Noontime Nonsense (1955)

[Music] no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no foreign a fairly common scene you can see it in almost every school community in the country just go to a high school and the chances are pretty good if you get there at the right time but you'll get a first-hand chance to observe some noontime nonsense my regular job is handling these and I get along pretty well the reason I do is because I try to find out what you kids like and then give it to you I guess we disc jockeys have to respect our audiences because we can't fool them to stay in business we have to stay popular and to stay popular we have to stay on the level so I'm going to level with you I'm gonna give you a lecture let's call it an illustrated lecture because after all this is a motion picture and if we can illustrate things to turn a trick well good well in case you're wondering about me well I'll tell you a couple of visitors stopped in after one of my programs and they started talking right down my alley so that's the reason we're here we're making a film which we hope we'll play some little part in preventing this noontime nonsense and we figure with you telling the story maybe some help well first of all as a situation is serious as you make it sound well judge for yourself here are some figures on accidents involving high school students and I don't think we have them all there are other considerations kids who are responsible and decent drivers get blamed for the actions of the shot Riders others get clamped down on by their parents as well as the police get the cars taken away from them derided made fun of just because of the actions of a few show-offs you know these kids you call show-offs and shot Runners help pay my salary I've got to be a little careful about what I do besides I'm afraid I have a little more respect for them than you do so what if a few kids are going through a phase where they're finding wait a minute we're talking about Live Well I'm sorry of course I want to help you only one conditioner you give me the dope on the situation but let me tell it my own words okay that's a deal good it was a deal and before I knew it I was plans Ted first into enough facts and figures to make my head swim I'm going to give it to you straight As One adult to another because when you're behind the wheel of a car you're adults well they may call you kids teenagers whatever but when you're driving you have exactly the same responsibility as the next fellow an age well the only difference there is that the younger you are the longer you have to regret any carelessness [Music] I'm going to give you a case history the story of a high school the story of noontime nonsense at that school let's call it High School X not a very good place to be around noon time at least it wasn't just a few months ago now things are different you don't have to rip your life every time you make a move there's been a change a big change from something that made no sense to something that makes good sense why did it happen what brought it about it wasn't the parents although they might have been tempted to take some kind of action it wasn't the police it was a bit out of their line of duty and it wasn't the school authorities things were bad but not quite bad enough to draw their attention from other vital problems now it wasn't any of these but it could have been and probably would have been just a couple of fellas and girls hadn't started the ball rolling but wait a minute I'm getting ahead of myself let's start at the beginning dangerous isn't it not very safe not very smart either but sometimes it gets you mad this time it got Jerry Lindsay man you know one of these days some side street Sharpshooter isn't gonna miss then we'll see some action oh forget it get nothing new nothing's happened when something does happen it's going to be just a little too late there's nothing you can do about it anyway even if you try why do you want to be a goody goody boy maybe I will be a goody goody boy if that's what you call it maybe I can even straighten things out enough so your folks will let you take your car to school if they think offender has a 50 50 chance of surviving I'm sorry Jerry I guess it's really nothing to kid about but what can you do Jerry decided what he could do and he did it the secretary of the student council was the one to see he could get things done but would he listen Bob I'm worried about myself and my friends being heard or killed sure but what about you what if you would hit Lynn or myself today injured or even killed us how would you be feeling right now look at a thing like that Duty for the rest of your life I think that one only Bob thought about it and did something about it too and at the next meeting of the student council well I don't know what more I can say to you about I don't think you have to say any more Jerry do we need any further discussion Mr Stewart would you like to comment on this yes I would as your faculty advisor I've been quite concerned about this noontime nonsense I haven't said anything to you before this because I've been anticipating that you would take action but the only way this problem will be solved is through your realization of the seriousness of the problem and your own willingness to take action well Jerry put the problem before the council and the council put the problem before all other business at high school X it was the student council that got the ball rolling at other schools a club or a similar group took over the job where there was no group one was formed to tackle the task in any event all these groups had to take the same basic steps that of farming committees the research committee had the first job they talked to the police check newspapers from all over the country got literature from their public library and the national Safety Council as well as the local Safety Council in addition the Public Relations Committee was formed to awaken and keep student interest in the problem and an Activities Committee to put in operation any program that the group might decide upon it's three weeks now since our last meeting and I believe the research group has something to report it had plenty to report and before the meeting was over the council had a pretty good idea of what steps had been taken to solve the problem elsewhere one of the most common things they found was registration of all cars brought to school safety lanes were set up cars were checked for safety shops were set up where students could fix their own cars student courts were set up to enforce regulations staggered lunch hours helped to prevent some joyriding it's true not everything works but there were some things that really seemed to work when it came to keeping noontime driving down to a minimum some schools showed movies there were dances ping pong tournaments discussion groups and other recreational activities this is it then one a recreation program at noon with movies or dancing two special permits required for all cars driven during the noon hour three Safety Lane inspection with safety stickers required for all cars 4. auto shop instruction for car maintenance 5. Review Committee six and plenty of promotion okay kids let's go to work and work they did hard but first they had to recruit help from other fellows and girls or a plan that's going to help everyone needs help from almost everyone to put it over this support wasn't hard to get though because there were plenty of students who felt like Jerry now they were glad to get the chance to do something about it movies were obtained through school authorities and shown at noon on other days dances were held in the gym as part of the noontime Recreation program some of the sellers and girls found their surprise that gliding to good music on rubber heels beats screeching around sharp turns on rubber Wheels by visiting local garages and City Testing Lanes students found out proper procedure for setting up a safety inspection Lane in the school parking lot and did so with the cooperation of the police department cars didn't just get safety stickers they had to earn it when a car was judged safe it got a sticker no car without a safety sticker could be brought to school and the driver had to have a pretty good reason for doing so but to drive at noon required a special permit it became pretty tough for careless drivers to flaunt the safety rules the auto shop was a big success it gave many fellows a chance to learn more about their cars Mr Stewart on the basis of his past experience was selected to teach the class and driving I thought who has the right away as you put it Mr Stewart whenever there's any doubt always give it to the other fellow oh sure there were still some offenders but a student Review Committee was formed and in those few cases where repeated warnings failed to bring the proper results members of The Faculty willingly cooperated now if you have to show off there are ways of doing it other than peeling and Wheeling around the parking lots and streets during noon time now we're going to suspend your driving permit for three weeks but if this happens again we'll have to revoke it for the remainder of the school year the plan got lots of promotion too how's this for next week up to your usual standard Janie student paper and even the local Town newspapers kept getting material which kept enthusiasm and the noontime driving program had a high pitch whether it was a headline or an editorial hardly a day passed without some reference to the death of noontime nonsense hi Jay hi do you want to ride home from school who is me in what my folks card they let you take it to school well it's a snitch now [Music] and that's the story of high school X the story of how the noontime nonsense problem was solved there I know there are probably many other ways of solving the same problem but the important thing is that it must be done let's think about it and remember that it doesn't take much to save a lot of lives and save a lot of injuries just a few fellows and girls will a little determination you know I have a little selfish interest in this too competition between us disc jockeys nowadays is getting pretty rough and to keep my audience I want to make sure that it stays alive and healthy thanks