The Women’s Army Corps Requests “The Pleasure of Your Company”
The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was enacted 65 years ago on June 12, 1948, enabling women to serve as permanent members of the military (although still within separate units) so it seems the perfect time to share another vintage military training film:
The Navy film How to Succeed with Brunettes teaches male officers how to behave like gentlemen, but what were the military’s expectations for the many female recruits? Once again, staff in NARA’s Motion Picture Preservation Lab and Special Media’s Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch were able to find the answer in the large accession of films received from the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC).
In 1970, the Army began using a series of three training films produced for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The third film in the Military Etiquette and Grooming series, The Pleasure of Your Company (1970), has several parallels with How to Succeed with Brunettes, including an exploration of dating etiquette. The WACs watching the film would find answers to many pressing questions, including:
- Who opens the door first when not in uniform?
- If I go out on a dinner date, who orders? (Hint: It’s not the lady!)
- How should I introduce my date to the Chaplain and his wife? (Hint: Gentlemen are always presented to ladies!
- Which fork should I use first?!? (Um, you get the picture.)
The Pleasure of Your Company, like How to Succeed with Brunettes, stands as an artifact of an American military and society that were to undergo sweeping changes over the following decade. By the end of the 1970s, the WAC would be integrated into the rest of the Army and society would be on its way to treating women much differently in the workplace. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far we have come until we take a look back at the films of the past.
via Media Matters: The Women’s Army Corps Requests “The Pleasure of Your Company”
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