Just Imagine
Encyclopedia
Just Imagine is a 1930
science-fiction musical
comedy
directed by David Butler, to console audiences distressed by the Great Depression
. The film is probably best known for its art direction and special effects in its portrayal of New York City in an imagined 1980. It has never officially been released on VHS or DVD.
RT-42 tries to cheer him up by taking him to see a horde of surgeons experimentally revive a man from 1930, who was struck by lightning while playing golf, and was killed. The man is taken in hand by RT-42 and J-21, where it is revealed that airplanes have replaced cars, numbers have replaced names, pills have replaced food and liquor, and the only legal babies come from vending machines. That night, LN-18 feigns a headache, and her father and the atrocious MT-3 decide to go to "the show" without her. The second they are gone, RT-42 and J-21 appear and woo B-27 and LN-18 respectively. MT-3 and LN-18's father return quite early, as MT-3 was highly suspicious, and RT-42 and J-21 hide. However, the game is foiled by the moronic Single O, the man from 1930, becoming addicted to pill-highballs, getting drunk, and trying to get some more pill-highballs off of J-21.
J-21 is depressed, but is contacted by Z-4, the scientist. He is told that Z-4 has built a "rocket plane" that can carry three men to Mars. After a farewell party on the "air-liner" (dirigible) Pegasus, which J-21 works at, the rocket blasts off, carrying J-21, RT-42, and Single O, who has stowed away for the synthetic rum. Landing on Mars, they are received by the Queen, Looloo ("I'll say she is!") and the King, Loko ("She is not the Queen---he is!") That night, Looloo and Loko take them to see a "show", which is like a Martian opera, where a horde of trained Martian ourang-outangs dance about. They are suddenly attacked by Booboo and Boko, the evil twins of the King and Queen (everyone on Mars is a twin.) They escape in a highly farcical scene, and return to Earth. As one of the first men on another planet, J-21 is permitted to marry LN-18. The film ends with Single O reunited with his aged son, Axel.
, the 1967 revival by Jim Kweskin
& The Jug Band, and more recent recordings by Doc Cheatham among others. In addition to Brendel, the film stars John Garrick as J21, Maureen O'Sullivan
as his would-be wife LN18, Frank Albertson
as J21's friend RT42, and Marjorie White as RT42's nurse-girlfriend.
serials Flash Gordon
and Buck Rogers
; the mock-up Mars spaceship
was reused in the former, as Dr. Zarkov's spaceship. Also seen in the first Flash Gordon serial are the strange hand-weapons carried by J21 and RT42 on Mars, which are held under rather than over the fist, and re-used footage of dancing girls cavorting about and on a Martian idol with moving arms.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
by Stephen Goosson
and Ralph Hammeras
.
, seen again and more famously in James Whale
's Frankenstein
(1931). In the history of screen special effects, the film is also important for its use of the first practical, very-large-scale rear-screen projection. Indeed, almost all shots of the large futuristic city model seen in the film are rear-screen-projections
behind live action.
The set design in form of glass pictures and miniatures was (uncreditly) done by Stephen Goosson
, Ralph Hammeras
, SPFX-guru Willis O'Brien
, and Marcel Delgado
.
called the picture "clever", "highly imaginative", and "intriguing" and praised the costumes and set design. Contrary to some accounts, this expensive film was not a box-office flop. However, it was a one-time-only novelty stunt, bolstered by the short-lived popularity of El Brendel. By the time it was released, movie musicals had greatly declined in popularity; nor was there a perceived audience for science fiction, especially at the onset of the Great Depression. As a result major American studios would not back another big budget science fiction film
until 1951
. There was to be only one other American science-fiction musical in that period, It's Great to Be Alive
(1933), which failed at the box-office. Film serials were an exception to this general trend, however.
The first Flash Gordon serial
from 1936 had an unusually large budget for a serial of the time, and Gene Autry's The Phantom Empire
from 1935 can loosely be considered a science fiction musical serial.
1930 in film
-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
science-fiction musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
directed by David Butler, to console audiences distressed by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The film is probably best known for its art direction and special effects in its portrayal of New York City in an imagined 1980. It has never officially been released on VHS or DVD.
