Uncertain enthusiasm: The American Cancer Society, public education, and the problems of the movie, 1921-1960

Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Volumn 81, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 39-69

  Cantor, David ^a,b  

^a NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH   (United States)

^b NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE   (United States)

Author keywords

American cancer society; American society for the control of cancer; Cancer education; Cancerphobia; Public education movies

Indexed keywords

EID: 34047167866     PISSN: 00075140     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/bhm.2007.0002     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (188)

1. Martin S. Pernick, "Thomas Edison's Tuberculosis Films: Mass Media and Health Propaganda," Hastings Cent. Rep., June 1978, pp. 21-27;
2. Pernick, The Black Stork: Eugenics and the Death of "Defective" Babies in American Medicine and Motion Pictures since 1915 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
3. See also Susan E. Lederer and Naomi Rogers, "Media," in Medicine in the Twentieth Century, ed. Roger Cooter and John Pickstone (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000), pp. 487-502;
4. Lisa Cartwright, Screening the Body: Tracing Medicine's Visual Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995);
5. Adolf Nichtenhauser, "A History of Motion Pictures in Medicine" (unpublished book MS. ca. 1950), Adolf Nichtenhauser History of Motion Pictures in Medicine Collection, MS C 380, Archives and Modern Manuscripts Program, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.
6. James T. Patterson, The Dread Disease: Cancer and Modern American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987), pp. 172-79;
7. Kirsten E. Gardner, Early Detection: Women, Cancer, and Awareness Campaigns in the Twentieth-Century United States (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), pp. 95-104.
8. "Consolidated Report of the President and Executive Committee," Campaign Notes of the American Society for the Control of Cancer (hereafter Camp. Notes ASCC), 1922, 4(3): [3-4, at p. 3] (early issues of some of these journals are unpaginated; bracketed numbers are my own pagination);
9. "The Reward of Courage,'" ibid., 4 (2): [1].
10. For other reports of the showing of this movie, see "Colorado," ibid., 1921, 3 (12): [2];
11. "West Virginia," ibid., 1922, 4 (1): [4], For its showing in Canada,
12. see Shannon Macdonald, "The History of Cancer Treatment in Nova Scotia," Dalhousie Med. J., Spring 2003, http://medjournal. medicine.dal.ca/DMJONLIN/spring03/history%20ccns.htm (accessed 19 May 2004).
13. For a history of the lantern slide, see Maren Stange, "Jacob Riis and Urban Visual Culture: The Lanternslide Exhibition as Entertainment and Ideology," J. Urb. Hist., 1989, 15: 274-303.
14. Frank A. Tichenor (president of the Eastern Film Corporation), "Motion Pictures as Trade Getters," Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Soc. Sci., 1926, 128: 84-93; Tichenor was a coeditor of this special issue on motion pictures, which included Joseph Franklin Montague, "What Motion Pictures Can Do for Medical Education," on pp. 139-42.
15. Frank J. Osborne to Mrs. Mead, 2 March 1921, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Archives, series III, box 5, folder "American Society for the Control of Cancer, 1921-23," Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. (hereafter LSR, "ASCC").
16. Ibid.
17. Frank J. Osborne to W. S. Richardson, 29 July 1921, ibid.
18. "Cooperation of Health Departments in the Control of Cancer," Camp. Notes ASCC, August 1926, 8(8): [1-3, at p. 2].
19. Osborne to Richardson, 25 January 1923, LSR, "ASCC."
20. "Cooperation of Health Departments" (n. 8). [pp. 2-3].
21. "'A Fortunate Accident' the New Cancer Film," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1925, 7 (2): [p. 4].
22. The film was shown at a meeting in which George A. Soper, Ph.D. (managing director of the ASCC), and Gideon Wells, M.D., spoke before the St. Louis Medical Society, 10 February 1925: George A. Soper, "Methods and Results of Efforts to Control Cancer by Education," Weekly Bull. St. Louis Med. Soc., 1925, 19 (27): 9-13;
23. Gideon Wells, "Statistical Studies in Cancer," ibid., pp. 13-14. For the use of the movie in a "Country Entertainment," see "Cancer as a Subject for Popular Entertainment," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1925, 7 (6): [1-3, at p. 2].
24. "The New Cancer Film," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1928, 10 (11): [4].
