Two ‘modern housewives’ complain about the time they spend baking. “This everlasting baking gets on my nerves”, says one. They wish they could hire an “old time cook” to help them. “If only they had known  there is a great organization that is giving the housewife that faultless service of the old time cook.” Christie’s products can be trusted. Scenes from the factory emphasize the dedication and long service of many of the employees. Products made at the massive Christie factory, now occupied by George Brown College in downtown Toronto, include arrowroot biscuits and fancier cakes. Baking is a highly mechanized process, but human intervention is required in many stages of the process. In one scene automated fans swing back and forth while women work in the heat below. An extended advertisement for the Christie’s company, the film ends with serving suggestions, including how they should be placed on the table. 

What’s in a Name? 1919, film, 11 minutes, 38 seconds, Graphic Consultants Collection

Accession number 1972-0105, Item number ISN 330215, Library and Archives Canada

Film editing and musical direction: Mariana Hutten

Songs: Ragtime Echoes - Samuel Siegel and Marie Caveny, 1918

            Somebody's Heart Is So Lonely- Master Saxophone Sextet, 1919

            Heart Sickness Blues -Louisiana Five - De Rose; Coslow, 1919

            A Good Man Is Hard to Find- Louisiana Five; Ed Green, 1919      

Further Discussion

Sandwell, R. W. (2015). Pedagogies of the Unimpressed: Re-Educating Ontario Women for the Modern Energy Regime, 1900-1940. Ontario History, 107(1), 36–59

“Popular Employer Borne to Last Rest” Toronto Daily Star, June 15, 1926, p.23

“Christie’s Biscuits” advertisement, Toronto Star, December 16, 1924, p.4