A ROUND FOR THE HOUSE!
THE HISTORY OF DRINKING IN AMERICA (go back to Intro)

College binge drinking is taking center stage in the war on alcohol and alcoholism. Both Great Britain and America are more and more looking at college binge drinking as an emerging problem. In order to fully understand this phenomenon, we must look into our past. The documentary entitled "A ROUND FOR THE HOUSE!" takes a look at our relationship with drinking over time and serves up a shot of reality.

Of the two thirds of the North American population who consume alcohol, 10% are alcoholics, and 6% consume more than half of all alcohol. (source: wikipedia.org)

Part One of the script:
1. TEASER
2. There is more to that drink that sits on the bar than you might think. Its contents have a history that spans thousands of years. Over time, the alcohol within the glass has been both praised and reviled. It's used to announce the birth of a baby, ease the pains of hard manual labor and to mourn the passing of an old friend. It’s also used to drown sorrows, escape reality, and dull the ache of loneliness.
3. Today if you go to any popular nightspot, it might be hard to believe that we actually drink less than the generations that preceded us. Despite the fact that we drink less, our drinking has become more dangerous than it’s ever been
4. Whatever form it comes in, Beer, whisky or wine, has held a significant role in our society throughout history. It has influenced elections and it's been the inspiration for many of our laws. Regardless of your choice to drink or not, alcohol is a part of who we are, as people and a society.

Watch the entire documentary online! Part I arfth_v11-complete-weba.mov (18 mB) Part II arfth_v11-complete-webb.mov (21 mB) Part III arfth_v11-complete-webc.mov (18 mB) NOTE: You will need the Quicktime player to view this documentary. You can download it for free

5. OPENING TITLES
6. INTRODUCTION
7. Alcohol is a drug. Actually; it's the king of drugs, the most widely used in the world. Twenty five hundred years ago, Plato confirmed his wariness of the dangers of alcohol and stated that no one under 18 should be allowed to drink. Despite its dangers, alcohol has long been important to the fabric of society. Throughout the ages, people have ritualized the drinking of alcohol and used it to seal business deals and fortify friendships.
8. Interview: Ed Powell: Drinking is a Ritual
9. We still have rituals that involve alcohol. Drink still brings us together just as it did twenty five hundred years ago. At the happy hour of Plato's time, kings and peasants could sit for a time and be equals. Today it gives us a chance to do the same with our boss. On alcohol’s dark-side, it’s said that it was drunkenness that caused the fall of the Roman Empire, and that same drink fueled the barbarian tribes that plundered and pillaged Europe throughout the dark ages.
10. GRAPHIC: PART I EARLY AMERICA –1750-1790
11. Alcohol played a vital role in the development of America, it served as a form of currency in the slave trade. Acting as both currency and beverage, rum was a key staple on the American frontier; everyone drank it, even children. The first businesses setup in the vast wilderness were usually taverns that gave fur traders and trappers a place to do business.
12. Interview: Ed Powell: Black Joe Fur trader
13. >>With an armful of pelts, trappers and Native Americans entered taverns which were nothing more than log cabins, to barter their furs for whisky. Without much in the way of entertainment and with geography limiting social interaction, alcohol became a way of getting through a long winter. Often these hearty pioneers drank too much and would stumble into town where they were seen as derelicts by society.
14. Interview: Percy: There have always been drunks
15. At the time people didn’t see drinking as a problem. Drunkenness was seen as a symptom of weak character. If you didn’t mind your P’s & Q’s, or, pints and quarts, you might be whipped for disturbing the peace or you were forced to wear a sign marked with a large red ’D’ for DRUNKARD that hung around your neck. Graphic -This practice persisted well into the mid-19th century.
16. Drinking found its way into the everyday lives of colonial Americans. It really was an important part of daily life. So much so, that Harvard’s first headmaster was actually fired when students complained that he had let the school’s beer supply run out.
17. GRAPHIC: A New Nation -1790-1850. After the American Revolution, alcohol had a hand to play in the foundation of modern democracy. It was in local taverns that our Founding Fathers, including Franklin, Washington, Jefferson debated the concepts of freedom, and did much of the actual writing of The Constitution.
18. Alcohol even influenced voting. At election time, votes were bought with liquor, it was actually given away in front of polling stations. George Washington bought his votes with rum paying – over a quart and a half per voter! Election Day saw voters staggering down the road cheering for their favorite candidates, or for the man who served the most free liquor.
19. Judges even interrupted court to drink whisky.
20. Instead of signing written contracts, businessmen and auctioneers sealed deals with a “toast”, a tradition dating back to the early 1700’s. –image: people toasting
21. By the 1830’s Americans were drinking nearly 5 shots of alcohol per day, more than any other time in our history.
22. Interview: Paul Redding - sailors drinking all the time
23. The clergy who at that time made house calls were offered a drink at every stop, and to refuse was considered an insult. Priests quickly gained a reputation as big drinkers.
24. Movie clip: Robert Mitchum western
25. GRAPHIC: 1850’s By the 1850’s, crime due to drunkenness was out of control. In many cities nearly seventy-five percent of the people in jail were there because of alcohol.
26. As the problems connected to drunkenness spread, so did the wild stories. People claimed to see drunkards straying too close to open fires and instantly exploding into flames.
27. Must have some sort of flame transition here
28. By the 1920’s people had had enough of the problems drinking caused, and alcohol was outlawed.

BINGE DRINKING IN COLLEGE? You should look at our history!

What is an alcoholic?

For more information about A Round for the House,
contact Stephen Powell at (716) 316-6710 or info@odessapictures.com

Watch the entire documentary online!

(go back to Intro)