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- Dec 17, 2006
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In 1898, an early science fiction novel was published about a magnificent ocean liner far larger than any ship in existence at the time. The book was called 'Futility' and the author's name was Morgan Robertson. Set in a then-futuristic year of 1912, the new Transatlantic liner was second to none in safety and luxury, but on a cold April night struck an iceberg and sank into the frigid sea with heavy loss of life due to a lack of lifeboats. The fictional ship was called the Titan, and in April 1912 the very real Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, with hundreds losing their lives due to not enough lifeboats.
While the Titan/Titanic foreshadowing is a well known case, it is far from unique. There are many cases of TV Shows, movies and books where there is a premonition of future events, or where innocent words when viewed with hindsight after the fact seem to act as an eerie foreshadowing of what is to come. Or life imitating art for one of the actors. Which are some that you have noticed, or know about? Here are some I can think of:
My Sister Sam - This was an innocent, family-friendly American sitcom similar to many others when it screened from 1986-1988. The main star was Pam Dawber from Mork and Mindy, and it also starred David Naughton (from an American Werewolf in London) and a young rising star actress named Rebecca Schaeffer. It would probably be completely forgotten today if not for one thing. When the show was in production, young Rebecca attracted the attention of a stalker. This man appeared to be more of a nuisance than a danger, until the day in 1989 when he turned up at Rebecca Schaeffer's door and shot her dead. What is eerie are the lyrics to the opening theme of 'My Sister Sam', which go "Everything starts with a knock on the door, you don't know who it is but you know who it's for ..."
Rebel Without a Cause - James Dean, the lead star of this iconic 1955 film never lived to see it released. He was killed in a car accident in September of that year, and a central theme of the movie was that a boy was killed in an illegal car race, and James Dean's character's subsequent anguish over the event.
The Group - In this 1966 movie a character played by Elizabeth Hartman dies after falling from a height. In 1987, Elizabeth Hartman jumped to her death from a high rise building.
The Simpsons - The long-running cartoon has quite a number of foreshadowing episodes. Some better known examples are predictions of a Donald Trump presidency, a 1997 episode where Bart holds up a pamphlet advertising bus trips to New York for $9, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in conjunction with the 9 looking like 911, and a 1994 episode where a casino is opened in town. In the casino episode, a pair of magicians parodying Siegfried and Roy are performing a magic show with a white tiger, which turns on and attacks them. In real life Roy Horn (who died of COVID 19 in 2020) was severely injured when attacked by a tiger in a Las Vegas show in 2003.
ABC 7 New York Late Night News Telecast September 10 2001 - September 10 2001 was a wet and gloomy day in New York City, with heavy rain and a thunderstorm in the late afternoon and evening. By the time the news went to air the bad weather had cleared, and the weather segment shows a shot of the World Trade Center lit up, commenting that 'things look in pretty good shape now'. Throughout the news the presenters talk about the 'perfect' week ahead, meaning the beautiful late summer/early fall weather expected for New York. Then there's the sports report, where it is said that 'the Giants fell'. They of course mean the New York Giants NFL team which lost to the Denver Broncos earlier in the evening. It's all perfectly innocent, but takes on a different meaning after the events of the next day.
Young Talent Time - This year marks 50 years since the popular variety show went to air, and the largest number of former YTT members had a reunion in Adelaide with host/mentor Johnny Young. Sadly, getting all 40 former YTT members together would be impossible as two former team members have since passed away. These are Julie Ryles, a tall red-haired girl from the early 1970s who died of a rare early onset form of dementia in 2011; and Juanita Coco, a member of the team in its later years 1987-1988 who was tragically killed in a car accident in Melbourne in 1993 aged just 17. Last year during lockdown I was watching some old clips of YTT on Youtube thinking about more innocent times when I was a kid. In one 1987 clip, the YTT team sing the song 'That's What Friends Are For', and Juanita's line is 'And if I should ever go away ...' In another show from 1988, the team are performing a medley of Wizard of Oz songs and Juanita plays the witch. A joke is made afterwards for the benefit of younger viewers that Juanita is alive and well, unlike the witch. This of course is all perfectly innocent and wouldn't have stood out at all if one of the other girls had played that role or sung that line or if Juanita Coco hadn't died, but after what happened a few years later its kind of an eerie foreshadowing.
