Glowing in the Dark captures the energy and vitality of neon, one of the oldest and most effective forms of advertising. | dG1fTTczT3A2dzlHWVU
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 It really reached its height, I think,
00:08 in an era which was the classic era of the Las Vegas
00:11 trip in the 1960s.
00:14 This was a time of signs 180, 200 feet tall
00:20 that had become really icons of American culture,
00:23 like the Stardust sign.
00:25 Or the Aladdin Hotel had a really extraordinary
00:28 2001 Arabian night sort of confection
00:32 of a sign in neon and other sorts of things.
00:36 An extraordinary period.
00:38 At this time, Las Vegas, the Las Vegas trip,
00:41 was really defined by its signs.
00:44 Buildings were mostly low.
00:46 And all that stood out against the desert sky
00:50 and the desert mountains were these incredible neon signs.
00:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:03 The heyday of neon signage in Vancouver
01:05 really has to be sort of the middle 1930s,
01:08 the pause in the Second World War, and then up to 1958
01:11 or so.
01:12 Postcards of the 1940s and 1950s
01:16 show Granville Street with the caption,
01:18 Vancouver's Great White Way.
01:20 You would send these to friends in North America
01:22 and around Europe and people would sort of
01:25 get to know that Vancouver was this signage capital almost.
01:31 At that time, there were so many signs
01:34 that there was about one sign for about every 18 people
01:38 living in Vancouver.
01:39 And so what you ended up with was this amazing, colorful sense
01:45 of excitement when you were downtown.
01:48 So that in a rainforest such as Vancouver,
01:51 you had both the signs glowing, you
01:54 had the reflection off the pavement,
01:56 you had the reflection off the cars,
01:58 you had just an incredible environment.
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02:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]