Celebrating the 65th Anniversary of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act with “The Pleasure of Your Company”
The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was enacted 65 years ago on June 12, 1948, enabling women to serve as permanent members of the military (although still within separate units) so it seems the perfect time for another installment of this vintage military training film:
The Navy film How to Succeed with Brunettes teaches male officers how to behave like gentlemen, but what were the military’s expectations for the many female recruits? Once again, staff in NARA’s Motion Picture Preservation Lab and Special Media’s Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch were able to find the answer in the large accession of films received from the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC).
In1970, the Army began using a series of three training films produced for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The third film in the Military Etiquette and Grooming series, The Pleasure of Your Company (1970), has several parallels with How to Succeed with Brunettes, including an exploration of dating etiquette. The WACs watching the film would find answers to many pressing questions, including:
- Can I wear a mini skirt and jewelry when out of uniform?
- Who opens the door first when not in uniform?
- If I go out on a dinner date, who orders? (Hint: It’s not the lady!)
- How should I introduce my date to the Chaplain and his wife? (Hint: Gentlemen are always presented to ladies!
- Which fork should I use first?!? (Um, you get the picture.)
The Pleasure of Your Company, like How to Succeed with Brunettes, stands as an artifact of an American military and society that were to undergo sweeping changes over the following decade. By the end of the 1970s, the WAC would be integrated into the rest of the Army and society would be on its way to treating women much differently in the workplace. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far we have come until we take a look back at the films of the past.
via Media Matters: The Women’s Army Corps Requests “The Pleasure of Your Company”
The Women’s Army Corps Requests “The Pleasure of Your Company”
The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was enacted 65 years ago on June 12, 1948, enabling women to serve as permanent members of the military (although still within separate units) so it seems the perfect time to share another vintage military training film:
The Navy film How to Succeed with Brunettes teaches male officers how to behave like gentlemen, but what were the military’s expectations for the many female recruits? Once again, staff in NARA’s Motion Picture Preservation Lab and Special Media’s Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch were able to find the answer in the large accession of films received from the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC).
In 1970, the Army began using a series of three training films produced for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The third film in the Military Etiquette and Grooming series, The Pleasure of Your Company (1970), has several parallels with How to Succeed with Brunettes, including an exploration of dating etiquette. The WACs watching the film would find answers to many pressing questions, including:
- Who opens the door first when not in uniform?
- If I go out on a dinner date, who orders? (Hint: It’s not the lady!)
- How should I introduce my date to the Chaplain and his wife? (Hint: Gentlemen are always presented to ladies!
- Which fork should I use first?!? (Um, you get the picture.)
The Pleasure of Your Company, like How to Succeed with Brunettes, stands as an artifact of an American military and society that were to undergo sweeping changes over the following decade. By the end of the 1970s, the WAC would be integrated into the rest of the Army and society would be on its way to treating women much differently in the workplace. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far we have come until we take a look back at the films of the past.
via Media Matters: The Women’s Army Corps Requests “The Pleasure of Your Company”
The Act of June 10, 1963 (aka the Equal Pay Act of 1963), signed into law by President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago today “to prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.”
Midshipmen Wrong and Right head to the movies tonight. What’s showing? How to Succeed with Brunettes, of course!
Presented courtesy of our colleagues in the National Archives’ Motion Picture Preservation Lab this Navy training film demonstrates proper dating etiquette for officers. Part of a recent accession of military instructional films from the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC), the somewhat dated film features wonderful music, evocative of its era, and a fair bit of comedy, both intentional and unintentional.
via Media Matters: Don’t Shut Your Date in the Door: Military Dating Dos and Don’ts
This evening Midshipmen Wrong and Right could be headed to the Naval Academy’s Graduation Ball in this next installment of the U.S. Navy’s vintage Dating Dos and Don’ts training film: How to Succeed with Brunettes.
In case you missed it, some background from the previous posts:
Courtesy of our colleagues in the National Archives’ Motion Picture Preservation Lab we present How to Succeed with Brunettes (1967), a film produced by the Navy that demonstrates proper dating etiquette for officers. Part of a recentaccession of military instructional films from the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC), the somewhat dated film features wonderful music, evocative of its era, and a fair bit of comedy, both intentional and unintentional.
via Media Matters: Don’t Shut Your Date in the Door: Military Dating Dos and Don’ts
Midshipmen Wrong and Right are back for another vintage installment of the U.S. Navy’s Dating Dos and Don’ts training film: How to Succeed with Brunettes.
(See if you can guess which one is Midshipman “Wrong.”)
In case you missed it, some background from the previous post:
Courtesy of our colleagues in the National Archives’ Motion Picture Preservation Lab we present How to Succeed with Brunettes (1967), a film produced by the Navy that demonstrates proper dating etiquette for officers. Part of a recentaccession of military instructional films from the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC), the somewhat dated film features wonderful music, evocative of its era, and a fair bit of comedy, both intentional and unintentional.
via Media Matters: Don’t Shut Your Date in the Door: Military Dating Dos and Don’ts
As the U.S. Naval Academy gears up for Commissioning Week and the Graduation Ball, what better time to post some vintage dating dos and don’ts from Midshipmen Wrong and Right?
Courtesy of our colleagues in the National Archives’ Motion Picture Preservation Lab we present How to Succeed with Brunettes (1967), a film produced by the Navy that demonstrates proper dating etiquette for officers. Part of a recent accession of military instructional films from the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC), the somewhat dated film features wonderful music, evocative of its era, and a fair bit of comedy, both intentional and unintentional.
via Media Matters: Don’t Shut Your Date in the Door: Military Dating Dos and Don’ts
Be sure to check back - we’ll be posting more vintage Dating Dos and Don’ts over the next few days!
