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The Philadelphia Experiment in: #TimeTravel #Books and #Movies

2/23/2015

The Philadelphia Experiment

In this segment, I will be discussing three (3) movie incarnations, as well as the 1943 - Project Rainbow, also known as The Philadelphia Experiment.

This is the original movie poster from 1984.

The way I understand it, Project Rainbow was done as a series of experiments by the US Navy in 1943 to degauss (make non-magnetic) a battleship and to render it radar invisible. They did this by putting conductive wires around the USS Eldridge and then electrifying them with high powered generators on board the ship. The results of these experiments were highly classified, but rumors came out that strange phenomena were experienced by the crew members on board. Some of these phenomena were said to be: Complete invisibility of the ship, crew members fusing into the hull, and the most interesting of all, time displacement. It is said that two sailors ended up in 1983 during another identical experiment in Norfolk, Virginia called the Montauk Project.

The USS Eldridge from 1943.

The Montauk dish, Norfolk, Virginia.

The Philadelphia Experiment was first brought to surface in Dr. M.K. Jessup’s book, The Case For the UFO, originally published in 1955. The book was suppressed by the government but was finally re-released as an indie book by Amazon’s Createspace in 2014. There remains to this day, a mystery surrounding Dr. Jessup's strange death. Was it suicide or murder? Will I now be investigated for blogging about this?

From Amazon.com: "This is the first ever reprint of the book that brought the entire legend of the Philadelphia Experiment into the public sphere, and created controversy for decades: "The Case For the UFO!" Why has this book been suppressed for so many years?"

It is said that no attempt to make a movie about The Philadelphia Experiment was being allowed by the US government, but a British director by the name of Stewart Raffill got the movie made. Using all American actors, the movie literally slipped under the government’s nose. But it was banned from being shown in this country until the secrets of the Montauk Project were about to become public. Allegedly, the movie was finally allowed as a preemptive strike. In other words, if a sci-fi movie makes these claims, it sends up smoke and mirrors around the actual truth.

So we have the 1984 movie, called The Philadelphia Experiment, and it turned out to be a wonderful time travel film. It stared Michael Paré as one of the 1943 crewmen (David Herdeg) who ends up in 1984 (the movie used the current year, instead of 1983). The other crew member was Jim Parker, played by Bobby Di Cicco. It’s fun to watch these confused 1943 sailors, experiencing the sights of modern objects such as new gas pumps, aluminum Coke cans, an empty German beer bottle, and fighter jets.

Michael Paré as David Herdeg.

Bobby Di Cicco who played Jim Parker.

The film also stars Nancy Allen as Allison Hayes, who helps the men and becomes romantic with Paré’s character, David.

This film is among my favorite movies in this genre. It has all the elements of a good time travel film, great props, action, a sense of time-travel awe from the characters, good special effects, and of course, romance. The movie comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

Nancy Allen and Michael Paré promo from The Philadelphia Experiment .

Ten years later, in 1994, The Philadelphia Experiment II was released. This movie ended up on my blog for worst time travel movies. {CLICK} I won’t even review it here.

In 2012, a remake of The Philadelphia Experiment was released on the Syfy network. It stared Malcolm McDowell and Michael Paré returned, but this time played the bad guy. This movie wasn’t very good. They took many liberties with the story and the characters had no real connection to one another. But the special effects were good and so was the sense of awe by the traveler. All in all, the story lacked all the charm of the original. I think Syfy movies are more about the action in our video game society.

The 2012 remake of The Philadelphia Experiment. Didn't like the movie, but loved the images.

Michael Paré in 2012.

I watched a three hour long interview with the men who supposedly were part of the original Project Rainbow and Montauk Project. Two of them claimed to be the men who ended up in 1983 from the USS Eldridge. Their names are listed in many sites on the Philadelphia Experiments and the sincerity in which they spoke was very convincing. They claimed the original movie was all true except for the added romance part. It’s very intriguing to think about real time-travel experiments actually being carried out and kept secret by the US Government.

My own time travel books! Click Picture to go to Amazon.com

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My Mother Was Never a Kid - Time Travel books and Movies

2/14/2015

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My Mother Was Never a Kid

There are no official pictures from this film, so screenshots were used.

The year was 1981. I was between jobs and enjoying a temporary role as stay-at-home dad with my first born baby daughter, Jess. After her nap and our daily routine of lunch, Sesame Street, and Mister Rogers, I dialed the TV set to ABC (Channel 7 in the Chicago area) and discovered an after-school special. It was called, My Mother Was Never a Kid.

