The 50s Future
As I was growing up in the 50s, television was in its infancy. There was no color, the screen was not very big and the image was a little fuzzy, but I was entranced. My future was set by TV, I became an artist because of it, I was an eyewitness to the history of the time, I was informed. In that decade of postwar prosperity, my family acquired a fair sized house, my siblings, an automobile and of course that TV. One of the many magical things it did, was to show me the future. My favorite program was Disneyland, the anthology TV series that featured an amazing range of animated and live features. Every program was introduced and narrated by Walt Disney himself. In the mid to late 50s there was a series of shows featuring science fact. An early show, Our Friend the Atom explored the promise of atomic power and the boon it would be to human kind. Following on that successful episode, Disney developed a trio of space programs. Animators working with NASA scientist Wernher Von Braun and others, created Man in Space, Man and the Moon and Mars and Beyond. The most fascinating program was Mars and Beyond. Starting with cavemen seeking to understand their surroundings and the sky, it moved throughout history to the present with a what a trip to Mars might be like and the possibilities of what could be found there in the way of life. I was hooked, I became an intense fan of the very infant US space program and of space science in general. That gave way to a lifelong mania of science fiction and the possible future of humanity among the stars.
Another early show was Magic Highway U.S.A. In the mid-fifties the US was just developing a interstate highway system and Disney wanted to explore the future of that vision. The show imagined that every possible convenience would be available to the traveling populace, without having to leave their vehicles or the highway itself. Also, that every shape and size of auto, depending on your needs would be available to purchase. Disney also developed a futuristic transportation system for a World’s Fair exhibit and some of the first animatronics and robotics and explored the promise of electricity in enriching our daily lives.
One of Disney’s greatest vision was the idea of a future city that people could actually live in. It was to be a self sustaining town with every urban convenience. The Community of Tomorrow never got built after Walt died. But it eventually became Epcot and DisneyWorld. When I finally got to visit Disneyland for the first time, I was in my later 20s and married. But I still loved it, I was a breathless kid again in that magic land of fantasy and our possible futures. (Below, My sister, Linda, (a cousin?), and me under the Christmas tree in 1955 or 56, next to the family TV.)
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