Are you ape for fake snake? If so, today's film from Hagley Library's collection of William Henry Radebaugh films and scripts (Accession 1975.412) is for you.
Radebaugh (1909-1996), was a public relations executive at the DuPont Company for over twenty years. He wrote, produced and directed many films about the company during his tenure there and for several years after his retirement.
Radebaugh began his career in public relations and in 1942, founded and was executive director of, the South Jersey Manufacturer’s Association in Camden, New Jersey. Radebaugh then took a position at the DuPont Company as a public relations consultant in 1952. He later became the Director of Public Relations for the Textile Fibers Department.
After retiring from his career in public relations with the DuPont Company in 1974, he went on to produce more films for DuPont with two former colleagues who had started the production company, Arden Films. Radebaugh was also an accomplished musician, having played with Jimmie and Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, and Jack and Charlie Teagarden. He was also an artist, working in needlepoint, watercolors, and printmaking.
Some of the films in this collection, like this example from 1970, consist of reels of short news segments about different products, plants, and services of the DuPont Company.
Several of the films in this collection are concerned about safety in the plants and in the use of DuPont products. There are also films about specific DuPont plants and laboratories including the Haskell Laboratory, the Spruance plant in Richmond, Va.; the Tecumseh plant in Tecumseh, Kansas, the Washington plant in Washington, West Virginia and the twenty fifth anniversary of the Victoria, Texas plant.
To view more material from this collection online now, click here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.