What unfolded as I watched this kids special, was a wonderful time travel film. Without commercials it was only forty five minutes long. The film was about a 14-year-old girl named Victoria Martin (Mary Beth Manning) who was always getting in trouble at school. She would fight with her mom and felt her mother never understood what it was like to be young.

Mary Beth Manning as Victoria Martin.

Mary Beth Manning had already made three, made-for-TV movies before staring in My Mother Was Never a Kid, including the famous, A Christmas to Remember. But she would become a familiar face in the future, staring in many TV ads and shows, such as: The Wonder Years, Dynasty, Judging Amy and most recently in another show I watch, Agent Carter. But it was her role in My Mother Was Never a Kid in which I fell in love with her work. Her facial expressions were priceless. I’m sure this is why she landed so many commercial ads. I recall the one where she walks into a bank and the teller is saying he can go lower, and keeps changing the pitch of his voice. There were those wonderful facial expressions. In My Mother Was Never a Kid, she is bewildered by her time travel situation and keeps saying the following phrase, “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” Mary Beth Manning is a very talented actress and it showed, even as a young girl.

Mary Beth Manning today.

Her mom, Felicia is played by prominent film and stage actress, Holland Taylor. Taylor won an Emmy for her role in the TV drama, The Practice and was nominated for playing Charlie Sheen’s mother in Two and a Half Men.

After being caught smoking in the girl’s room, Victoria has a horrific fight with her mom and ends up running out the door, taking a ride on the subway to meet her friend. Deep down, Victoria isn’t a bad girl, as shown when she gives up her seat to an elderly lady. The train suddenly makes a quick stop and Victoria is slammed to the floor, unconscious. When she awakes, the old woman is now a young pregnant woman who thanks Victoria for giving up her seat for her. The subway train is clean from graffiti and has 1940 ads posted around.

Victoria thinks they cleaned up the train station and finds herself on the street where she meets a girl willing to try and help her. The girl’s name is Cici (Rachel Longaker) and she is full of personality. Victoria likes her immediately, but is bewildered by things, such as her not knowing rock groups like The Who and prefers Frank Sinatra, who Cici refers to as dreamy.

Rachel Longaker as Cici.

Rachel Longaker (Cici) was famous for her role as Aimee Louise Godsey on The Waltons and played in the movie, Oh God with John Denver and George Burns, among other roles. She is also wonderful in her role of Cici. She had a bubbly personality that was part bad girl, but also very likable. I did not base my character of Katya on her in my Time Pilgrims series [LINK], but in retrospect, Longaker as Cici reminds me of her. Wonderful actress!

Rachel Longaker today.

Victoria finally comes to the realization that she is in 1944, but it’s when Cici invites her to her home that she realizes Cici’s mom is her very own grandmother, and that makes Cici, her own future mother. (Cici is a nickname of Francine). Victoria sees first hand that Cici and her mom fight as much as she does with her own mother. She also realizes that her mom got in trouble even more than she did. She sees her steal an eraser from a store and purchase a copy of an upcoming test. (She buys the test from a boy named, Ted Davis played by Joe Cosentino...another great actor who went on to do great things, including author.

Victoria looking surprised at the fights between Cici and her mother.

The props, clothing, and feel of the 1940s are extremely well done for a film that couldn’t have had a large budget. The language is perfect as well. Cici uses words such as hubba hubba, neat-o and terrif. Although the scenes are supposed to be set in New York City, it was filmed in Toronto, Canada.

It was a few years later that I realized the film was based on a 1977 book, titled, Hangin’ Out with Cici by renowned author, Francine Pascal who is famous for her Sweet Valley High book series.

In recent years, the book has been renamed, My Mother Was Never a Kid and is still available. The novel is just as much a delight as the film, but has Victoria a bit more… naughty. For instance, instead of cigarettes, she is smoking marijuana in the story.

Alternate covers of Hangin' Out With Cici.

About two years later (1983), when I had my first VCR, I happened to catch the last airing of My Mother Was Never a Kid, then on Nickelodeon and taped it. I believe I might have the only copy of the full 45 minute version anywhere. A shortened half-hour version came out for a brief time on VHS, but even that is out of print. That version, however can be watched on You Tube. Mine was there for a short time when I loaned it to someone, but has since been made private.

In my search for this film, I was responsible for having it listed on The Internet Movie Data Base, IMDB and mine is still the only review for it on the site. It has my first email address, which is now long gone. See below:

User Reviews

AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL

1 October 2000 | by dhig72 (dhig72@aol.com) (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) – See all my reviews

I saw this movie when it first aired as an after school special in 1981. I loved it then and have been searching in vain for it on VHS. I also read the novel entitled "HANGIN' OUT WITH CICI". Excellent time travel story.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

The program was nominated for 5 Daytime Emmy Awards in 1981, taking home 2 for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming - Art Direction/Scenic Design/Set Decoration" and "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming - Makeup and Hair Design."

