The title screen from the film.

Duck and Cover was a short educational film produced in 1951 by the United States federal government's Civil Defense branch shortly after the Soviet Union began nuclear testing. Written by Raymond J. Mauer and directed by Anthony Rizzo of Archer Productions and made with the help of schoolchildren from New York City and Astoria, New York, it was shown in schools as the cornerstone of the government's "duck and cover" public awareness campaign. The movie states that nuclear war could happen at any time without warning, and for U.S. citizens to keep this constantly in mind and be ever ready. File links The following pages link to this file: Duck and Cover (film) Categories: Public domain images ... File links The following pages link to this file: Duck and Cover (film) Categories: Public domain images ... Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The old United States civil defense logo. ... Preparation for an underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site in the 1980s. ... Anthony Rizzo (1951). ... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Astoria, New York is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of Queens, New York. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... Duck and Cover was a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear detonation which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the late 1940s into the 1980s. ... Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1966. ... // Possession of citizenship U.S. citizens have the right to participate in the political system of the United States (with most U.S. states having restrictions for felons, and federal restrictions on naturalized persons), are represented and protected abroad by the United States (through U.S. embassies and consulates), and...

Summary

A Duck and Cover movie poster

The film starts with an animated sequence, showing an anthropomorphic turtle walking down the road. A chorus sings the Duck and Cover theme: This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn) film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot (even if it is a very short one). ... Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. ... Suborders Cryptodira Pleurodira See text for families. ... A choir or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. ...

There was a turtle by the name of Bert
and Bert the turtle was very alert;
when danger threatened him he never got hurt
he knew just what to do...
He ducked! [inhalation sound]
And covered!
Ducked! [inhalation sound]
And covered! (male) He did what we all must learn to do'
(male) You (female) And you (male) And you (male) And you!'
[bang, inhalation sound] Duck, and cover!'

While this goes on, Bert is attacked by an apparent suicide bomber, a monkey holding a string from which hangs a lighted firecracker. Bert ducks into his shell in the nick of time, as the firecracker goes off and blows up both the monkey and the tree in which he is sitting. Bert, however, is shown perfectly safe, because he has ducked and covered. A suicide attack is an attack in which the attacker or attackers intend to kill others and intend to die in the process (see suicide). ... For other uses, see Monkey (disambiguation). ... A firecracker (also known as a cracker, noisemaker, or banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang; any visual effect is incidental to this goal. ...

The film, which is about 10 minutes long, then switches to live footage, as a narrator explains what children should do "when you see the flash" of an atomic bomb. The movie goes on to suggest that by ducking down low in the event of a nuclear explosion, the children would be safer than they would be standing, and explains some basic survival tactics for nuclear war. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... It has been suggested that Nuclear explosive be merged into this article or section. ...

The US government contracted with Archer to produce Duck and Cover [1], and the film is now in the public domain. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

Purpose

After nuclear weapons were developed (the first having been developed during the Manhattan Project during World War II), it was realized what kind of danger they posed. The United States held a nuclear monopoly from the end of the World War II until 1949, when the Soviets detonated their first nuclear device. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... The Manhattan Project resulted in the development of the first nuclear weapons, and the first-ever nuclear detonation, at the Trinity test of July 16, 1945. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

This signaled the beginning of the nuclear stage of the Cold War, and as a result, strategies for survival were thought out. Fallout shelters, both private and public, were built, but the government still viewed it as necessary to explain to citizens both the danger of the atomic (and later, hydrogen) bombs, and to give them some sort of training so that they would be prepared to act in the event of a nuclear strike. The Cold War was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. ... A sign pointing to an old fallout shelter in New York City. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... Nuclear war, or atomic war, is war in which nuclear weapons are used. ...

The solution was the duck and cover campaign, of which Duck and Cover was an integral part. Shelters were built, drills were held in towns and schools, and the film was shown to schoolchildren. According to the United States Library of Congress (which declared the film "historically significant" and inducted it for preservation into the National Film Registry in 2004), it "was seen by millions of schoolchildren in the 1950s." The Great Hall interior. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

Controversy

Contemporary criticism to "Duck and Cover" on the press (1952).

