Shy Guy (1947) Part 2 of 2

Phil (played by Dick York) is the son of an apparently single father who seems recently to have undergone corporate relocation, and things are very different for Phil. He has a problem "fitting in." Everything from the nature of the kids in the new town ("different") to what they wear ("not jackets like me, but a regular sweater") sets Phil apart. Armed only with confusing advice from his father, Phil has to reorganize his behavior and make a new home for himself.

Shy Guy marks a kind of turning point in postwar history. When Mr. Norton advises Phil to "look around him" and see what the other kids are wearing and how they behave, he's conceding parental authority to the "gang" and, ultimately, helping to legitimize the formation of a distinct youth culture that rests on group identity and validation rather than the authority of elders. Such a youth culture probably has its roots in the wartime autonomy that teens experienced, but here the adults are okaying it. This change, of course, is one of the key social currents in postwar America.

This is Dick York at his dorkiest. Dick's father is especially strange in this classic. Shy Guy is the film that established Coronet as THE social guidance filmmaker. Required viewing.

Producer: Coronet Instructional Films

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• social
• guidance
• self
• consciousness
• shyness
• 1950s
• radios
• workshops
• dick
• york
• hobbies
• trays
• of
• coke

[anarchy0productions]

I still dont see how a sweater is cooler than phils pimpin suite

[jackinla8]

Darren before he married Samantha!

[Jeffredo729]

lol - not a black, hispanic or asian kid in sight. How things have changed.

[chinookking97]

That piano playing is just awesome!

[photophobius]

Mary-Lou REALLY wants Phil's oscillator !

BTW, after watching this movie Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook...

[8scatterbrain8]

4:22 lol

[Mysterycat74]

So basically they all just used him for his record player. They just wanted THAT at their party, not him. Later on Phil became a snobby popular kid/follower and spent his days ridiculing the queer kids and mimicking the special ed. class. His father wound up sleeping with one of his male friends.

[Mysterycat74]

If Phil's dad is so cool and popular, where is Phil's MOM? She left him because he was a total drip and probably has a small penis, which Phil also inherited. Wearing a cool sweater won't hide your 2-incher, Phil! And Phil's dad just wants him to go stag because he wants his son to be just as single and lonely as he is. Phil's dad sucks! sinc when is it "too late" to ask out a girl? Go to hell Phil's dad!

[mrpentium]

Amazing how social consciousness 55 years ago was so different than it is now...NON-EXISTANT

[imafuckinglunatic]

@TheAmazingstarman yup, thats what they call shy people nowadays. if you see someone watching you and being afraid to talk to you, CALL THE POLICE!

[imafuckinglunatic]

this is exactly like me ahahaha

[JahiriAtto]

I feel like drinking coca cola now.