“POINTS OF DISTINCTION” PERMO PHONOGRAPH / RECORD PLAYER NEEDLE 1940s PROMO FILM XD59894

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Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Burton Holmes Films produced this undated film, “Points of Distinction,” for Permo, a Chicago-based phonograph stylus (needle) manufacturer. The film serves as an extended narrative advertisement for Permo’s Fidelitone needles, providing a history of the company and featuring its founder Arthur (Art) Olsen. It is largely set in a record store and Permo’s stylus manufacturing plant and labs.
Credits: Walter Tinkham, direction; Loren Tutell, photography; Walter Hotz, recording; Harold Stokes, music
. (Interestingly, Fidelitone, Inc. remains in business today as a parts distributor.)

Titles. Aerial shot of four-engine B-24 Liberator bombers flying through clouds of flak in WWII (00:34). Shrapnel damage to the B-24s (00:57). A Liberator crash lands on its belly, sliding across a runway, kicking up clouds of dust (01:10). Newspaper front page montage including headline “Great War Ends!” (01:15). Extreme upward angle shot of a radio tower stretching into the sky, clouds roll past (01:35). Two men sit across a small table, a microphone between them; civilian interviews the other in a USAAF uniform, uniform has a pilots wing, captain bars on the epaulets, and USAAF insignia (01:43). C/U on a glass-encased pivot, worn on a chain (02:09). Crossfade to a spinning record, 1940s dance music plays (03:13). Record shop interior, displays advertising Decca recordings, Columbia records, a Victor Records “Nutcracker Suite” recording (03:19). A crowd of teenage bobby soxers exits a listening room, dancing (03:26). Closeup on Fidelitone DeLuxe Floating Point phonograph needle, with advertised price of $1.00 (04:46). Clerk rings up purchase on a cash register (05:06). Art Olsen’s office, Olsen sitting behind a dark wooden desk with blinds drawn (07:11). Closeup of a photo album, includes a photo of Olsen lying in a hospital bed, listening to a phonograph (07:18). Olsen stopping the phonograph, changing its needle, flipping record, and restarting phonograph (07:37). The years “1919” through “1925” spin into frame over an image of a spinning phonograph record (08:03). Closeup of an early jukebox playing (08:13). Spinning records overlaid over stop-motion stacks of records growing and shrinking (08:29). Newspaper Permo Point advertisement (09:09). Closeup of a phonograph stylus held between fingertips (09:15). Two men watching a jukebox (09:19). Jukebox logo montage: Seeburg, Gabel, Wurlitzer, Rock-Ola, Mills, AMI (09:32). A mother and son listen to records on a cabinet phonograph in their living room, records strewn across the floor (09:43). Permo needles being pressed into card stock for sale (09:55). The Permo Plant Number 2 (10:03). Permo Metallurgical Laboratory entrance (10:12). Small lab with microscope and cabinet of chemical jars, wall-mounted microscope images of needle tips (10:26). Closeup of a jar of osmium (10:47). Osmium pellet processing montage: mining, melting, pouring, cooling, crushing, rotary grinding, osmium pellets shaken out onto a tray, hardness testing on a test platter, finished pellets examined under microscope (11:03). Wire processing montage: spooling machines spinning; wire drawn through powder onto spool; man troweling powder; wire bundle gathered and boxed; wire cut into smaller shanks (13:13). Stylus production montage: men and women at long table covered in microscope and welding equipment; wire shanks machine-welded to osmium pellets; woman grinds needle on belt; man in lab coat attends bubbling glass containers; men working swage machine; c/u of swaged needle (15:16). Sharp and rounded needle tips compared under a microscope (15:32). Needles rounded in radius machine; needles buffed in jars in polishing machine (16:04). (16:07). Needle sheathes milled in press (16:42). Closeup of fingers inserting needle into sheath (16:48). Men in shop aprons, working equipment in Permo machine shop (17:16). Rows of women using microscopes (17:42). "Sound laboratory” full of turntables and equipment with various dials (17:56). Microscopic comparison of a steel needle to a Permo needle (19:40). Women loading finished needles into Permo packaging (19:59). An older man with white mustache examines a needle with a magnifier (loupe) (21:20). A woman’s hand points to a Fidelitone advertisement (23:14). Bobby soxer teenagers return to the store (25:08). C/U on store owner's expression of exasperation (25:47).

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com