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Design for Dreaming (1956) is a musical sponsored film about a woman (played by dancer and choreographer Tad Tadlock; real name “Thelma Tadlock”) who dreams about a masked man (dancer and choreographer Marc Breaux) taking her to the 1956 General Motors Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Frigidaire’s “Kitchen of the Future.” The entirety of the dialogue is sung, though the actors do not move their lips to their characters’ prerecorded voices.
The film starts off with her in her bedroom, with the masked man suddenly appearing. He then takes her to the Motorama. After looking at several cars including Buick, Chevrolet Corvette, Oldsmobile, and Cadillacs, she is taken to the “kitchen of the future,” where she bakes a cake. She then goes back to the motorama and dances the “dance of tomorrow.” After looking at more cars, she and her masked man (who unmasks himself) travel on the “road of tomorrow” in the “Firebird 2″ and fall in love.
The film was directed by William Beaudine.
Design for Dreaming has gained a small cult following, with some enjoying it for its perceived camp value, and others enjoying it for nostalgic reasons. One prominent showing of the film was as a short feature in a fifth-season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K).[1] The BBC documentary series Pandora’s Box by Adam Curtis made extensive use of clips from Design for Dreaming, especially in the title sequence. Some footage was also used in the music video for Peter Gabriel’s 1987 single “In Your Eyes,” Rush’s 1989 music video for “Superconductor,” a 1989 commercial for the Nintendo Game Boy game Super Mario Land, a 1994 commercial for Power Macintosh, and in brief clips on an episode in the 2nd season of Penn and Teller: Bullshit. Clips were during Nine Inch Nails concert performances. Part of the film, with dialogue, is played during the opening titles for The Hills Have Eyes (2006 film). Some snippets (without dialogue) are played in the video watched by Michael Douglas during his physical in The Game (film) and in the opening titles for The Stepford Wives (2004 film).
The General Motors Motorama was an auto show staged by GM from 1949 to 1961. These automobile extravaganzas were designed to whet public appetite and boost automobile sales with displays of fancy prototypes, concept vehicles and other special or halo models. Motorama grew out of Alfred P. Sloan’s yearly industrial luncheons at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria, beginning in 1931. They were almost invariably held in conjunction with the New York Auto Show, that for many years was held traditionally in the first week of January.
The 1955 show dates were New York (January 20–25), Miami (February 5–13), Los Angeles (March 5–13), San Francisco (March 26 to April 3), Boston (April 23 to May 1). Exhibited at these venues were the Buick Wildcat III, Chevrolet Bel Air Nomad, Cadillac LaSalle II roadster and sedan, and Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.
In 1956 over 2.2 million visitors attended. The dates were New York City (January 19–24), Miami (February 4–12), Los Angeles (March 3–11), San Francisco (March 24-April 1), Boston (April 19–29). Featured cars included Buick Centurion, General Motors Firebird II, the Oldsmobile Golden Rocket, Pontiac Club de Mer, Cadillac Eldorado Brougham and Eldorado Brougham Town Car. Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 will recognize the 1956 show as the Motorama featured in the short film Design for Dreaming.
No shows were held for the next two years. In 1957, however, Cadillac did display a couple of show cars at various venues. These were the Cadillac Director and the Eldorado Brougham town car of the previous year. Also, in 1958, a special Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible toured various automobile shows; it was equipped with a rain sensor designed to automatically raise the top and all window glass, in case of a rain shower.
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