Syd Mead Art for U.S. Steel (1960s)

Professor Michael Stoll has posted an amazing collection of promotional art Syd Mead did for U.S. Steel.

Prof. Stoll posted the Syd Mead images to the (Boing Boing Gadgets/Paleo-Future Blog) Flickr Group, In the Year 2000. The entire set of images can be found in the Portfolio of Probabilities photoset.

One thing that is interestingly absent from the illustrations is any clear indication of a flying car.






Brian Horrigan, co-author of Yesterday's Tomorrows was kind enough to recently lend me a 1961 U.S. Steel book titled Innovations, which contains similar work by Syd Mead. Stay tuned for more on that.

See also:
The Future World of Transportation
Syd Mead
Rhapsody of Steel (1959)
Rhapsody of Steel Film (1959)

Rhapsody of Steel Film (1959)

Last week we looked at the children's book version of the 1959 industrial film, Rhapsody of Steel.

Today, thanks to Kevin Kidney and the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, we can view the entire film.

The last four minutes of Rhapsody of Steel envisions a futuristic world where steel is king. That clip appears below. A special thanks to Rob B. for the link.

See also:
Rhapsody of Steel (1959)
Man and the Moon (1955)
Mars and Beyond (1957)
The Future was Built on Steel
Wernher von Braun's Space Shuttle (1950s)
Animal Life on Mars (1957)
Plant Life on Mars (1957)

Rhapsody of Steel (1959)

Many readers sent me a link to these great images from the ASIFA - Hollywood Animation Archive site. The images are from the children's book adaptation of the 1959 industrial film, Rhapsody of Steel.

While I haven't yet found a copy of the film online, you can view the film at the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Their description appears below.

WONDERS OF STEEL (showtimes 11:00 am & 1:30 pm) brings steel making to life through music and animation in a masterpiece, Rhapsody of Steel (1959). Produced by John Sutherland, the film features Gary Merrill as the narrator and three-time Academy Award-winner Dimitri Tiomkin conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony in his own composition. An exhibit case holds the original press release, promotional images and other artifacts documenting the United States Steel Corporation's release of this 23-minute film.

See also:
Man and the Moon (1955)
Mars and Beyond (1957)
The Future was Built on Steel
Wernher von Braun's Space Shuttle (1950s)
Animal Life on Mars (1957)
Plant Life on Mars (1957)

The Future was Built on Steel

Apparently U.S. Steel never saw Dustin Hoffman in 1967's The Graduate. According to this U.S. Steel commercial from the 1970s, the future will be built on steel rather than plastic. The future will also be built piece by piece in beige factories to make beige buildings.

Disney's Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World, Orlando is a testament to the forgotten future. The Mary Blair designed mosaic is by far her ugliest creation, reminiscent of a 1970s kitchen that threw up brown acid on itself. The hotel stands as a reminder of misplaced creativity for Disney and Mary Blair and arguably the dying breath of the steel industry.