In an educational film from 1969 called "Case Study LSD," a pretty blonde is seen partaking in the hallucinogenic drug as groovy psychedelic effects distort the picture. "I was pretty jacked up on marijuana and so I decided to try it," she says in voiceover. Later, she wanders out to buy a hot dog that somehow takes on human qualities and "started telling me I couldn't eat him, and he had a wife and seven kids at home to support."

The film, along with several others from the '40s, '50s and '60s, screens Saturday at Facets as part of EduPalooza: The Educational & Industrial Film Festival, organized by Facets staffer Lew Ojeda, who has pulled selections made by Coronet Films and Encyclopedia Britannica Films.

Both production companies were based in Chicago during the mid-20th century, and according to some sources, "Chicago made more film stock than Hollywood did," said Ojeda. "I can believe it because these companies churned out an enormous amount of films because they were strictly a money-making enterprise. They sold them to school districts as quickly as possible."

More than half a century later, the films are hilariously kitschy remnants of an era that seems thickheaded in hindsight, when children apparently needed a classroom film to learn how to shampoo their hair and clean under their fingernails.

The types of educational films most people are familiar with — what Ojeda called the "happy-go-lucky films with the happy narrator and music" — were the brainchild of David Smart, who originated what would become the standard format. (The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago is named for both Smart and his brother Alfred.)

As the co-founder of Esquire magazine, Smart "knew about trend-setting," Ojeda said, "so when he decided to create Coronet Films in 1938, he was way ahead of the curve. A lot of people criticized him, saying this wasn't a good investment, but about seven years later there was a huge demand for educational films, and he was ready."

By the '40s, Smart had built a studio in Glenview. "It was actually his house, which he converted into a studio that could produce several films at once. He had an enormous amount of output between 1945 and the time he died in '52. He would make these films in different parts of his house and different parts of his property. And the film crews were literally tripping over each other because they were making several films at once. He was incredibly prolific that way."

The films made by Coronet were upbeat problem-solvers. "For instance, a child would have a particular problem. He doesn't wash his hands or know lunchroom manners. So he thinks over the problem with the guidance of a narrator and by the end the problem is completely solved and everyone is happy," said Ojeda.

It was Smart — not the school districts— who decided which topics to focus on. "He and the other film producers who made these films, they never really took inventory as to what trends there were out there. The schools never reported and said, 'Hey, we need films on grooming.' They just sent them out there and the schools used them."

Smart's main rival for business was William Benton's Encyclopedia Britannica Films (based out of Wilmette), which tended to be drier.

"They really wanted to get away from the idea of Hollywood," according to Ojeda. "They would make films about more esoteric things, for instance 'Despotism' was one of their titles, talking about the benefits of democracy. Or they made films about economics, or how to do sewing and things of that nature."

Other films in Saturday's lineup include "Boys Beware" from 1961. "That's one of the many stranger-danger films that came out," said Ojeda. "Today it's one of the films that's used by gay rights activists to prove that there were very strong anti-gay sentiments being taught to children. The film never refers to the men as pedophiles, they're referred to as homosexuals who are sick in the mind."

Also on tap: "The Flintstones Sell Busch Beer," a motivational sales film from 1967, and "Grill Skills," a Wendy's training video from 1989.

EduPalooza: The Educational & Industrial Film Festival screens midnight Saturday at Facets Multimedia. For more info go to facets.org.

Invaders!

The 1980s video game "Space Invaders" — memories of playing it on a Commodore 64, anyone? — will get the big-screen adaptation from Chicago-based producer Gigi Pritzker ("Rabbit Hole") and Lorenzo di Bonaventura (a producer for all three movies in the "Transformers" franchise). The next big release from Pritzker's Odd Lot Entertainment is "Drive," a thriller starring Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt performer. The movie hits theaters in September.

A talker talks

Fran Lebowitz may be notorious for her decades-long case of writer's block, but she is never at a loss for words. In the documentary "Public Speaking" (which premiered on HBO last year), Martin Scorsese captures the raconteur in fine form — witty, smart as a whip and completely without self-doubt. A must-see. The doc screens this week through Thursday at the Siskel Film Center. For more info go to siskelfilmcenter.org.

Climate change

Filmmaker Peter Byck takes a look at the various clean-energy sources that might eventually replace our current reliance on fossil fuels in the documentary "Carbon Nation," which screens Friday at Chicago Filmmakers. For more info go to chicagofilmmakers.org.

nmetz@tribune.com

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