A Computer Glossary

With a live-action prologue that gives an intimate view of a computer data path, this animated film presents, through computer terminology, some revealing and characteristic aspects of the electronic problem-solving art. Music by Elmer Bernstein. Atlanta International Film Festival Bronze Medal, 1969.

10 minutes, 47 seconds

With a live action prologue that gives an intimate view of a computer data path, this animated film presents, through computer technology, some revealing and characteristic aspects of the electronic problem solving art.
Presented first in the IBM Pavilion at Hemisfair, the World’s Fair in San Antonio, Texas in 1968.
Narration read by Philip Abbott and Dolores Sutton.  A renowned character actor, Philip Abbott is  best remembered as “FBI Assistant Director Arthur Ward” on the ABC series, The F.B.I., with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., in the starring role as “Inspector Lewis Erskine.”  Dolores Sutton achieved success as both a playwright and as an actress.  She made guest star appearances on both of the longest running prime time dramas in US television history: Gunsmoke (1955) and Law & Order (1990).
Music by Elmer Bernstein.
10 minutes, 47 seconds.  Color.
Awarded a bronze medal at the Atlanta International Film Festival in 1969.

1968
A Computer Glossary was shown in 1968 in the IBM Corporation’s pavilion at Hemisfair, the World’s Fair in San Antonio, Texas. The film, another project in a series of Eames Office endeavors to promote understanding of the electronic computer, begins with a live-action, close-up sequence depicting the path that data travels in the computer. It is accompanied by a soundtrack of professional jargon spoken by the computer-room staff.

The film goes on to introduce various terms specific to electronic data processing, thereby creating a computer glossary. The Eameses employed animated sequences to define and illustrate the glossary (according to definitions that were valid in the mid-1960s).

A Computer Glossary was written by Charles and Eames Office staff member Glen Fleck, with the assistance of Lynn Stoller of IBM. The film won a bronze medal at the Atlanta International Film Festival in 1969.

In the gallery below, you can see two images of the IBM Pavilion at Hemisfair, including one which shows A Computer Glossary on the big screen.
Music by Elmer Bernstein.

10 minutes, 47 seconds.  Color.