Rube Goldberg: it’s a name so closely associated with ridiculously complex machinery, so synonymous with the image of the crazy inventor, that it’s sometimes easy to forget he was a real person. Starting at the beginning of the last century, Goldberg’s ‘Inventions’ series was syndicated nationally, quickly making him a popular, household name. By the time this film was made in 1940, he was world famous and immensely popular. [Read more...]