The Bell Laboratory Science Series
Encyclopedia
The Bell Laboratory Science Series was a series of educational television specials made for Bell Labs
by Frank Capra
, Walt Disney
, and others. Each special explored a single subject in detail. The host of seven of the eight films was Dr. Research, played by Frank C. Baxter
. In one of the films, The Alphabet Conspiracy, Baxter played essentially the same character, but with his name changed to Dr. Linguistics. The host for the last film in the series was Walt Disney.
Each movie intertwined animation and live action to better explain the complexity of a particular subject. The series is sometimes confused with The Bell Telephone Hour
, but the two were completely different; The Bell Telephone Hour showcased music, both classical and Broadway.
examines the Sun and how it works, as well as the Sun's profound influence on life on earth. It was written and directed by Frank Capra. It introduced Frank C. Baxter
as Dr. Research; Baxter played this role in the next seven films in the series. Eddie Albert
played "the writer" in this film only; Richard Carlson
played this role in the subsequent films. Sterling Holloway
was Chloro Phyll
, Lionel Barrymore
was Father Time
, and Marvin Miller
was The Sun
. The film's editor, Frank P. Keller
, won an Emmy Award
(Best Editing Of A Film For Television) for the film. It featured Barrymore's last screen role, and was shown posthumously, two years after the actor's death.
is an examination of what the circulatory system
is and how it works. It was written and directed by Frank Capra, and starred Frank C. Baxter as Dr. Research, Richard Carlson
as the Fiction Writer, Mel Blanc
as the squirrel, and Marvin Miller
as Hemo
.
is and how it works. It was the fourth and last film in the series produced by Frank Capra; unlike the first three of the films, this film was directed by Richard Carlson
, who also appears in the film. Frank C. Baxter again appeared as Dr. Research.
, and Hadley Cantrell, with actor Karl Swenson
as a cameraman.
and its history. It uses characters from Lewis Carroll
's Alice in Wonderland. It was directed by Robert B. Sinclair, and starred Frank C. Baxter as Dr. Linguistcs, Hans Conried
as the Mad Hatter
, and Daws Butler
as the voice of several characters. The animated sequences were directed by Friz Freleng
.
is and how it works. It was produced and directed by Owen Crump. It starred Frank C. Baxter, as himself, and Mel Blanc
.
. It was produced and directed by Owen Crump. It starred Frank C. Baxter, as himself, and Richard Deacon
.
, as himself, and Sterling Holloway
.
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
by Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
, Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, and others. Each special explored a single subject in detail. The host of seven of the eight films was Dr. Research, played by Frank C. Baxter
Frank C. Baxter
Francis Condie Baxter was an American TV personality and educator. He was a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Baxter hosted Telephone Time in 1957 and 1958 when ABC picked up the program and ended the tenure of John Nesbitt...
. In one of the films, The Alphabet Conspiracy, Baxter played essentially the same character, but with his name changed to Dr. Linguistics. The host for the last film in the series was Walt Disney.
Each movie intertwined animation and live action to better explain the complexity of a particular subject. The series is sometimes confused with The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...
, but the two were completely different; The Bell Telephone Hour showcased music, both classical and Broadway.
Our Mr. Sun (1956)
Our Mr. SunOur Mr. Sun
Our Mr. Sun is a one-hour American 1956 television film in Technicolor written, produced, and directed by Frank Capra. It is a documentary that explains how the Sun works and how it also plays a huge part in human life. It was first televised by CBS in 1956.The film starred Frank Baxter as "Dr...
examines the Sun and how it works, as well as the Sun's profound influence on life on earth. It was written and directed by Frank Capra. It introduced Frank C. Baxter
Frank C. Baxter
Francis Condie Baxter was an American TV personality and educator. He was a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Baxter hosted Telephone Time in 1957 and 1958 when ABC picked up the program and ended the tenure of John Nesbitt...
as Dr. Research; Baxter played this role in the next seven films in the series. Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
played "the writer" in this film only; Richard Carlson
Richard Carlson
Richard Carlson was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Carlson graduated from the University of Minnesota with an M.A. degree, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He later appeared on the Broadway stage in the 1930s after studying...
played this role in the subsequent films. Sterling Holloway
Sterling Holloway
Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...
was Chloro Phyll
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...
, Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
was Father Time
Father Time
Father Time is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, somewhat worse for wear, dressed in a robe, carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device...
, and Marvin Miller
Marvin Miller (actor)
Marvin Elliott Miller was an American film and voice-over actor. Possessing a deep, baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri before becoming a Hollywood actor...
was The Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. The film's editor, Frank P. Keller
Frank P. Keller
Frank P. Keller was an American film and television editor with 24 feature film credits from 1958 - 1977...
, won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
(Best Editing Of A Film For Television) for the film. It featured Barrymore's last screen role, and was shown posthumously, two years after the actor's death.
Hemo the Magnificent (1957)
Hemo the MagnificentHemo the Magnificent
Hemo the Magnificent is a one-hour Technicolor made-for-television educational film, released in 1957 by Bell Laboratories and directed by Frank Capra, and first telecast by CBS. It details the workings of the circulatory system...
is an examination of what the circulatory system
Circulatory system
The circulatory system is an organ system that passes nutrients , gases, hormones, blood cells, etc...
is and how it works. It was written and directed by Frank Capra, and starred Frank C. Baxter as Dr. Research, Richard Carlson
Richard Carlson
Richard Carlson was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Carlson graduated from the University of Minnesota with an M.A. degree, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He later appeared on the Broadway stage in the 1930s after studying...
as the Fiction Writer, Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
as the squirrel, and Marvin Miller
Marvin Miller (actor)
Marvin Elliott Miller was an American film and voice-over actor. Possessing a deep, baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri before becoming a Hollywood actor...
as Hemo
Hemoglobin
Hemoglobin is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in the red blood cells of all vertebrates, with the exception of the fish family Channichthyidae, as well as the tissues of some invertebrates...
.
The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (1957)
The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays is an examination of what cosmic rays are and how they work. It was written and directed by Frank Capra, and starred Frank C. Baxter as himself and again, Richard Carlson as the Fiction Writer.The Unchained Goddess(1958)
The Unchained Goddess examines what weatherWeather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
is and how it works. It was the fourth and last film in the series produced by Frank Capra; unlike the first three of the films, this film was directed by Richard Carlson
Richard Carlson
Richard Carlson was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Carlson graduated from the University of Minnesota with an M.A. degree, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He later appeared on the Broadway stage in the 1930s after studying...
, who also appears in the film. Frank C. Baxter again appeared as Dr. Research.
Gateways to the Mind (1958)
Gateways to the Mind is about the five senses are and how they work. It was produced and directed by Owen Crump. It starred Frank C. Baxter as himself, Wilder PenfieldWilder Penfield
Wilder Graves Penfield, OM, CC, CMG, FRS was an American born Canadian neurosurgeon. During his life he was called "the greatest living Canadian"...
, and Hadley Cantrell, with actor Karl Swenson
Karl Swenson
Karl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who...
as a cameraman.
The Alphabet Conspiracy (1959)
The Alphabet Conspiracy examines languageLanguage
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
and its history. It uses characters from Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice in Wonderland. It was directed by Robert B. Sinclair, and starred Frank C. Baxter as Dr. Linguistcs, Hans Conried
Hans Conried
Hans Georg Conried, Jr. was an American comedian, character actor and voice actor.-Early years:He was born on April 15, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland to Hans Georg Conried, Sr. and Edith Beyr Gildersleeve. His mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna,...
as the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
, and Daws Butler
Daws Butler
Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
as the voice of several characters. The animated sequences were directed by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
.
Thread of Life (1960)
Thread of Life is about DNADNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
is and how it works. It was produced and directed by Owen Crump. It starred Frank C. Baxter, as himself, and Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
.
About Time (1962)
About Time examines timeTime
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
. It was produced and directed by Owen Crump. It starred Frank C. Baxter, as himself, and Richard Deacon
Richard Deacon (actor)
Richard Deacon , born in Philadelphia, was an American television and motion picture actor.-Career:The bald and usually bespectacled character actor often portrayed pompous or imperious figures. He made appearances on The Jack Benny Show as a salesman and a barber, and on NBC's Happy as a hotel...
.
The Restless Sea (1964)
The Restless Sea examines the oceans. It starred Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, as himself, and Sterling Holloway
Sterling Holloway
Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...
.