Steve Jobs played FDR in internal Apple corporate video
A WWII-themed corporate video from 1984 features a cameo from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs playing the role of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as he leads Apple troops against the "blue blob" IBM.
The 9-minute video was made in-house for an international sales meeting in Hawaii and reportedly made its way to website Network World through Craign Elliott, a previous Apple employee and current CEO of cloud computing startup Pertino Networks.
A supposed follow-up to the famous "1984" Macintosh ad, "1944" cost $50,000 to produce and features hired actors as well as Apple employees like Mike Murray who was vice president of marketing at the time.
In the film, a rag-tag band of Apple soldiers are fighting against IBM in a David vs. Goliath battle that is likened to the U.S. infiltration and subsequent victory over Axis forces during WWII. The criticism that Macintosh lacked software was lampooned, with Bill Gates mentioned as a purported supporter of the Apple movement.
The hammer-throwing character from the iconic "1984" commercial also makes a brief appearance as she opens a crate full of software that spills onto the ground to be picked up and used as "ammo" for by the Allies.
Steve Jobs plays FDR in Apple in-house video. | Source: Network World
A narrator ends the film in a style reminiscent of 1940's-era news flashes:
"And so the Fighting 32nd begins its rendezvous with destiny. The battle will be long, and it will be hard, but it will be won. For the commandoes of the Fighting 32nd have on their side the most powerful weapon on Earth: an idea whose time has come."
The 9-minute video was made in-house for an international sales meeting in Hawaii and reportedly made its way to website Network World through Craign Elliott, a previous Apple employee and current CEO of cloud computing startup Pertino Networks.
A supposed follow-up to the famous "1984" Macintosh ad, "1944" cost $50,000 to produce and features hired actors as well as Apple employees like Mike Murray who was vice president of marketing at the time.
In the film, a rag-tag band of Apple soldiers are fighting against IBM in a David vs. Goliath battle that is likened to the U.S. infiltration and subsequent victory over Axis forces during WWII. The criticism that Macintosh lacked software was lampooned, with Bill Gates mentioned as a purported supporter of the Apple movement.
The hammer-throwing character from the iconic "1984" commercial also makes a brief appearance as she opens a crate full of software that spills onto the ground to be picked up and used as "ammo" for by the Allies.
Steve Jobs plays FDR in Apple in-house video. | Source: Network World
A narrator ends the film in a style reminiscent of 1940's-era news flashes:
"And so the Fighting 32nd begins its rendezvous with destiny. The battle will be long, and it will be hard, but it will be won. For the commandoes of the Fighting 32nd have on their side the most powerful weapon on Earth: an idea whose time has come."
Comments
Oh heavens, that's hilarious.
Doesn't exactly have the same… kick… as the 1984 ad.
I'm amazed we've not heard of it until now.
Ah, a "One more thing…" a decade before it was popularized…
And a jab at the pronunciation of Woz' last name… and the Apple III. Nice.
lmao, that is bloody hilarious! I'm glad that never hit the airwaves though.
WTF ! ? That's freekin hilarious!
Very interesting though.
The actor who played the colonel looks like Jeffrey DeMunn, the RV driving guy on "The Walking Dead".
It would be kind of funny if he played roles which fought IBM zombies in 1984 and end-of-the-world zombies in 2010-2011.
Hahaha too funny!
"What about III?"
"We don't talk about III"
Ironic isn't it? Apple looks more like what it reviled against in the "1984" commercial and the IBM PC wound up the more open system. The whole raison d'etre for going Mac became something completely different: simplicity and ease of use.
Apple won! IBM threw in the big blue towel almost 10 years ago. Millions of Macs being sold today and not one IBM PC.
General Gates has retired; left the field of battle. Nothing left of the opposition other than a raving Ballmer buffoon muttering about "wait until you see what we may come out with someday.."
We used to watch it at work. We had a copy of it at NeXT and Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
We used to watch it at work. We had a copy of it at NeXT and Apple.
What other interesting tidbits of information are you hiding away that you haven't told us, you silly bastard!
And why haven't you written YOUR book yet?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
Every man has to remember the moments in life for which they are embarrassed. Thankfully this did not become public until after Steve passed away. I am really disheartened to see this fiasco aired. Absolutely terrible publicity for Apple.
Why? This is one of the better produced corporate training videos I've ever seen. I have an HP printer sales video where some creepy, middle aged child molester type comes into the computer store to buy a printer for his teddy bear. It's painful. GO on youtube and you'll can find several examples of early 90's "rap" videos made for internal use at various companies. Most of these corporate videos feature sub-porn level acting and scripts full of tortured corporate-speak. This is surprisingly watchable.
the General (05:19 into the full video) is played by Timothy Omundson (detective Lassiter from the series Psych)?
haha
I'd swear it was available on-line years ago, too.
Ah, yes, excerpts were included in Cringely's 1996 documentary Triumph of the Nerds. It's about 34:00 into the 3rd episode. It's about a minute long and the scene with Jobs isn't shown, though.
LOL, very interesting! I got most of the jokes, but am I missing something obvious about the "fighting 32nd"? What is that, 32-bit something?
-bump-