NFR Project: 'Let's All Go to the Lobby' (1957)

 

NFR Project: “Let’s All Go to the Lobby” aka Technicolor Refreshment Trailer #1

Dir: Dave Fleischer

Premiere: 1957

40 sec.

A cute little entry! This animated film short, known in the industry as a “snipe,” is one of the most ubiquitous in American cinema history. It’s a little commercial that encourages audience members to buy movie-house concessions in between films (yes, they had something called a “double feature” back then, and you stayed for both movies).

It is notorious that cinemas make the bulk of their money off the sale of candy, soda, and other treats. Stimulating purchases was the thrust of this snipe – it’s a basic, crudely animated appeal to viewers. Supposedly, this animation was made by Dave Fleischer, who with his brother Max ran Fleischer Studios from 1929 to 1942. Fleischer Studios was Disney’s primary competitor.

The animation is flat and uninspired, the only Fleischer touch being seen in the brief animation of popcorn popping. We are shown a conga line of treats exhorting us to buy them; a family gathers round and enjoys the items they’ve purchased. A catchy little ditty punctuates the action, based on the old song “The Bear Went over the Mountain”:

Let’s all go to the lobby

Let’s all go to the lobby

Let’s all go to the lobby

And get ourselves a treat!

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Old Yeller.