It's Everybody's Business (1954)

Sponsors: Chamber of Commerce of the United States; E.I. duPont deNemours & Co.
Production: John Sutherland Productions
Producer: John Sutherland
Writers: John Sutherland, William Scott, George Gordon
Art Director: Maurice Noble
Music: Eugene Poddany, Les Baxter
Animation: Carl Urbano, Bill Melendez, Emery Hawkins, Abe Levitow, Bill Higgins
Narrator: Macdonald Carey
Resources : Copyright 01/06/1954 LP4570; “The Chamber of Commerce of the United States Believes It’s Everybody’s Business,” Bus Scrn 15, no. 4 (1954): 31–33; “Better Living,” 269
Holdings : AAFF, LC/Prelinger, MacDonald.

Animated history of the American economic system told from a pro–free enterprise perspective. Free enterprise, the narrator argues, can be traced to the Bill of Rights, and the Founding Fathers regarded “political and economic freedom” as “interlocking inseparably.” However, in contrast to what the film characterizes as the favorable economic climate of colonial America (where individuals had the “freedom to go into business”), today’s government imposes taxes and regulation. The film features John Sutherland’s usual humor and memorable visual devices, including images of the “tax monster,” the tidal wave of war, and paper money riding a railroad train.

Note: Released in Technicolor. Also distributed in 16mm. Awarded a Freedoms Foundation Gold Medal.

© John Sutherland Productions