This is a lovingly-restored short film produced to promote GM’s 1956 Motorama car show. In the ’50s, GM was the largest corporation in the world and it was the growth engine for post-war middle-class Americans. What was good for General Motors really was good for the country.
1956 Buick Centurion from GM's Motorama Dream Car Show
Pontiac (1954 or 1955) Firebird I from GM's Motorama Dream Car Show
1956 Pontiac Firebird II concept from GM's Motorama
What was unthinkable in 1956 happened in 2009 when GM slipped into bankruptcy. While both the economy and the automotive business have changed dramatically in the past 57 years, GM is still an essential piece of the US economy and it’s one of the last employers still providing middle-class wages and benefits for blue collar workers.
Design for Dreaming is a 1956 musical ephemeral film about a woman (played by Tad Tadlock) who dreams about a masked man taking her to the 1956 General Motors Motorama and Frigidaire’s “Kitchen of the Future”.
It is one of the key Populuxe films of the 1950s. The film was directed by William Beaudine and was Produced by Victor Solow. It starred Tad Tadlock, Marc Breaux, Thurl Ravenscroft. www.wikipedia.com
Digitally enhanced by Retro-matic™ LLC., Hollywood, California. www.retro-matic.com
I desperately want the jet-age Firebird concept car and that Frigidare round, rotating glass-door refrigerator. I wish that kind of high-concept industrial design was more visible today. It’s really worth your time to watch all nine minutes of this short film (you have to click-through to watch it on YouTube).
Todd Bianco's ACarIsNotARefrigerator.com Blog 