November 2024 – “Blind Logic” was awarded the “Best US Documentary Film” by the Austin International Art Festival.
November 14, 2024 – Los Angeles, CA – Blind Logic Productions announced the completion of our domestic distribution agreement with Texas-based SDG Releasing. Our documentary “Blind Logic” will be represented by SDG founders and industry veterans Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman. Jack Teetor stated, “We are fortunate to have such respected industry veterans handling our film to domestic markets and look forward to this relationship.”
November 11, 2024 – The Los Angeles Movie & Music Video Festival granted an Honorable Mention to the documentary film “Blind Logic” for Best Feature Documentary.
October 30, 2024 – “Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story” received the “Winner Attainment Award” for Best Documentary Film from Krimson Horyzon International Film Festival, now in its 19th year.
October 29, 2024 – Blind Logic Productions and One Tree Entertainment completed their agreement for One Tree to be the international sales agent for the documentary film “Blind Logic.”
October 28, 2024 – Our “Blind Logic” documentary received the “Award of Excellence” from IndieFEST Film Awards for Documentary Feature and Original Score. The IndieFEST Film Awards recognizes film, television, and new media professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity
September 19, 2024 – Jack Teetor & Ralph Meyer attended the Automotive Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Detroit Central Station. They met Bill Ford, Jr., Inductee and Chairman of Ford Motor Company, and John Tucker, grandson of Preston Tucker, automotive maverick who developed the Tucker 48 automobile.
September 6, 2024 – Our “Blind Logic” documentary received the “Award of Excellence” for a Documentary Feature, Original Score, and for Narration/Voice-Over Talent by the Accolade Global Film Competition.
August 23, 2024 – Baltimore, MD – Jack Teetor met with the staff of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), including Mark Riccobono, president, to discuss ways to work together. The story of Ralph Teetor embodies the sentiment of the NFB. As Riccobono stated, “Blindness need not hold you back from living the life you want.”
August 15, 2024 – The “Blind Logic” documentary film won the “Award of Excellence” for a documentary feature by The Impact DOCS Awards, who believe in the power of film to impact the world.
August 15, 2024 – Hagerstown, IN – Artist Chris Catalogna completed his Ralph Teetor mural (see Behind the Scenes in Gallery) as one of 11 artists selected for the Wayne County Mural Competition. Chris is based in Ft. Wayne and studied art at Indiana University. As a history buff, he was naturally drawn to compelling stories from decades gone by, and, as a muralist, loves finding ways to honor them.naturally drawn to finding interesting stories from decades gone by, and, as a muralist, loves finding a way to honor them.
July 23, 2024 – Syracuse, IN – The 350-seat Pickwick Theatre sold out their screening of “Blind Logic” and had to turn away 60 people – the first time ever for the theatre. Due to the overwhelming response, a second screening was held the next night with over 180 people attending, with a few returning to see the film a 2nd time. A Q & A session was held after both screenings. The free will donations for the Syracuse-Wawasee Museum were substantial for both nights.
June 13, 2024 – Detroit, MI – The Automotive Hall of Fame hosted the premiere of the documentary “Blind Logic.” Legendary race car driver Lyn St. James attended the event and was featured in the film. As St. James commented, “Your family represents so much of what’s good in America and the documentary gives a glimpse into the history of our country as well as about innovation, inspiration, and humanity.”
June 12, 2024 – CinemaCloudWorks conducted an online research test screening of “Blind Logic” to 328 moviegoers across all age groups to fill out surveys at the conclusion of the film. The top line test results indicated 44% rated the film “Excellent,” 68% rated it “Excellent or “Very good,” and skewed toward participants 25+ and strongly with the 50+ audience. Overall, 41% would “Definitely Recommend” the film. 58% described the film as “Inspiring.”
May 29, 2024 – Brian Yopp, Deputy Director for MotorCities National Heritage Area, interviewed Jack Teetor about the “Blind Logic” documentary for their “Many Voices, One Story” initiative. This program represents the shared stories across a diverse and inclusive range of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures, highlighting triumphs and challenges of people who contributed to building the automotive industry. As Jack Teetor stated, “Our hope is that the takeaway will be that people are inspired by Ralph Teetor’s story.”
May 23, 2024 – Patti Chang, Director of Outreach for the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), and Jack Teetor are developing a long-term relationship as the NFB moves toward their 85th anniversary in 2025 and the building of their new “Museum of the Blind People’s Movement.” This will be the first museum owned and operated by the blind of the United States, if not the world. As Patti stated, “The next frontier is to change the nature of the public perception of blindness and Ralph Teetor’s story is one that is significant to this goal.” Blind Logic Productions is honored to be associated with the NFB organization, which is planned to include a 2025 charity screening of the “Blind Logic” film and a Ralph R. Teetor exhibit.
