Meeting the Needs of Adolescence

Rohama Lee, "Pictures Are Made By People. . .," Film News (September 1953): 16.

"The ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT SERIES, featured on our cover this month, wsa [sic] made by real people, in more aspects than one.
The 15 principal characters of the series are all of them Fayetteville (N. Y. State) High School students who gave up vacation trips and camps this past summer, to work at being their age for the screen. Some of the adult characters are New York actors and actresses, but the majority are played by Fayetteville folk, whose friendly cooperation made it possible to complete the exterior work on the entire series in just eight weeks. Then the featured young players were flown, with school-appointed chaperones, to Canada for the making of the interior scenes; and Canadian high school boys and girls, Canadian fathers and mothers worked with the Fayetteville group. This was done in the studios, at Ottawa, of Crawley Films Limited - appropriately in the same chronological category as its subject, the company having celebrated its 15th birthday only recently. . . . And here we must speak of people again; for the Crawley company, before hiring even the most gifted of film workers, first finds out how he will 'fit in with the crowd.' This is because Crawley Films Limited started as a family affair - with the husband-wife team of Judith and Budge Crawley, then with the addition of the related Sparks and the Crabtrees. Thriving on loyalty, team spirit and a sense of purpose, the company grew and expanded until now it is numbered among the 15 foremost producers on the North American continent. Its staff of 65 has become an international one that includes eight from England, three from the United States, three from Poland, two Chinese, an Irishman, a German and a Hollander. But wisely - and shrewdly too, for its principals know from whence cometh their strength - Crawley Films Limited is a family affair still, in atmosphere, if no longer in actuality. This family atmosphere gets into its pictures and makes them live - especially when they are about children or young people, in portrayal of whom the Crawleys excel. It is because of this unique quality in the area of child guidance that McGraw-Hill Text-Films of New York City chose the Canadian production company for translation of the Elizabeth Hurlock textbook, Adolescent Development, into screen terms. Judith Sparks Crawley, a four-time mother as well as an excellent writer, prepared the carefully written scripts. Producer-director George Gorman, a member of the company family long enough to represent its spirit truly, is responsible for the clear presentation and natural acting that distinguish this picture gallery of the problems, interests and activities of teen-age boys and girls in the Western culture communities of the U.S.A., and Canada."

Dr. Marjorie B. Smiley, "Adolescent Development Series," Film News (September 1953): 16-17.

"McGraw-Hill Book Publishing Company, through its Text-Film Department, has made a valuable addition to its library of educational films with its new series, ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT. The five motion pictures in this series, intended to accompany Elizabeth Hurlock's textbook for college classes, is in fact equally useful for adult groups of parents and teachers. Two of the five (PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF PUBERTY, and SOCIAL-SEX ATTITUDES IN ADOLESCENCE) might also be profitably used with adolescents themselves.
In all of these films young people and adults are lifelike, attractive without being in any way glamorized, and the dialogue has an appealingly familiar ring. The structural variety in the series - a 'story' sequence, a family study, episodic variations on a common theme - is a decided asset if more than one of the films is to be used. The series as a whole is indeed an excellent one, even though - like an earlier and similar series on child development - the individual films are somewhat uneven.
The most obvious weakness is an occasional overloading of concepts in a single film (as in THE MEANING OF ADOLESCENCE) and some repetition from one film to another (again in MEANING OF ADOLESCENCE; and further, in MEETING THE NEEDS OF ADOLESCENTS). The first of these weaknesses is not serious if the films are used in a course and specifically correlated with the text. Under these circumstances the number of concepts presented need not lead to confusion, since viewers would have encountered these previously in their reading. For lay audiences, however, a film that presents a number of different concepts within the limits of a 16 or 22 minute period presents more ideas and raises more questions than can be adequately explored in a single meeting.
It might also be pointed out that it is difficult to remember and to work with such ponderous titles as SOCIAL-SEX ATTITUDES IN ADOLESCENCE. We are wondering too if the presence of the word 'sex' does not limit the use of even as fine a film as this one, with certain audiences.
The strength of the films lies in their emphasis on the individual variations found among 'normal' adolescents. Particularly notable in this respect are AGE OF TURMOIL which portrays the varied behavior, problems and needs of six early adolescents; and MEETING THE NEEDS OF ADOLESCENTS which deals with a brother and an older sister, each a distinctive personality. Teachers and adult discussion leaders will also appreciate the way in which these motion pictures guard against the tendency toward over-generalization that can so easily come out of films that show only a single 'case'."

"Meeting the Needs of Adolescents," Film News (September 1953): 17.

"In this instance the same five aspects of adolescent development are dealt with as in the series' first film, (THE MEANING OF ADOLESCENCE), but the emphasis is on the experiences of a brother and a sister, 14 and 17 respectively, that make for satisfactory growth. The family picture is a thouroughly engaging one, showing Janet and Tom's parents, their acceptance of each child, their recognition of Janet's need for independence and support in her early experiences with boys, their respect for Tom's efforts to think things through in his own way. Teachers viewing the film will note the suggestion that the school, by providing opportunities for student planning, free discussion and individual projects, can contribute to the adolescent's need for mental challenge and self-directed mental endeavor. Parents, and adolescents too, will undoubtedly find this film provocative, and rich in constructive suggestions. THE ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT series is well concluded on this note of MEETING THE NEEDS OF ADOLESCENTS. (19 mins., sale $95)
Produced by Crawley Films Ltd., Ottawa, Canada, for McGraw-Hill Text-Film Department, 330 W. 42nd St., N.Y. 36. Available for sale singly, or in a package with accompanying filmstrips ($450) from McGraw-Hill, New York City, and Toronto (Canada). For rentals, inquire N.Y.U. Film Library, 26 Washington Place, N.Y. 3."

Dr. Marjorie Smiley and Rohama Lee, "Adolescent Development Series," Film News (September 1953): 17.

[Still shot of youth working on a house, from Meeting the Needs of Adolescents; caption reads:] ". . .'They need opportunity to work naturally together'. . . from MEETING THE NEEDS OF ADOLESCENTS."

"Guidance Films Enrich Long Island U. Institute," Film News 18, no.1 (October 1960): 10.

"For guidance toward understanding the psycho-social development of the Able Adolescent, the following films were used to present the conflicts and uncertainties involved in the social, emotional, mental and physical changes which occur in the transition from childhood to adulthood, especially in the life of the gifted child: AGE OF TURMOIL, MEANING OF ADOLESCENCE, FAREWELL TO CHILDHOOD, HUMAN GROWTH, PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF PUBERTY, SOCIAL-SEX ATTITUDES IN ADOLESCENCE, MEETING THE NEEDS OF ADOLESCENTS, and HIGH WALL."

Internet Archive
"Depicts a family with a boy of 14 and a girl of 17. Shows how their physical and mental needs are met, how they are guided in their spiritual growth, and how parents can develop their social consciousness. Needs of adolescents are presented in a story of a 14 year old boy and his 17 year old sister, both members of a well adjusted family. They engage in normal home, school, church, and social activities and the usual problems of family life."