In League with the Future

Back in August, I featured some 35mm slides I'd bought at the estate sale of a former Credit Union employee.  Those slides were about the year 2000 and what wonders it would hold for Credit Unions.  I was going through more of that lot of slides last week and found another set with a similar theme.  They're from a series called "In League with the Future".  Unfortunately, I don't have the record or script that goes with it, but it's pretty obvious it's about moving away from cash transactions to credit and how computers will enhance the way we pay our bills and buy goods and services.  If you didn't know that, you might think it was a science fiction story about a totalitarian world ruled by computers.  It's from about 1968 and has a definite 2001: Space Odyssey feel to it.  As a side note, unfortunately these slides have suffered the dreaded "red shift" that afflicts film of this era.  It's actually caused by the cyan dye in the film fading quicker than the yellow and magenta dyes.  If I had some better software (or knew how to use what I have), I think I could correct the color.

It's cropped off, but that's a quart of A&P milk he's holding. My dad was a grocer for A&P and was fired for checking himself out at a register buying some milk for me when I was little.  The scene may have looked just like above.  Sorry, Dad.  Don't worry, he went on to a better job.

I love the giant warning lights they envisioned for when you swiped your credit card.  I get "overdraft", but what was the plan of action if your card received a "marginal" rating?  Did the seller get to decide whether to complete the transaction?  "I don't know... You're marginal..."

I'm not sure why the window of the credit union is smashed and the door is boarded up.  Maybe this credit thing isn't such a good idea.

It looks like huge dust storms and armies of giant mechanized spiders are forecast for portions of the northeast United States.

In the future, we will all wear yellow aviator-style rain hats and matching coats.

Univac Uniscope 300

This would make a great sci fi novel cover

Apparently, gravity runs in a 70 degree angle from center in this universe, requiring all buildings to be built this way.

United as one...in the vortex of crushing financial debt.  I can almost hear their screams.

I'm not sure what the Beatles are spelling out here.  "Much"?

This may be a brave new economic world, but it will be ruled by judges in old-fashioned wigs.

I'm not sure why the art suddenly switches to "Mad Men" mode here.

What's through the keyhole?  League affiliation or assimilation?

Without warning, the central computer strikes at multiple targets throughout the world.  Mankind is obliterated.

Oh yes, there will be Guide Lines for the future, my friends.  And you will follow them.

This would make a great horror novel cover.

An lone man cries out against the machine and is quickly silenced.

Apparently, the answer entails us all living under The Dome.