Gateways to the Mind

Dr. Frank C. Baxter takes us on a tour of the five senses in this nostalgic documentary combining live-action and animation! The good doctor explains how the human brain operates in our day-to-day life -- And how it can play tricks on you! Gateways to the Mind is the first of the Bell Science series produced by Warner Brothers after several entries under the stewardship of Frank Capra. The creation of the cartoon sequences for each film also transferred from UPA to the masterminds at "Termite Terrace," Warners' famed animation division, with each special assigned to a different Looney Tunes director. For Gateways to the Mind, they chose their top man, Chuck Jones, who adds many unusual touches, including a scene of a man undergoing an isolation experiment hallucinating "little men in black caps with their mouths open!" Also contributing are animation legends Maurice Noble, Jones' longtime assistant, and Lou Scheimer, future founder of Filmation Associates. Not to be outdone, new director Owen Crump took full advantage of Warners' Burbank lot, having Dr. Baxter speaking in front of huge expressionistic sculptures of an eye, nose, ear, and mouth designed by William Kuehl. He also adds a few trippy tableaus of his own, including a circus populated with knife throwers, sexy trapeze artists, and creepy clowns, as well as an Air Force pilot imagining an attack by a giant bat! Crump had previously been head director of Warners' Short Subjects Department, which had closed down the prior year. Originally airing October 23, 1958, Gateways to the Mind successfully reignited the popularity of the Bell Science series, ensuring its continuation. Personally supervised by Jack L. Warner, the studio executive remarked before his death in 1978 that these films were a special point of pride in his long career. Animation sequences written & directed by Chuck Jones.