WE'VE ALL SEEN THE CLASSIC "COUNTDOWN", IN EVERY FILM ABOUT ASTRONAUTS, EVERY TV DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ASTRONAUTS, EVERY CARTOON ABOUT ASTRONAUTS OR EVEN ON
I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-BLAST OFF!
WELL, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, THE CREATOR OF THE CLASSIC COUNTDOWN DIDN'T WORK AT NASA OR CAPE CANAVERAL. THE CREATOR OF THE COUNTDOWN WAS ACTUALLY A MOTION PICTURE DIRECTOR.
HIS NAME WAS FRITZ LANG. HIS CHIEF CLAIM TO FAME IS THE SILENT FILM M (1931) STARRING PETER LORRE. HE ALSO DIRECTED ANOTHER WELL-KNOWN SILENT CALLED METROPOLIS (1927) BOTH FILMS ARE NOW UNIVERSALLY CONSIDERED CLASSICS BY FILM SCHOLARS AND MOVIE FANS THE WORLD OVER.
IN THE LATE 1920'S, LANG DIRECTED ONE OF THE VERY FIRST SCIENCE FICTION FILMS. IT WAS CALLED THE WOMAN IN THE MOON (1929).
A HIGHLIGHT OF THE FILM WAS THE LAUNCH OF A MAMMOTH ROCKET WHICH LOOKED UNCANNILY LIKE THE ONES WE LATER LAUNCHED FROM CAPE CANAVERAL. IT OCCURED TO LANG THAT CREATING SUSPENSE COULD BE OBTAINED BY SWITCHING FROM THE CONVENTIONAL, SO INSTEAD OF THE EXPECTED "ONE-TWO-THREE" COUNT PRECEEDING THE MOVIE ROCKET LAUNCH, LANG USED EXACTLY THE REVERSE.
THUS, THE FIRST COUNTDOWN OCCURED 80 YEARS AGO - IN A SCI-FI MOVIE!! SOON SCIENCE IMITATED ART AND THE COUNTDOWN AS WE KNOW IT BECAME STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE ON ALL ROCKET LAUNCHES.
AS A SAD SIDEBAR, WHEN ADOLF HITLER CAME TO POWER IN GERMANY, THEY ALSO USED SOME OF LANG'S OTHER MOVIE "ROCKET LAUNCH" PROPS IN THEIR EXPERIMENTS - IRONICALLY, THIS OCCURED AFTER LANG HIMSELF HAD BEEN FORCED TO FLEE NAZI GERMANY FOR HIS LIFE.
THE GENERALLY ACCEPTED (BUT UNCONFIRMED) STORY IS THAT LANG WAS SUMMONED TO THE OFFICE OF HITLER'S PRPAGANDA MINISTER, JOSEF GOEBBELS, IN 1934. GOEBBELS HAD TWO MESSAGES TO GIVE LANG.
THE FIRST WAS THAT HIS FILM THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1933) WAS BEING BANNED IN NAZI GERMANY BECAUSE OF "INCITEMENT TO PUBLIC DISORDER". THE SECOND MESSAGE WAS THAT GOEBBELS WAS SO IMPRESSED BY LANG'S FILMS, HE WANTED TO MAKE HIM THE HEAD OF A GERMAN FILM STUDIO.
LANG, WHOSE MOTHER WAS JEWISH, MUST HAVE BEEN SCARED OUT OF HIS WITS DURING THE MEETING! HE HAD ACTUALLY ALREADY PLANNED TO LEAVE NAZI GERMANY, BUT HE REALIZED NOW HE HAD TO GET OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. SINCE THE MEETING WITH GOEBBELS RAN LATE, THE BANKS IN GERMANY WERE ALL CLOSED BY THE TIME IT ENDED. SO HAVING NO CHOICE AND FEARING A DISCOVERY OF HIS JEWISH BLOOD, LANG FLED THAT VERY NIGHT - WITH NO MONEY.
LANG'S WIFE, ACTRESS AND AUTHOR THEA VON HARBOU, HAD SYMPATHIZED WITH HITLER'S CAUSE AND JOINED THE NAZI PARTY IN 1932.
THE TWO DIVORCED IN 1933.