There is controversy regarding the actual usefulness of the film. Since it has no counterpart in any other country (although Protect and Survive is somewhat similar), it is sometimes regarded as being a Red scare political tool, to make children frightened of the Soviet Union and communism. Also questioned is the film's scientific accuracy; whether or not the tactics shown in the film (such as ducking into a doorway, putting a newspaper over your head* and even just throwing yourself facedown on the ground) would actually work. Image File history File links Lea_headline. ... Image File history File links Lea_headline. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The front cover text reads: This booklet tells you how to make your home and your family as safe as possible under nuclear attack. Protect and Survive was the title of a series of booklets and a Public information film series produced by the British government during the late 1970s... Political cartoon of the era depicting an anarchist attempting to destroy the Statue of Liberty. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, including the formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. ... This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ...

Also, some critics claim that the scene starting at 1:32 and ending at 1:39 is racist as the control voice says, "We all know that the atomic bomb is very dangerous since it may be used against us we must get ready for it, just as we are ready for many other dangers that are around us all the time" while the camera is centered on a black student in the class. As the film was made in 1951 the critics' claim is possible as the civil rights movement was merely just beginning and the pre-civil rights racialist era and culture was still very much alive. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations[1]. Sometimes racialism refers merely to the somewhat less controversial belief in the existence and significance of racial categories. ...

*Consider this example: a newspaper would, at least in theory, block alpha radiation, provide some shielding from the heat (IR, visible and UV) radiation and small debris, it would do nothing for the beta (Aluminium foil would block the beta) and gamma radiation or on the shockwave, that would accompany an atomic detonation. Introduction The shock wave is one of several different ways in which a gas in a supersonic flow can be compressed. ...

In United States culture

South Park parody of Duck and Cover.

Although duck-and-cover drills are no longer held in United States schools and most fallout shelters have been closed down or abandoned, Duck and Cover, which was shown to an entire generation of children, is referenced in television shows and movies, usually for the comedic effect of giving children ridiculously useless advice. The Duck and Cover film is considered an example of high camp. Image File history File links DCSP.JPG South Park parody of Duck and Cover (film). ... Image File history File links DCSP.JPG South Park parody of Duck and Cover (film). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value. ...

• The Criterion Collection's laserdisc of Dr. Strangelove has the Duck and Cover short as part of the supplements, which also have other Civil Defense media to give the film historical perspective.
• In an episode of Quantum Leap titled Nuclear Family, the children watch Duck and Cover and Sam comments on the method's futility.
• In The Atomic Cafe, Duck and Cover footage is used.
• In The Iron Giant, Hogarth Hughes and his classmates in the year 1957 watch a film clearly inspired by Duck and Cover; it features groundhogs who, like Bert the Turtle, are wearing Civil Defense helmets. Later on in the film, when a nuclear missile is headed for the town, Mansley suggests "We can duck and cover!" (to which General Rogard responds, "There's no way to survive this, you idiot!").
• In an Atom Ant music video on Cartoon Network, some audio clips from Duck and Cover, such as "We must all get ready, now" are used.
• In the episode Volcano of the television show South Park, a volcano erupts and the townspeople are shown a Duck and Cover, in which they are instructed to duck and cover, allowing lava to pass "safely" over them.
• In the English translation of Issue No. 66 of the Love Hina manga (which is in Volume 8), Keitaro Urashima and Naru Narusegawa are on Pararakelse, island of a lost turtle-worshiping civilization. After a freak rocket attack (which they survive), Keitaro says: "Sheesh! It's a good thing we remembered to duck and cover!" The same volume also contains references to South Park, James Bond and Shaft; it is unlikely any of these appeared in the Japanese version.
• After Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge announced his plan for national security based on duct tape and plastic sheeting, a Flash movie entitled Duct Tape and Cover was made, spoofing the whole idea. The monkey in this movie is Osama bin Laden.
• In Army Men II: Sarge's Heroes, if the 'armageddon' cheat is used, the area the user's screen is over is carpet-bombed. As this happens, the message "Duck and cover!" scrolls across the top of the screen.

