Clay's Atomic Cafe Wav Page

I claim no official association with the makers of the film The Atomic Cafe.

I digitized and edited these sound clips from the movie The Atomic Cafe. You must try to remember that this is NOT bad fiction. The U.S. government actually dumped this stuff on us as fact in the 1940's and '50's.

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A man and woman in a bar discuss "that awful gas that deforms ya'".
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This beauty is taken from a military briefing of soldiers that are about to participate in an atomic bomb test. Hey, nothin' to it guys!
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This clip is from a military film made to calm soldiers fears about being in an atomic bomb test. It contains some of the worst acting that I have ever seen (or heard). Too funny!
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The good folks in St. George, Utah get an unhealthy dose of government crap. Oh, and radiation.
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Hugh Beaumont, yup, Beaver Cleaver's Dad, helps us get aquainted with an A-bomb (now we know what Ward did at work). We also hear how the government thinks an atomic bomb going off near your city would affect you, the viewer. Perhaps you'll need to cancel those picnic plans.
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I didn't hit grade school until the 60's, so I missed this little gem the first time around. Bert the Turtle instructs school kids on how to handle a nuclear blast. Could the public have possibly been this ignorant just a few decades ago? Duck and cover everyone!
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Well, the government informs us that Alpha and Beta radiation bounces right off of our skin (which is true, but they don't mention the Gamma radiation which will penetrate and kill you dead). Soldiers are issued film badges that inform them if they are going to die from radiation exposure (always nice to know).
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This is our government's idea of how a nuclear blast should go for you and me. "Gosh, nothin' to do now but clean up, wait for the authorities to tell us what to do, and just relax." Yeah, right!
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Here we have a test in small-town America about how life would be under Communism. Then we contrast that with two American Malls, with "four score beautiful stores" (I'm not kidding) and plenty of capitalist parking.
The Atomic Cafe must be seen, not just heard, to be truly appreciated. Released in 1982, its producers spent years toiling over Government A-bomb test and propaganda films, military training films, news reel footage, radio broadcasts, and other sources, to come up with one of the most chilling, and hilarious, movies ever made.
With absolutely no narration other than that provided by historical clips, this movie justly states how ludicrous the idea of nuclear war was, and is. The U.S. Government's spoon feeding of nuclear propaganda to the public from the 1940's and '50's is also well documented. And man, did we screw over the Bikini Islanders or what? You bet we did! My favorite clip is of the man who made a lead-lined suit, stuck his poor son in it, then made him try to ride a bike.
The Atomic Cafe is available on DVD and VHS tape. Amazon has them.
For a more frightening look at what really happened to the Bikini Islanders, and to the sailors at those early atomic tests, check out Radio Bikini (also available at Amazon). Although it has none of the comic relief of The Atomic Cafe, it has a more thorough indictment of the actions of the US government during that period. What happened to US sailor John Smitherman (and others) is just horrific.

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