Sid Davis
Encyclopedia
Sidney Davis was an American
director and producer who specialized in social guidance film
s.
for Leif Erickson
and John Wayne
.
, was molested and murdered by a man named Fred Stroble. The story was front-page news in the Los Angeles Times
for a week as police and the FBI searched for Stroble. The story was picked up by Time Magazine and other national media, and led to a flurry of reported rape
s and attempted rapes. Some media began to speculate that the supposed epidemic of rape was simply media manipulation
of public perception.
Davis stated that the tragedy particularly disturbed him because his then-six-year-old daughter Jill didn't seem to pay attention to his warnings about strangers. He borrowed $1,000 from John Wayne
and used the money to make his first film, The Dangerous Stranger, a film he would remake at least twice over the next 30 years. The film tells the story of several young children—some of the children are kidnapped and eventually saved, others are kidnapped and never seen again.
Davis sold copies of the film to schools and police departments, reaping a $250,000 profit. He used the money to make more than 150 films over the next few decades. Davis' films are typically 10 to 30 minutes long; he prided himself on making each one for $1,000, a minuscule film budget even at that time.
His films cover topics such as driver safety, marijuana
use, heroin addiction, and gang warfare. Live and Learn (1956), a fairly famous Davis film, features Jill cutting out paper doll
s in her room. When her father comes home she jumps up to greet him, trips on the carpet, and impales herself on the scissors. Other children in the film are equally unlucky—falling off cliffs, being run over by cars, or losing vision in one eye from flying shards of glass.
One of Davis' most notorious films, Boys Beware
(1961), produced with the cooperation of the Inglewood, California
Police
Department and the Inglewood Unified School District
, warns boys of the perceived dangers of male homosexuals. The film includes the line "What Jimmy didn't know was that Ralph was sick -- a sickness that was not visible like smallpox
, but no less dangerous and contagious--a sickness of the mind. You see, Ralph was a homosexual: a person who demands an intimate relationship with members of their own sex." The same year, Davis made Girls Beware, warning girls not to put themselves into situations where they would be defenseless, a topic that Davis had covered at least 10 years earlier in his film Name Unknown, in which a man used a gun to accost a couple in isolated surroundings, forcing the boy into the trunk of the car and raping the girl.
Also in 1961, Davis made the film Seduction of the Innocent
, targeting teenagers with the message that marijuana use leads to heroin addiction, a message that many marijuana activists dispute as an example of a slippery slope
fallacy. The film follows a teenage girl through her experimentation with "reds", "pep pills", and 7-Up, to her first puff of marijuana, to experimentation with and addiction to heroin, to her fate as a prostitute arrested on her twentieth birthday, "lost to society." The film promises that "she'll continue her hopeless, degrading existence until she escapes in death."
Davis' work is consistently about a relatively small group of themes: that strangers must be treated with caution, that the world itself is an unfriendly place, regardless of the presence of strangers, and that children must think before acting. His films typically feature monotonous narration suffused with what Mental Hygiene author Ken Smith calls a "sledgehammer morality." His work is anecdotal and unsupported by evidence, and is notorious among social guidance films because Davis covered topics that scholarly film producers such as Coronet Films
and Encyclopædia Britannica
did not address. Coronet, Centron Corporation
, and Britannica typically had teams of scholars with PhD
s in sociology
who guided development of their films. Davis, when he used consultants, rarely used anyone with a degree in a relevant field, instead he used policemen and detectives for their anecdotal advice.
Aside from his social warning films generally known for their bleakness, inaccuracy and simplistic presentations, Davis made some police training films such as Shotgun or Sidearm? (explaining which situations call for which firearms) and military films such as LAPES and PLADS (explaining delivery systems developed to allow planes to drop supplies onto exact locations in generally hostile territory in Vietnam
).
Two atypical films in his social warning film canon are Gang Boy (1954) and Age 13
(1955). Both were written and directed by Art Swerdloff. In Gang Boy, Mexican and Anglo gangs in southern California declare a truce and begin working together to make a better world for their younger siblings. The film was based on a true story that happened in Pomona, California
in the 1950s.
After a few years of directing films, Davis continued as a cinematographer
for his company, Sid Davis Productions, hiring others such as Art Swerdloff, Robert D. Ellis, and Ib Melchior
to write and direct. Later he hired cinematographers to lens the films as well as office workers to distribute them, and spent his time enjoying his hobby of mountain climbing.
Davis became involved in the real estate
market in Los Angeles during the 1950s, at a time when it was booming due to development resulting from the influx of people to work in the defense industry. Through income from his films, work as a stand-in, and real estate investments, Davis became a multimillionaire.
