What to Do on a Date (1951)

You won't be disappointed!

Better Late Then Never

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This short tells of Nick, a shy guy who has long had a desire to ask sweet Kay out on a date. Jeff his buddy, suggests taking Kay to a "scavenger sale" a kind-of indoor garage sale, and Nick does only after his attempt to take Kay to "Wagon Train" is foiled because Kay has seen the film. They end up having a nice time and Nick sees a schedule of things to do, so he sets another date with Kay to go to a weenie roast.Overall this short film was sweet and gave some decent advice for dating, (make sure the other person will enjoy the activity, double date, choose dates that aren't too expensive etc) but the acting is wooden and the styling is badly dated. Still you can do worse for education shorts. "Drugs are Like That" for instance.

Yes, "What to Do on a Date" is the typical "educational" short made during the oh-so-innocent 1950s (which of course means that everyone is a bunch of wholesome white people). In this case, a geek can't figure out how to ask a girl on a date and needs guidance. Quite frankly, anyone who takes this movie as guidance will probably have a lot of trouble on a date.Has this film no redeeming qualities? Far from it. "Mystery Science Theater 3000" showed it, and the Satellite of Love viewers had lots of fun tearing it apart. Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank may try to torture Mike/Joel and the 'bots by showing them this swill, but they're no match for the jeers and heckling.

We follow a young man named Nick, who is aided by his savvy friend Jeff in getting a date with the cut girl next door, named Kay. Of course, to modern eyes, this film seems completely ridiculous, but in 1951 times were much simpler and a "weenie roast" wasn't something people snickered over. Nick seems to be a socially immature, penny pinching teen who gets dressed by mom in the morning. His friend Jeff carries himself with supreme confidence and seems to realize that dating isn't a bunch of complex games. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll thank MST for being there the whole way.2'd mostly because the acting is truly laughable, the only person who seems to know how to act here is Jeff.

Man, girls sure scare me. I mean, I like them and all; they sure are swell, but I just don't know what to do or say when they're around. If I see a girl I like, how do I ask her out? And if she says "Yes" (Hey, hope springs eternal, right?), then where do I take her? What do we do on a date? My own ideas of shopping for roofing nails or going to the supermarket and playing with the electric doors always fall flat. Fortunately for me, and all the other socially-challenged basement-dwelling geeks out there, this film exists to instruct in the ways of social interc-, er, interaction.In this film, Nick, a gangly, goofy, but good-natured young fellow, yearns for the wholesome Midwestern affections of Kay, the wholesome Midwestern girl next door. He's in the same mess I am - how to convince Kay that being seen in public with him would not be the social suicide she fears it is? Nick's smirking know-it-all buddy Jeff is ready with lots and lots and lots of condescending and unsolicited advice. Soon Nick and Kay are hitting the town, going to all the hottest and hippest scavenger sales around. They seem to be on track to live happily, wholesomely and Midwesternly ever after.This instructional short from the early 1950's is a corny, but sweetly affable example of the genre. And that Kay sure is a cutie. Rrrrrowwrrr!