Rhapsody of Steel

Once on an old TV sitcom, I saw a bellboy ask for a tip. The cigar-chomping fatcat he was helping told him, "Buy U.S. Steel."

Well, U.S. Steel may have faded from its mid-century prominence, but some of their work endures, and not just in buildings and '57 Chevys. Rhapsody of Steel, was an industrial film like no other.

Not only did the U.S. Steelers hire former Disney staffer John Sutherland to produce the film and Oscar-winning composer Dmitri Tiomkin to score it, they hired legendary stylists Eyvind Earle (Sleeping Beauty, Pigs is Pigs) and Maurice Noble (Duck Dodgers, How The Grinch Stole Christmas) to create the bold, colorful illustrations. To see some of the images from the film, visit the Hollywood Animation Archive.