25. On Canti and the Strangeways Laboratory, see David Cantor, "The Definition of Radiobiology: The Medical Research Council's Support for Research into the Biological Effects of Radiation in Britain, 1919-1939" (Ph.D. diss., Lancaster University, 1987);
26. Duncan Wilson, "The Early History of Tissue Culture in Britain: The Interwar Years," Soc. Hist. Med., 2005, 18: 225-43. See also Nichtenhauser, "History of Motion Pictures in Medicine" (n. 1), pp. III-268-IV Supplement SF 36-7.
27. "Society Holds Semi-Annual Meeting," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1929, 11 (11): 3.
28. Kirsten Gardner seems to have seen another version of the movie (also from the ACS archives) that included a list of credits; the copy I viewed did not include the credits. Gardner wrongly notes that the movie was released in 1920: Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2), p. 228 n. 77, p. 257.
29. "New Cancer Film" (n. 12), [p. 4]; "Interest Shown in the Canti Film," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1928, 10 (12): [4];
30. "Society Received Many Requests for the Booking Film," ibid., 1929, 11 (2): [4];
31. "Dental Society Cancer Program," ibid., 1929, 11 (5): [4];
32. "Association Sees Film," ibid., 1929, 11(8): 6.
33. By 1930 it seems to have been regarded as a technical film rather than a movie for the public, as was another movie of cells by Warren H. Lewis: see "The Lewis Cancer Film," Bulletin of the American Society for the Control of Cancer (hereafter Bull. ASCC), 1928, 12 (10): 8.
34. "'A Fortunate Accident' the New Cancer Film," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1925, 7(2): [4].
35. Ibid.
36. For another example of maternal culpability in public health movies, see Lisa Cartwright's discussion of the antituberculosis movie Let My People Live (1938) in her Screening the Body (n. 1), pp. 149-50.
37. "This Great Peril' - Society's New Film for Laymen - Ready for Release," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1929, 11 (6): 4-6.
38. "Report of Activities of the American Society for the Control of Cancer: 1929-1933," Bull. ASCC, 1933, 15 (10): 1-15, at p. 4;
39. Catalog of Educational Material (New York [?]: American Society for the Control of Cancer, n.d.) (copy available in the National Library of Medicine at call number QZ200 qA518c 1941).
40. "Report of Activities of the American Society for the Control of Cancer: 1929-1933," Bull. ASCC, 1933, 15 (10): 1-15, at p. 4.
41. Ibid. In contrast to the Canti film, This Great Perilwas no longer listed as available in the 1940s Catalog of Educational Material (n. 20). For an example of a call for movies for the medical profession, see "Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Members of the Society. March 3, 1928," Camp. Notes ASCC, 1928, 10 (2): [1-4, at p. 4].
42. On the importance of newspaper publicity and its comparison to movies, see Harry C. Saltzstein, "Newspaper Publicity in the Control of Cancer," in American Society for the Control of Cancer, Cancer Control: Report of an International Symposium Held under the Auspices of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, Lake Mohonk, New York, U.S.A., September 20-24, 1926 (Chicago: Surgical Publishing Co. of Chicago, 1927), pp. 299-307, esp. p. 299.
43. Ella Hoffman Rigney, "A Practical Program in Cancer Publicity," Bull. ASCC, 1931, 13 (11): 5-6, at p. 6.
44. "New Medical Filmstrips Issued," Bull. ASCC, 1940, 22 (1): 10.
45. The history of the celluloid filmstrip as a technology is told in Reece V. Jenkins, Images and Enterprise: Technology and the American Photographic Industry, 1839-1925 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), chap. 6.
46. For a popular history of the educational uses of the filmstrip, see Danny Gregory, Change Your Underwear Twice a Week: Lessons from the Golden Age of the Classroom Filmstrip (New York: Artisan, 2004).
47. The movie was released in the March of Time series as part of a broader campaign by the publishers to promote cancer. The campaign also included influential articles in a umber of Time Inc. publications: "Cancer: The Great Darkness," Fortune, March 1937, 15: 112;
48. "U.S. Science Wars Against an Unknown Enemy: Cancer," Life, 1 March 1937, pp. 11-17.
