The Educational Playground 1922 (12:34)

The social control of children was a growing concern in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This film opens with young children playing on the sidewalk, unsupervised. To ensure a healthy environment and avoid “criminal propensities” in school age children, several playgrounds and recreation centers are funded by a private philanthropist. Children are supervised and engage in various activities, receiving instruction in various crafts, skills and games, organized by age and gender. Folk dancing is judged appropriate for the girls, where they develop “rhythm and grace”. So too is weaving and sewing. Boys engage in more boisterous and competitive games such as “blindfold boxing”. As the film explains, British children take to these games “instinctively”. Those with foreign parentage develop a love of sport, fair play and manliness, “which mean so much to a country”. Over a million children had participated in the program in the decade ending in 1921.

Library and Archives Canada Item Number ISN 192038

Film editing by Annie Slotnick. Musical direction by Ewen Farncombe. Songs:

The World is Waiting for The Sunrise - Isham Jones Orchestra -composition: Lockhardt; Seitz (1922)

Nobody Lied - Majestic Dance Orchestra -Arthur Hall-composition: Norman; Weber (1922)

Bees’ Knees - Ted Lewis and His Band -composition: Lopez & Lewis (1922)