{"id":103234,"date":"2026-10-20T02:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T06:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=103234"},"modified":"2026-06-23T21:46:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:46:45","slug":"your-safety-first-1956-automotive-safety-cartoon-that-inspired-the-jetsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/your-safety-first-1956-automotive-safety-cartoon-that-inspired-the-jetsons\/","title":{"rendered":"<em>Your Safety First<\/em> (1956) &#8211; Automotive safety cartoon that inspired <em>The Jetsons<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DxHzj-j8PDM?si=1d8rWUUJuJs9jvtr\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>PeriscopeFilm<\/strong><br \/>\nPublished 23 Jun 2026<\/p>\n<p>This animated film by John Sutherland Productions was commissioned by the National Association of Auto Manufacturers. <em>Your Safety First<\/em> is a promotional piece for 21st Century Cars, told from the perspective of a person in the year 2000 looking back on the history of automobile safety. The cartoon humorously compares the dangerous, early days of cars with the safety-focused, modern vehicles of its time. The cartoon was directed by George Gordon, and animated by Ken O&#8217;Brien, George Cannata, Fred Madison and Cal Dalton. The story was written by Norman Wright. Note: this cartoon has been noted as a precursor to the animated TV series <em>The Jetsons<\/em>, which borrowed heavily on the ideas presented in the cartoon including a three-hour work day, automated flying cars, and robotic arms performing most tasks.<\/p>\n<p>0:00 Main titles. The film&#8217;s host, a man from the year 2000, introduces a segment on the history of the automobile, beginning with an early 20th-century car.<br \/>\n4:47 The film highlights the dangers of early cars, including a lack of doors, frequent flat tires due to poor tire retention rings, and a complete absence of shock absorbers, which made for a very bumpy and unsafe ride.<br \/>\n5:32 Early cars had poor acceleration and weak, unreliable gas or oil headlamps, making night driving hazardous.<br \/>\n5:47 The vehicles offered little protection from the elements, as they lacked tops and windshield wipers.<br \/>\n6:03 The film shows the danger of the hand crank starter, which often failed, and the unpredictable nature of the car&#8217;s individual parts, which could fail without warning, causing accidents.<br \/>\n6:35 The film transitions to the rapid improvements made to cars over the years.<br \/>\n6:42 It lists early safety innovations, such as stronger wheels, demountable rims, doors, tops, windshields, and wipers. The driver&#8217;s seat was moved to the left for safer passing, and the electric starter replaced the hand crank.<br \/>\n7:33 The film continues to show the development of safety features over the decades, including pressed steel wheels, stop lights, rearview mirrors, four-wheel hydraulic brakes, and rubber-covered pedals.<br \/>\n7:51 Safety glass and all-steel bodies and tops are presented as major improvements in passenger protection. Shock absorbers are highlighted for smoothing out bumpy roads.<br \/>\n8:30 The film states that, in addition to physical improvements, manufacturers developed research and testing techniques to build safer cars. It shows various &#8220;torture tests&#8221; designed to find weaknesses in parts.<br \/>\n9:31 Manufacturing processes also improved, with each car undergoing over 2,000 inspections before leaving the factory.<br \/>\n9:48 The film returns to &#8220;Grandpa&#8221; in the year 2000, showcasing his reliable, safe, and comfortable car. It lists a final set of advanced safety and convenience features, including safety door locks, automatic transmission, a low center of gravity for stability, and tubeless tires.<br \/>\n10:46 Modern features like wraparound windshields and larger rear windows increased visibility. Sealed-beam headlamps improved night driving, while power brakes and power steering made driving easier and safer.<br \/>\n11:27 The film concludes by asserting that the safety of the driver was and will continue to be the primary goal of automobile manufacturers. The host, Grandpa himself, states he is &#8220;going on 117&#8221; thanks to the easy, modern living made possible by safe cars.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Motion picture films don&#8217;t last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we&#8217;ve worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies &mdash; including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you&#8217;d like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we&#8217;d love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below.<\/p>\n<p>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 http:\/\/www.PeriscopeFilm.com<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PeriscopeFilm Published 23 Jun 2026 This animated film by John Sutherland Productions was commissioned by the National Association of Auto Manufacturers. Your Safety First is a promotional piece for 21st Century Cars, told from the perspective of a person in the year 2000 looking back on the history of automobile safety. The cartoon humorously compares [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,57,15,13],"tags":[1063,111,262,686,174,45,101],"class_list":["post-103234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-humour","category-technology","category-usa","tag-1950s","tag-cars","tag-culture","tag-futurism","tag-innovation","tag-nostalgia","tag-tv"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-qR4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103235,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103234\/revisions\/103235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}