49. See "Publicity," Bull ASCC, 1937, 19 (1): 11-12, at p. 12;
50. "With the Women's Field Army," ibid., 19(3): 10-12, at p. 10;
51. "With the Women's Field Army," ibid., 19(4): 10-12, at p. 11;
52. "Revised Cancer Film Prepared for England," ibid., 19(7): 9-10;
53. "Report of Activities of the American Society for the Control of Cancer: 1935-36; 1936-37," ibid., 19(10): 1-16, esp. pp. 2, 13;
54. "An Extraordinary Year in the History of Cancer," ibid., 19(12): 10-11, esp. p. 10;
55. "The Cancer Front-1937," ibid., 1938, 20 (3): 8-9, esp. p. 9;
56. "Movie Wins Medal of Cancer Group Here; March of Time Honored for War on Disease," New York Times, 28 October 1937, p. 30.
57. On the history of the newsreel, see Raymond Fielding, The American Newsrrel, 1911-1967 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972);
58. Fielding, The March of Time, 1935-1951 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).
59. In an early scene, Gordon Crane finishes a scientific paper in the office he shares with his physician father; in another, George Gwyn and Gordon examine an X-ray film in their office, while a brightly lit room - possibly the surgery or consulting room - is partially revealed through a door behind them.
60. "Cancer: The Great Darkness" (n. 26).
61. "Report of Activities ... 1935-36; 1936-37" (n. 26), p. 2.
62. Marjorie B. Illig, "With the Women's Field Army," Butt. ASCC, 1938, 20 (10): 10-12, at p. 10.
63. The one exception was the release in 1938 of a 42-second trailer - possibly for the March of Time film - for use in motion picture houses: "April: Cancer Control Month," Bull. ASCC, 1938, 20 (4): 9. It may also be that the ASCC rereleased Conquering Cancer under a new title: Cancer - Its Cure and Prevention (1937). A copy of the movie with this last title is in the ACS archives in Atlanta, Ga.; a copy of Conquering Cancer is in the National Archives, College Park, Md.
64. "Extraordinary Year in the History of Cancer" (n. 26), p. 11. On women and the ASCC, see Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2).
65. "A New Film," Bull. ASCC, 1940, 22 (4): 9;
66. "'Choose to Live,'" ibid., 22 (7): 7-8;
67. Clifton R. Reed, "Service of Supply," ibid., 22 (9): 6-9, at p. 6;
68. "'Choose to Live,'" ibid., 22 (11): 10.
69. Note, however, that Mary does not have the wealth or social position of the hyphenated Brown-Jones.
70. Review of Choose to Live contained in Adolf Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 4, folder "Cancer 1948," Archives and Modern Manuscripts Program, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine (hereafter Nichtenhauser Papers). The reviewer is actually wrong on this point: the narrator notes that the pathologist diagnoses cancer.
71. Adolf Nichtenhauser to Louis J. Neff (Executive Secretary, ASCC), 22 March 1944, Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 4, folder "Cancer 1948."
72. Robert A. Aronowitz, "Do Not Delay: Breast Cancer and Time, 1900-1970," Milbank Quart., 2001, 79: 355-86;
73. Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2), pp. 85-91.
74. The tension between research and control was not entirely new. In This Great Peril, Margaret's mother (who fears she may have cancer) comments that she does not trust young doctors (such as the research-oriented Gordon Crane) with pet theories.
75. Review of Choose to Live (n. 36).
76. Ibid.; Nichtenhauser to Neff, 22 March 1944 (n. 37).
77. Nichtenhauser to Neff, 22 March 1944 (n. 37).
78. Catalog of Educational Material (n. 20).
79. For other reports on Enemy X, see "A New Cancer Film," Bull. ASCC, 1941, 23 (12): 3.
80. Catalog of Educational Material (n. 20). For a different opinion, see "Motion Picture Films," 15 May 1943, Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 1, folder "Amer. Cancer Society."
81. Nichtenhauser to Neff, 22 March 1944 (n. 37).
82. Herman C. Pitts, "Educational Program of American Society for the Control of Cancer," Bull. ASCC, 1943, 25 (11): 122-26, at p. 124.
83. For an exception, see Frank E. Adair, "The Teaching of Cancer," Bull. ASCC, 1937, 19 (7): 1-6, esp. p. 3.
84. On the movie produced by the Iowa State Department of Health in 1943, see Edmund G. Zimmerer, "War-time Cancer Education," ibid., 1944, 26 (2): 14-16, esp. pp. 15-16;
85. State of Iowa, Report of the State Department of Heath for the Biennial Period Ending June 30, 1944 (Des Moines: State of Iowa, 1944), p. 45. It should also be noted that Public Health in New York State (1937), produced by the Division of Public Health Education, New York State Department of Health, included an account of the Department's efforts at cancer control as part of a survey of its activities.