Bert the Turtle

• There is a movie called Tuck and Cover.
• The Disaster Labs comedy site has a parody of the film using the original audio and sprites from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game EarthBound.
• In Snow Dogs, at one point the dentist, trying to remember what commands to give the sled dogs to turn, tries "duck and cover".
• In Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, the introductory movie to the first mission of the Soviet campaign shows (the fictional) Premier Romanov referring to a children's film about a tortoise that "ducks and covers" when he sees Russian missiles. Romanov declares that the purpose of the film is to teach American children to fear the Soviet Union.
• In "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for Christmas At Ground Zero, there is a short clip of Bert the Turtle retreating into his shell. The video also culls material from various nuclear safety films as well. The song itself uses the line "I'll duck and cover with my Yuletide lover".
• In The Simpsons episode "Homer Defined," Homer's inattentiveness results in a near-meltdown at the plant, resulting in an emergency throughout Springfield. At school, the students are huddled beneath their desks while Principal Skinner comments, "They called me old-fashioned for teaching the duck-and-cover method, but who's laughing now!"
• In one episode of Michael Moore's show The Awful Truth, around the time period when India and Pakistan intended to develop Nuclear weapons and become nuclear powers, Michael performs a Satire of the "Duck and Cover" video in which he shows it to the Indian and Pakistani ambassadors to teach them about the "Duck and Cover" technique.
• A Duck and Cover clip appears in the final episode of the 2005 season of the Canadian television show ZeD.
• Madison, WI, radio station WMMM (105-5 Triple M) uses a portion of the Duck and Cover narration in its header announcement for the Emergency Alert System test.

