This Week in Universal News: A Body Paint Show at the Provincetown Art Colony, 1967.

In this week’s Universal News story, an art show in Provincetown, Massachusetts features the artists as living canvases. The participants (whom the narrator identifies as hippies) were members of the Provincetown art community. Provincetown has a long history as an art colony, from the early 20th Century to today.

From the release sheet:

BODY PAINTING Provincetown “hippie” artists have an art show, using bodies as “living canvases.” It’s mostly in fun because none of the “paintings” agreed to be sold.

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At a 1967 art show in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the participants were the art.

You may view the complete reel, which contains stories about deadly hurricanes, a visit to former president Harry S Truman by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the World Bicycle Championship, and others, on our YouTube Channel.

About the Universal Newsreel Collection at NARA:

The Universal Newsreel Collection is one of the most used motion picture collections at the National Archives and Records Administration. Universal Newsreels were shown in movie theaters twice a week, from 1929 until 1967, and covered a wide range of American life and history during that time period. Each release usually contained five to seven stories averaging two minutes in length.

In 1974, Universal deeded its edited newsreel and outtake collection to the United States through the National Archives (NARA), and did not place any copyright restrictions on its use (some stories may contain other underlying intellectual property or proprietary use rights).

While Universal disposed of many of the soundtracks, leaving the newsreels incomplete, supplementary material like scripts, shot lists, and event programs can be found in the production files, available for research at Archives II in College Park, Maryland.

Learn more about the Universal Newsreel Collection in this post and in this Prologue article. Watch other Universal Newsreels in our research room, in OPA, and on this playlist.