Apr 7, 2012 TheMusketITuckedIt Says:
Not a bad job done by a young Jim Henson.
Apr 7, 2012 sgtrock66 Says:
interesting vid. There was a SciFi short story about machines without man and then one showed up and they realized they were made to serve man and they did. Wish I could remember the name of the story.
Mar 21, 2012 disneyphilip Says:
13 people are machines who think they can get along without man.
Mar 1, 2012 Gomek2 Says:
Jim was a genius for sure, but way out there at the same time, nice drugs!
Feb 9, 2012 Jesusdragon737 Says:
This might be the first time I've ever disliked a video with such a positive ratio.
Feb 6, 2012 OofusTwillip Says:
This character seems to be an embryonic ancestor of Henson's SAM (Super Automatic Machine) robot character, who appeared on "Sesame Street" in the early 1970s. SAM was convinced that "Machines are better. Machines can do anything. Machines never make mistakes." Of course, SAM always made mistakes!
SAM wasn't a success, and was retired after 3 years, but his body was re-purposed as Dr. Nobel Price's Weather Machine on episode 1740 (1983).
Feb 1, 2012 setlasmon Says:
"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too." -Mitch
Jan 29, 2012 JerRocks2day Says:
Don't forget Gizmo from the Superbook anime. IMO, he has the robotic style voice that the original Gizmo had, as well as the wind-up robot principle.
Jan 28, 2012 MrAnelight Says:
Just seen Kermit and Miss Piggy on The Jonathan Ross Show, and now this! Thank you.
Henson's legacy lives on!
Jan 28, 2012 VonNashman Says:
It's basically a frog! Definitely Henson! Just brilliant!
Jan 27, 2012 hckr4evr Says:
"Mere Mortals wallow in a sea of emotionalism..."
I'm going to borrow that.
Jan 27, 2012 dgrossman2 Says:
A former colleague of mine EvH, who lived in a nice big house in Connecticut, rented out a room above the garage to a young man many years ago. The young man, an aspiring puppeteer, made some puppets for EvH's kids. After a year the young man moved on, and when the kids got older, the puppets were thrown out. The young man was Jim Henson.
Jan 26, 2012 JojoMonReturns91 Says:
Jim Henson was a genius before he created the Muppets. This film, while it may at first be creepy has a good point, without us the robots wouldn't have been able to survive, especially the Mac, Dell or any home or cell phone computer. Cause if humans didn't exist, ROBOTS WOULD FUSE UP AND EXPLODE! XD
Jan 26, 2012 Furball2k Says:
This just sums it up... EVERYONE in the 60's must have been on drugs :p
Jan 26, 2012 MalcolmRandall Says:
2:25 For someone who claims to have "no bothersome emotions", you can actually hear the emotion in the robot's voice.
Jan 26, 2012 NowsTheOnlyTimeIKnow Says:
THE MODEL DERIVATION DID NOT TERMINATE NORMALLY DUE TO AN ERROR IN THE COMPUTATION
OUTPUT: men1_MCA
Video Details
For more from the AT&T Archives, visit http://techchannel.att.com/archives
Jim Henson made this film in 1963 for The Bell System. Specifically, it was made for an elite seminar given for business owners, on the then-brand-new topic — Data Communications. The seminar itself involved a lot of fi... More
For more from the AT&T Archives, visit http://techchannel.att.com/archives
Jim Henson made this film in 1963 for The Bell System. Specifically, it was made for an elite seminar given for business owners, on the then-brand-new topic — Data Communications. The seminar itself involved a lot of films and multimedia presentations, and took place in Chicago. A lengthy description of the planning of the Bell Data Communications Seminar — sans a mention of the Henson involvement — is on the blog of Inpro co-founder Jack Byrne. It later was renamed the Bell Business Communications Seminar.
