https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/a6a5a81d-35eb-4d14-88f0-100cc5002581 One of the most famous gag films from the 1960s, "The Lighthouse That Never Fails" was made anonymously by the good folks at Cape Canaveral. Supposedly it was inspired by a common gag. With so many tourists visiting the vicinity and asking "where are the rockets", locals would point to the nearby lighthouse which, from a distance, looked a bit like a rocket. During launches supposedly some tourists were told (with the local pointing to the lighthouse) to "keep and eye on that black and white rocket out there." When the real rocket would explode from its launch pad, the bewildered tourists' reactions were appraised by the amused locals. According to a post on the Internet, "A few clues visual clues in the film narrow the time it was made to about 1960-1961. The clues include the presence of the lighthouse keepers quarters, the routing of Central Control Road, and the presence or absence of certain launch pads 21, 22 and 36. The 'special effects' of launching the lighthouse was accomplished by superimposing a lighthouse graphic over an Atlas ICBM. The unique gooseneck umbilical for the Atlas appears at the pad." The film starts off with serious narration about the history of the lighthouse. An Air Force sergeant climbs the 167 steps to the top to take in the panoramic view. Moments after he reaches the top, he feels a shaking and the camera pulls back to show the lighthouse superimposed over a rocket as it is lifting off. The next scene shows the sergeant yelling to “put it back down; you shot the wrong one off!” The final scene is of a man sitting at a console pressing buttons and switches as a narrator is heard saying that it was a fine launch and commenting that the man must have had plenty of experience. The man at the console says, “no, that was my first shot; I’m really a lighthouse keeper, but I like to think for myself”! We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMqMXxaYIJw Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:26:53 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/a6a5a81d-35eb-4d14-88f0-100cc5002581 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.