Maybe it’s the expectation created by watching too many episodes of Ben Casey or Dr. Kildare, but if you’re being wheeled into the operating room for surgery, you might expect—and hope—to have a caring doctor alongside you, offering words of encouragement and confidence.
In this :30 for the Library of Congress, however, a patient finds himself being wheeled through hospital corridors on a gurney by a health care professional who’s the antithesis of Marcus Welby. While the man is communicative, it’s what he’s communicating that’s a bit unsettling for a patient who is about to face the scalpel.
"You’re lucky, young fella," says the scrubs-dressed worker. "You know, hospitals didn’t even use ether for your procedure until about 1846. Slap on a few live leeches, grab a hacksaw, get to work. ‘Course, we don’t use leeches anymore."
Our only hope for this patient is that this hospital guy is just an attendant and not the surgeon. Whatever the case, this bizarre scenario nonetheless imparted an interesting historical fact about medicine—and that’s the real point of the spot, which promotes the Library of Congress Web site as an informational resource.
As the scene changes to a mosaic of different historical figures and a list of learning media (film, photos, facts), a voiceover relates: "It’s fun to know history. Find curious facts from America’s past at loc.gov, the Library of Congress Web site."
Entitled "Gurney," the commercial was part of a three-spot Ad Council public service campaign directed by feature filmmaker Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) for DDB Chicago. The job was produced by RAW/Progressive Films, the commercial division of Hollywood-based RAW/Progressive Entertainment. Executive producer was Marshall Rawlings, president of RAW/Progressive Films. The producer was Youree Henley. "Gurney" was shot by DP Scott Henriksen.
The other two commercials in the campaign—"Cold" and "Delivery Guy"—are in the same offbeat vein as "Gurney." In "Delivery Guy," a pizza delivery guy arrives at a house where he and the man who ordered the pizza exchange bits of historical trivia in a strange display of one-upmanship.
In "Cold," the new president of a company is greeted warmly by the board of directors. He sits down at the head of the corporate boardroom table and sneezes. This prompts a board member to say that the sneeze reminds him of the story of William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States—Harrison caught a cold on his inauguration day and died 31 days later.
The DDB Chicago creative team consisted of creative director/art director Bill Fogarty, creative director/writer Paul Gregor and producer Kevin James.
RAW/Progressive Films specializes in handling longform filmmakers for select spot assignments. The Library of Congress campaign marked Luketic’s spot-directing debut.
Editor was Sean Berringer of Red Car, Chicago. Online editor on "Gurney" was Rob Churchill of The Filmworkers Club, Chicago. Colorist was Michael Mazur of The Filmworkers Club. Audio mixer was Dave Gerbosi of Chicago Recording Co., Chicago. Graphics artist was Hector Espinosa of The Filmworkers Club.
Music was composed by Steve Ford of Steve Ford Music, Chicago.