86. Pitts, "Educational Program" (n. 46), pp. 124-25.
87. Cancer Publicity: What It Is and How to Get It (New York: ASCC, c. 1942), p. 13 (distributed free to officers of the WFA, not for general distribution),
88. in Catalog of Educational Material (n. 20).
89. On the Hays Code, see Grey D. Black, Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholic and the Movies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
90. Patterson, Dread Disease (n, 2), pp. 172-79;
91. Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2), pp. 95-104.
92. ACS, Annual Report for the Year Ending August 31st 1947 (New York[?]: American Cancer Society), p. 32. It notes that the ACS also released two slide films produced by Zurich Insurance Co. of Chicago: Search Everyone and An Enemy in Our Midst.
93. See Table 1. For movies released by 1950, see American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1950 (New York[?]: American Cancer Society), pp. 14-16.
94. The Traitor Within (1946), an informational movie that outlines the nature of cancer and its treatment, the early warning signs of the disease, and the dangers of folk knowledge and patent medicines;
95. Man Alive (1952), the story of Ed Parmlee who fears he may have cancer and is persuaded to see a physician;
96. Sappy Homiens (1956), a cartoon/live-action movie in which a cartoonist at the UFA Studios translates the human race into the cartoon character Sappy Homiens, who advocates regular physical check-ups and contributions to the American Cancer Society;
97. Inside Magoo (1960), the story of how short-sighted Mr. Magoo is persuaded to "see" a physician for a check-up.
98. American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1949 (New Yorkf?]: American Cancer Society), p. 43.
99. Instructional movies on breast self-examination included Life Saving Fingers (1948)
100. and Breast Self-Examination (1950).
101. We Speak Again (1949) taught patients with operations for cancer of the larynx to "belch talk."
102. After Mastectomy (1958) explored the problems of women living with the results of mastectomy.
103. For reports on Breast Self-Examination,
104. see "Film Has Long Way to Go," ACS Bull., 1951, 1 (4): 4;
105. "Store Employees Review BSE Film," ibid., 1952, 1 (18): 3.
106. From One Cell (1950): American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1950 (n. 53), p. 16.
107. Nichtenhauser, "History of Motion Pictures in Medicine" (n. 1), pp III-281-III-356; Mary Losey, A Report on the Outlook for the Profitable Production of Documentary Films for the Non-Theatrical Market (Sugar Research Foundation; Film Program Services, 1948).
108. For the polio campaigns, see David M. Oshinsky, Polio: An American Story (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005);
109. Tony Gould, A Summer Plague: Polio and Its Survivors (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), pp. 54-84;
110. Jane S. Smith, Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vaccine (New York: Morrow, 1990), pp. 72-76;
111. Hugh Gregory Gallagher, F.D.R.'s Splendid Deception (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1985), pp. 145-52.
112. For the earlier history of polio, see Naomi Rogers, Dirt and Disease: Polio Before FDR (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992).
113. For trailers for movies, see "Bing Crosby's Campaign Motion Picture Trailer Previewed," ACS Camp. Bull., 1948, no. 38: 1, 4;
114. "Celeste Holm and Five Friends Film 1952 Campaign Trailer," ACS Bull, 1952, 1 (10): 1.
115. "Boston Film Premiere Nets $6,000 for ACS Campaign in Massachusetts," ACS Camp. Bull., 1948, no. 49: 4.
116. ACS, "Films List," 18 September 1946, Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 1, folder "Amer. Cancer Society." For further information on Miracle Money, see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030454/ (accessed 24 August 2006).
117. For a review of The Traitor Within, see Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 19, folder "Reviews C-D." For a content description of the movie, see ibid., box 20, folder "Reviews (Misc.) (3)."
118. For a history of medicine in television, see Joseph Turow, Playing Doctor: Television, Storytelling, and Medical Power (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
119. "2 ACS Films Set for Television," ACS Camp. Bull., 1948, no. 48: 3;
120. "Dr. Cameron Featured in New ACS Trailer," ACS Bull., 1952, 1 (9): 2.
