Apple's 1984 Internal Inspirational Video with Steve Jobs as Franklin Roosevelt

MacRumors · May 2, 2012, 01:04 PM

Network World shares a rather unique internal Apple video from 1984 intended to inspire Apple employees as the Macintosh sought to supplant IBM in the workplace. The short black-and-white film is set to a World War II theme and features a brief appearance by Steve Jobs in the role of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Quote:

Entitled "1944," the almost 9-minute full version was Apple's in-house takeoff on "1984," the iconic first Macintosh TV ad that caused a sensation during that year's Super Bowl. Set as a World War II tale of good vs. IBM, it is a broadcast-quality production (said to have cost $50,000) that was designed to fire up Apple's international sales force at a 1984 meeting in Hawaii. A copy of "1944" was provided to me by one-time Apple employee Craig Elliott, now CEO of Pertino Networks, a cloud-computing startup located two blocks from Apple in Cupertino.

Jobs' appearance, complete with fake accent to initially disguise his true identity, comes at roughly 5:20 into the film.

Article Link: Apple's 1984 Internal Inspirational Video with Steve Jobs as Franklin Roosevelt

Hastings101 · May 2, 2012, 01:05 PM

I'm glad I grew up in the 90's, the 80's sound weird

DrJohnnyN · May 2, 2012, 01:11 PM

Nice FDR.

MOKHAN · May 2, 2012, 01:12 PM

How much does it picture

Skika · May 2, 2012, 01:12 PM

Artists.

Jason S. · May 2, 2012, 01:17 PM

Fake. Steve would never do this.

charlieegan3 · May 2, 2012, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DisMyMac

#$%& you!! UPDATE MY MAC PRO!

macrumours bot can't help you.

MovieCutter · May 2, 2012, 01:20 PM

First Willy Wonka and now this? Ok, now this is just getting weird.

Rot'nApple · May 2, 2012, 01:20 PM

That's Steve Ballmer Creepy!

/
/
/

rpaloalto · May 2, 2012, 01:23 PM

LOL! this is hilarious, I cant believe Steve did that, how corny. Now that he's gone people can release stuff like that with having Steve kill them

Lotso · May 2, 2012, 01:25 PM

Insanely great!

Boston007 · May 2, 2012, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hastings101

I'm glad I grew up in the 90's, the 80's sound weird

I feel bad for you.
GEN X FTW

CFreymarc · May 2, 2012, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpaloalto

LOL! this is hilarious, I cant believe Steve did that, how corny. Now that he's gone people can release stuff like that with having Steve kill them

Expect a lot more of Steve behind the scenes in the coming years. My favorites I'd love to see is:

* Steve in his Santa outfit for Christmas parties. There is one of him on the beach in Santa Cruz.

* Lots of Woz party shots.

* The first internal Mac demos with him playing the Mac and Apple ][ teams against each other.

macmastersam · May 2, 2012, 01:29 PM

dont you just love the ads apple made in the 80's?

jlc1978 · May 2, 2012, 01:32 PM

Apple should release a Greatest Hits video on iTunes. They have made a number of really neat videos, at least in the 80's. I remember seeing one that was set 30 or so years in the future (form 1980 or so) and had an older Steve Wozniak, grey hair and all, talking about Apple's latest gadgets, Apple's takeover of IBM, etc. One really cool gadget was the "Glass Apple" complete with a tiny fingernail sized disk that slid into the side. Considering disks drives were 8" or 5.25 at the time it was just too amazing to contemplate a disk so small it could fit into an eyeglass frame.
I don't remember a whole lot of the video, and beyond the eyeglass computer and greying Woz the details are sketchy, but it was really neat. Sculley showed it at a Boston Computer Society meeting.
If nothing else, releasing some of the internal videos would provide an interesting insight on the times and Apple's approach to selling computers.

wikus · May 2, 2012, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rot'nApple

That's Steve Ballmer Creepy!

/
/
/

Yeah I said a similar thing, that its more likely for Steve Ballmer to play Willy Wonka rather than Steve Jobs... I think my comment got about 20 negative ratings.

See Flat · May 2, 2012, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason S.

Fake. Steve would never do this.

You must mean like he would never do a spoof on "the dating game" and make the winner Bill Gates.

RawBert · May 2, 2012, 01:37 PM

Freakin' sweet!

Risasi · May 2, 2012, 01:37 PM

What has been seen cannot be unseen. I'm skipping the video...

RoboCop001 · May 2, 2012, 01:38 PM

Drugs. Making videos hilariously bad since 1984

CFreymarc · May 2, 2012, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlc1978

Apple should release a Greatest Hits video on iTunes. They have made a number of really neat videos, at least in the 80's. I remember seeing one that was set 30 or so years in the future (form 1980 or so) and had an older Steve Wozniak, grey hair and all, talking about Apple's latest gadgets, Apple's takeover of IBM, etc. One really cool gadget was the "Glass Apple" complete with a tiny fingernail sized disk that slid into the side. Considering disks drives were 8" or 5.25 at the time it was just too amazing to contemplate a disk so small it could fit into an eyeglass frame.
I don't remember a whole lot of the video, and beyond the eyeglass computer and greying Woz the details are sketchy, but it was really neat. Sculley showed it at a Boston Computer Society meeting.
If nothing else, releasing some of the internal videos would provide an interesting insight on the times and Apple's approach to selling computers.

