13170_19039_ad_agency2
1950
Film taken in a Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn Inc. Advertising office setting with people dressed in business attire. Video opens with a couple of men sitting at drafting tables. They reach over each other simultaneously to grab things from each other’s tables. A man sits in a chair, looking at an print ad draft, then flips through a booklet. Another man pins print ad drafts to a large cork board. Another man evaluates a wire product display rack for G.E. Lamps (light bulbs), then shakes his head and removes a box from it. A couple of men sit around a table littered with large sheets of paper. One crumbles a sheet of paper into a ball, tosses it, then draws on another sheet as the other men watch and brainstorm. A series of print ads are shown: 1) “Air-mazing facts. What makes it rain? Dust!...” A man with an umbrella holds a magnifying glass up to raindrops. Ad is for Air-Maze filters for any device using air or liquids, like engines or air-conditioners. 2) “Spring Shower of G.E. Lamp Values.” Light bulbs and rain pour down on a house. Family stands on roof with huge, upside down umbrella to catch light bulbs. 3) Can’t tell what next pair of ads are for—text is too small. 4)”You’ll get it faster via ‘Roller Freight!” For Timken Tapered Roller Bearings. Has railroad theme. 5) “If you’re working on a secret transmission here’s how to keep it quiet.” Timken transmission parts. 6) Several ads laid out on a table for B.F. Goodrich. “First in Rubber.” “…Keep You Rolling This Winter.” Video cuts to man opening a door, happily lifting a hand and greeting whoever is in the room. Then a drawing of a coal miner using a pickax on rocks. Someone’s face, cut from a photo, has been glued to the drawing where a head belongs. “Pittsburgh” is written under the drawing. Cuts to shot of Grant Building's entrance (three sets of double doors). Camera pans up to show rest of building.