Apple's 1984 Internal Inspirational Video with Steve Jobs as Franklin Roosevelt

Network World shares a rather unique internal Apple video from 1984 intended to inspire Apple employees as the Macintosh sought to supplant IBM in the workplace. The short black-and-white film is set to a World War II theme and features a brief appearance by Steve Jobs in the role of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Entitled "1944," the almost 9-minute full version was Apple's in-house takeoff on "1984," the iconic first Macintosh TV ad that caused a sensation during that year's Super Bowl. Set as a World War II tale of good vs. IBM, it is a broadcast-quality production (said to have cost $50,000) that was designed to fire up Apple's international sales force at a 1984 meeting in Hawaii. A copy of "1944" was provided to me by one-time Apple employee Craig Elliott, now CEO of Pertino Networks, a cloud-computing startup located two blocks from Apple in Cupertino.

jobs fdr
Jobs' appearance, complete with fake accent to initially disguise his true identity, comes at roughly 5:20 into the film.

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Top Rated Comments

Hastings101 Avatar
169 months ago
I'm glad I grew up in the 90's, the 80's sound weird
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MovieCutter Avatar
169 months ago
First Willy Wonka and now this? Ok, now this is just getting weird.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Boston007 Avatar
169 months ago
I'm glad I grew up in the 90's, the 80's sound weird

I feel bad for you.
GEN X FTW
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpaloalto Avatar
169 months ago
LOL! this is hilarious, I cant believe Steve did that, how corny. Now that he's gone people can release stuff like that with having Steve kill them:eek:
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rot'nApple Avatar
169 months ago
That's Steve Ballmer Creepy! :eek:
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Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
charlieegan3 Avatar
169 months ago
#$%& you!! UPDATE MY MAC PRO! :mad:

macrumours bot can't help you.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)