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Handy (Jam) OrganizationBridging San Francisco Bay (ca. 1937)

Building the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Sponsor: U.S. Steel Co.
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Infrastructure: Bridges; San Francisco: Infrastructure; Occupations: Ironworkers

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: buttonman - - July 19, 2008
Subject: I don't like heights!!
I came over with a queezy feeling in my stomach just watching those men clambering about on the superstructure!It must have been a huge boost to industry in those troubles times.

Reviewer: high flow - - July 6, 2008
Subject: Yeah...1937.
You either did dangerous/hard work or your family starved.....US Labor Unions were in their infancy. There were men waiting in line to replace any worker who perished or quit.

So, if you didn't do "foolish" work, they'd fire you're yellow-behind and find a "better" worker.

Different times people. Pray you never face such choices.

Reviewer: jonc - - November 8, 2006
Subject: Work ethic
Dragon05701 - If their work ethic would lead them to die on the job (12 workers killed by your account) I would have to agree with spuzz, they were very foolish.

Reviewer: Dragon05701 - - June 23, 2006
Subject: building the bridge
in reply to spuzz review "foolish men" osha was not established at that time the were brave men who where trying to make a living in hard times.i guess you dont understand the meaning "WORKING FOR A LIVING" OR EARNING YOUR KEEP. this is a great learning video on making a dream come true. true craftmenship-it withstood earthquakes,highwinds,and what ever else mother nature and father time could give- about a dozen men gave their life to build this dream.

Reviewer: Steve Nordby - - May 20, 2004
Subject: Walking on the cyclone fence
US Steel produced this film to brag about their bridge building subsidiaries, and rightly so. If you have crossed a BIG suspension bridge and wondered about how the heck it was built, this film will tell you. An entertaining combination of technical detail and one-of-a-kind footage.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - September 10, 2003
Subject: Bridging San Francisco Bay
This film documents in detail the building of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge. If you love bridges and are fascinated with how they are built, you will probably enjoy this film. If you don't, then you'll probably find it rather dull. There are some mildly interesting scenes of construction workers climbing all over the place without any safety provisions, and U.S. Steel, who sponsored the film, puts in a plug for its products whenever they are used on the bridge. But mostly, this is pretty ordinary.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - February 16, 2003
Subject: Building A Bridge
In this couldve-been-boring-but-it-was-alright short, the Oakland bridge building is profiled. Like the short 'Behind the Bright Lights' it shows foolish men climbing over girders, not wearing any safety equipment at all. Kinda scary. Excellent overview with very oddly primitive, but amazing effective solutions to wiring the structure. A little bit technical for the average joe, but still a fun watch.

Shotlist

The building of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.