Midweek Matinee: Achievement USA, 1954

All photos are frame grabs from video below.

What does it take to fill the late-November streets of Flint, Michigan, with cheering crowds of genuinely happy people? Yes, we said happy, if somewhat chilly.

A proper parade might do the trick, though New York City and other metropolitan venues tend to have the market cornered on Thanksgiving Day festivities.

Maybe it’s a one-time “salute to Mr. and Mrs. America” with an enthusiastic anthem to Progress and Teamwork. Fine, then, one clue: it involves marching spark plugs.

And measuring time: “Mark you well this day in American progress, for the scurrying clock of history is striking. . . this Tuesday morning of November 23, 1954.” What’s all the fuss about?

Public domain archival footage courtesy of the Internet Moving Images Archive, in association with Prelinger Archives