 PART I: DUCK AND COVER: The Citizen Kane of Civil Defense BEFORE BERT: Dog Tags vs. Tattoos
BIDDING ON BERT: A Little Sales Job PART II: "ATOMIC FLASH": The Birth of Bert INTERMISSION: "Our Terrible Mistake"
SHOOTING BERT PART III: PUTTING THE JINGLE IN BERT: Post Production BERT'S PREMIERE: "The Darling of the FCDA Boys"
PART IV: "THE COMMUNIST PARTY LINE": Critics of Bert and the Fall of Archer BERT'S LEGACY
SUCCESS! BERT INDUCTED INTO NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY! CONELRAD celebrates the success of its DUCK AND COVER campaign THE WORLD OF BERT Dramatis personae RAY J. MAUER: A CONELRAD interview REVIEWS AND QUOTES A roundup of selected reviews CHRONOLOGY At the pace of a tortoise BERT THE TURTLE The companion radio program YOUR COMMENTS Submit your comments and read others' comments RESEARCH NOTES Notes and acknowledgements MIA FARROW The original Duck and Cover Kid! CONELRAD LEGACY PROJECT Inducting Bert into the National Film Registry HELPING BERT Campaigning for DUCK AND COVER CONELRAD LEGACY PROJECT DUCK AND COVER Press Release March 1, 2004 CONELRAD LEGACY PROJECT DUCK AND COVER Press Release March 1, 2004 [PDF 62K] RELATED LINKS ATOMIC SECRETS Lost and found from the CONELRAD Collection THE EISENHOWER TEN Secret war plans revealed VIEW AND DOWNLOAD View and/or download DUCK AND COVER from the Prelinger Archives |
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  Excavating the sub-atomic minutiae of a short subject civil defense motion picture produced over half a century ago was not the easiest endeavor CONELRAD has ever embarked upon. There were many dead ends encountered during our two years of research as well as several lucky breaks. Another source who was essential in the research for this article was the screenwriter of DUCK AND COVER, Ray J. Mauer. Mr. Mauer was very generous with his time in explaining the delicate nuances of writing a government film about a turtle. He also helped fill in some of the gaps left by other interviews and documentary records. Lars Calonius's surviving wife, Jeanne Calonius, was also extremely helpful in "coloring in" the life of her late, beloved husband, the art director for DUCK AND COVER in her interview. We wish to thank Mrs. Calonius again for her time. The surviving children of DUCK AND COVER's director Anthony Rizzo, Karen and Ken Rizzo, actually sought CONELRAD out (not the other way around!). We are immensely grateful for their taking the initiative to contact us regarding their father's contribution to cold war pop culture history. This article would have been significantly less than whole without the late director's children's insight into his work and life. Maria Graceffa, Director of Alumni Relations, The Potomac School (McLean, VA). Ms. Graceffa was invaluable in helping CONELRAD flesh out the educator who provided the "theme" for DUCK AND COVER all those decades ago at the government conference that was held to develop the storyline for what was then known only by its working title "Civil Defense for Schools." Without Ms. Graceffa's willingness to assist CONELRAD, "Miss Helen Seth-Smith," would have remained just a name on a yellowed newspaper clipping. Thanks also to Katharine "Tinky" Ostermann, a surviving colleague of Miss Smith who took the time to speak with CONELRAD about her friend. What follows is a selected inventory of the many resources CONELRAD relied upon in creating this feature.  ARCHIVES [ GOVERNMENTAL ]
National Archives Records Administration (College Park, MD): Records of the Civil Defense Administration, motion pictures Harry S. Truman Library (Independence, MO): White House Records & Spencer R. Quick Files ARCHIVES [ NON-GOVERNMENTAL ]
Georgetown University: Department of Defense Film Collection Leo M. Langlois: Personal records (textual and photographic) Ray J. Mauer: Personal records (textual) Ken Rizzo: Personal records of father Anthony Rizzo (textual and photographic) BOOK
The Imaginary War INTERVIEWS
Jeanne Calonius Mia Farrow Leo M. Langlois Ray J. Mauer Karen Rizzo MAGAZINE ARTICLES
"Civil Defense Film for Schools" "Identification for School Children" Duck and Cover Film Review "Cleveland Holds 5th Film Festival" "A is for Atom, B is for Bomb": Civil Defense in American Public Education, 1948-1963 NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
"Bert the Turtle Originated As Method Of Showing Kids How to Act In Atom Attack" "New Film to Help in Bomb Training" "Alert Not Alarmed" "City Film Shows Pupils What to Do in Atom Raid" "Film on Atom War Bad For Children" "Schools, C.D. Defend Atomic Safety Film" "LEA Aware of 'Definite Fear Reaction' to A-Bomb Movie" |
Chief among these lucky breaks was being able to track down Bert the Turtle's maestro, Leo M. Langlois barely a month before his passing. Mr. Langlois's insights, recollections and archival records were invaluable in piecing together not only the history of DUCK AND COVER, but that of Archer Productions, Inc., the powerhouse ad agency that made the film. This article could not have been written without the cooperation of Mr. Langlois who was kind enough to welcome us into his home where he sat for an extensive interview. We would also like to thank Mr. Langlois's wife, Eileen, and the rest of his family who understood and supported this project.
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