Steve Jobs Plays FDR in Apple’s Rally-the-Troops Film, 1944

Shortly after Apple aired its famous Ridley Scott Super Bowl commercial in 1984, the upstart company knocked off a cheap World War II-themed internal video — a rally-the-troops film — dubbed 1944.  The cause is freedom and the mission, to save the world from bad computing. The enemy isn’t the Axis (Germany, Japan, Italy.) It’s IBM and its “big blue mono-blob.” And the commander in chief? It’s Steve Jobs, of course, channeling F.D.R. at roughly the 5:30 mark (find the isolated cameo below).

To be sure, there’s an historical quality to this film. It offers a visual reminder of how Apple positioned itself against IBM before Microsoft came along. (Walter Isaacson drives home that point in his recent biography of Steve Jobs, which you can download from Audible if you sign up for a free trial.) But there’s also something more timeless about the film. It just goes to show that every company, no matter how much they think different, can revel in the same corporate gimmicks — the schwag, the fawning inside jokes and the rest. Poof, there goes my chance to work at Apple one day.

via Apple Insider


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