The Criterion Collection is a privately held company which produces and releases authorative consumer versions of important classic and contemporary films on DVD. It was established in 1984 as a joint venture between Janus Films and the Voyager Company. ... Pioneers LaserDisc Logo Laserdisc certification mark The laserdisc (LD) was the first commercial optical disc storage medium, and is used primarily for the presentation of movies. ... Strangelove redirects here. ... Quantum Leap is a science fiction television series that ran for 97 episodes from March 1989 to May 1993 on NBC. It follows the adventures of Dr. Samuel Beckett (played by Scott Bakula), a brilliant scientist who after researching time-travel, and doing experiments in something he calls The Imaging... The Atomic Café is an acclaimed documentary film created from a broad range of archival of film from the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s - including newsreel clips, television news footage, U.S. government-produced films (including military training films), advertisements, television and radio programs. ... The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated science fiction film, directed by Brad Bird, produced by Warner Bros. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Binomial name Marmota monax (Linnaeus, 1758) The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as the woodchuck, land beaver, or the whistlepig, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. ... The old United States civil defense logo. ... Picture of Atom Ant Atom Ant is a cartoon ant and superhero, created by Hanna-Barbera in 1965. ... A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... Cartoon Network is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. ... The crew ready to go hunting. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Volcano 1. ... Look up lava, Aa, pahoehoe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Love Hina ) is a manga (and anime) series by author Ken Akamatsu. ... 2nd English edition of InuYasha Vol. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond 007 is a fictional British agent (the Bond character is usually referred to as a spy, but was actually a counter-agent and professional killer) created by writer Ian Fleming in 1952. ... DVD cover Shaft is a 1971 blaxploitation film which tells the story of a detective, John Shaft, who travels through Harlem and to the Italian mob in order to find the missing daughter of a black mobster. ... The United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the American homeland and the safety of American citizens. ... Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is a U.S. political figure who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives (1983–1995), Governor of Pennsylvania (1995 – 2001), Assistant to the President for Homeland Security (2001–2003), and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security... The duct tape alert refers to the recommendations made by the Department of Homeland Security on February 10, 2003, that Americans should prepare for a biological, chemical, or radiological terrorist attack by assembling a disaster supply kit, including duct tape and plastic, among other items. ... Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ... A piece of transparent duct tape, left, and of silver duct tape, right. ... // == Macromedia Flash == ==]] Using Macromedia Flash 8 (bundled in Studio 8) in Windows XP. Maintainer: Adobe Systems (formerly Macromedia) Latest release: 8 / September 30th, 2005 OS: Windows (no native Windows XP Professional x64 Edition support), Mac OS X, Linux (i386 only, via wine [1]) Use: Multimedia Content Creator License: Proprietary Website... Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden (Arabic: ‎; born March 10, 1957 [1]), most commonly known as Osama bin Laden is a militant Islamist and one of the founders of al-Qaeda. ... Look up Armageddon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The phrase carpet bombing refers to the use of large numbers of unguided gravity bombs, often with a high proportion of incendiary bombs, to attempt the complete destruction of a target region, either to destroy personnel and materiel, or as a means to demoralize the enemy (see terror bombing). ... This work is copyrighted. ... Parody of Back to the Future In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... EarthBound (Japanese: MOTHER 2 ギーグの逆襲 Māzā Tsū Gīgu no Gyakushū Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back) is a role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. ... Snow Dogs is a 2002 live-action movie, released by Walt Disney Pictures, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. ... Sled dogs, known also as sleigh dogs, sledge dogs or sleddogs are dogs that are used to pull a wheel-less vehicle on runners (a sled or sleigh) over snow or ice, by means of harnesses and lines. ... Command & Conquer: Red Alert and its sequels are computer games by Westwood Studios, spun off from the Command & Conquer series. ... Alfred Matthew Yankovic (IPA pronunciation: ; last syllable rhymes with stick) was born on October 23, 1959 in Downey, California. ... Nuclear fireball World War III is the name given to a hypothetical world war that would be fought after World War II. Most usages of the term include the use of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons. ... Nuclear safety is a term which underscores and understates the danger implicit in the use of nuclear materials, and may be used to describe measures taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Homer Defined is the fifth episode of The Simpsons third season. ... In the television series The Simpsons, the Springfield Elementary School is the school which Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson and their fellow students attend. ... Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American political-activist, a film director, author, social commentator, and political humorist. ... The Awful Truth (1999-2000) was the name of a satirical television show which was directed, written, and hosted by the American film maker Michael Moore, and funded by the British broadcaster Channel 4. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... There are currently five nations considered to be nuclear weapons nations, an internationally recognized status conferred by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). ... The World According To Ronald Reagan, a satirical map by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey Satire is a technique used in drama and the performing arts, fiction, journalism, and occasionally in poetry and the graphic arts. ... For other uses, see Ambassador (disambiguation). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ZeD was a Canadian television series which billed itself as open-source television. Developed by Emmy-nominated executive producer/new media developer McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves, the series premiered in March 2002. ... The Emergency Alert System (EAS), is a national system in the U.S. put into place in 1994, superseding the Emergency Broadcast System and is jointly administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), FEMA, and the National Weather Service. ...

See also

• Duck and cover, for further discussion of this method of self-defense.
• Protect and Survive, a British information film on the same topic.

Duck and Cover was a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear detonation which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the late 1940s into the 1980s. ... The front cover text reads: This booklet tells you how to make your home and your family as safe as possible under nuclear attack. Protect and Survive was the title of a series of booklets and a Public information film series produced by the British government during the late 1970s...

References

• Duck and Cover. Prod. Archer Productions, Inc. Dist. United States Federal Civil Defense Administration. 1951.
• "Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry". United States Library of Congress, 28 December 2004.

The Great Hall interior. ...

External links

• Program Details for Duck and Cover, available for download from the Prelinger Archive at archive.org.
• Duck and Cover (1951) at the Internet Movie Database
• CONELRAD's massive article detailing the full production history and initial respone to this film
• Watch the film on Google Video