Man I Am Old... Anybody Remember 'Hemo The Magnificent' ?

[WillyT]

Saw it several times while I was in Elementary School in the 60's.

Just learned it was produced by Bell Labs, directed by Frank Capra, and Mel Blanc did one of the voices.

Holy Old Age, Batman!!!



<snip>

Hemo the Magnificent is an educational film, released in 1957 by Bell Laboratories and directed by Frank Capra. It details the workings of the circulatory system. It quickly became a classic of the genre, featuring incredibly detailed animations for its time.

Frank C. Baxter played his usual role as "Dr. Research", the resident scientist in the film series. Richard Carlson played the other recurring character in The Bell Laboratory Science Series, a writer for television. Several well-known voice artists were employed for the animated sequences, including Marvin Miller as the title character, Hemo. Also appearing were Mel Blanc and June Foray, as a squirrel and a deer respectively. Sterling Holloway appeared in an uncredited role as a lab assistant.

The film is currently packaged on DVD with companion film The Unchained Goddess (1958). Hemo the Magnificent and another Bell Laboratories film, Our Mr. Sun, were favorites for showing in school science classrooms.

<snip>

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemo_the_Magnificent

Anybody know where to go to find the current level of committment by non-educational corporations, to educating our young??? Is it better than '57, worse, the same...

:shrug:

[notadmblnd]

1. I barely remember Howdy Doody

[Speck Tater]

11. I remember watching Kukla, Fran & Ollie in 1949. nt

[notadmblnd]

28. Romper Room was a favorite of mine

Mickey Mouse Club, Soupy Sales, Milky the Twin Pines Clown. The original Bozo, Popeye.

[Orsino]

2. Dr. Research was the shizzy.

I went so far as to obtain Hemo on DVD.

[notesdev]

3. My great-grandfather used to reminisce about this

just kidding ;)

[WillyT]

4. You Bad...

:spank:

:rofl:

:hi:

[stevedeshazer]

5. I don't remember that, but I am probably a bit younger than you

I started first grade in 1961.

I do remember atomic war drills.

Duck and cover, listen to Conelrad on 640 or 1240 kilocycles.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

27. born in 1966. I recognize the cartoon but not the name

[Fridays Child]

6. All lower school students, first through fourth grades...

...would gather in the parish hall, once a year, to watch it. It was cool!

[Cassandra]

7. I do!

Loved it. One, two, one, two.

[elocs]

8. Don't remember although I started kindergarten in 1957. n/t

[Silver Swan]

9. I remember Hemo

I also remember "The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays," which was another one from from Bell Labs.

[frebrd]

10. Never heard of it.......

I was in Elementary School in the 40's.

Don't talk to me about old age!

:)

[likesmountains 52]

12. I do remember that!

[PCIntern]

13. AND 'OUR MR. SUN' AND

a film about TIME!!!

They were the BEST!!!

the Bell Labs films that is...

on eidt...I got so excited when I saw the subject, I didn't even bother to read your post. What a putz I am. sorry...got carried away.

[HopeHoops]

14. HELL YES! And you can DOWNLOAD THEM!

Thanks! I've been looking for those.

Perhaps you remember another one - I can't remember the name, but "The Mysterious Number" sticks in my mind. It is about the land of whole numbers. The sheriff is something like 795. Nobody could steal anything because they always stole their own number - 3 would steal three things, etc. One day, 2/3 of a pie is missing. The sheriff waits another night and chases the thief into a world where there are numbers on top of numbers (fractions). He pulls off the thief's cloak and is horrified - a little 2 over a little 3. The thief runs off and he chases him and walks right past 4/6 without realizing that it is 2/3.

THAT is a movie I want to find!!!

[PCIntern]

15. OOOH YES!!

If you find it, let us know!!!

[HopeHoops]

29. You remember that one? If so, you're the first person I've encountered who does.

That was one of my favorite movies - I saw it twice in middle school (film, of course).

[Orsino]

35. I remember all these. UNCHAINED GODDESS...

...is on the DVD with Hemo.

[HopeHoops]

36. We just watch "Our Mr. Sun"

It took like 2 1/2 hours to download the 1.8 GB file.

[alfredo]

41. Global warming from Unchained Goddess

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lgzz-L7GFg

[PCIntern]

16. Delete-dupe

[PCIntern]

18. ...and how about

Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land...the cartoon and the comic book...

[Wilber_Stool]

23. I think that was a Disney title.

Something like "Micky or Donald in Mathmagic Land"

[Morning Dew]

17. I do remember

loved it!

Need to own it - thanks!

[JackintheGreen]

19. No, but Mathemagic with Donald Duck was wonderful! n/t

[EFerrari]

20. I don't and probably because I was a girl in the 60s. LOL

But did you know that Edward Everett Horton did the narration on Fractured Fairy Tales -- one segment of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show? An awesome actor and reader.