Kaiser shipyards, Richmond, California. Miss Eastine Cowner, a former waitress, is helping in her job as a scaler to construct the Liberty Ship SS George Washington Carver launched on May 7, 1943.
From the series: Negro Activities in Industry, Government, and the Armed Forces from the Records of the Office of War Information.
On Thursday, March 14, at 7 p.m., the National Archives hosts the Sixth Annual McGowan Forum on Women in Leadership.
This year’s special program focuses on women in military leadership and explores changes that have taken place in the roles, opportunities, expectations and obstacles for women in military leadership positions.
A distinguished panel of experts will discuss their personal journeys and share advice for young women entering the field.
Moderated by Gale S. Pollock, Major General, U.S. Army (Retired), CRNA, FACHE, FAAN, and former Acting Surgeon General, panelists include Carol Mutter, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired); Christine S. Hunter, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired); Sandra A. Gregory, Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force (Retired); Clara Adams-Ender, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Retired); and Gina S. Farrisee, U.S. Army Major General (Retired).
This public program is free and no registration is required. It will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW.
This program is presented in partnership with the Women’s Forum of Washington, DC, and the Military Officers Association of America, and is generously supported by the Foundation for the National Archives and the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, Inc.
Image: “Lt.(jg.) Harriet Ida Pickens and Ens. Frances Wills, first Negro Waves to be commissioned. They were members of the final graduating class at Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School (WR) Northampton, MA,” 12/21/1944, Record Group 80, ARC 520670.
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and this March also marks the 100th Anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Parade in Washington DC. Be sure to check out one of the latest boards on Pinterest, “A National Policy of Nagging,” documenting some of the struggles of early suffragists:
A National Policy of Nagging
Suffragists faced a difficult road in their march towards equality. Even women opposed giving women the right to vote. One letter from Alice H. Wadsworth, President of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, calls it “an endorsement of nagging as a national policy.” March 3 marks 100 years since suffragists marched on Washington. In honor of this event, the 19th Amendment will be on display from March 1 to March 8, 2013.
(Ed. note: corrected 19th Amendment exhibit end date to March 8.)
Suffrage and suffering at the “Women’s Suffrage Parade” in Washington DC, March 3, 1913:
One hundred years ago on March 3, supporters of woman suffrage marched through Washington, DC. Held the day before Woodrow Wilson’s presidential inauguration, the parade was preceded by a series of “suffrage hikes” in New York and elsewhere intended to bring attention to the lack of voting rights for women. However, the marchers were met by crowds of unruly men. The police did nothing, and the treatment of the women by the crowds caused an outcry.
The women testified about their experiences—some noted the lack of police or their indifference and applauded the Boy Scouts for being more effective than the police. Others described drunken men along the parade route hooting and jeering at them, blocking their path, and making insulting remarks (one young girl was called a “Georgia Peach”—an indignity at the time).
A resolution from the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage in King’s County noted that the women in the parade, “many of whom were among the finest intellectual leaders of their sex, were … subject to insult, ribaldry, and personal abuse.”
The day after the parade, the Senate passed a resolution authorizing the Committee on the District of Columbia to investigate the handling of the incident by the police.
This photograph of the parade comes from that investigation:
“Exhibit 36, View of the Woman Suffrage Parade from the Willard Hotel, Washington DC, from the Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee of the District of Columbia of the United States Senate, pursuant to S. Res 499, March 4, 1913, 63rd Congress (Y4.D63/2:W84); RG 287, National Archives”
Read the full story of the parade and the hearing at Prologue: Pieces of History » Suffrage and suffering at the 1913 March
As 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of this watershed event, be sure to watch for more #Suffrage13 features from the National Archives, including:
March is Women’s History Month!
Photograph, Suffrage Parade, 1913
From the Series: Photographs Used in Publications, Records of the Office of War Information, Record Group 208
As March 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the watershed Women’s Suffrage Parade in Washington DC, be sure to watch for more #Suffrage13 features from the National Archives, including:
The 19th Amendment for Women’s Suffrage on Display March 1 - 8:
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Woman’s Suffrage Parade in Washington, DC, the 19th Amendment will be on display from March 1 to March 8 at the National Archives Building.
The 19th Amendment guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation. Beginning in the mid-19th century, woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered radical change…
Keep reading at: Prologue: Pieces of History » The 19th Amendment on display at the National Archives
Allied women in Paris to plead for international suffrage. Women, representing Allied Nations, who called upon the President during his stay in Paris, and asked to be given a place at the Peace Conference, to inquire into and report upon the conditions concerning women and children throughout the world.
First row, left to right: Mrs. J. Borden Harriman (United States); Mme. DeWitt Schlumberger (France); Mme. Pichon-Laudry (France). Second row: Mrs. Juliette Barrett Rublee (United States); Dr. Katherine Bennett Davis (United States), Mme. Brunsching. Third row: Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett (Great Britain); Mrs. Oliver Stratchey (Great Britain); Miss Rosamond Smith (Great Britain). Fourth row: Mme. Brigode (Belgium); Marie Paunt (Belgium); Miss Nevia Boyle (South Africa); Mlle. Van den Plas (Belgium). Sixth row: Mme. Sonnine Capi (Italy); Mlle. Eva Mitzhouma (Poland). 02/27/1919
U.S. vs. Susan B. Anthony, Indictment for Illegal Voting, 01/24/1873
The indictment charges Susan B. Anthony with “wrongfully and unlawfully” voting for a candidate for Congress from the City of Rochester, New York.
On November 18, 1872 a deputy U.S. marshal arrested Susan B. Anthony for voting in the 1872 presidential election. She was indicted two months later for voting illegally on November 5, 1872, “being then and there a person of the female sex.” She was convicted in June and sentenced to pay a $100 fine and court costs.
via DocsTeach
