Shy Guy
About Shy Guy
Phil has just moved from Morristown and has no friends at the new high school. He spends afternoons in the basement building a record player and a radio. Stuck on how to wire the oscillator, he says it does not fit in. His father uses that line: the part has to work with the other parts, and so does Phil. At school Phil watches the popular students. Being a good listener is one of the things they do. He is still too shy to try being helpful himself. Mike Wallace narrates.
Cast & crew
More about Shy Guy
Ted Peshak directed the Coronet guidance short in Glenview, Illinois. Dick York plays Phil. Mike Wallace is the narrator. Frank Ferguson, Arthur Young, and Mickey Hugh are also credited. A timed copy runs 12 minutes 48 seconds, black and white, with sound. The Public Domain Review calls it the first of Coronet's mental-hygiene shorts, made to be shown in classrooms.
Themes
Making
Coronet shot the lesson as a basement radio and a school hallway. The father's oscillator speech is the whole argument of the reel.
Music
Sound. Mike Wallace speaks the narration over York's scenes.
Preservation
A print survives and is in the public domain. Wikimedia Commons holds a copy running about 12 minutes 48 seconds.
Notes
- The narrator's line has Phil on the outside of a drugstore window, watching other students at the soda fountain.
- Phil's complaint about the oscillator is "It just doesn't fit in." His father repeats the phrase about school.
- The father says he himself had trouble making friends in a new office.
- The advice Phil follows is to pick the most popular boys and girls and watch them.
Scenes
- Phil watches the drugstore booths from the sidewalk.
- He stares at the oscillator and says it does not fit. His father turns the line onto the new school.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Shy Guy (1947).webm)
Quotes
It just doesn't fit in.