Coming June 13, 2024, the Detroit Premiere of “Blind Logic” will be held at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan. As Jack Teetor stated, “It’s appropriate we have the premiere here at the Automotive Hall of Fame because this organization has been dedicated to honoring automotive innovators and pioneers since 1939, including Ralph Teetor in 1988.
May 9, 2024, Washington, D.C., The National Inventors Hall of Fame inducted Ralph R. Teetor for his invention of the “Cruise Control” inside the The Anthem, on the Wharf. Ralph Meyer, grandson, accepted this illustrious honor.
Ralph Teetor & Jack Teetor met with a few illustrious inventors during the NIHF events, such as, Jaap Haartsen (Bluetooth), Lonnie Johnson (Super Soaker), Lanny Smoot (Disney Imagineer), Xiaowei Zhuang (Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy), Art Fry (Co-Inventor Post-it Notes), Eric Betzig (Co-Inventor Photoactivated Localization Microscopy), Dr. James Allison (Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy), and others.
May 9, 2024 – Washington, D.C. – Inside the Smithsonian National Space & Air Museum, at the new “Nation of Speed” room, we met R. J. de Vera, actor & consultant to the film franchise, “The Fast and the Furious,” host of the culture car show “Trick It Out,” and current rep for SEMA (Specialty Equipment Marketing Association).
May 8, 2024 – Alexandria, VA – The National Inventors Hall of Fame held the inductee Illumination Ceremony at their museum. Ralph Meyer & Jack Teetor unveiled the Ralph R. Teetor exhibit and Ralph Meyer accepted the nameplate of Ralph Teetor and mounted on the Hall of Fame wall.
April 30, 2024 – Flint, MI – Kettering University held our 4th screening at their McKinnon Theater. Dr. Bassem Ramadan, Department Head of Mechanical Engineering moderated the Q & A session with Ralph Meyer, Jack & Dan Teetor. Cindy Donner, Director, Center for Excellence, stated that “Our audience loved learning about Ralph Teetor, his inventions, and his impact in the automotive industry.” As Dr. Ramadan added, “It was a very inspirational movie.”
April 19, 2024 – Greenville, SC – Clemson University hosted our 3rd “Blind Logic” screening at the AT&T Auditorium in the International Center of Automotive Research (ICAR). Dr. Laine Mears, Department Chair, and past recipient of the SAE Ralph Teetor Award, moderated the Q&A session. As Dr. Laine Mears stated, “Ralph Teetor’s vision and leadership set the standards for what we are achieving at ICAR and Clemson automotive engineering.”
April 7, 2024 – Richmond, IN – We held a screening at Earlham College at the historic Goddard Auditorium for over 200. A Q & A session followed with Jack Teetor, Ralph Meyer, Dan Teetor, and Derek Tow.
April 5, 2024 – Hagerstown, IN – The first screening of “Blind Logic” was held at the Hagerstown auditorium to a full house of 475 people. As Chris LaMar, Town Manager stated, “This is the type of documentation that we need for our community! We are losing too much of our history and the ‘seasoning’ of the people that built our community.”
March 19, 2024 – Burbank, CA – We completed our session in Stage 5 at King SoundWorks with sound effects & final sound mix. The King sound team of Darren King, Nikola Simikic, and Amanda Roy is extraordinary.
January 26, 2024 – The Rotary Club of Los Angeles invited Jack Teetor as a guest speaker to present the remarkable story of Ralph Teetor. Ralph Teetor was a lifelong Rotarian and spoke at the Rotary Club of Detroit and daughter Marjorie Teetor Meyer was a Rotary member and spoke at the Rotary Club of Indianapolis in 1997 about her book, “One Man’s Vision: The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph R. Teetor.” Mrs. Meyer revealed her publisher urged her to write the book because her father’s life was a “beacon of hope and an inspiration to others.”
January 23, 2024 – James Raia, host of The Weekly Driver Podcast, interviewed Jack Teetor about Ralph Teetor and the upcoming documentary film. James is a 45-year automotive journalist who also writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury & East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, CA, and a monthly auto review column for Gulfshore Business magazine in South Florida.
