The Tree in a Test Tube (1943) - (Short , Documentary) - video Dailymotion

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6min | Short , Documentary | April 1943 (USA)   Laurel and Hardy demonstrate the uses of wood in this World War II propaganda film.  Director: Charles McDonald  Stars: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Pete Smith

Transcript

00:00♪

00:14Hey, you mugs! Uh, I mean, gentlemen!

00:18Well, well! It's Laurel and Hardy, as if I didn't know!

00:21Hello, boys! This is Pete Smith, as if you didn't know!

00:24Say, I'd like your help here for a minute, do you mind?

00:27No, of course not! I just want you lads to show the audience how much wood the average person totes!

00:33Wood! Got any?

00:36No, like most guys, you don't realize how many articles made of wood products you carry around!

00:41For instance, that newspaper!

00:44Yup, that newspaper is largely made of trees, wood pulp!

00:47Of course, most people know that, but many people don't know that a lot of other objects come from a wood base!

00:53Take Stan's glasses!

00:56The rims are plastic. About 60% of plastic is wood flour. Powdered wood, my friends!

01:02Got a fountain pen?

01:05Just as I thought, plastic barrels!

01:08Okay, gents, anything else in your pockets?

01:12Be careful of fishhooks, Stan!

01:15A billfold! Imitation leather made with cellulose acetate, a wood product!

01:20Uh-oh, what's up?

01:24Why, Mr. Laurel!

01:29Oh, sure, your wife's, of course! Anyway, their rayon, another wood product!

01:34Well, what else, boys? A cigarette case?

01:37A plastic! Also a cigarette holder! More plastic!

01:42Any more wood, my lads?

01:46No, but there's wood in his hat! The sweatbands!

01:50Right, more imitation leather!

01:58A new spring hat, eh? Ouch!

02:00More? Yup, a pipe, the bowl of which is wood, the stem, plastic!

02:08Book matches! These matches are wood pulp, so is the cover!

02:12It's amazing the amount of wood we use, ain't it the truth?

02:16And now a penknife, a handle, plastic!

02:21Let's see what's in the suitcase, boys! The suitcase, do you mind?

02:26That's it, let's see what we have here. Any slippers?

02:29Yes, here we are! They're real leather like your shoes and belt,

02:33but tanned and made durable by tan bark from the forest!

02:37Then, too, the counters and insoles are wood fiber!

02:41Okay, Ollie, let's proceed!

02:44Wood in bottles? Well, hardly! Uh, hardly, no pun intended!

02:49Anyway, witch hazel and cascara are just two of several hundred drugs and

02:53remedies from trees! Next, an imitation leather toilet case!

03:00Mirror with plastic back! Brush back is plastic!

03:04Bristles of both brushes are cellulose plastic!

03:08This bottle top is plastic! So is soap container!

03:15Bath sponge is cellulose plastic, and I'm not at all surprised!

03:20Hey, Stan, what else you got? Come, come, fellas, don't tell me you're running out

03:25of plastics! Let's take a look at some more of your

03:28junk, uh, I mean your nice things! Ah, a razor! Handle is plastic as are most

03:32electric shavers! Ouch! That blade ain't no plastic, bub!

03:39And now, writing paper, scratch pad, envelopes, and book!

03:47Old wood pulp, kiddies!

03:52Pajamas are rayon, and rayon is a wood product, remember?

03:56Hey, what you got there, chum?

04:00Oh, shorts, eh? More rayon! But Stan, such color!

04:08And now, a shirt, tie, and socks, all rayon!

04:18Say, the suitcase! Yup, even that's made out of laminated wood

04:22covered with canvas! And it's a good thing these lads didn't

04:25come around here with a trunk! We'd be here for days! Oh, boys!

04:29You can go now! Goodbye, Stan! So long, Oliver! And thanks very much, guys!

04:33Darn nice of you to help! Hey! Oh, well, they need exercise anyway!

04:37Goodbye now! And thanks to you, Pete Smith, this is Lee

04:40Vickers carrying on. Well, Loll and Hardy Little realized the

04:44importance of wood to their daily lives. And I wonder if most of us know just how

04:49important forests and research are to the winning of this war.

04:54The answer may be found at Madison, Wisconsin, where the United States Forest

04:58Service maintains its forest products laboratory.

05:05Here, for years, has been carried on a broad program of research

05:09to increase uses of forest products and find new uses for waste materials.

05:15Here's where they figuratively put the tree in a test tube.

05:27Research makes very important contributions to our welfare,

05:31not only during peacetime, but doubly so in wartime.

05:37Without flash or fanfare, these men patiently carry on.

05:42Engineers, foresters, scientists, chemists,

05:45practicing their magic, searching out ways to make our warplanes lighter and

05:50therefore faster, pressing together thin veneers of wood,

05:54developing materials suitable for training planes

05:57with a strength comparable to that of steel.

06:05No glue is used and it comes out with a piano finish.

06:09This saves time. This compregnated slab is strong enough to bear the weight of a

06:15four-ton elephant. Believe it or not.

06:40And here it is, an all-wood training plane.

06:43Light, sure, swift, and safe. Even the gas tank is wood.

06:49Research has determined the best woods for pontoon bridges.

06:52The planking and rails are light, but strong enough to take

06:56terrific punishment.

07:03A shortage of material for gas-masked charcoal

07:07was answered by our chemists, finding a better charcoal

07:10and an improved filter paper.

07:16Wood for horse-drawn artillery must be tough and light.

07:20A pound may still be only 16 ounces, but at the end of the day it seems more.

07:28Shipping cases for food and other war material are tested.

07:32This is called a shimmy machine.

07:46Cases for rifles and other munitions must be strong, and every inch saved

07:50means more cargo space. And cargo space is very important

07:55to our lend-lease program. These are some of the little things that help to win a

08:00war.

08:03Wood cellulose is an essential element in gunpowder. Research for greater

08:07efficiency is continuous. Barracks to house our soldiers and

08:11trucks to move them, all wood or partly wood. Mess halls,

08:16recreation halls, armories. Here is a laminated arch with a span of

08:2184 feet. It will rest on the walls without

08:25further support. A laboratory triumph. The steel it

08:30replaced can now go into a battleship.

08:36Some 30 types of skis were put through grueling tests.

08:46Now when our boys start out for ski patrol on distant mountains,

08:50they can feel confident their skis are dependable.

08:58Forests and forest products are indispensable.

09:02America should make sure they are produced abundantly and perpetually.

09:06America should develop from its forests new uses,

09:10new industries, so that when these boys come home again,

09:14there will be a job for each one of them.

09:33To help do this, to produce better war supplies for the front,

09:38and most important of all, to help teach pirate nations that the American

09:44people hold those liberties conceived by our

09:48patriot forefathers, baptized in precious blood at Valley

09:52Forge, at San Juan Hill, at Chateau Thierry, and at Pearl Harbor.

09:59Those liberties so jealously guarded by our national government,

10:03more important than life itself. That is the number one job of the men

10:11at the Forest Products Laboratory. The men behind the men, behind the guns.

10:16Let us, too, help keep it flying.

The Tree in a Test Tube (1943) - (Short , Documentary)

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