Later in his life, Davis became famous among mountain climbers, securing the world record for climbing California's Mt. San Jacinto, climbing it 643 times over his life, the last time on 1 September 1998, at age 82.
, Gang Boy, The Terrible Truth (another anti-drug film), and The Dropout are available on Volume 5 of Rick Prelinger
's CD-ROM
set Our Secret Century. His films, The Terrible Truth and Boys Beware
, are available online at archive.org here and here, respectively. His Film, The ABC of Walking Wisely, is available as an mp3 from Rifftrax
, whose concept is similar to Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
. Cause of death was lung cancer
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
director and producer who specialized in social guidance film
Social guidance film
Social guidance films constitute a genre of films attempting to guide children and adults to behave in certain ways. Typically shown in school classrooms in the USA from the 1950s through the 1970s, the films covered topics including courtesy, responsibility, sexuality, drug use, and driver...
s.
Early life
Davis was born to a housepainter father and a dressmaker mother. The family moved to Hollywood, California when Davis was four years old. He began working in the film industry as a child, obtaining bit parts. When he was older he often worked as a stand-inStand-in
A stand-in for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting.Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of production. Lighting setup can be a slow and tedious process; during this time the actor will often be somewhere else...
for Leif Erickson
Leif Erickson
Leif Erickson was an American film and television actor.-Background:Leif Erickson was born William Wycliffe Anderson in Alameda, California. His father was commander of a fleet of ships and his mother was a noted newspaperwoman and writer...
and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
.
Filmmaking career
In November 1949 Linda Joyce Glucoft, a six-year-old girl in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, was molested and murdered by a man named Fred Stroble. The story was front-page news in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
for a week as police and the FBI searched for Stroble. The story was picked up by Time Magazine and other national media, and led to a flurry of reported rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s and attempted rapes. Some media began to speculate that the supposed epidemic of rape was simply media manipulation
Media manipulation
Media manipulation is an aspect of public relations in which partisans create an image or argument that favours their particular interests. Such tactics may include the use of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques, and often involve the suppression of information or points of view by crowding...
of public perception.
Davis stated that the tragedy particularly disturbed him because his then-six-year-old daughter Jill didn't seem to pay attention to his warnings about strangers. He borrowed $1,000 from John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and used the money to make his first film, The Dangerous Stranger, a film he would remake at least twice over the next 30 years. The film tells the story of several young children—some of the children are kidnapped and eventually saved, others are kidnapped and never seen again.
Davis sold copies of the film to schools and police departments, reaping a $250,000 profit. He used the money to make more than 150 films over the next few decades. Davis' films are typically 10 to 30 minutes long; he prided himself on making each one for $1,000, a minuscule film budget even at that time.
His films cover topics such as driver safety, marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
use, heroin addiction, and gang warfare. Live and Learn (1956), a fairly famous Davis film, features Jill cutting out paper doll
Paper doll
Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper, with separate clothes that are usually held onto the dolls by folding tabs. They have been inexpensive children's toys for almost two hundred years. Today, many artists are turning paper dolls into an art form....
s in her room. When her father comes home she jumps up to greet him, trips on the carpet, and impales herself on the scissors. Other children in the film are equally unlucky—falling off cliffs, being run over by cars, or losing vision in one eye from flying shards of glass.
One of Davis' most notorious films, Boys Beware
Boys Beware
Boys Beware is a drama short film released through Sid Davis Productions. It deals with a perceived danger to young boys: that of predatory homosexuals...
(1961), produced with the cooperation of the Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
Police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
Department and the Inglewood Unified School District
Inglewood Unified School District
Inglewood Unified School District is a school district headquartered in Inglewood, California, United States.IUSD serves most of the city of Inglewood and the unincorporated Los Angeles County community of Ladera Heights...
, warns boys of the perceived dangers of male homosexuals. The film includes the line "What Jimmy didn't know was that Ralph was sick -- a sickness that was not visible like smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, but no less dangerous and contagious--a sickness of the mind. You see, Ralph was a homosexual: a person who demands an intimate relationship with members of their own sex." The same year, Davis made Girls Beware, warning girls not to put themselves into situations where they would be defenseless, a topic that Davis had covered at least 10 years earlier in his film Name Unknown, in which a man used a gun to accost a couple in isolated surroundings, forcing the boy into the trunk of the car and raping the girl.
Also in 1961, Davis made the film Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent is a book by German-American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was a minor bestseller that created alarm in parents and galvanized...
