This series was shot in the basement of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. So the show had access to their entire collection and some of their staff. Though it does feature interviews with experts on various topics it frequently used dancers and animated graphics to illustrate its wide ranging topics. One episode on Voodoo features a specific (and terrific) dance group and is impressive in its camera moves and the non-biased treatment of the subject. Another episode on what we today would call Genetics has a circle of dancers advancing towards a rack of various type of masks and by exchanging them with each other they illustrate genetic families and racial types. In an episode on Deafness dancers are on a huge representation of wave lengths.
These are heavily studio bound episodes but another on American Indian tribes of the Northwest features much on location photography. Though not every episode, "works," it's a sincere and sometimes still fascinating show from early educational television. Future horror novelist Frank De Felitta wrote the series though he is credited only as story editor---the closest thing to a writer credit for the series.
These are heavily studio bound episodes but another on American Indian tribes of the Northwest features much on location photography. Though not every episode, "works," it's a sincere and sometimes still fascinating show from early educational television. Future horror novelist Frank De Felitta wrote the series though he is credited only as story editor---the closest thing to a writer credit for the series.
