The Golden Years

Golden Years, The (1960)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Throughout the 1960's we got all sorts of fun shorts warning us about unprotected sex, the harms of drunk driving and even more shorts dealing with troubled teenagers. Then we also got some rather family friendly shorts like this one from Brunswick, which tries to tell us why we should go bowling. The company pushes the new advances in their system including optical lenses, less traffic ball returns and of course the always needed pin setter mask. OK, this film mildly works because of the history behind it; it was nice seeing what bowling lanes looked like back in the day but outside of that this is a complete bust that probably looked worse in 1960 than it does today. The movie is extremely boring and the narrator needed to be a tad bit more interesting considering he was trying to sell this product. And remember, the 60's will be known for its bowling (according to this short).

This is an advertising industrial short from the Brunswick Company promoting their Gold Crown line. It is bowling equipment from the lanes and machinery to the seats and lockers. They are using a nuclear family to showcase every part of the setup. However, this is not some striped down home version of a bowling lane. This is equipment for a full blown bowling alley.

I love the classic designs and the old colors. This is before neon and black lights. I do have to question using a single family and one single bowling lane. It gives off a sense that this is for a single family especially in the beginning when they start off in their home. This is commercial equipment and they should tailor the pitch for old men looking to invest.

This was obviously not made for people to see, or families to buy, but for businesses to purchase. It's one of those corny retro short films they'd make fun of on Mystery Science Theater, but this obviously was sent out for Brunswick Bowling salesman to show owners of alleys to refit their entire alley using their color-coded protects. Basically, coming out in 1960, it was time to change your lanes from 1950's bleak to something to drop acid too... that refers to an animated sequences showing the colors of bowling pins that looks like Yellow Submarine. Great stuff.