My Mother Was Never a Kid remains one of my favorite time travel short films and I still find myself hoping and praying that one day, it is cleaned up and released for sale. Meanwhile, I will enjoy my burned from VHS copy.

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The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

2/7/2015

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The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger sporting Clare Red hair.

When Audrey Neffinegger set out to write The Time Traveler’s Wife, she didn’t think she was writing anything that had to do with science fiction. She wanted to use a metaphor for her own troubled relationships in love. She also drew from her own parents, where her father often traveled and left for long periods of time. I imagine my own kids can relate to this, as my job had me traveling the world quite often. A time traveler who leaves and returns randomly was the perfect subject matter for her book.

What did transpire though, was a very unique time-travel story in which one could have been confused by her character Henry, jumping in and out at different ages and times. But it wasn’t, and that’s what made this book so good.

In the world of time travel, there are two distinct theories: whether or not one can travel back and change the events of the past along with consequential outcomes for the future, or never be allowed to change what is already fated. The first would be what has been dubbed, the butterfly effect. In this theory, a small change in the past can cascade into major changes in the future. Its name is derived from the hypothesis that if one could go back to prehistoric times and kill a butterfly, that event could result in a whole different existence. The other theory was used by HG Wells and also Audrey Neffinegger in The Time Traveler’s Wife. The first time Henry time-travelled was just prior to his mother being killed in a car accident. Nothing he could ever do would change that event.

The Time Traveler's Wife, Alternate cover.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is about Henry, who is plagued with a genetic disorder which causes him to randomly time travel, and Clare, the red headed girl who has loved him since she was six years old. Henry would disappear in one time and find himself naked and vulnerable in another. Clare had to find a way to deal with the uncertainty that existed in her marriage to him.

Henry and Clare meet at different times in their lives. From Clare’s point of view, she meets the adult Henry while playing in her parent’s field in South Haven, Michigan, when she was six years old. But Henry hadn’t actually met Clare until they were in their twenties. She runs into him at the library where he works.

I would have loved to peek at Ms. Neffinegger notes while writing this story. I tend to write in linear time, even though I write time-travel. The Time Traveler’s Wife must have been quite a challenge to keep things straight. This is why I always list Audrey Neffinegger as one of my influences, because I admire this work so much.

Another reason, I admire this book is the fact that it was based in my city of Chicago, Illinois. There is one scene in the book that could have been written from my childhood backyard in the Chicago neighborhood of Albany Park with the el trains going by just past the alley. For all I know, she had my apartment in mind when writing it.

A central plot in the story deals with Clare’s multiple pregnancies, while losing the babies. This is because the fetuses had their father’s temporal disorder. It is suggested that the fetuses would travel in time to outside Clare’s body. That is until Alba is conceived. Alba has the ability to control her travels and Henry gets to meet her before the birth.

The Time Traveler’s Wife was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on May 27, 2004 and became an international best seller. (So jealous)

The Hollywood movie of The Time Traveler’s Wife was released in 2009 and starred the beautiful Rachel McAdams as Clare and Eric Bana as Henry.

Movie Blurb:

A romantic drama about a Chicago librarian with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage. Director: Robert Schwentke Writers: Bruce Joel Rubin (screenplay), Audrey Niffenegger (novel)

I liked the movie. I thought it captured the feel of the book quite well, was well acted and of course, it was filmed partly in Chicago with other Chicago type scenes filmed in Toronto. I did hope for more familiar Chicago spots though. They ended it differently and the movie contained additional scenes with Alba, their time-traveling daughter. Alba was played by real sisters (Hailey and Tatum McCann) at different ages, which was extremely clever.

NOTE: If by some rare chance, Audrey Niffenegger ever finds herself reading this, I would love to read a sequel featuring the life of Alba.

The book The Time Traveler's Wife did not influence my own writing, but the fact that it was written did. It was after reading it and seeing the corresponding movie, that I walked out and said, "I could do that." That's when I started Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66)...my time travel book, with it's base starting in Chicago.

CLICK the Picture!

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Peggy Sue Got Married - Time Travel

2/2/2015

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Peggy Sue Got Married is another time-travel gem. There was no book associated with this film. It does, however, contains one heck of a cast, although some were barely known when they appeared here. Like Somewhere in Time, this is another time-travel movie, beautifully scored by John Barry.