I remember hearing about that. MicroSD cards in the gigabytes are fingernail sized and there was the Apple cube. Woz is partially gray now. Good times!

DisMyMac · May 2, 2012, 01:42 PM

Utterly tasteless at 1:45... comparing IBM users to concentration camp victims.

dukeblue91 · May 2, 2012, 01:47 PM

That was great and shows that Steve had a great sense of humor and creativity.

coolfactor · May 2, 2012, 01:54 PM

Be nice if "Network World" actually posted videos that would play back on a networked device like my iPhone.

AntonAmsys · May 2, 2012, 02:05 PM

A clip of this video was shown years ago (when Apple was in deep financial crisis in the 90's) in Robert Cringley's (ex Apple employee) "Triumph of the Nerds" 3 part documentary and Silicon Valley tech giants.

For those interested in seeing "Triumph of the Nerds", it is available on YouTube.

May 2, 2012, 01:05 PM	#2
Hastings101 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Sunflower State	I'm glad I grew up in the 90's, the 80's sound weird __________________ My dog is better than your dog.
	22

May 2, 2012, 01:11 PM	#3
DrJohnnyN macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Dallas, TX, USA	Nice FDR. __________________ "In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men." -Cicero
	1

May 2, 2012, 01:12 PM	#4
MOKHAN macrumors 6502 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Toronto, Canada	How much does it picture
	-2

May 2, 2012, 01:12 PM	#5
Skika macrumors 68000 Join Date: Mar 2009	Artists. __________________ Macbook Pro, iPad, iPhone
	0

May 2, 2012, 01:17 PM	#6
Jason S. macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Pennsylvania	Fake. Steve would never do this.
	-14

May 2, 2012, 01:20 PM	#8
MovieCutter Banned Join Date: May 2005 Location: Washington, DC	First Willy Wonka and now this? Ok, now this is just getting weird.
	16

May 2, 2012, 01:20 PM	#9
Rot'nApple macrumors 65816 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: I DID build that!	That's Steve Ballmer Creepy! / / /
	11

May 2, 2012, 01:23 PM	#10
rpaloalto macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Palo Alto CA.	LOL! this is hilarious, I cant believe Steve did that, how corny. Now that he's gone people can release stuff like that with having Steve kill them __________________ Mac Pro, ACD, iMac, Dell Mini Hackintosh, iBook g3, eMac + several iPods
	12

May 2, 2012, 01:25 PM	#11
Lotso macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: OC, California	Insanely great! __________________ iPhone 5 64 GB "We've both said a lot of things you are going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."-GLaDOS
	4

May 2, 2012, 01:29 PM	#14
macmastersam macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Essex, england	dont you just love the ads apple made in the 80's?
	2

May 2, 2012, 01:32 PM	#15
jlc1978 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Aug 2009	Apple should release a Greatest Hits video on iTunes. They have made a number of really neat videos, at least in the 80's. I remember seeing one that was set 30 or so years in the future (form 1980 or so) and had an older Steve Wozniak, grey hair and all, talking about Apple's latest gadgets, Apple's takeover of IBM, etc. One really cool gadget was the "Glass Apple" complete with a tiny fingernail sized disk that slid into the side. Considering disks drives were 8" or 5.25 at the time it was just too amazing to contemplate a disk so small it could fit into an eyeglass frame. I don't remember a whole lot of the video, and beyond the eyeglass computer and greying Woz the details are sketchy, but it was really neat. Sculley showed it at a Boston Computer Society meeting. If nothing else, releasing some of the internal videos would provide an interesting insight on the times and Apple's approach to selling computers.
	2

May 2, 2012, 01:37 PM	#18
RawBert macrumors 68000 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: North Hollywood, CA	Freakin' sweet! __________________ THE ART OF RAW Steve Lives On
	0

May 2, 2012, 01:37 PM	#19
Risasi macrumors 6502 Join Date: Sep 2011	What has been seen cannot be unseen. I'm skipping the video...
	4

May 2, 2012, 01:38 PM	#20
RoboCop001 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada	Drugs. Making videos hilariously bad since 1984
	1

May 2, 2012, 01:42 PM	#22
DisMyMac macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2009	Utterly tasteless at 1:45... comparing IBM users to concentration camp victims.
	-9

May 2, 2012, 01:47 PM	#23
dukeblue91 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Raleigh, NC	That was great and shows that Steve had a great sense of humor and creativity. __________________ Mac Pro Quad 2.8 16GB Ram, 3.5TB HDD, 2x SP2208WFP Monitors. 2010 White MacBook, 2.4 Core 2 Duo, 4 Gig of Ram, 250GB HD. HTC One X Phone, iPad 3 16GB Wifi, My website http://www.js-jewelers.com
	0

May 2, 2012, 01:54 PM	#24
coolfactor macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Campbell River, BC, CANADA	Be nice if "Network World" actually posted videos that would play back on a networked device like my iPhone.
	1

May 2, 2012, 02:05 PM	#25
AntonAmsys macrumors newbie Join Date: May 2012 Location: London	Apple's 1984 Internal Inspirational Video with Steve Jobs as Franklin Roosevelt A clip of this video was shown years ago (when Apple was in deep financial crisis in the 90's) in Robert Cringley's (ex Apple employee) "Triumph of the Nerds" 3 part documentary and Silicon Valley tech giants. For those interested in seeing "Triumph of the Nerds", it is available on YouTube.
	2

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