January 18, 2024 – Glendale, CA – The National Inventors Hall of Fame 2024 class of inductees was announced at Walt Disney Imagineering. Among the inductees is Ralph R. Teetor, for his invention of the Cruise Control. Each year a select few of those who have made exceptional contributions to society are inducted and celebrated alongside of the world’s foremost inventors. The Induction Ceremony will be hosted in partnership with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in Alexandria, VA. In May. Members of the Teetor & Meyer families will be attending.
January 16, 2024 – Eric Monterastelli, Founder of Gran Touring Motorsports, along with his co-host, Enrique Rodriguez, interviewed Jack Teetor for the popular Break/Fix Podcast, capturing the living history of people from the automotive world to inspire a new generation. Enrique, who is visually impaired, specifically asked Teetor if his film would be accessible for the blind & visually impaired. Teetor responded that he would be making an additional Audio Descriptive (AD) track for this audience. In Episode S5E7: Ralph Teetor, Jack reveals stories of Ralph Teetor and the upcoming documentary, “Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story.” The interview will be aired April 11th, and the link will be on both the Break/Fix & Blind Logic sites to be provided.
Indianapolis, IN – Dec. 17, 2023 – Our editor, Derek Tow, hosted our first screening of “Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story,” for the grandkids & families of Ralph Teetor, in a not yet completed cut. As cousin Jen said, “This film goes so far beyond our expectations and tells a story our world desperately needs to hear right now. It embodies the goodness and hope of what was and what could be again.”
Hagerstown, IN – Dec. 15, 2023 – PBS Television producer Sarah Kreps and her production team came to Hagerstown to interview Ralph Meyer & Jack Teetor about Ralph Teetor and the upcoming 2024 documentary, “Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story.” Sarah is producing “Now Entering Hagerstown, “a series about significant stories and events in small Indiana towns. The show is scheduled to air in March across Indiana.
Chelsea, MI – Dec. 11, 2023: We held our recording session with Emmy Award winning actor Jeff Daniels who provided the voice-over for Ralph Teetor. Jeff’s exceptional talents have brought Ralph Teetor’s characteristics to life for the documentary. Ben Daniels was the recording engineer.
Oct. 2023 – Hagerstown, IN – Jason Schmittler, of the Hagerstown Planning Commission, discovered over a thousand negatives from the 1940’s – 1960’s that were about to be discarded forever. These irreplaceable photographs were originally taken by Louis Beeson, Chief Photographer for the Perfect Circle Co., with his Hasselblad camera. A select few of these treasures will be included in our documentary in the final edit and eventually posted in our Gallery section.
Oct. 17, 2023 – San Francisco, CA – Emmy Award winning television host and narrator Mike Rowe recorded the narration for “Blind Logic – The Ralph R. Teetor Story.” Rowe stated, “I narrated this film because Ralph Teetor epitomizes the work ethic, which we value at our MikeroweWorks Foundation.” Find out more about Mike’s foundation at: https://mikeroweworks.org
Clemson University – 2023: Laine Mears, Department Chair, Automotive Engineering, College of Engineering, stated his interest in holding a screening of Blind Logic in 2024. He stated, “I am a former Teetor award winner and did in fact read the entire book about Ralph Teetor.”
Dr. Bassem Ramadan, Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University, is interested in holding screenings of Blind Logic in 2024. He stated, “Several of our faculty are recipients of SAE’s Ralph Teetor Education Award.
Heather Lerner, Associate Professor of Biology & Museum Studies, Earlham College, Joseph Moore Museum, Richmond, Indiana, invited Jack Teetor to hold a screening and Q&A session of the film during their Total Solar Eclipse event in April of 2024.
2023 – GM announced they are moving its autos into an accessible and inclusive future. Their announcement mentioned the Cruise Control, stating “This brilliant tech was invented by an engineer who was blind named Ralph Teetor, and it was his tenacity that led to a patent that changed driving as we know it.” The article went on to say, “Today, GM is exploring other inventions for and by people with disabilities.”
The prestigious 2023 Induction Awards Ceremony of the Automotive Hall of Fame was held at The Fillmore Detroit on July 20, 2023, and honored Ralph R. Teetor on his 35th anniversary of his 1988 Induction into the Hall of Fame. Board Chair Jonathon Husby welcomed the Teetor family in his opening address.
The 2023 Automotive Hall of Fame Inductee Signature event was held at the Hall of Fame Museum on July 19, 2023. Members of the Teetor & Meyer families attended the event where Ralph R. Teetor’s signature was finally set in place and revealed in the Hall of Honor from his 1988 induction to the Hall of Fame.
