World Premiere of Amiga
Introduction
July 23rd, 1985 is a special day in Amiga history. It marked the launch of the Amiga 1000 computer. The launch was planned months in advance by Caryn Mical and Gary McCoy in marketing.
The event took place in the Vivian Beaumont Theatre Building at Lincoln Center in New York. Commodore spent a considerable amount of money on an orchestra, a ballerina and last but not least, got Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry to appear on stage. It was broadcast worldwide via satellite uplink.
Dave Needle, Jack and the FCC
Dave Needle arrived late due to a last minute issue which came up: The day before, Jack Tramiel called the FCC and claimed that Amiga had cheated on the emissions test for the computer. Upon hearing the news, Dave flew out to the FCC facility in Long Island to do another test and prove that Jack and Atari Corp. were lying. It passed. Keep in mind that Atari Corp. and Commodore were known to prank each other during this time period.
In the meantime, the plane which the rest of the Amiga staff had boarded was having engine trouble. They wished Dave had been there as he knew how to troubleshoot an aircraft. This was back when the FAA allowed one to do so.
At the Theatre
During the rehearsal, Amiga's resident artist Jack Haeger and Jeff Bruette instructed Andy to be as creative as he wanted but was told, "Don't touch the flood fill". At the event, after photographing and digitizing the portrait of Debbie, Andy began to put his finishing touches on it in the paint program... and in a creative frenzy clicked on the flood fill. A sense of dread filled the room. Jack is sitting next to him and gets very nervous. Fortunately it worked and the computer didn't crash.
References
- Commodore Business Machines. Amiga Invitation - Andy Finkel - Internet Archive, 8/23/2020
- Weddington, Zach. Further Into The Machine: Dave Needle Full Interview 2017
- Fletcher, Steven. Andy Finkel tells us about the Amiga and the flood fill story 2018
- Bagnall, Brian. Commodore: The Amiga Years Variant Press - 2017
