Lunar Bosh

American Bosch ARMA Corporation (AMBAC) was located in Garden City, NY. At the start of 1960, it employed approximately 6,000 employees. AMBAC was founded in Brooklyn NY in 1918. It began by manufacturing high-intensity searchlights for military use but soon expanded into the design and manufacture of analog electro-mechanical gunfire control systems for use on US naval vessels.  

During WWII, almost all of the US military's gunfire control systems were manufactured on Long Island, New York. The ARMA Division of AMBAC, Ford Instrument Company, and Sperry Gyroscope Company represented the state of the art in such systems and proved their capability to meet the government's needs. After the war's end, ARMA was awarded a contract by the US Air Force to design and manufacture the tail gun turret gunfire control system for the Boeing B-52.

There was constant discord within the ARMA Division between management and the unionized technical staff. Several long strikes occurred in 1951, 1953, and 1955 that left a level of bitterness among the employees. The 1960-1965 Atlas Missile Guidance System was the last large contract awarded to the ARMA Division. By 1973, American Bosch ARMA Corporation, including its ARMA Division, was sold to the United Technologies Corporation and was relocated to UTC's Pratt and Whitney facility in Stratford, Connecticut.

The 1958 illustration is by Frank Tinsley (1899-1965).

Parallels

Depending on the angle or lighting, Virginia Gilmore (1919-1986), above left, and Jane Greer (1924-2001) possessed similar facial appearance. Yet both actresses are better known by only one of their films, Western Pacific and Out Of The Past, respectively. What separates them is their lifespan, perhaps accounting for Greer being the more famous.

Parasites

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the idea of carrying an additional flying craft was rampant. The concepts were totally impractical, if not deadly, ideas. The above is one example of a helicopter being able to attach and release from an F-94 jet fighter. The first question would seem to be, why?. The giant, 10-engined, Convair B-36 intercontinental bomber experimented with carrying parasite fighter escort jets. One system allowed two jet aircraft, each anchored at both wingtips of the B-36. A second program used a trapeze design lowered from one bomb bay which a fighter could hook the nose to a recieving hook. Although each system worked under ideal conditions, both were deemed impractical, especially given the best defense for the B-36 was altitude.

Supermarket Drive-In

Fred McNabb illustrated an idealistic series of futuristic concepts for the New Departure Manufacturing Company, founded in Bristol, Connecticut by innovators Albert and Edward Rockwell in 1901. By the way, Albert was also the founder of the Yellow Taxicab Company of New York. New Departure later became a division of General Motors. 

The above 1956 illustration seems to have numerous details that are mystifying, at the very least, like the conveyor belt for sending out groceries on a rainy day. I cannot imagine this concept succeeding east of the Rocky Mountains in the winter. Plus loading the preferred brands one is there to purchase. They did seem to envision the drivers' ability to open the trunk from inside the 1959 models, however. Not being able to comprehend there will be more than seven shoppers at a time is a huge oversight. Let alone the idling cars behind as if at a McDonald's drive-up window. Optimistically, perhaps these were the "express lanes" when shopping for no more than twenty items. One had to shop inside the store for a full shopping experience. Without ever knowing it, it seems the bazaar illustration was heading in the right direction regarding "remote" buying. What McNabb and New Departure could not have possibly envisioned was the Internet. Or shutting down the economy in 2020. Shopping without ever meeting any live person has become common for those who experience "life" via a Smartphone.

See McNabb's full-page ads here.

Infuriating Infrastructure

The Interstate Highway System, officially known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, was so named because the President signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Its intent was to make travel safer with efficient routes, eliminate traffic jams, and speedy, safe transcontinental travel. Idealistic ideas for mid-century travel. The all-freeway system was designed with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. The money for the Interstate System was handled in a Highway Trust Fund that paid for 90 percent of highway construction costs with the states required to pay the remaining 10 percent. The eventual payments, however, were through higher taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel. Something Eisenhower wanted to avoid.

Generally patterned after the Autobahn system in Germany, General Eisenhower noted their efficient use during World War II. The original intent was to speed around cities, not through them, for quick transportation of military equipment in the event of a conventional or nuclear war. Local politicians and individual state movers and shakers, however, began slicing through inner cities disregarding any historical significance in the name of progress. In this regard, this 1960 illustration predicted things fairly accurately. Never mind the Disney mono-rail.

The Sixty-Six Year Old Whopper

In 1953, Keith Kramer and Matthew Burns bought the rights to a special grill machine called the Insta-Broiler and named their restaurant Insta-Burger King. James McLamore and David Edgerton purchased one Insta-Burger in 1954, renamed it Burger King, and opened the first restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. The duo came up with a gas grill that they called a "flame broiler," and eliminated the problems of the Insta-Broiler. The Burger King mascot was created in 1955 and the driver of that 1957 Oldsmobile (above) may have ordered the new Whopper for the first time. 

A full chronological history here including the origins of Mr. McLamore.

Frank Bullitt

Appropriate praise has been placed on the groundbreaking chase scene about an hour into the film Bullitt (1968). Amazing considering its brief, near ten-minute screen time, but the film seems made up of gravitating brief moments. Yes, everyone knows about the repeated, differing camera positions to film the hilly San Francisco chase: the curse of multiple viewings. Yes, there have been more extended, unrealistic chase scenes in a couple of films to follow in an effort to "outdo" this film. But none are believable in real life. This driver knows his way around a Ford Mustang GT. Despite early script and character confusion, realism sums up the entire film. Of course, the chase without Lalo Schifrin’s perfectly matched jazzy “cat and mouse” score would be unimaginable.

Beyond this presumed “car guy film,” Steve McQueen is at his apex in a role perfectly suited for his subtleties. A strong "re-actor," this film showcases that talent in an early scene as the Lieutenant returns to the hotel where a contract killing took place. There is no dialogue. No music. Only the sound of highway traffic coming through an open window of a hotel near a freeway. Contemplating how the murder could have happened, his minute expressions, eye movements, and body language make this seemingly dull scene very powerful. 

Another defining scene concerns the hospital communication station where Bullitt is confronted by a politically ambitious federal prosecutor, Chalmers, played by Robert Vaughn. It is a scene that is overwhelmingly realistic and believable. Foretelling the tension coming in the famous chase, the two characters come to terms. They do not like each other. Bullitt’s tolerance reaches its end with the self-aggrandizing Chalmers. With direct eye contact, he states, “You work your side of the street, I’ll work mine.” 

The capture above is the spark that ignites the car chase.