Minnesota: 'Land of Plenty'

"More than half of Minnesotans" Mr. Fitzpatrick informs us in his doggedly monotonous voice, "Live on farms devoted to agricultural production." This is as opposed to those people who live on farms devoted to some other purpose, one supposes, like converting old brass bedsteads into cloche hats.

Still, one does not look at these Fitzpatrick Traveltalks for their refined sense of rhetorical precision. They are, basically, the professional equivalent of those home vacation movies that your parents -- well, my parents, anyway -- took on vacations and showed to guests on the home screen when they wanted those guests to leave. Almost always worked, too.

This makes it clear that these Traveltalks were intended as chasers -- something to get the audience out after a program of a feature, cartoons, selected short subjects and newsreels, instead of waiting around for the next show. You looked at these Traveltalks, combining some beautiful Technicolor scenery with Mr. Fitzpatrick's peppy drivel, then the lights came up and you awoke thinking "Hey! Maybe I should drive to Minnesota!" Then you remembered that gasoline and rubber for tires were rationed and thought "Well, maybe after the war is over."

Some pretty pictures, though. Better than the ones my parents took.