A Is for Atom
About A Is for Atom
A narrator and a figure called Dr. Atom, with an atom for a head, lay out protons, neutrons, electrons, and isotopes. The short then moves from artificial transmutation to fission, the chain reaction, Oak Ridge, a reactor, and plutonium, and on to imagined power plants. It closes on radioisotopes in medicine and agriculture. A blue 'nuclear giant' appears among the drawings.
Cast & crew
More about A Is for Atom
John Sutherland made the cartoon for General Electric. True Boardman wrote it. John Hiestand narrated the 1953 version. It opened theatrically at the Pantages and Hillstreet theatres in Los Angeles on 2 July 1953. Al O. Bondy distributed it free. In 1964 GE had Sutherland's studio recut it, with new music and narration, and shifted the weight from bombs toward power plants.
Themes
Background
General Electric put it out in 1953, eight years after Hiroshima, as a case for power and isotopes rather than only the bomb.
Music
The 1964 reissue replaced the music and the narration.
Preservation
The 1953 short is in the public domain. General Electric issued a revised cut in 1964.
Notes
- The 1953 narration is John Hiestand's. Accounts of the original voice also use the name Bud Hiestand.
- The short is in the public domain.
- Festival programs gave it more prizes than any other Sutherland short. The prize names are not collected in one list.
Scenes
- Dr. Atom compares the solar system to the structure of an atom.
- The ending turns to isotopes in medicine and on the farm.
