Shot 23 / 3:41–3:48Select a shot, or shift-click to select multipleSelect a shot, or double-tap to select multiple

Behind the Bright Lights

19357 min 10 sec34 shots

After opening with nighttime views and a love song, the film examines a giant Chevrolet electric sign in downtown Chicago. Workers climb across its steel framework and bulb-covered letters, using ropes and suspended chairs to inspect the display and replace burned-out globes. The film describes the sign as 23 stories high and explains that one moving section, called a motograph, contains more than 8,000 lights.

Inside the control room, an electrical engineer monitors machinery that operates the sign’s clock, circular light patterns, and animated messages. Demonstrations show how each bulb connects to a contact brush and how holes punched in a moving paper roll allow selected brushes to touch a copper plate, switching groups of bulbs on and creating the appearance of motion. The closing scenes return to workers high on the illuminated sign and jokingly suggest that they are safer than the pedestrians navigating traffic below.

Provenance and rights

Original producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Collection: Prelinger Archives
Original title: Behind the Bright Lights
Date: 1935
Original link: Open on Internet Archive
Rights: public_domain