THE HISTORY OF SOUP // "BALLAD OF SOUP DU JOUR" 1962 MODERN LIVING MD43074

This 1962 color educational film — Andy Warhol would have loved it — is all about soup. It is a Jam Handy Picture, directed by Donald Livingston. It opens with Broadway performer Gordon Dilworth playing a guitar and singing a “Soup is the Secret of Good Living” song. The film moves into animation (2:06). In the beginning of the cartoon segment various vegetables are chopped, sliced, and diced. Since meat juices are lost over an open flame, they are best preserved by cooking meats in a kettle with water; thus soup was discovered (2:57-3:48). Even Hippocrates, the father of medicine, recommended it. Seasonings started to be added. The Romans favored bean and pea soups that were sometimes thick enough to cut (5:11). In the Middle Ages, a bride was required to prepare a kettle of soup for the wedding feast (5:34). In Elizabethan England, meals were served on one plate, including the soup, so bread was used to sop it up. Some believe this is where the word ‘soup’ originated (6:04-6:31). International travel resulting in the exchange of foods between various countries, enabling new flavors (6:49-7:42). In colonial New England, a community kettle was used when the ships arrived, resulting in an assortment of items in the soup. Pepper pot soup is from Philadelphia and gumbo from New Orleans (8:47-9:09).
The film returns to live action with an assortment of cookbooks (9:24). A quintessential late 1950s-early 1960s kitchen (9:29) has a Princess telephone (introduced in 1959), a 1950s red counter radio, and a 1960 Frigidaire Flair stove with double-ovens (9:36). The scene changes to a different kitchen where the woman makes soup out of can (10:01). She places a steak on a Blue Willow plate (10:08). This kitchen has a yellow 1959 General Electric Keyboard Cooking Range (10:24). A backyard party is shown, with women wearing layers of pearls that were popular in the early 1960s (10:42-10:56). Tomato soup is universally loved, as is vegetable, chicken vegetable, vegetable beef, chicken noodle, chicken rice, cream of chicken, and mushroom (11:19-11:41). A wall of Campbell’s Condensed Soup is shown at a grocery store (11:44). Women in dresses and pearl jewelry and a man in a suit shop for groceries and use a check-out counter (12:06-12:33). A ceramic pot with a lid holds soup (12:44). The singer returns to end the film.

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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 and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

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We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference."

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