The organizers of the seminar, Inpro, actually set the tone for the film in a three-page memo from one of Inpro's principals, Ted Mills to Henson. Mills outlined the nascent, but growing relationship between man and machine: a relationship not without tension and resentment: "He [the robot] is sure that All Men Basically Want to Play Golf, and not run businesses — if he can do it better." (Mills also later designed the ride for the Bell System at the 1964 World's Fair.) Henson's execution is not only true to Mills' vision, but he also puts his own unique, irreverent spin on the material.
The robot narrator used in this film had previously starred in a skit for a food fair in Germany (video is silent), in 1961. It also may be the same robot that appeared on the Mike Douglas Show in 1966. Henson created a different — but similar — robot for the SKF Industries pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair.
This film was found in the AT&T Archives. Thanks go to Karen Falk of the Henson Archives for providing help and supporting documentation to prove that it was, indeed, a Henson production..
Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ Less
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Youtube Comments (79)
jadaty1111 Says:
I find this *burp* excuse me.. very interesting ^*interruption ^*interruption _ding_ never *ssshhh* mind -_-
jadaty1111 Says:
strangely this made me ROFL !!!!
Lekhan singadi Says:
Robot may like this
TheMusketITuckedIt Says:
Not a bad job done by a young Jim Henson.
sgtrock66 Says:
interesting vid. There was a SciFi short story about machines without man and then one showed up and they realized they were made to serve man and they did. Wish I could remember the name of the story.
disneyphilip Says:
13 people are machines who think they can get along without man.
Gomek2 Says:
Jim was a genius for sure, but way out there at the same time, nice drugs!
Jesusdragon737 Says:
This might be the first time I've ever disliked a video with such a positive ratio.
AnuarPhysics Says:
hahaha!
OofusTwillip Says:
This character seems to be an embryonic ancestor of Henson's SAM (Super Automatic Machine) robot character, who appeared on "Sesame Street" in the early 1970s. SAM was convinced that "Machines are better. Machines can do anything. Machines never make mistakes." Of course, SAM always made mistakes! SAM wasn't a success, and was retired after 3 years, but his body was re-purposed as Dr. Nobel Price's Weather Machine on episode 1740 (1983).
setlasmon Says:
"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too." -Mitch
JerRocks2day Says:
Don't forget Gizmo from the Superbook anime. IMO, he has the robotic style voice that the original Gizmo had, as well as the wind-up robot principle.
MrAnelight Says:
Just seen Kermit and Miss Piggy on The Jonathan Ross Show, and now this! Thank you. Henson's legacy lives on!
VonNashman Says:
It's basically a frog! Definitely Henson! Just brilliant!
kapwns Says:
skynet prototype?
somejackball Says:
The Turk
deliaonline Says:
gut!
hckr4evr Says:
"Mere Mortals wallow in a sea of emotionalism..." I'm going to borrow that.
dgrossman2 Says:
A former colleague of mine EvH, who lived in a nice big house in Connecticut, rented out a room above the garage to a young man many years ago. The young man, an aspiring puppeteer, made some puppets for EvH's kids. After a year the young man moved on, and when the kids got older, the puppets were thrown out. The young man was Jim Henson.
JojoMonReturns91 Says:
Jim Henson was a genius before he created the Muppets. This film, while it may at first be creepy has a good point, without us the robots wouldn't have been able to survive, especially the Mac, Dell or any home or cell phone computer. Cause if humans didn't exist, ROBOTS WOULD FUSE UP AND EXPLODE! XD
xxxrayinc Says:
needs more sound fx
Furball2k Says:
This just sums it up... EVERYONE in the 60's must have been on drugs :p
MalcolmRandall Says:
2:25 For someone who claims to have "no bothersome emotions", you can actually hear the emotion in the robot's voice.
NowsTheOnlyTimeIKnow Says:
THE MODEL DERIVATION DID NOT TERMINATE NORMALLY DUE TO AN ERROR IN THE COMPUTATION OUTPUT: men1_MCA