40 min
33: Reefer Madness; Or, Hearst v. Hemp (Classic) This Was A Thing: The Retro Podcast
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- History
It's Earth Day and we want to celebrate one of the finest gifts that this pretty planet has to offer. No, not Fred Silverman - everyone's best bud, cannabis! But things haven't always looked as bright for MJ as they do nowadays with modern legalization efforts, and so we're looking back at a time when the hype around marijuana was more about the insanity it caused than its many benefits. And that insanity had a special name - Reefer Madness!
~~~
REEFER MADNESS! It’s taken over this fine country, so we decided it was time to cover it! Run for your life, marijuana is polluting the minds of America’s youths!
“Reefer Madness”, originally titled “Tell Your Children”, was an exploitation and propaganda film released in 1936, 1938, or 1939…. Seriously, they didn’t keep an accurate record of the film’s release. It was meant to teach about the dangers of grass, dope, ganja, that sticky icky icky icky… And the film worked! People were terrified!
What’s even more interesting than the film is The Marihuana Act of 1937. (Yes, that’s how it was spelt.) Passed by the government and backed by William Randolph Hearst, it was the first step in making cannabis as illegal as illegal could be!
This week Ray teaches Rob all about the history of hemp and its many uses, how this film fell into public domain, which ultimately led to some of the first midnight screenings and opened the door for showings of movies like “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Room”
…and how that wacky tabacky could make you go insane and beat your acquaintance with a stick. (It’s in the movie.) Be careful out there, folks.
If you like what we’re doing, please support us on Patreon, or you can subscribe to our bonus content on Apple Podcasts. And we’d love to find even more listeners, so if you have time, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you have any other thoughts or feedback you’d like to share with us, we’d love to hear from you - feel free to email us or send us a message on social media.
TEAM
Ray Hebel
Robert W Schneider
Mark Schroeder
Billy Recce
Daniel Schwartzberg
Gabe Crawford
Natalie DeSavia
WEBSITES
IMDb
Rotten...
It's Earth Day and we want to celebrate one of the finest gifts that this pretty planet has to offer. No, not Fred Silverman - everyone's best bud, cannabis! But things haven't always looked as bright for MJ as they do nowadays with modern legalization efforts, and so we're looking back at a time when the hype around marijuana was more about the insanity it caused than its many benefits. And that insanity had a special name - Reefer Madness!
~~~
REEFER MADNESS! It’s taken over this fine country, so we decided it was time to cover it! Run for your life, marijuana is polluting the minds of America’s youths!
“Reefer Madness”, originally titled “Tell Your Children”, was an exploitation and propaganda film released in 1936, 1938, or 1939…. Seriously, they didn’t keep an accurate record of the film’s release. It was meant to teach about the dangers of grass, dope, ganja, that sticky icky icky icky… And the film worked! People were terrified!
What’s even more interesting than the film is The Marihuana Act of 1937. (Yes, that’s how it was spelt.) Passed by the government and backed by William Randolph Hearst, it was the first step in making cannabis as illegal as illegal could be!
This week Ray teaches Rob all about the history of hemp and its many uses, how this film fell into public domain, which ultimately led to some of the first midnight screenings and opened the door for showings of movies like “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Room”
…and how that wacky tabacky could make you go insane and beat your acquaintance with a stick. (It’s in the movie.) Be careful out there, folks.
If you like what we’re doing, please support us on Patreon, or you can subscribe to our bonus content on Apple Podcasts. And we’d love to find even more listeners, so if you have time, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you have any other thoughts or feedback you’d like to share with us, we’d love to hear from you - feel free to email us or send us a message on social media.
TEAM
Ray Hebel
Robert W Schneider
Mark Schroeder
Billy Recce
Daniel Schwartzberg
Gabe Crawford
Natalie DeSavia
WEBSITES
IMDb
Rotten...
40 min