The Absent-Minded Professor

***The Absent-Minded Professor*** is an American comic science fiction family film distributed by Walt Disney Productions based on the short story "A Situation of Gravity", written by Samuel W. Taylor and published on May 22, 1943 in Liberty magazine. The title character was based in part on Hubert Alyea, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Princeton University, who was known as "Dr. Boom" for his explosive demonstrations. The film stars Fred MacMurray as Professor Ned Brainard.

The film was released on March 16, 1961 and was a huge success at the box-office. Two years later it became the first Disney film to have a sequel, 1963's Son of Flubber.

The original 1961 film was one of the first Disney films to be colourised (for the 1986 video release), and, along with 1959's The Shaggy Dog and 1963's Son of Flubber, it is one of Disney's few black-and-white films to be produced after 1941.

#### Plot Summary

Ned Brainard (MacMurray) is a Science teacher at a College who's obsessed with his experiments that he forgets other things like his weddings to his girlfriend, Betsy (Nancy Olsen). He misses the latest one when his latest experiment blows up. And he discovers a substance that defies gravity, which he says is flying rubber which he calls flubber. He then places it in a Model T which enables it to fly. Alonzo Hawk (Keenan Wynn), a banker who's upset with Brainard for failing his son, Biff (Tommy Kirk), in his class making him ineligible to play in a big basketball game. When the team is losing, he places flubber in sneakers which allows the players to make high leaps. Eventually Hawk sees Brainard flying in his Model T, he then asks him for the secret so he can make a fortune from it. But Brainard decides to give it to the government instead. So Hawk decides to steal the car and Brainard has to try to get it back. IMDb.com

### Son of Flubber (1963)

> *"The Professor's 'OFF'...AGAIN!"*
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***Son of Flubber*** is the sequel to the Disney science fiction comedy movie The Absent-Minded Professor (1961). Both films star Fred MacMurray as a scientist who has perfected a high-bouncing substance, Flubber ("flying rubber") that can levitate an automobile and cause athletes to bounce into the sky. Released January 16, 1963, the film co-stars Nancy Olson and Keenan Wynn, and was directed by Robert Stevenson. Many of the cast members from The Absent-Minded Professor also appear in this film, including Elliott Reid and Tommy Kirk. The film was shot in black and white, but a colourised version was released on VHS in 1997.

#### Plot Summary

Professor Ned Brainard's (MacMurray) discovery of flubber hasn't quite brought him - or his college - the riches he thought. The Pentagon has declared his discovery to be top secret and the IRS has slapped him with a huge tax bill, even if he has yet to receive a cent. He thinks he may have found the solution in the form of flubbergas, which can change the weather. It also helps Medfield College's football team to win a game. At home, his wife Betsy (Olsen) is jealous of the attention lavished on him by an old high school girlfriend (Joanna Moore). IMDb.com

### Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1979): The Absent-Minded Professor

The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) was re-edited into two parts and aired September 9 and 16, 1979 as part of Season 26 of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1954-91). IMDb.com

### Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1988): The Absent-Minded Professor

The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) was been remade as a television version as part of Season 33 of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1954-91) and aired on November 27, 1988, with Harry Anderson and Mary Page Keller as the renamed characters Prof. Henry Crawford and Ellen Whitley.

The cast also includes David Paymer, James Noble (Governor Eugene X. Gatling in Benson), Ed Begley Jr, and Stephen Dorff.

#### Plot Summary

Henry Crawford (Anderson) is the titular absent-minded professor busy at work in his laboratory. He has a girlfriend (Keller), but she is getting frustrated at his repeatedly missing their dates and spending more time with his experiments than with her. One day, Prof. Crawford makes an incredible discovery a form of rubber that defies gravity with each bounce, which he names Flubber. Hopefully, with this invention Crawford can prove to his love that he's not just a hopeless loser stuck doing dead-end research. IMDb.com

### Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1989): The Absent-Minded Professor - Trading Places

> *"Harry's Mystery Invention Saves the World"*
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A sequel to the 1988 remake was aired on February 26, 1989 as part of Season 33 of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1954-91) with Harry Anderson, Mary Page Keller, James Noble, and Ed Begley Jr reprising their roles.

#### Plot Summary

While working on yet another formula, Prof. Crawford (Anderson) is talked into temporarily trading jobs with his ex-roomate Dr. Jack Brooker (Begley Jr.), a research computer specialist. As usual, the professor gets in over his head, and before long he's chased around by all sorts of mysterious characters. The gimmick this time is a "mystery invention" disguised as a tennis ball. IMDb.com

### Flubber (1997)

> *"Catch it if you can!"*
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***Flubber*** is an American science fiction comedy film directed by Les Mayfield (who had previously directed another John Hughes scripted remake, Miracle on 34th Street) and written by Hughes and Bill Walsh. A remake of The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), the film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Great Oaks Productions and stars Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald, Ted Levine, Raymond J. Barry, Julie Morrison and Clancy Brown.

Released November 26, 1997 (US) and February 6, 1998 (UK), the film grossed $178 million worldwide.

Many gags are embellishments from the 1961 film; John Hughes rewrote the original Bill Walsh screenplay (based on Samuel W. Taylor's short story, A Situation of Gravity). Though Walsh died in 1975, he received posthumous credit for this script.

#### Plot Summary

Professor Phillip Brainard (Williams), an absent-minded professor, works with his assistant Weebo (voiced by Jodi Benson), trying to create a substance that's a new source of energy and that will save Medfield College where his sweetheart Sara (Harden) is the president. He has missed his wedding twice, and on the afternoon of his third wedding, Professor Brainard creates flubber, which allows objects to fly through the air. It looks like rubber, so he calls it flubber. IMDb.com