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Give 'em Beans

Take a tip from Canada and feed your hard-working man beans and pork to give him a high-speed productivity boost

Documentary 1918 2 mins Silent

Overview

When there's heavy work to be done, beans are the answer. In this perky animated film from the Ministry of Information, the benefits of eating "beans with a little pork" are illustrated with the help of Canadian lumberjacks, stop-motion animation and speeded-up film. After stopping for a tasty dish of beans, the lumberjacks get back to work with unnatural vigour. An animated sequence shows the ingredients jumping into the pan, and spells out the message: "Beans are an energiser."

The Ministry of Information was established in earnest in 1939, but it had two short-lived predecessors during WWI: 1917's Department of Information and 1918's Ministry of Information. This film shows housewives the value of cheap ingredients during a time of food shortages.