"1999 A.D."
Welcome to the year 1999....as seen though the eyes of 1967. Today's offering is a series of clips from a corporate film, "1999 A.D." It was made 40 years ago and saw a future of on-line shopping, on-line banking, e-mail (almost), and a few other things that are now commonplace. In the screen-grab above, Karen, the woman of the house, prepares the meal via home computer.
And below, we find out how the family of the future shops and banks online. Mike--clearly played by Wink Martindale!--checks out the bills online and is disgruntled. Some late 1960s chauvinism is on display as the narrator Alexander Scourby reminds us Wink is responsible for paying the bills Karen has rung up. I bet she wants to work, but Wink won't let her, the oppressor! Besides, why the grumpy face? You'd think he'd have enough money left over from hosting "High Rollers" and "The New Tic Tac Dough" or something.
Next is the introduction to the film. Karen and son Jamie are on the beach. I can get over the manufactured lisp that boy has, but I'm having trouble believing a child that old would have trouble remembering what year it is....
...and is it just me or, with the music and all, did you also expect something bad to happen as Karen wrote in the sand? I thought maybe the camera would go wide and show a scrap of the fallen Statue of Liberty at the water's edge with a bunch of apes on horseback riding around it.
A few notes in conclusion: The film was made by Ford Philco and in addition to our man Wink, the production features actress Marj Dusay as Karen. Don't know who that irritating little boy is.
