They Made America: "Gamblers"
"Gamblers" details the people whose iconic products connected the world in the second half of the 20th century, popularizing the act of flying in an airplane or using a computer.
Every passenger whisked across countries or continents today can thank Juan Trippe, the founder of Pan Am who in the 1950s pushed Boeing and Pratt & Whitney to come up with a jet that would carry 200 people across the Atlantic Ocean in less than seven hours. By making international travel accessible, he allowed ordinary people to do the extraordinary -- like the woman who boarded the first 707 on October 4, 1958, and traveled to Paris, just to have lunch.
Innovators profiled in "Gamblers":
Juan Trippe, an air taxi pilot with a single-engine seaplane, flew the whole world into the jet age.
Ruth Handler created Barbie, the most successful doll of the twentieth century.
Thomas Watson, Jr., turned a tiny company into the great icon of the information age.
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Acknowledgements
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Film Credits
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