It was released on my birthday, October 10th, in the year 1986.

It was directed by: Francis Ford Coppola and starred:

Kathleen Turner
Nicolas Cage
Don Murray
Barbara Harris
Joan Allen
Jim Carrey
Maureen O'Sullivan
Catherine Hicks
Sofia Coppola

Produced by
Paul R. Gurian

Written by
Jerry Leichtling
Arlene Sarner

Music by
John Barry

Kathleen Turner as Peggy Sue was wonderful in this film, with her raspy Jessica Rabbit voice and talent. She was smart, witty, emotional and sexy.

Here’s the premise of Peggy Sue Got Married: Soon to be divorced, Peggy Sue Bodell (Kathleen Turner) goes with her daughter, Beth (Helen Hunt) to her 1960 high-school reunion. She becomes visibly upset when her separated husband, Crazy Charlie Bodell (Nicolas Cage) expectantly shows up. This, coupled with the fact that they surprisingly name her class reunion queen and everybody starts singing Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue. While on stage, she becomes overwhelmed and passes out, falling to the stage floor. When she wakes up, she finds herself in 1960, recovering from a faint at a school blood drive.

Here she is, a thirty something woman with the chance to relive her last year of high school. Turner is actually a thirty two year old woman playing this part, and the viewer is aware of this. But somehow it works. You are in on the joke when she tells her math teacher how she knows from experience that she will never need algebra or how she laughs at her dad buying an Edsel. She even makes the statement that she wants to go to Liverpool and discover the Beatles.

Much like Somewhere in Time, this movie is highly sentimental and makes my wife cry every time. Imagine being back in your childhood home with all the people you knew and loved. One day after school, Peggy is taken off-guard when her long departed grandmother calls her on the phone. The emotion she experiences while hearing her voice is overwhelming due to how much she misses and loves her. This scene can topple, even the strongest of men.

Her grandmother is played by a true Hollywood golden age actress, Maureen O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan was most famous for playing Jane in the 1930s and 1940s Tarzan movies, but was also in such great films such as Pride and Prejudice and David Copperfield. She died in 1998.

Maureen O'Sullivan with Johnny Weissmuller. NOTE: My grandfather was once in a swimming competition with Weissmuller. My grandfather lost to Tarzan.

This was an early film for the non-buff Nicolas Cage, who acted a little strange in the role as Peggy Sue’s boyfriend and husband. To me, he seemed immature and whiny. Back in ‘86, I had no idea this strange little actor would become the star he is today.

It also stars a young Helen Hunt as Peggy’s daughter, a virtually unknown Jim Carrey as a friend and Coppola’s young daughter, Sofia Carmina Coppola as Peggy’s little sister. Sofia Coppola would later become an academy award winning screenwriter, director, producer and actress. In this film, she was a scrawny, snotty little sister.

Long before she became well known in the TV series 7th Heaven, and even prior to going off to space with Captain Kirk to take care of whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Although that movie came out later that same year), Catherine Hick starred in Peggy Sue Got Married as one of her two best friends.

Another great item in this movie is the appearance of the Marshall Crenshaw Band who plays great fifties tunes at the reunion, along with a secondary score of original fifties rock and roll.

One of my favorite scenes in this film is when Peggy Sue makes a visit to her grandparents. Peggy doesn’t know what she’s going to do about Charlie. She is remembering what it was about him she fell in love with, but he hurt her deeply in the future. She also misses her kids and longs to return to her own time. On a rainy night, with the haunting melody of John Barry’s music playing in the background, she sits with her aging grandparents by the fireplace and tells them everything. After hearing the story, her grandmother (Maureen O'Sullivan) says the following to her:

“If you believe it, darling, then I believe. Being young is just as confusing as being old. The things that happened to me fifty years ago are more on my mind than things that happened today.”

Peggy replies. “But I’m remembering the future.”

Her grandmother responds. “Right now you’re just browsing through time. Choose the things you’ll be proud of…things that last.”

How many of us would love to have a scene like this with a beloved person who had died?

Peggy Sue Got Married is an emotionally charged time-travel movie, worth a couple hours of your time.

-Gone but not forgotten, Dennis Higgins

Click the picture below for my Amazon author page.

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The Philadelphia Experiment in: #TimeTravel #Books and #Movies

The Philadelphia Experiment

My own time travel books! Click Picture to go to Amazon.com

My Mother Was Never a Kid - Time Travel books and Movies

My Mother Was Never a Kid

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Peggy Sue Got Married - Time Travel

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