Cast
- El BrendelEl BrendelEl Brendel was a vaudeville comedian turned movie star, best remembered for his dialect schtick as a Swedish immigrant. His biggest role was as "Single-0" in the sci-fi musical Just Imagine , produced by Fox Film Corporation...
as Single O - Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'SullivanMaureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
as LN-18 - John Garrick as J-21
- Marjorie WhiteMarjorie WhiteMarjorie White was a Canadian-born actress of stage and film.-Career:Born Marjorie Ann Guthrie in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she was the first-born child of a grain merchant born in Simcoe, Ontario...
as D-6 - Frank AlbertsonFrank AlbertsonFrank Albertson was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13....
as RT-42 - Hobart BosworthHobart BosworthHobart Bosworth was an American film actor, director, writer, and producer.-Early life:Born Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth, he was a direct descendant of Miles Standish and John and Priscilla Alden on his father's side and of New York's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers to land in the New...
as Z-4 - Kenneth Thomson as MT-3
- Mischa AuerMischa AuerMischa Auer was a Russian-born American actor.-Early life:Auer was born Mikhail Semyonovich Unskovsky in St. Petersburg, Russia...
as B-36 - Ivan Linow as Loko / Boko
- Joyzelle JoynerJoyzelle JoynerJoyzelle Joyner was an American actress and dancer. She appeared in at least thirty films between 1925 and 1935 gained some notoriety for her appearance in The Sign of the Cross.-Career:...
as Loo Loo and Boo Boo - Wilfred LucasWilfred LucasWilfred Lucas was a Canadian stage and film actor, film director, and screenwriter.-Career:A native of Ontario, Canada, Lucas headed to New York City to work in the theater, making his Broadway acting debut in 1904 at the Savoy Theater in the production of The Superstition of Sue...
as X-10 - Mary CarrMary CarrMary Carr was an American film actress and was married to the actor William Carr . She appeared in 144 films between 1915 and 1956...
(*uncredited)
Plot
The film starts with a preamble showing life in 1880, where the people believed themselves the "last word in speed". It switches to 1930, with the streets crowded with automobiles and lined with electric lights and telephone wires. It then switches to 1980, where the tenement houses have morphed into 250-story buildings, connected by suspension bridges and multi-lane elevated roads. J-21 sets his airplane on "hover" mode and converses with the beautiful LN-18. He describes how the marriage tribunal had refused to consider J-21's marital filing and applications, and LN-18 is going to be forced to marry the conceited and mean MT-3. J-21 plans to have LN-18 visit him that night.RT-42 tries to cheer him up by taking him to see a horde of surgeons experimentally revive a man from 1930, who was struck by lightning while playing golf, and was killed. The man is taken in hand by RT-42 and J-21, where it is revealed that airplanes have replaced cars, numbers have replaced names, pills have replaced food and liquor, and the only legal babies come from vending machines. That night, LN-18 feigns a headache, and her father and the atrocious MT-3 decide to go to "the show" without her. The second they are gone, RT-42 and J-21 appear and woo B-27 and LN-18 respectively. MT-3 and LN-18's father return quite early, as MT-3 was highly suspicious, and RT-42 and J-21 hide. However, the game is foiled by the moronic Single O, the man from 1930, becoming addicted to pill-highballs, getting drunk, and trying to get some more pill-highballs off of J-21.
J-21 is depressed, but is contacted by Z-4, the scientist. He is told that Z-4 has built a "rocket plane" that can carry three men to Mars. After a farewell party on the "air-liner" (dirigible) Pegasus, which J-21 works at, the rocket blasts off, carrying J-21, RT-42, and Single O, who has stowed away for the synthetic rum. Landing on Mars, they are received by the Queen, Looloo ("I'll say she is!") and the King, Loko ("She is not the Queen---he is!") That night, Looloo and Loko take them to see a "show", which is like a Martian opera, where a horde of trained Martian ourang-outangs dance about. They are suddenly attacked by Booboo and Boko, the evil twins of the King and Queen (everyone on Mars is a twin.) They escape in a highly farcical scene, and return to Earth. As one of the first men on another planet, J-21 is permitted to marry LN-18. The film ends with Single O reunited with his aged son, Axel.
Music
Of the DeSylva, Brown and Henderson songs introduced in the film, "Never Swat a Fly" is remembered today, through such covers as the classic 1930 recording by McKinney's Cotton PickersMcKinney's Cotton Pickers
McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an African American jazz band founded in Detroit in 1926 by William McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten pieces. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney early on drums....
, the 1967 revival by Jim Kweskin
Jim Kweskin
Jim Kweskin is the founder of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, with Fritz Richmond, Mel Lyman, and Geoff and Maria Muldaur...
& The Jug Band, and more recent recordings by Doc Cheatham among others. In addition to Brendel, the film stars John Garrick as J21, Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
as his would-be wife LN18, Frank Albertson
Frank Albertson
Frank Albertson was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13....
as J21's friend RT42, and Marjorie White as RT42's nurse-girlfriend.
