ready. Come on. Let's eat.
[Music]
[The family gathers around the table for dinner.]
[Narrator:] The children are all right now.
Here they are safe and comfortable and happy.
But what happens when you can't be with them?
[Dorothy:] Bye, Mom.
[Narrator:] Has Dorothy been prepared for the world beyond Palmour Street?
[Male:] Hey, little girl. Come here.
[Narrator:] Can she meet this kind of temptation?
Has she been prepared for this?
[Dorothy, as school bell clangs:] That ain't nothing.
My mother told me about that a long time ago.
[Narrator:] When both father and mother have to work,
it's mighty hard to give children the kind of care they need.
But Dorothy knows her mother never goes to work
without leaving a lunch ready.
It's a good way to get her to come straight home after school.
But what about the children who have to spend the day with Aunt Esther?
[Music]
[The toddler resists being left with Aunt Esther and reaches for his mother.]
[Aunt Esther holds and cuddles the baby while pushing the toddler away.]
[Narrator:] Spoiling one child; being hard on the rest.
That's something no child can understand.
And this goes on week after week.
Mother has problems with them all.
[Kenny is throwing rocks at the side of the house.]
[Aunt Esther:] Kenny? Boy, if you don't stop that
I'll have your daddy after you with a stick of stove wood.
[Kenny runs away and tosses one last rock.]
[Children, clapping and singing:] ...jumped so high, high, high.
To touch the sky, sky, sky.
And he never come back, back, back till the 4th of July, lie, lie,
Went upstairs, stairs, stairs...
[Children run to greet Mrs. Rogers coming home.]
[She's handing out treats from her bag.]
[Mrs. Rogers:] That's all now.
The rest is for the party.
[Child, singing a rhyme:] My momma told me to pick this one.
[Mr. Rogers:] Ed.
[Ed:] Yeah.
[Mr. Rogers:] How you doing?
[Ed:] Fine.
[Mr. Rogers:] Coming to our party Saturday?
[Ed:] Yeah, you better save me something.
[Mr. Rogers:] You better come.
[Child, singing:] My momma told me to...
[Adults are talking on the porch.]
[Randall:] Might be too rough on her.
[Aunt Esther:] Too rough for who?
[Randall:] To you?
[Aunt Esther:] You'd better run, boy.
[Kenny runs to hide under the bed.]
[Music]
[Mr. Rogers:] Kenny. Kenny. What you doing under that bed, boy? Come here.
[Kenny:] [crying].
[Mr. Rogers:] Come on. Come on. What's wrong with you?
[Kenny:] [crying].
[Mr. Rogers:] Now, now. Now, now. Now, now. Now, now.
Dad ain't going to hurt you. Dad ain't going to hurt you.
Be quiet now.
Dad ain't going to hurt you. Daddy won't hurt you.
Now, now, Kenny. That's it. That's it.
That's a good boy.
[Music]
[Mr. Rogers:] What was the matter with Kenny today?
Boy sound like he was scared to death.
[Mrs. Rogers:] Don't know what it was.
Aunt Esther's mighty hard on the children sometimes.
[Mr. Rogers:] Yeah.
[Mrs. Rogers:] Soon as we get the furnace paid for,
I'm going to see if I stay at home more days.
[Mr. Rogers:] Yeah. We'd better think on that. If we can.
[Mrs. Rogers, singing while she cleans:] Have you seen my...
[Children:] Yes, ma'am.
[Mrs. Rogers:] [singing] Did you [inaudible]
[Children:] Yes, ma'am.
[Mrs. Rogers:] [singing] Will you help me catch him?
[Children:] Yes, ma'am.
[Mrs. Rogers:] [singing] Will you help me kill him?
[Children:] Yes, ma'am.
[Mrs. Rogers:] Yes, ma'am.
Oh, Aunt Esther. What a beautiful cake.
[Aunt Esther:] I thought it would be nice for the party.
[Dorothy:] Momma! There's a man coming up the stair.
[Messenger:] Miz Rogers. I have bad news.
Your husband's been hurt.
They want you to come with me as quick as you can.
[Mrs. Rogers:] You all be good now and mind Aunt Esther.
[Mrs. Rogers and the man who delivered the message drive off in a car.]
[They walk down a hospital corridor.]
[Mrs. Rogers:] Nurse, what can you tell me about my husband?
[Nurse:] Your husband's been hurt real bad.
[Messenger:] When that cable broke, he never knew what hit him.
[Nurse:] He's putting up a mighty good fight.
Why don't you wait down here?
[Narrator:] Trouble strikes. Something comes along and all our plans and dreams go smash.
They had a good start, these children.
Dozens of little things.
Months and years of care and patience and love
given them by their parents have made them strong enough
for all the problems they've met so far.
And they can stand up to this new one,
if they get the right kind of lead from grownups who are near enough to help them.
[Mrs. Rogers waits for news about her husband.]
[Nurse:] I've just seen your husband. He's going to be all right.
It may take a long time, but he's going to pull through.
[Aunt Esther:] That you, baby?
[Mrs. Rogers:] Uh-huh.
[Aunt Esther:] How is he?
[Mrs. Rogers:] They say he's going to pull through.
[Aunt Esther:] Thank God.
[Music]
[Narrator:] Years of care and patience and love.
Now what can the mother do until the family is together again?
How can she guide Kenneth and Randall through their troubles with Aunt Esther?
No chance now for her to stay home all day long.
A father and mother's encouragement has helped Dorothy do well at school.
But mother will have less time for her now.
[Mrs. Rogers checks on the sleeping children.]
What can this mother do?
What would you do if you were in her place?
[Music]
[?]
people
George Stoney, director (white)
cast
via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmour_Street,_A_Study_of_Family_Life
- Wes Merritt - "Vernon Rogers"
- Mildred Merritt - "Mrs. Rogers"
- Shirley Merritt - Rogers' daughter
- James W. Merritt Jr. - Rogers' son
- Randall Merritt - Rogers' son
- Vernon Merritt - Rogers' son
- Unknown Actress - Aunt Esther and the Roger's next-door neighbors
- Unknown Actors - Aunt Esther's Three Children
- Unknown Extras - Neighborhood People
- George C. Stoney - Director, Writer and Producer
- Bill Clifford - Photography
- Rev. William Holmes Borders - Narrator. Longtime Pastor of the famed Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Louis Applebaum - Music
- Phil Bangs - Sound
- William Alfred Mason - Chief Technical Adviser
- Emmett Ethridge Butler, also known as Dr. E.E. Butler, MD - Chief Technical Adviser, and the first African American to practice medicine in Hall County, Georgia.