OVERLOOKED FILM: HOT DOGS

In honor of Representative Weiner's admission of sending questionable tweets, let us take a brief (but often tangental) look at the humble weiner.

     First, a very grainy clip of the Swedish chef making hot dogs:

http://www.archive.org/details/The_Swedish_Chef_Makes_Hot_Dogs

     The closest thing to a hot dog in the following Betty Boop cartoon is Bimbo, Betty's dog-like companion, but since Betty does a topless hula dance in this clip, all should be forgiven -- even the 1932 non-PC depiction of the natives of Bamboo Isle:

http://www.archive.org/details/bb_bamboo_isle

     The humble hot dog gets a bad rap in this 1966 short film about the National School Lunch Program.  The producers actually seem to believe that hot dogs were not served with school lunches.  As one who was there, I beg to differ.  (Also, as one who was there, some of us looked pretty geeky.)

http://www.archive.org/details/it_happens_every_noon

     Time to visit our concession stand for hot dogs and soda.  It's INTERMISSION!

http://www.archive.org/details/DriveInIntermission18

     Our roving food critic turns thumbs down at the hotdogs at Home Depot:

http://www.archive.org/details/Cweagel-HDLABENTRY003MessageAlertNo1FromCommanderWeagel767

     For a gourmet slant on the hot dog, let's let Kevin show us how to do it properly.  (One hint:  hge uses mustard, not ketchup  -- O, Kevin, you know your dogs!)

http://www.archive.org/details/NeilDKevinsCookingShowHotDogs

      Hot dogs are the perfect food for a date.  Before you go, brush up your dating do's and don't's.  The characters in this 1949 film appear to spell doom for America's future.  There's Woody, a whiner who will probably become a serial killer, and his brother Eddie, who's a jive cat who will probably grow up to become a minor criminal, and their mother, who looks like a Grandma version of a Stepford Wife, and the two girls Woody thinks about asking to go with him to the Hi-Teen Carnival -- Janet (a looker, but a total bitch) and Sue (who would be fun but comes across as a total drip).  Ah, high school!

http://www.archive.org/details/DatingDo1949

     Now let's travel back in time to 1940 for a look at Coney Island Hot Dogs:

http://www.archive.org/details/SF137

     What goes into a hot dog?  Who knows?  Perhaps the USDA inspectors do:

http://www.archive.org/details/MarkofWh1964

      OK, I've lost my appetite.  Time to switch from hot dogs to turkeys.  Here's Vincent Price as The Last Man on Earth, the 1964 version of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, costarring a whole bunch of Italians.  The is arguably the best of the films based on Matheson's book, perhaps because Matheson co-wrote the screenplay under his "Logan Swanson" by-line.

http://www.archive.org/details/the-last-man-on-earth

      For tastier Overlooked Films, video and/or A/V, check out Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom.