Yesterday's Tomorrows

Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the third of the six films, "Yesterday's Tomorrows," filmmaker Barry Levinson delves into what we, as Americans, thought the future would be as we traveled through the 20th century. Houses and cars of the future, the promise of technology, and the other hopes and dreams of the early part of the century gave way to the fears and anxieties brought about by the atomic age and the Hollywood disaster films that followed. Soon we wondered if we could control technology, or if it would control us. This film is by turns light-hearted and thoughtful, and rare historical and archival film, produced by government and industry, alternates with on-screen interviews with people as diverse as consumer advocate Ralph Nader, cartoonist Matt Groening, futurist Alvin Toffler, comedienne Phyllis Diller, and actor Martin Mull.

Full Cast of Yesterday's Tomorrows

Richard Belzer as Self

Richard Belzer

as Self

Richard Jay Belzer (August 4, 1944 - February 19, 2023) was an American stand-up comedian, author,  and actor. He is ...

Phyllis Diller as Self

Phyllis Diller

as Self

Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, ...

Spalding Gray as Self

Spalding Gray

as Self
Matt Groening as Self

Matt Groening

as Self

Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening (born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is t...

Charlton Heston as Self

Charlton Heston

as Self

Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such...

Robert Klein as Self

Robert Klein

as Self

Robert Klein (born February 8, 1942) is an American stand-up comedian, singer, and actor. He is known for his appeara...

Fran Lebowitz as Self

Fran Lebowitz

as Self

Frances Ann Lebowitz is an American author, public speaker, and occasional actor. Lebowitz is known for her sardonic ...

Isaac Mizrahi as Self

Isaac Mizrahi

as Self

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Isaac Mizrahi (Born October 14, 1961) is an American TV presenter, fashion de...

Walter Mosley as Self

Walter Mosley

as Self
Martin Mull as Self

Martin Mull

as Self

Offbeat funnyman Martin Mull was born in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest of three children, and raised in Ohio. The blo...

Ralph Nader as Self

Ralph Nader

as Self
Bob Newhart as Self

Bob Newhart

as Self

George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929), known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian...

Andrew Rooney as Self

Andrew Rooney

as Self
Alvin Toffler as Self

Alvin Toffler

as Self
John Waters as Self

John Waters

as Self

Growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s, John Waters was not like other children; he was obsessed by violence and gore, ...

Octavia E. Butler

as Self

Heidi Toffler

as Self

Crew of Yesterday's Tomorrows

Discover the backstage crew of Yesterday's Tomorrows →