Steve Jobs Plays Franklin Delano Roosevelt In Lost 1984 Macintosh Ad

Considering all that Steve Jobs achieved in his life and brought to the technology forefront, it would figure that any reminisce of the late, great Apple co-founder is worth having a look at, and the latest, which sees Steve Jobs playing the role of former US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is certainly an eye-opener – if not a little strange.

Recovered from the archives, the 1984 clip was designed to fire up Apple employees as the Macintosh looked to stake its claim in the workplace alongside IBM. The short film portrays a World War II theme throughout, and, very briefly, features an appearance by Steve Jobs in the role of Roosevelt.

Steve Jobs FDR

Although the quality of the clip seems more YouTube than global brand, it’s said to have been a production of broadcast-quality, costing around $50,000. The full version, entitled “1944” was leaked to NetworkWorld by Craig Elliott, former Apple employee and now CEO of cloud computing outfit Pertino Networks, which is located only a couple of blocks away from Apple over in Cupertino, California.

Elliott worked for Apple for just over a decade between 1985 to 1996, and decided to release the footage after declaring he’d never seen it anywhere else, nor, as far as he was aware, was it in circulation. Indeed, he was correct, and if you would like to check out the “1944” clip in its entirety, then simply head over to this link on source site.

Of course, the 1980’s didn’t have the benefit of the web, thus old videos could easily be missed and forgotten about, and that appears to have been the case with this video. Although I wasn’t born when this the video was first aired, as a Mac and Apple enthusiast, I can certainly acknowledge its relevance, and I suspect those who do remember the TV commercial will raise something of a smile in light of the “re-release.”

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Steve Jobs left a void in the technology industry that will certainly be hard to fill, and although he was as famous for treading on people’s toes as leading the company he co-founded out of the mud, his mannerisms, determination, and marketing skills will never be forgotten – as well as his great deliverance of new products at the keynote speeches – which never went by without a good dose of humor.

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