1957: Michael's "review" of Frank Capra Cosmic Rays movie
In October 1957, when Michael had been at Washington University for a year already, he wrote a letter back to his University of Bristol advisor, Nobel Laureate (1950) Cecil Powell (whom he always referred to as "Prof"). In this letter, he reminds his advisor that at some point in the past, he was contacted by the (now legendary) movie director Frank Capra ("It's a Wonderful Life"), looking for materials for a movie about Cosmic Rays. And indeed Powell's lab did provide some footage. Michael's letter gives no indication he was familiar with Capra's oevre.
Michael notes that the movie, "The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays," was shown at Washington Univ quite recently, and Michael offers his less-than-glowing "review."
Completely intrigued, I hunted a bit for this in the fall of 2025, almost 70 years later. And to my slight
amazement, I found that it is available on YouTube! [54 minutes]
(Actually, it has been posted there multiple times by different groups or individuals.)
This movie was one of four that Capra directed for The Bell System Science Series (Wikipedia). This educational film even has a page at IMDB (the Internet Movie Database)!
And the Open Culture web blog had an article about it in 2025, calling it a precursor to both the Muppet Show and to Carl Sagan's Cosmos.
Another weird coincidence is that the above YouTube video is hosted on a channel named "St. Louis Flashback" from/for one Bruno Grunion. The latter name was a "stage name" for a personality on KXOK Radio (630am) in St. Louis in the 1960s. This is described on their Facebook Group page, whose "About" blurb opens "This fan page is dedicated to the greatest radio station St.Louis ever had, "KXOK".In the 1960s KXOK ruled the st.louis airwaves with Johnny Rabbitt & Bruno J.Grunion,Delcia Devon,..."
What their connection was to the Frank Capra "Strange Case..." movie, and thus why they posted to YouTube I have no idea!