Is it any wonder that early alternative comic artists like R. Crumb and Kim Deitch tipped their hats to Max Fleischer? Fleischer’s animation universe was never quite stable. Rubber limbs stretched beyond physics. Backgrounds pulsed and warped. Characters slipped between innocence and mischief in the span of a single frame. In Betty Boop and the […]
MORE ...Dwain Esper’s 1936 scare film Marihuana, written by his wife Hildagarde Stadie, an obvious expert on the subject.
MORE ...Hemp for Victory, produced by the US government in 1942, made a case for increasing the domestic cultivation of Cannabis sativa. As WWII ratcheted up and the Japanese controlled the hemp powerhouse of Southeast Asia, a vital resource for the war effort, the filmmakers advocate US farmers focus on the “devil’s weed” as a cash […]
MORE ...“Most teenagers start off with marijuana then decide to see if heroin has any kick. It does.” The Terrible Truth is a 1951 educational film directed by Sid Davis that tries to deal with the dangers of teenage drug abuse and its consequences. The film, which was produced by the Los Angeles-based Coronet Films was […]
MORE ...Minnie the Moocher with Cab Calloway & Betty Boop – 1930’s Starting with a phenomenal live moment where Cab Calloway free-form dances to his orchestra swinging slow & sweet to St. James Infirmary. Then things get rolling. Home life is tough for Betty, so she hits the road with her friend Bimbo. They venture into […]
MORE ...“Youth is a happy time.” That’s how this 1951 cautionary drama begins, before ice cream cones and double dates give way to the “living nightmare” of heroin addiction. What follows is a full-scale mid-century morality play, complete with ominous music, stern narration, and a white powder described as both innocent-looking and deadly. The film traces […]
MORE ...A trailer for a nudie film that masquerades as an anti-‘marihuana’ morality tale. Watch wild & reckless youths lose their souls to the devil’s weed. Watch the movie Marihuana here now for free!
MORE ...Max Fleischer paired Betty Boop with viper man Louis Armstrong in the mid 1930’s. In it Fleischer mixes jazz, live action, and animation to create an innovative, dreamlike world. Pops or Satchmo, as he was often called, was a lifelong tea head who enjoyed cannabis not just to unwind, but also smoked gage, as he called it, […]
MORE ...Narrated by Paul Newman, The Distant Drummer: Flowers of Darkness is an unflinching, no-nonsense look at the opium trade – where it happens, how it is transported, and it’s ultimate effects on the world community. With footage direct from the fields of Afghanistan to the streets of our communities, the reach and power of the […]
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