Information Program Within Public Shelters
Office of Civil Defense
1963
This film opens to a chaotic and claustrophobic scene. With the camara pulled in tight, a crowd of well dressed men and women mill about in confusion in a public fallout shelter. They are desperate for information and struggling to adjust to a new and unfamiliar environment. Some group together and trade rumors while others withdraw into isolation and refuse to speak. From the edge of the set, a stern narrator emerges, offering advice to calm the situation. Organization, leadership, recreation, training, empathy with fellow shelter occupants. These are the societal tenets which will restore order. All hinge upon an overriding need for information and the quality of a shelter's
information program will have a great effect on the success of the survival effort. When the National Fallout Shelter Program began in late 1961, the Office of Civil Defense employed architects and engineers to traverse the United States, identifying and marking buildings which would qualify as public shelters following an an enemy attack with nuclear weapons. Although this process of building inspection and identification was a federal effort, it would be up to local governments to subsequently staff shelters with trained volunteers. To aid in shelter management training, a series of films was released in 1963, each examining a different aspect of fallout shelter living. True to its title, Information Program in Public Shelters shows the steps necessary to establish a flow of accurate and useful information to shelter occupants.
Perhaps the most defining characteristic of this film is the narrator, portrayed by Chris Bonn, a prolific character actor known for his work in television and commercials. He also found a steady career appearing in civil defense films and hosts Fallout Shelter: What Is It? and Nuclear Detonations: The First 60 Seconds, also portraying a stoic news anchor in Individual and Family Actions on Warning and a radio operator in Manual Damage Assessment. Similarly, a number of the shelter occupants can be seen in other films which use the same shelter set. The shelter manager also appears in Safety Measures in Public Shelters and gruff shelter manager Bill Collins in Public Shelter Organization
and Staff. The woman awaiting news on the fate of her family also appears in Occupying a Public Shelter and Three Reactions to Shelter Life, where she respectively portrays a mother separated from her children and comforting friend to a father separated from his family.
References
1. Index of Army Pictures for Public Non-Profit Use. Department of the Army. May, 1975. P. 34.
2. Index of Army Pictures for Public Non-Profit Use. Department of the Army. May, 1975. P. 34.