Art/cinematography
Clips of the cityscape from this movie were later used in the UniversalUniversal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
serials Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
and Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
; the mock-up Mars spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
was reused in the former, as Dr. Zarkov's spaceship. Also seen in the first Flash Gordon serial are the strange hand-weapons carried by J21 and RT42 on Mars, which are held under rather than over the fist, and re-used footage of dancing girls cavorting about and on a Martian idol with moving arms.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
by Stephen Goosson
Stephen Goosson
Stephen Goosson was an Academy Award-winning American film set designer.Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Goosson was an architect in Detroit before starting his film career as art director for producer Lewis J. Selznick, and films for Fox Film Corporation such as New Movietone Follies of 1930...
and Ralph Hammeras
Ralph Hammeras
Ralph Hammeras was an American special effects designer, cinematographer and art director. He was nominated for three Academy Awards.He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and died in Los Angeles, California.-Awards:...
.
Special effects
The sequence in which the El Brendel character is revived from the dead features the first screen appearance of the spectacular electrical equipment assembled by Kenneth StrickfadenKenneth Strickfaden
Ken Strickfaden, short for Kenneth Strickfaden was an electrician, film set designer, and electrical special effects creator...
, seen again and more famously in James Whale
James Whale
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
's Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
(1931). In the history of screen special effects, the film is also important for its use of the first practical, very-large-scale rear-screen projection. Indeed, almost all shots of the large futuristic city model seen in the film are rear-screen-projections
Rear projection effect
Rear projection is part of many in-camera effects cinematic techniquesin film production for combining foreground performances with pre-filmed backgrounds. It was widely used for many years in driving scenes, or to show other forms of "distant" background motion...
behind live action.
The set design in form of glass pictures and miniatures was (uncreditly) done by Stephen Goosson
Stephen Goosson
Stephen Goosson was an Academy Award-winning American film set designer.Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Goosson was an architect in Detroit before starting his film career as art director for producer Lewis J. Selznick, and films for Fox Film Corporation such as New Movietone Follies of 1930...
, Ralph Hammeras
Ralph Hammeras
Ralph Hammeras was an American special effects designer, cinematographer and art director. He was nominated for three Academy Awards.He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and died in Los Angeles, California.-Awards:...
, SPFX-guru Willis O'Brien
Willis O'Brien
Willis Harold O'Brien was an Irish American pioneering motion picture special effects artist who perfected and specialized in stop-motion animation. He was affectionately known to his family and close friends as "Obie"....
, and Marcel Delgado
Marcel Delgado
Marcel Delgado was a sculptor and model-maker. His technique revolutionized the stop motion film industry. He is best known for his work on the 1933 film King Kong....
.
Reception
Mordaunt HallMordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for The New York Times, from October 1924 to September 1934....
called the picture "clever", "highly imaginative", and "intriguing" and praised the costumes and set design. Contrary to some accounts, this expensive film was not a box-office flop. However, it was a one-time-only novelty stunt, bolstered by the short-lived popularity of El Brendel. By the time it was released, movie musicals had greatly declined in popularity; nor was there a perceived audience for science fiction, especially at the onset of the Great Depression. As a result major American studios would not back another big budget science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
until 1951
1951 in film
The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
. There was to be only one other American science-fiction musical in that period, It's Great to Be Alive
It's Great to Be Alive
It's Great to Be Alive is a science fiction musical comedy film produced by Fox Film Corporation, is a remake of The Last Man on Earth , and later influenced the novel Mr. Adam by Pat Frank.-Synopsis:...
(1933), which failed at the box-office. Film serials were an exception to this general trend, however.
The first Flash Gordon serial
Flash Gordon (serial)
Flash Gordon is a 1936 science fiction film serial. Told in 13 installments, it was the first screen adventure for the comic-strip character Flash Gordon, and tells the story of his first visit to the planet Mongo and his encounter with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean...
from 1936 had an unusually large budget for a serial of the time, and Gene Autry's The Phantom Empire
The Phantom Empire
The Phantom Empire, starring Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy, was a 12-chapter 1935 Mascot serial that combined the western, musical, and science fiction genres. The first episode is 30 mins, the rest about 20 minutes...
from 1935 can loosely be considered a science fiction musical serial.
Production credits
- Art Direction - Stephen Goosson and Ralph Hammeras
- Set Decoration - Stephen Goosson and Ralph Hammeras
- Assistant Director - Ad Schaumer
- Sound Department - Joseph E. Aiken
- Stager - Seymour Felix
- Musical director - Arthur Kay
- Costumes - Alice O'Neil and Dolly Tree
- Graphics - Post Amazers Post AmazersPost Amazers is an animation and post-production facility that provides creative services from concept to execution including art direction, broadcast design, 2D/3D animation, post-production, sound design etc....