# BERT THE TURTLE in DUCK AND COVER INFAMOUS NUCLEAR WAR / CIVIL DEFENSE FILM 23634

DUCK AND COVER is a famous civil defense training film that was widely distributed to United States schoolchildren in the 1950s. It advised students on what to do in the event of a nuclear explosion. The film was funded by the US Federal Civil Defense Administration and released in January 1952. At the time, the Soviet Union was engaged in nuclear testing and the US was in the midst of the Korean War. The film was written by Raymond J. Mauer, directed by Anthony Rizzo of Archer Productions, narrated by actor Robert Middleton, and made with the help of schoolchildren from New York City and Astoria, New York. The film starts with an animated sequence, showing an anthropomorphic turtle walking down a road, while picking up a flower and smelling it. A chorus sings the Duck and Cover theme: There was a turtle by the name of Bert and Bert the turtle was very alert; when danger threatened him he never got hurt he knew just what to do... He'd duck! \[gasp\] And cover! Duck! \[gasp\] And cover! (male) He did what we all must learn to do (male) You (female) And you (male) And you (deeper male) And you!' \[bang, gasp\] Duck, and cover!' Under the theme, Bert is shown being attacked by a monkey holding a lit firecracker or stick of dynamite on the end of a string. Bert ducks into his shell in the nick of time, as the charge goes off and destroys both the monkey and the tree in which he is sitting. Bert, however, is shown perfectly safe, because he ducked and covered. The film then switches…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: War, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/23634CivilDefenseDuckAndCoverVwr)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/23634CivilDefenseDuckAndCoverVwr?play=1)