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‘Apple II Forever’: Found photos offer early look at icons

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Apple executives John Sculley, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak introduce the Apple Iic at the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.
Apple executives John Sculley, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak introduce the Apple Iic at the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.Gary Fong/The Chronicle

“Apple II Forever” was an event staged by a company still working out the bugs.

The April 24, 1984, press and exhibitor gathering was late to start and later to finish. Apple executives sat on the kind of metal folding chairs that one would find at a recreation center singles dance. Steve Jobs — hair feathered gloriously — hadn’t quite settled into his permanent turtleneck-and-jeans uniform yet, choosing a bow tie, suspenders and Velcro-strapped Nike high-tops.

But even at this early public launch of the Apple IIc computer, the marketing panache that would infuse countless future Apple events could be seen.

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We recently found rare Chronicle archive photos of the event at Moscone Center in San Francisco — one of the first spectacle-permeated launches of a new Apple product. The photos were taken by Gary Fong, a longtime Chronicle photographer and photo editor who often found artistic ways to shoot routine happenings.

Included here are six of our favorite photos. (Plus a music video that may or may not have involved Pet Benatar.)

Apple executive Steve Jobs talks about the success of the Macintosh at the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.
Apple executive Steve Jobs talks about the success of the Macintosh at the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.Gary Fong/The Chronicle

“$750,000 Party Introduces New Apple Computer,” the front page Chronicle headline read, calling the event “the opening shot of a lengthy marketing campaign that may change the personal computer industry forever.”

Chronicle reporter John Eckhouse wrote: “The Cupertino company introduced its new $1295 portable computer named the IIc in a razzle-dazzle all-day show at Moscone Center that was part sales pitch, part revival and part carnival.”

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The Chronicle took dozens of photos, and the event looked downright sedate by Apple hype standards of the 21st century. But this was three months after Apple launched the Macintosh computer with the “1984” Super Bowl commercial, a wild success that led to 50,000 Macs being sold in the first 74 days. Apple was trying to one-up itself, with three huge video screens, surprises and a very 1980s musical interlude.

Before Apple co-founders Jobs and Steve Wozniak and president John Sculley took turns speaking, the largest video screen showed a photo montage of the company’s history, which at that point was less than a decade old, set to a song called “Apple II Forever.” Thankfully, this video has showed up on YouTube for all to behold.

It was sung either by Benatar herself or an incredible sound-alike. There are differing theories by Apple amateur historians. Whoever was responsible, the video is pure unfiltered 1980s. (We suggest watching it again later while drinking a Tab or some Riunite on Ice.)

Apple employees in the crowd lift up new Apple IIc computers at the "Apple II Forever" event on April 23, 1984.
Apple employees in the crowd lift up new Apple IIc computers at the "Apple II Forever" event on April 23, 1984.Gary Fong/The Chronicle

Jobs showed sales figures for the MacIntosh and predicted that IIc would further humiliate IBM’s disastrous PCjr. Wozniak performed a comedy routine.

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An example of Woz humor, as reported by John Dvorak in the Sunday Examiner/Chronicle: “You know, Moscone Center is where the Democratic Convention is being held. And there are a lot of politicians hanging around in the back. Even Ronald Reagan was back there. So I asked him what he thought of the IBM PCjr. And he said, ‘Now, Steve, you know I don’t believe in abortion …”

But the biggest surprise came from Sculley, who had led Pepsi’s marketing efforts before he came to Apple.

After a 40-minute speech, Sculley gave the cue for Apple employees who had been planted in the audience to lift Apple IIc terminals high in the air, revealing the lightweight and portable assets of the computer.

Apple executives Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and John Sculley introduce the Apple Iic at the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.
Apple executives Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and John Sculley introduce the Apple Iic at the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.Gary Fong/The Chronicle

After the huge video screen presentation, Jobs, Sculley and Wozniak took seats in a room surrounded by Apple IIc terminals, taking questions from an enormous media scrum. At a time when Silicon Valley was still defining itself, the scene had more in common with a 49ers Super Bowl press conference than any product launch from the era.

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Jobs, looking handsome and dashing despite his strange clothing combination, smiles in most of the images. While the event was expensive, Apple and its executives were clearly positioning themselves as underdogs who were accessible to the people. After the press conference was over, Wozniak can be seen in photos hanging out in the crowd.

Apple executives Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at a podium during the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.
Apple executives Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at a podium during the "Apple II Forever" event at Moscone Center in San Francisco on April 23, 1984.Gary Fong/The Chronicle

The word “disruptor” wasn’t used once in the Chronicle articles covering the event, but that was the major theme.

Jobs’ boldness was seen as arrogance by the Examiner’s Dvorak, who openly mocked the excess of the event. (“The speaker’s podium is on the far left of the huge stage,” Dvorak wrote, “so naturally Steve enters from the far right so he can walk across the entire stage in his hep cat attire.”)

There was a swing-for-the-fences vibe throughout the presentation. Eckhouse’s story noted the massive advertising campaign to come.

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“In a new twist, Apple will direct some radio and print advertisements toward children, encouraging them to persuade their parents to buy a computer,” the Chronicle article stated. “One ad carries the headline, ‘How to talk your parents into parting with $1300.’”

The Apple IIc was a mild disappointment — perhaps foreshadowed by an apparent no-show by the King of Pop.

“Apple was supposed to have Michael Jackson, believe it or not, but he couldn’t make it because his hair was healing or something,” Dvorak wrote. “So for some unknown reason, they got Herbie Hancock’s Rockit Band for the star attraction.”

But the Apple executives were in a groove, testing out marketing strategies that would benefit the company for decades. There would be many hits in the future, and the image of tech executive as pirate and maverick and rock star would become crystallized in the culture.

The business leaders would become icons, and the icons would help redefine the region.

“If we are right, and I believe we are,” Sculley told the crowd, “Silicon Valley will never be the same.”

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub

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Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle's culture critic and co-founder of Total SF. The Bay Area native, a former Chronicle paperboy, has worked at The Chronicle since 2000. He covers Bay Area culture, co-hosts the Total SF podcast and writes the archive-based Our SF local history column. Hartlaub and columnist Heather Knight co-created the Total SF podcast and event series, engaging with locals to explore and find new ways to celebrate San Francisco and the Bay Area.

He can be reached at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com.