From his Wiki entry:

Horton started his stage career in 1906, singing and dancing and playing small parts in Vaudeville and in Broadway productions. In 1919, he moved to Los Angeles, California, and started getting roles in Hollywood films. His first starring role was in the 1922 comedy film Too Much Business, and he portrayed the lead role of an idealistic young classical composer in Beggar on Horseback in 1925. In the late 1920s he starred in two-reel silent comedies for Educational Pictures, and made the transition to talking pictures with Educational in 1929. As a stage trained performer, he found more movie work easily, and appeared in some of Warner Bros.' early talkies, including The Hottentot and Sonny Boy.

Horton originally went under his given name, Edward Horton. His father persuaded him to adopt his full name professionally, reasoning that there might be other actors named Edward Horton, but only one named Edward Everett Horton.

Horton's screen character was instantly defined from his earliest talkies: pleasant and dignified, but politely hesitant when faced with a potentially embarrassing situation. Horton soon cultivated his own special variation of the time-honored double take (an actor's reaction to something, followed by a delayed, more extreme reaction). In Horton's version, he would smile ingratiatingly and nod in agreement with what just happened; then, when realization set in, his facial features collapsed entirely into a sober, troubled mask.

Horton starred in many comedy features in the 1930s, usually playing a mousy fellow who put up with domestic or professional problems up to a certain point, and then finally asserted himself for a happy ending. The actor is best known, however, for his work as a character actor in supporting roles. Some of his noteworthy films include The Front Page (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Alice in Wonderland (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935, one of several Astaire/Rogers films in which Horton appeared), Danger - Love at Work (1937), Lost Horizon (1937), Holiday (1938), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). He last appeared in a non-speaking role in Cold Turkey (1971).

Horton continued to appear in stage productions, often in summer stock. His performance in the play Springtime for Henry became a perennial in summer theaters.
Radio and television

From 1945 to 1947, Horton hosted radio's Kraft Music Hall. During the 1950s, Horton worked in television. One of his most famous appearances is an I Love Lucy episode, where he is cast against type as a frisky, amorous suitor. (Horton, a last-minute replacement for another actor, received a special, appreciative credit in this episode.) Beginning in 1959 he narrated the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon show. In 1965 he played the medicine man, Roaring Chicken, in the sitcom F Troop. He parodied this role, portraying "Chief Screaming Chicken" on Batman as a pawn to Vincent Price's Egghead in the villain's attempt to take control of Gotham City.





I think his was the first voice I ever fell in love with.

[WillyT]

24. I Fell InLove ith HisVoice Too...

I LOVED Fractured Fairy Tales and Rocky & Bullwinkle!!!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

21. A beloved staple of my schoolyears.

A wonderful little film. :D

[Archae]

22. I remember it.

Was in my grade school years during the 60's.

Saw "Hemo," and I remember two more in that series, one about the weather, and the other about the mind.

[Crunchy Frog]

30. "Gateways to the Mind".

That one gave me nightmares as well.

[Voltaire]

25. YES!!

I suppose that makes me old too. . .

[Crunchy Frog]

26. That movie gave me nightmares for years.

I had to see it a bunch of times because I kept changing schools. It's one of my worst childhood memories.

Edit: This was in the 70's.

[valerief]

31. Our school never showed movies. Guess we were too poor in Boston. nt

[Crunchy Frog]

32. BTW, those movies were a product of the era

when this country was scared shitless over the prospect of falling behind the Soviets scientifically in the aftermath of Sputnik.

This country has now become horribly anti-science, and it's hard to see what might serve as a comparable wake up call.

[slampoet]

33. I grew up POOR, so my school still showed HEMO in the 1990's

Also our text books didn't cover Vietnam or KOREA.

[Stevenmarc]

34. Well if you like that then you need to go to the Prelinger Archives

http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger

Some great films there are:

Are You Popular?
Boys Beware
Molly Grows Up

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

37. I remember it very well.

And there was another one about the sun. I loved those Bell Labs films.

[bermudat]

38. OMG! I saw that and other Bell Lab films in the 60's.

Reading your post really took me back. I guess kids nowadays just get on

the web.

[eppur_se_muova]

39. Actually saw that in 7th grade, ca. 1972.

Of course we made fun of the name. We were just that age.

Now, what were all those educational films "hosted" by Jiminy Cricket?

[alfredo]

40. I remember it. I remember them saying blood had the same

salinity as sea water.

[starroute]

42. The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays was my favorite

I particularly remember the gigantic electromagnetic fields in space playing badminton with the cosmic rays to get them up to speed.

In fact, I still visualize deep space that way. Forget dark matter -- I want those electromagnetic fields!