TAMI Flashback: Playing in Traffic
This article is the fifth in a Slackerwood series about the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) video library.
If you lament how Austin has changed over the years -- and what Real Austinite doesn't? -- at least you can rest assured that one thing about Austin hasn't changed in decades and probably never will: a lot of Austinites are very bad drivers.
According to the videos featured in this article, driving in Austin has long been a be-careful-out-there proposition. Having driven Austin's highways and byways since the 1980s, I'd have to agree.
Consider Progress Report Austin -- The Traffic Problem, a 1963 installment of a series of TV programs about life in our fair city. From its opening credits -- set against a backdrop of a swiftly moving, upper-deckless I-35 -- The Traffic Problem reminds us that reckless driving is nothing new in Austin. The Traffic Problem isn't great television; frankly, it's rather lousy television, full of interchangeable talking heads droning endlessly about traffic safety statistics, enforcement and court procedures. (Apparently, all early Sixties-era Austin traffic safety officials were balding, boringly earnest middle-aged white guys wearing horn-rimmed glasses.) But interspersed with the droning are many wonderful shots of Austin roads and landmarks, including the old Brackenridge Hospital building that was torn down in the 1970s.
[View original at Texas Archive of the Moving Image.]
There's nothing funny about drunk driving, but The Drunk Driving Test is a sometimes amusing (and probably unintentionally so) video showing why it's unwise to get behind the wheel after you've had a few. Produced c. 1968 for the Texas Office of Traffic Safety Administration, The Drunk Driving Test shows the effects of alcohol on a group of professional race car drivers.
Given the relatively simple task of driving between pylons on a racetrack, the drivers are disastrously inept after a few rounds of bourbon and 7-Up. (Before the test, driver Tommy Davis claims he would be drinking 15 oz. of liquor. This seems a bit exaggerated; after drinking so much, wouldn't he be unable to stand, much less drive?) The video's humor lies in how absurdly poorly the drivers perform, hitting many of the pylons, stopping for no apparent reason, smoking their tires, and sometimes barely staying on the track. Of course, this wouldn't be funny in a real-life situation on a public road. But under these controlled circumstances, it's a giggle-inducing display of incredibly bad driving. Also, a serious interview at the end of The Drunk Driving Test becomes far less serious thanks to a soundtrack of squealing tires and crunching pylons.
Although shot in San Antonio, The Drunk Driving Test may be of interest to Austinites because of its host, Richard Goodman, who worked at KTBC-TV and was a news director and anchor at KVUE-TV. He also served several terms on the Austin City Council starting in 1977.
[View original at Texas Archive of the Moving Image.]
Another interesting if slightly off-kilter traffic-related video is the cryptically titled Flow Facts. Produced c. 1980 for the Texas Department of Public Safety, Flow Facts implores viewers to observe the 55 mph speed limit (remember those days?), keep with the traffic flow and maintain a steady speed to increase safety and save gas.
This 11-minute video centers on a Texas DPS officer known only as "Professor," who explains the virtues of driving 55 mph to his friends. The content is charmingly odd at times, with not-quite-believable dialogue and two unexplained, slightly trippy quick-cuts to scenes of impending accidents. (After repeated viewings, I still couldn't decide whether these split-second scenes are flashbacks or hallucinations. Given the setting and time period, I'm leaning toward hallucinations.) Adding to the general weirdness is an incongruous sequence shot at Austin's long-defunct Malibu Grand Prix.
Flow Facts may be of interest to Texas film buffs for its vaguely recognizable cast. Chief among the familiar faces is Professor, played by venerable bit player and character actor John Jackson. Jackson has appeared in many Texas films and TV shows (among them The Legend of Billie Jean, A Perfect World and Walker, Texas Ranger), as well as current hit series (most recently, Grey's Anatomy and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation).
Flow Facts also stars Catherine Molloy, who later played the nameless girlfriend of Doc (Willie Nelson) in Songwriter. Molloy also appeared in Mongrel, a not-so-memorable Austin horror film written and directed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre art director Robert Burns. Playing Professor's friend Ben is Rodney Rincon, another familiar actor who appeared in The Legend of Billie Jean, Walker, Texas Ranger and a dozen other films and TV shows.
Like a surprising number of state agency videos from the era, Flow Facts also has connections to the Austin music industry. The soundtrack (complete with a catchy and very late-Seventies ditty telling viewers to "get your flow facts straight") is by Patterson Barrett, a longtime Austin musician who has recorded with Jerry Jeff Walker, produced Hal Ketchum, and performed with artists ranging from Chuck Berry to Nancy Griffith.
[View original at Texas Archive of the Moving Image.]
There are many other videos related to traffic safety in the TAMI library, including at least a dozen short, silent bits of 1960s TV news footage of Austin traffic accidents. (To find them, search on Austin and browse the search results.) These black and white film clips can be quite striking and somewhat mysterious; with their anonymous subjects and mostly unidentified locations, they're stark, silent and eternal testimonies to the importance of safe driving.