Trois films de Prévention du dessinateur O'Galop - 1918
ABOUT THE FILM : Trois films de Prévention du dessinateur O'Galop
Lobster FilmsPublic Health Designed by O'Galop
Year: 1918
These 3 cartoons were made in 1918 by O’Galop, the designer of Bibendum Michelin, to warn the post-war population of the ravaging effects of alcohol and tuberculosis. This public health campaign seems far removed from our present-day concerns. Over time it has acquired a different dimension.
Nationality: French
Length: 5' 39"
Genre: prevention,animation
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: black & white
Composer: Eric Le Guen
Original language: French
A BRIEF HISTORY : Trois films de Prévention du dessinateur O'Galop
In 1916, the Rockefeller Foundation’s war assistance commission, concerned by the continued damage caused by tuberculosis (roughly 60,000 deaths per year), financed a campaign in France to inform the population about the spreading and treatment of the disease.
Also a campaign against the damaging effects of alcoholism and the dangers of syphilis, the program used cinema to reach a wider audience. Thus « health caravans, » or trucks containing a projector, a 42-picture exhibition and a selection of pamphlets and posters, traveled all over France for 5 years.
Among the films shown, besides Dr. Comandon's popular scientific films Fear the Fly and Don't Spit on the Ground, a few cartoons specially designed for the education of children. The direction of these films was entrusted to Marius Rossillon (1867-1946), better known as O’Galop, designer of the legendary Bibendum Michelin.
Resisting Tuberculosis, Great Oaks from Small Acorns Grow and The Alcohol Cycle are among the few Rockefeller commission films to reach us. They provide a rare glimpse of one of society’s most painful concerns just after the first world war.