Our film shoot of racing legend Lyn St. James, 1992 INDY 500 “Rookie of the Year,” and Leslie Mark Kendall, Chief Historian, Petersen Automotive Museum, was conducted on May 24, 2023 at the Petersen Museum. Production team by Street Legal Cinema with Stephen Vittoria, Robert Guillory, and John E. Walker.
The Los Angeles shoot at the Petersen Automotive Museum was completed May 9, 2023. Franz von Holzhausen, Chief Designer at Tesla, Inc., provided interview segments for the film. Production team by Street Legal Cinema with Stephen Vittoria, Gerald Emerick, and Jim LeGoy.
March 23, 2023 – The Indianapolis Star newspaper article “7 New Movies Filmed in Indiana,” was reported by Domenica Bongliovanni, with “Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story,” devoted to a segment about the film.
Teetor completed the Detroit film shoot at the Automotive Hall of Fame Museum with Sarah Cook, President, on Feb. 13, 2023, with the assistance of Scott West, Cinematographer/Camera and John Bujak, Camera/Sound.
Teetor joined the Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) http://www.autohistory.org Founded in 1969, the SAH is an international organization with over 650 members in 25 countries.
Character actor Barry Corbin (Yellowstone) recorded the voice of Dean Henry Spangler on Jan. 23, 2023.
The company completed the location shoot with Tom Teetor November 16, 2022 in Pawleys Island, SC, with the assistance of Thomas Dahne of Beverly Boy Productions and cinematography/camera/sound by Ethan Kaiser and Graham Ladd.
Blind Logic Productions announced their support of October 2022’s Blind Awareness Month & World Sight Day Oct. 13th, bringing a heightened focus on the blind and visually impaired community and the realities of living without sight.
The 2022 Automotive Hall of Fame events were attended by Dan & Jack Teetor who met with Sarah Cook, President of the organization, Leah Minadeo, Digital Asset & Archive Manager, and Margarite Fourcroy, and discussed digitizing some Ralph Teetor documents & photos for his lasting legacy. https://www.automotivehalloffame.org/
Press Contact Deborah Gilels (See Contact Page)
Voice-over artist Rick Zieff recorded voices of Macy Teetor and Landrum Bolling in L.A. during 2022.
Recorded voice-over temp track with John Matthew on 02/9 & 11/22 at Garden of Sound studio in L.A.
New York-based Andy Rothstein recorded voice of Bob Beeson on 02/14/22.
Reached an agreement in February 2022 with Beverly Boy Productions/Derek Tow as Editor.
Signed with Complete Production Group in L.A. for SAG-AFTRA signatory and payroll services in February 2022.
Indiana location shoot was held at the Hagerstown Museum on October 26, 2021. A special thanks to Joe Smith, Glen Meek & Barbara with the museum, Chris Lamar, Brenda Campbell & Jennifer Taylor with the Hagerstown Library, Willow Springs for catering, Shellie Gray of The Logo Shoppe, and the warm hospitality of the town. https://www.waynet.org/nonprofit/nettlecreek_museum.htm
Marissa Slagle, of the Western Wayne News, reported in her story of the film shoot, “Ralph Teetor’s extraordinary life is one that inspires people around the world.” Teetor contracted with Beverly Boy Productions, an international company, with the Indianapolis team facilitating the shoot. Thank you to Derek Tow, Eric Filson, and Taylor for the production.
Final thanks to my Indiana cousins Ralph Meyer, Jennifer Bloniarz, Lucy Meyer Kropp, Ruthie Jones for their interviews (Grandchildren of Ralph Teetor).
The 2018 Automotive Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony celebrated alumni including Ralph R. Teetor. Attending the event were Ralph & Connie Meyer and Dan & Jack Teetor.
Origin
On September 21, 2013, a Teetor & Meyer family reunion took place at Lake Wawasee, IN. Still with us, first cousins Marjorie Teetor Meyer and Jack Teetor, Sr. discussed with the next generation the interest of making a film based on Marjorie Teetor Meyer’s book, “One Man’s Vision The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph R. Teetor.” And so the journey began.
Early 2014, Jack Teetor, Jr, began developing an adaptation of his Aunt Marjorie’s book into a documentary script with his sights on a one-hour film, now expected to be 90 minutes. Teetor wrote on and off over the next eight years tracking his vision to tell the story of his Uncle Ralph.
During these years, Teetor’s cousin Jim Andron, signed on as composer for the film. Teetor’s brother Daniel Teetor, signed on as Photo Editor.
Teetor completed another update in 8/18/2023 for his 44th revision of his script as a result of writing new additions and reviewing the film’s progress to date.