This classic 1957 film release was NOT written by anyone
associated with the production of The Mechanical Universe,
although its innovative special effects do strikingly resemble the Manhole
Monsters sequence from the Similarity program produced by Project
MATHEMATICS!, another Caltech videotape production group.
The
rumor that the storyline for The Incredible Shrinking Man was
based on a true experience of E.T. Bell during a day fishing trip out of Redondo
Beach are entirely untrue. Under the pseudonym John Taine, Bell was a
well-received science fiction author and he did spend the summer of 1946 in
Redondo Beach re-writing his epic poem The Scarlet Night. But
E.T. Bell loved cats and would not have written a storyline as sinister as that
in the film. The Writer's Guild officially credits Richard Matheson for the
screenplay based upon his own book.