121. On the growing importance of television to the ACS, see Annual Report 1950 (n. 53), p. 15;
122. "Key Men Advise About Radio, TV," ACS Bull, 1952, 1 (11): 1-2;
123. "Volunteer Chairmen Hold Key to Radio, TV Drive," ibid., p. 4; "Radio, TV Policy May Set Pattern," ibid., 1952, 1 (14): 1;
124. "Radio, TV Stations xtend ACS Appeal," ibid., 1 (17): 1. Copies of TV spots are available in the ACS audiovisual archive in Atlanta.
125. Such as You, Time, and Cancer (1948): "New Cancer Film Prepared for Campaign Use," Cancer News, 1948, 2 (4): 16;
126. "New Film Ready for Use in Drive," ACS Camp. Bull., 1948, no. 42: 2;
127. "Murphy Seeks Check on Film," ibid., no. 44: 2.
128. The first ACS report of a documentary show was in 1947: "Philadelphia Cancer Television Program," Cancer News, 1947, 1 (5): 12;
129. "Television 'Eyes' a Cancer Clinic," ACS Camp. Bull., 1948, no. 31: 2. Examples of news reports are available in the film collections of the National Archives in College Park and the Library of Congress.
130. Patterson, Dread Disease (n. 2), p. 177.
131. According to IMDB the movie was released as part of CBS's General Electric Theater series (1953-62), hosted by Ronald Reagan;
132. The Charlatan was episode #5.8, 11 November 1956: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0586283/ (accessed 18 July 2006).
133. IMDB also notes that it was part of the Studio 57 series in 1956 in open syndication, released 7 November 1956: http://www.imdb.com/title/ tt0712106/ (accessed 18 July 2006).
134. Notably A Fortunate Accident, This Great Peril, and Choose to Live.
135. Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2), pp. 110-20.
136. We Speak Again was part of a broader program against cancer of the larynx.
137. The Warning Shadow (1953) taught about the value of early diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer as part of a broader campaign against this disease: American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1953 (New York[?]: American Cancer Society), p. 14.
138. Time and Two Women (1957) shifted the focus to the dangers of uterine cancer and the value of the Pap smear.
139. In 1958 Time and Two Women was seen by 220,000 women;
140. in 1959, by nearly 900,000: American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1959 (New York[?]: American Cancer Society, 1960), p. 12;
141. Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2), pp. 120-26.
142. E.g., Inside Magoo (1960) promotes regular check-ups.
143. The Doctor Speaks His Mind (1948) recommends check-ups every six months.
144. Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2), pp. 110-20.
145. On Breast Self-Examination, see American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1950 (n. 53), pp. 15, 16;
146. Annual Report 1951 (New York: American Cancer Society), pp. 20-22;
147. "Film Has Long Way to Go; Illinois Makes Plan," ACS Bull., 1951, 1 (4): 4;
148. American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1952 (New York: American Cancer Society), pp. 15-16, 24;
149. "Self-examination of the Breasts," Good Housekeeping, November 1955, p. 32;
150. "A Frank Film Helps Detect Breast Cancer," Look, 19 December 1950, p. 87.
151. For a review of Breast Self Examination prepared by John L Meyer II in May 1951, see Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 19, folder "Reviews N."
152. American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1950 (n. 53), p. 16.
153. Quoted in memo from Erik Cripps and Marie L. Coleman to Medical Audio-Visual Institute: Drs Ruhe and Nichtenhauser, "Cancer Film Recommendations to State Dept.,"
154. February 1952, Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 19, folder "Reviews C-D." See also Medical Audio-Visual Institute of the Association of American Medical Colleges, "Selection of Medical Motion Picture for Use by the Department of State Order No.: NY-14547-(14)-52," "Tide of Film; From One Cell," 23 February 1952, ibid.
155. There are two reports on Challenge: Science Against Cancerin the Nichtenhauser Papers, one recommending its distribution by the State department, the other not recommending it (the negative recommendation was "no" on the grounds that the movie did not meet the Department of State's specification of a general-audience film in the field of cancer education); the more positive recommendation seems to be in accord with Nichtenhauser's views: Medical Audio-Visual Institute of the Association of American Medical Colleges, "Selection of Medical Motion Picture for Use by the Department of State," "Title of Film: Challenge: Science Against Cancer," [probably March 1952]; Medical Audio-Visual Institute of the Association of American Medical Colleges, "Selection of Medical Motion Picture for Use by the Department of State Order No.: NY-14547-(14)-52," "Tide of Film: Challenge: Science Against Cancer," 17 March 1952; both in Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 20, folder "Reviews R-S."
