“ LADIES WEAR THE BLUE “ 1974 CAREERS FOR WOMEN IN THE U.S. NAVY RECRUITMENT FILM XD52594
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This 1974 U.S. Navy recruitment film looks at the role of women in the Navy. The starting point is the re-commissioning of the USS Sanctuary, a hospital ship that is the first to host an integrated crew of men and women. It goes over the historic roles of women in the Navy in the two World Wars and the Korean War. Then it looks at the changes in the 1960s/1970s that open more roles to women, which includes interviews with women in different roles including several firsts such as first woman in a Navy band Evangeline Bailey, first solo flight Judith Newport, and the first female Admiral Alene Duerk. There is also a short talk by Admiral Zumwalt, the Chief of Naval Operations, after a focus group meeting with Navy women to determine recommendations for better integration approaches. The film was directed by Robert Sibley, written by Nancy Dickerson.
0:07 Title “The US Navy Presents”, 0:45 shots of women in different Navy roles including as pilots, trainees, engineers, assistants, surgeons, custodians, and radio operators, 2:10 Title “Ladies wear the Blue”, 2:28 US Navy Hospital Ship “Sanctuary” shown, 2:56 First woman Admiral Alene Duerk giving an address on the ship, 3:59 historic footage from WW1 including men on a ship and Navy women marching, 4:29 Interview with Joy Hancock, a Navy woman during WW1, 5:27 different shots of Hitler, 5:48 Hancock speaking again, 7:19 Shot from a recruiting film for WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during WW2, 7:38 WAVES manning an air control tower, training pilots, and carrying field orders to pilots, 8:18 Mildred H. McAfee being sworn in as director of the program by Navy Secretary Frank Knox, 8:36 Navy women at Smith College and Hunter College NYC, 9:04 Women celebrating the birthday of the WAVES program with a battleship cake, 9:41 McAfee speaks to a camera, 10:24 women doing different jobs including guarding, clerical work, driving, engineering, and communications, 11:31 women enlist for the Korean war, 12:21 Picture of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing legislation to end discrimination against women, 12:36 Admiral Elmo Zumwalt sitting at a roundtable with Navy women, 13:10 women working in new jobs such as meteorology, aerial photography, instructors at an academy, and as commanding officers, 13:53 series of firsts including first woman as pilot, Chaplin, Air traffic control officer, admiral, 14:37 different shots from the USS Sanctuary, 15:04 Admiral Elmo Zumwalt talking to the camera, 15:34 Duerk talking to the camera, 15:54 Captain Thomas Rogers talking to camera, 16:06 interviews with different Navy men and women, 17:07 women in civilian clothes getting into a car, 17:34 Commanding Officer Recruit Training Command in Orlando, Florida, 17:58 women singing and marching in uniform interjected with footage of initial testing and uniform fitting, 19:20 women completing obstacle course, making their beds, ironing women, polishing shoes, sitting in a classroom, and getting haircuts, 20:43 Navy women marching at the graduation ceremony, 22:32 shots from different Navy postings including Yakosuka, Athens, Holy Loch, and Washington DC, 22:46 interview with a Navy lawyer in D.C., 23:38 Evangeline Bailey, the first female musician in Navy history, singing on stage and giving an interview, 23:57 a plastic surgeon doing surgery and giving an interview, 26:03 nurses working in an ICU, 26:34 woman Navy nurse gives an interview, 27:13 women going through the flight training program, 27:44 T-34 taking off with Judith Anne Newport, completing the first women solo flight in Navy history, 28:10 Newport giving an interview,
Alene Bertha Duerk became the first female admiral in the U.S. Navy in 1972. She was also the director of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps from 1970 to 1975. She is a 1974 recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award of Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit