Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: Match Your Mood

The ‘60s were, well, the ‘60s.

The times, they are a-changin,’ sang some fellow through his nose. Certainly no one would mistake the pop culture clichés of 1969 with those of 1959. And certainly, ad agency execs who, at one time, liked Ike suddenly had to switch gears and be With It.

It meant advertising reflected kind of an ersatz, watered-down version of the late ‘60s. After all, ad agency salesmen were never really With It.

But that isn’t necessarily a bummer.

Here’s a fun example of something made in the late ‘60s that borrows chunks of the culture to try to appeal to the Flower Power generation.

Match Your Mood is a plotless industrial film made for Westinghouse by Jam Handy out of Detroit. It opens with a model in a mod outfit making her through the woods, flouncing her hair, on her way to feed some Canada geese in a placid lake.

But what does it all mean? What are the geese? Are they geese? Are they representative of America’s neighbours to the north, a placid nation while America is ripped in two by the turmoil of assassinations, student unrest and the Vietnam War?

Yes, reading something profound into nothing was the ‘60s.

Anyway, the film switches to still photos of furniture and decorations around the kitchen and living room. Anyone growing up back then will recognise walnut panelling and rattan furniture.

But around half-way through, we see a pair of scissors. We hear guitars and a Hammond organ. People are groovin’ to cut-out, hip panels that seem to be pasted on refrigerators, cupboards and FAR OUT! There are fireworks and a fold-out Hallowe’en pumpkin and FAR OUT AGAIN! There’s a really bad cut in the soundtrack and it’s New Years’ Eve. Some guy in a green jacket is dancing like Jerry Lewis. Psychedelic!

The camera closes in on a logo. The music ends. A woman’s voice says “Westinghouse. The complete refrigerator. Compare.”

What? This is a refrigerator commercial? What about the teapot? And the Sherlock Holmes hat? And those geese?

And, again, we’re left to ask “What does it all mean?”

Actually, there’s only one reason I’m posting it, and it’s not to make fun of the ‘60s. I was listening to the soundtrack of this short and kept thinking “I know this music.” Then it dawned on me. Spiderman!!

Jam Handy leased Johnny Hawksworth cues from the KPM library that were heard on the last, weird season of the Spiderman cartoons on ABC (1969). There are huge fans of the cartoons and the library that will be able to name every single cue. I can’t, but I know the last one is “The Eyelash.”