View from the People Wall

amazing movie from the 1960s by Charles and Ray Eames for IBM

[@MMK9]

OMG, it's the entire IBM Pavilion presentation from the 1964-1965 New York Worlds' Fair! How wonderful to be able to see it again. And to think: this film was an attempt to explain and demystify computers for a public that at that time was not very familiar with them, and now, fifty-plus years later, here I am, able to re-discover and enjoy this artifact from my childhood, on demand, using a small, hand-held computer, a device which has become ubiquitous. Back then, as a child, I'd have thought this was a miracle - and to tell the truth, in some ways, I still do.

[@mitchdakelman4470]

After the Worlds Fair closed in 1965 this presentation was preserved on one single strip of film with the narrator on screen just as in the real presentation. The film prints were in Technicolor.

[@RocketHound]

I have been looking for this for years!

[@MartinLewison]

I believe the title of the film was "Think" and the attraction was called the "Information Machine." Visitors filled up the "People Wall," which was lifted up into an egg-shaped building to view the film on multiple screens. This version of the film has 8 images, but I think there were more than 8 screens in the egg. I've been reading a critical academic article by Ben Highmore, "Machinic Magic: IBM at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair", in the journal New Formations (2003). Aside from the criticism, it's got a lot of interesting description and facts. The egg, for example, was designed by famed architect, Eero Saarinen.

[@mitchdakelman4470]

I never got to see this at the fair, but pleased to see it here..actually I have a 16mm copy too in Technicolor too!

[@neotoybob1]

Fantastic- thanks for posting this. Like seeing an unforgettable friend from a lifetime ago.

[@Supramonk]

great to have this shared from your side

[@lisatempleton4854]

Hold on for the ones and zeros speech. Boomers were a fun bunch!

[@q3dm17]

Gem