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"Date Etiquette" is a Coronet Instructional film aimed at teenagers, about proper behavior on a date with the opposite sex. The plot follows four wellbehaved and wellgroomed high school students. The boys ask the girls on dates to various activities and they demonstrate good manners and what is expected from both a boy and a girl's perspective. This movie is a good example of what were referred to as "social guidance" films in the midcentury. These 16mm films were shown in schools in an attempt to encourage family values and to define gender roles. Evelyn M. Duvall collaborated, she was the head of the National Council on Family Relations.

A teenage boy stands awkwardly in front of lockers. He asks a girl named Alice if she would like to go to the school play with him (00:41). She agrees to the date. They arrange the details. Alice descends her staircase (1:33). Her parents read in the living room, she shows her mother how wellgroomed and sharp she looks. The boy rings her doorbell, he is wearing a suit and bowtie (2:15). She introduces him to her parents. He paces nervously while she gets her coat. He engages the parents in conversation about the play, making a good impression. He puts the coat over her shoulders. He moves to walk on the curb side of the street (4:10). They follow an usher into the auditorium. He gets drinks from a table while she politely turns away as he pays for them (4:51). They speak to another couple and make introductions. They exit the play and make plans to go to a diner. They both study the menus and he suggest the hamburger deluxe (6:09). She checks the price of the burger deluxe and orders something of equivalent price. She tells him she will have the chicken salad. He orders for both of them (6:36). They have an awkward silence. She breaks it buy telling him she is having a nice time. They begin to chat and he inquiries about her charm bracelet (7:15). She shows it off and tells him she made it. He studies it and asks more questions. The waitress brings their food. They prepare to leave, he pulls out her chair and places her coat over her shoulders (8:09). He then leaves a tip on the table. They talk outside of her house. He walks away and they wave to each other (9:23). Two teenage boys enter a house, one runs up the stairs. The other flips open a notebook that has a phone number for “Kay” (9:48). He yells up the stairs that they should call her and invite her to the community center on a double date. The other boy comes down the stairs with a tennis racquet. He dials Kay on his rotary phone and invites her to see “Wagon Train” in the movie theatre. She has already seen it, but agrees to volunteer at the scavenger sale (11:00). Teenagers decorate the community center with crepe paper streamers and paper elephants (12:13). Kay dusts an antique lamp. He helps her put up a sign that says “KnickKnacks.” She leaves to help with refreshments. He notices a list of activities on a bulletin board (14:27). He points to “Bike Trip To Rock Point.” He imagines him, Kay and another couple riding bicycles. He then imagines them grilling hotdogs over a fire at a weenie roast, they climb the bleachers at a baseball game, people swim laps in a pool, they square dance in a rec room, have a picnic outside on a table. He nods and smiles while imaging all of the possibilities for dates with Kay (15:31). The two boys in suits buy movie tickets and enter the theatre with the girls. Him and Kay sit down with bottles of CocaCola and talk about things they like to do (16:30). They decide to the weenie roast on a double date.

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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, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com