Davis’ films warned kids away from drugs, danger

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, November 8, 2006

LOS ANGELES – Sid Davis, who produced more than 180 educational films warning youngsters of the dangers of drugs, drinking and running with scissors, has died. He was 90.

Davis died of lung cancer Oct. 16 at a home for seniors in Palm Desert, said his daughter, Jill Davis.

From the 1950s into the early 1970s, Davis created cautionary short films that were screened in classrooms. With titles such as “The Bottle and the Throttle” and “Seduction of the Innocent,” they warned kids away from underage drinking, drug abuse, vandalism and dropping out of school.

One 1972 short tells the tale of two teenagers who break up with their girlfriends, pick up prostitutes and get syphilis. In 1952’s “Skipper Learns a Lesson,” a dog learns about tolerance when his white owner moves into a racially mixed neighborhood.

Davis, who was born in Chicago but moved to Los Angeles as a child, was inspired to produce movies when his daughter, then 5 years old, failed to understand his lecture on avoiding strangers. His first effort was 1950’s “The Dangerous Stranger.”

Many of Davis’ movies were made for $1,000, using friends and family as actors, said Ken Smith, author of “Mental Hygiene: Better Living Through Classroom Films 1945-1970.”

“He grew up as a tough kid,” Smith said. “He didn’t want kids to follow the same path he did or suffer the same harsh lesson.”