, targeting teenagers with the message that marijuana use leads to heroin addiction, a message that many marijuana activists dispute as an example of a slippery slope
Slippery slope
In debate or rhetoric, a slippery slope is a classic form of argument, arguably an informal fallacy...
fallacy. The film follows a teenage girl through her experimentation with "reds", "pep pills", and 7-Up, to her first puff of marijuana, to experimentation with and addiction to heroin, to her fate as a prostitute arrested on her twentieth birthday, "lost to society." The film promises that "she'll continue her hopeless, degrading existence until she escapes in death."
Davis' work is consistently about a relatively small group of themes: that strangers must be treated with caution, that the world itself is an unfriendly place, regardless of the presence of strangers, and that children must think before acting. His films typically feature monotonous narration suffused with what Mental Hygiene author Ken Smith calls a "sledgehammer morality." His work is anecdotal and unsupported by evidence, and is notorious among social guidance films because Davis covered topics that scholarly film producers such as Coronet Films
Coronet Films
Coronet Films was a producer and distributor of American educational films from 1946 to the early 1970s founded by David A. Smart...
and Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
did not address. Coronet, Centron Corporation
Centron Corporation
Centron Corporation was an industrial and educational film production company. Founded in 1947 in Lawrence, Kansas by Arthur H. Wolf and Russell A. Mosser, Centron would come to the forefront of the industrial and educational film companies in the United States. Centron competed with large...
, and Britannica typically had teams of scholars with PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
s in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
who guided development of their films. Davis, when he used consultants, rarely used anyone with a degree in a relevant field, instead he used policemen and detectives for their anecdotal advice.
Aside from his social warning films generally known for their bleakness, inaccuracy and simplistic presentations, Davis made some police training films such as Shotgun or Sidearm? (explaining which situations call for which firearms) and military films such as LAPES and PLADS (explaining delivery systems developed to allow planes to drop supplies onto exact locations in generally hostile territory in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
).
Two atypical films in his social warning film canon are Gang Boy (1954) and Age 13
Age 13
Age 13 is an educational film by Sid Davis released in 1955. It is property of the public domain.The film centers around Andrew, a thirteen-year-old boy stricken with grief over the recent death of his mother. On the day of her passing her radio stops working, and Andrew believes that if he can...
(1955). Both were written and directed by Art Swerdloff. In Gang Boy, Mexican and Anglo gangs in southern California declare a truce and begin working together to make a better world for their younger siblings. The film was based on a true story that happened in Pomona, California
Pomona, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Pomona had a population of 149,058, a slight decline from the 2000 census population. The population density was 6,491.2 people per square mile...
in the 1950s.
After a few years of directing films, Davis continued as a cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
for his company, Sid Davis Productions, hiring others such as Art Swerdloff, Robert D. Ellis, and Ib Melchior
Ib Melchior
Ib Jørgen Melchior is a novelist, short story writer, film producer, film director, and screenwriter of low-budget American science fiction movies, most of them released by American International Pictures...
to write and direct. Later he hired cinematographers to lens the films as well as office workers to distribute them, and spent his time enjoying his hobby of mountain climbing.
Davis became involved in the real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
market in Los Angeles during the 1950s, at a time when it was booming due to development resulting from the influx of people to work in the defense industry. Through income from his films, work as a stand-in, and real estate investments, Davis became a multimillionaire.
Later in his life, Davis became famous among mountain climbers, securing the world record for climbing California's Mt. San Jacinto, climbing it 643 times over his life, the last time on 1 September 1998, at age 82.
Availability of his films
Davis' films Age 13Age 13
Age 13 is an educational film by Sid Davis released in 1955. It is property of the public domain.The film centers around Andrew, a thirteen-year-old boy stricken with grief over the recent death of his mother. On the day of her passing her radio stops working, and Andrew believes that if he can...
, Gang Boy, The Terrible Truth (another anti-drug film), and The Dropout are available on Volume 5 of Rick Prelinger
Rick Prelinger
Rick Prelinger is an archivist, writer and filmmaker, and founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by the Library of Congress in 2002 after 20 years' operation.Rick has partnered with the Internet Archive to make...
's CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
set Our Secret Century. His films, The Terrible Truth and Boys Beware
Boys Beware
Boys Beware is a drama short film released through Sid Davis Productions. It deals with a perceived danger to young boys: that of predatory homosexuals...
, are available online at archive.org here and here, respectively. His Film, The ABC of Walking Wisely, is available as an mp3 from Rifftrax
RiffTrax
RiffTrax are downloadable audio commentaries featuring comedians Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett heckling films in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a TV show in which Nelson was the head writer, and later the host. The RiffTrax are sold online and delivered by digital...
, whose concept is similar to Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
Death
Davis died on 16 October 2006 in Palm Desert, CaliforniaPalm Desert, California
Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census, up from 41,155 at the 2000 census...
. Cause of death was lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
.