While the Titan/Titanic foreshadowing is a well known case, it is far from unique. There are many cases of TV Shows, movies and books where there is a premonition of future events, or where innocent words when viewed with hindsight after the fact seem to act as an eerie foreshadowing of what is to come. Or life imitating art for one of the actors. Which are some that you have noticed, or know about? Here are some I can think of:
My Sister Sam - This was an innocent, family-friendly American sitcom similar to many others when it screened from 1986-1988. The main star was Pam Dawber from Mork and Mindy, and it also starred David Naughton (from an American Werewolf in London) and a young rising star actress named Rebecca Schaeffer. It would probably be completely forgotten today if not for one thing. When the show was in production, young Rebecca attracted the attention of a stalker. This man appeared to be more of a nuisance than a danger, until the day in 1989 when he turned up at Rebecca Schaeffer's door and shot her dead. What is eerie are the lyrics to the opening theme of 'My Sister Sam', which go "Everything starts with a knock on the door, you don't know who it is but you know who it's for ..."
Rebel Without a Cause - James Dean, the lead star of this iconic 1955 film never lived to see it released. He was killed in a car accident in September of that year, and a central theme of the movie was that a boy was killed in an illegal car race, and James Dean's character's subsequent anguish over the event.
The Group - In this 1966 movie a character played by Elizabeth Hartman dies after falling from a height. In 1987, Elizabeth Hartman jumped to her death from a high rise building.
The Simpsons - The long-running cartoon has quite a number of foreshadowing episodes. Some better known examples are predictions of a Donald Trump presidency, a 1997 episode where Bart holds up a pamphlet advertising bus trips to New York for $9, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in conjunction with the 9 looking like 911, and a 1994 episode where a casino is opened in town. In the casino episode, a pair of magicians parodying Siegfried and Roy are performing a magic show with a white tiger, which turns on and attacks them. In real life Roy Horn (who died of COVID 19 in 2020) was severely injured when attacked by a tiger in a Las Vegas show in 2003.
ABC 7 New York Late Night News Telecast September 10 2001 - September 10 2001 was a wet and gloomy day in New York City, with heavy rain and a thunderstorm in the late afternoon and evening. By the time the news went to air the bad weather had cleared, and the weather segment shows a shot of the World Trade Center lit up, commenting that 'things look in pretty good shape now'. Throughout the news the presenters talk about the 'perfect' week ahead, meaning the beautiful late summer/early fall weather expected for New York. Then there's the sports report, where it is said that 'the Giants fell'. They of course mean the New York Giants NFL team which lost to the Denver Broncos earlier in the evening. It's all perfectly innocent, but takes on a different meaning after the events of the next day.
Young Talent Time - This year marks 50 years since the popular variety show went to air, and the largest number of former YTT members had a reunion in Adelaide with host/mentor Johnny Young. Sadly, getting all 40 former YTT members together would be impossible as two former team members have since passed away. These are Julie Ryles, a tall red-haired girl from the early 1970s who died of a rare early onset form of dementia in 2011; and Juanita Coco, a member of the team in its later years 1987-1988 who was tragically killed in a car accident in Melbourne in 1993 aged just 17. Last year during lockdown I was watching some old clips of YTT on Youtube thinking about more innocent times when I was a kid. In one 1987 clip, the YTT team sing the song 'That's What Friends Are For', and Juanita's line is 'And if I should ever go away ...' In another show from 1988, the team are performing a medley of Wizard of Oz songs and Juanita plays the witch. A joke is made afterwards for the benefit of younger viewers that Juanita is alive and well, unlike the witch. This of course is all perfectly innocent and wouldn't have stood out at all if one of the other girls had played that role or sung that line or if Juanita Coco hadn't died, but after what happened a few years later its kind of an eerie foreshadowing.