156. American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1950 (n. 53), p. 16.
157. Richard Braddock, "Films for Teaching Mass Communication," Engl. J., 1955, 44 (3): 156-58, 167, at p. 167.
158. American Cancer Society, Annual Report 1957 (New York [?]: American Cancer Society, 1958), p. 32.
159. American Cancer Society, ACS Annual Report, 1958 (New York[?]: American Cancer Society), p. 32.
160. See, e.g., The Man on the Other Side of the Desk and One in Eight.
161. For example, the ACS recommended that You, Time, and Cancer (1948) be shown to organized groups such as management, labor, fraternal, service, veterans', governmental, agricultural, and women's organizations: "New Cancer Film Prepared for Campaign Use" (n. 65), p. 16; "New Film Ready for Use in Drive" (n. 65), p. 2; "Murphy Seeks Check on Film" (n. 65), p. 2.
162. On women's clubs and post-1944 movies, see Gardner, Early Detection (n. 2) .
163. For melodramas, see The Doctor Speaks His Mind (1948),
164. Time Is Life (1946),
165. and Time and Two Women (1957).
166. On male/medical authority over women, see Choose to Live (1940),
167. Breast Self-Examination (1950),
168. Time Is Life (1946),
169. and Time and Two Women (1957).
170. For movies aimed at men, see esp. The Traitor Within (1946),
171. Man Alive (1952),
172. and Inside Magoo (1960), all cartoon s.
173. The Doctor Speaks His Mind (1948) follows the response of a physician to the fact that he has had to give the bad news to an old friend who left it too late to go to the doctor - which prompts him to reflect on the various patients he has seen, some of whom delayed and died, others of whom went for a regular check-up and survived.
174. See "New Tools for Lay Education Programs," Cancer News, 1948, 2 (10-11): 8-11, at p. 10. For a negative review, see Nichtenhauser Papers, MS C 277, box 19, folder "Reviews C-D."
175. "New Tools for Lay Education Programs" (n. 85), p. 10. The movie was either never produced or retitled, and hence it does not appear in Table 1.
176. The ACS recommended that The Traitor Within (1946) be supplemented at each showing with a talk, and the distribution of an ACS folder stressed important points covered in the film: "New Material Developed by Education Department," Cancer News, 1947, 1 (5): 8-10, at p. 9;
177. "'The Traitor Within' Seen by 960 Montanans," ACS' Camp. Bull., 1948, no. 36: 2.
178. The cuts and omissions of Reward of Courage and Choose to Live can be seen as efforts to manage such emotive responses to the movie.
179. For a discussion of similar concerns in Britain about the response of the public to public-education programs, see David Cantor, "Representing 'the Public': Medicine, Charity and Emotion in Twentieth-Century Britain," in Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere in Britain, 1600-2000, ed. Steve Sturdy (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 145-68.
180. Movies were generally accompanied by lectures, often by a physician who would also be available to answer questions raised by the audience. The ASCC also assumed that family physicians would supplement the movie's message by addressing the particular concerns of individual patients after the show had left town, and the organization provided fact sheets for physicians to help them address such questions.
181. "Testing of the Film, TIME AND TWO WOMEN," Signals: [ACS] Public Education Newsletter, 1957, 1 (1): 3-4. See also the citations in n. 87.
182. For example, the relief of near-sighted Mr. Magoo (Inside Magoo [1960]) is signified when he begins dancing with a lamp that he believes to be a nurse.
183. Patterson, Dread Disease (n. 2), p. 175.
184. For an alternative perspective on the ACS and scare advertising see Charles Falkner, "Do Cancer Drives Create Fear," Bernarr MacFadden's Health Rev., 1950, 94 (3): 30-31, 58-59.
185. For accounts of Man Alive, see "Film Is Ready for April Use," ACS Bull., 1952, 1 (12): 1, 4;
186. "'Man Alive' Appears in 'Life,'" ibid., 1 (15): 1;
187. "Illinois Theaters Book ACS Film as A Short Subject on Programs," ibid., 1 (17): 3.
188. For a discussion of the gendered messages in this movie and others, see Leslie Reagan, "Engendering the Dread Disease: Women, Men, and Cancer," Amer. J. Pub. Health, 1997, 87: 1779-87.