Duck and Cover (1951). US Federal Civil Defense Administration. Held by the Internet Archive; public domain.
Duck and Cover
The civil defence film shown in American schools from 1952: what to do, as a child, at the flash.
- Year
- 1951
- Made by
- US Federal Civil Defense Administration
- Directed by
- Anthony Rizzo, Archer Productions
- Free to use because
- A work of the United States government — no copyright, anywhere
The note
Nine minutes that shaped the interior life of the early cold war more than any government broadcast. The jingle is the whole mechanism — a cartoon turtle, a bouncing tune, and a piece of instruction that presumes the thing being instructed about. Heard now with no picture, the cheerfulness of the sound against the content of the words is the entire cold war in miniature. Public domain.
Duck and Cover, 1951. US Federal Civil Defense Administration. Directed by Anthony Rizzo, Archer Productions. This is the film’s soundtrack: narration, score and location sound, streamed from the Internet Archive’s master. No picture — the audio is the work. A work of the United States government, and therefore free of copyright anywhere it is used.
The soundtrack