Without waiting, Edison boasted: TAE to George C. Silzer, 30 November 1914, ENHS.
After three years of operation: Charles Edison to William Maxwell, 28 June 1917, ENHS, TAE Inc. Records, Charles Edison’s Letterbooks, Box 4, 1915–1919. Charles had been unable to generate original ideas for saving the shop. He clutched with desperation to the unpromising ideas of others, suggesting phonograph recitals in nearby factories, catered “Porch Parties,” demonstrations staffed by Boy Scouts—and a “Concert Automobile.” Charles Edison to Godfrey, 21 June 1916, ENHS, TAE Inc. Records, Charles Edison’s Letterbooks, Box 4, 1915–1919. The “Concert Automobile” actually existed: a department store in Birmingham, Alabama, had installed a large Edison phonograph in an electric car that was dispatched around the city, providing mobile demonstrations. See William Maxwell to Godfrey, 26 May 1916, ENHS, TAE Inc. Records, Charles Edison’s Letterbooks, Box 4, 1915–1919. The staff at Edison’s lab had tried to connect a phonograph to a car horn but the experiment had not produced satisfactory results. William Meadowcroft turned down a request for payment to a correspondent who suggested the idea in 1913, well after it had already been tried at the lab. William Meadowcroft to A. W. Smith, 22 November 1913, ENHS.
Maxwell was not concerned: William Maxwell to Charles Edison, 29 June 1917, ENHS, TAE Inc. Records, Charles Edison’s Letterbooks, Box 4, 1915–1919.
Maxwell himself had complained: Maxwell to Godfrey, 14 June 1916, ENHS, TAE Inc. Records, Charles Edison’s Letterbooks, Box 4, 1915–1919.
Charles did notice: Charles Edison, Oral History, 14 April 1953, ENHS, 162.
had taken in a sight: Ibid., 135, 162, 164, 166.
The company’s accident report: Accident report, 16 June 1914, ENHS.
When Thomas Edison departed for Washington: Charles Edison suffered from severe hearing loss, which kept him out of active military service during the war. He had an opportunity to tell Newton D. Baker, the secretary of war, that he felt he should be in uniform, but Baker had said no, Charles’s father had been “drafted” and Charles could serve his country best simply by “trying to operate the business,” which had some contracts with the War Department. Charles Edison, Oral History, 14 April 1953, ENHS, 147.
Charles shortened the workday: Ibid., 166–168.
He was young enough: Charles Edison to Huber G. Buehler, 3 February 1919, ENHS, TAE Inc. Records, Charles Edison’s Letterbooks, Box 4, 1915–1919.
As he felt his way: “My Experiences Working for Father,” American Magazine, August 1918, 33–35.
aware that he was regarded: Mina Edison to Charles Edison, 23 November 1917, ENHS, Charles Edison Fund Collection, Charles Edison Papers, Box 1, Correspondence 1912–1956.
While he and Carolyn Hawkins: “Mrs. Charles Edison Talks of Navies, Peace, Hobbies, and a Novel Honeymoon,” NYT, 19 February 1939.
Edison bestowed his approval: TAE to Charles Edison, [ca. 25 March 1918], ENHS, Charles Edison Fund Collection, Charles Edison Papers, Box 2, Correspondence 1957—Memorial Book, Correspondence: No Date.
His father had no interest: Josephson, Edison, 454–455.
Edison ordered dismissals: Israel, Edison, 454.
“Merrily the axe swings”: Charles Edison to TAE, 12 July 1926, ENHS, cited in Andre Millard, Edison and the Business of Invention (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), 294.
“What he’d do”: A. E. Johnson and K. Ehricke, Oral History, 29 March 1971, ENHS, 19. One worker, Roderic Peters, was dismissed by Edison soon after being hired, but he simply returned to his desk the next day and carried on with his work as if nothing had happened. Edison gave him critical looks, and after a couple of days, said to him, “I thought I let you go.” Peters merely smiled and said nothing. Edison let the matter drop and Peters ended up working for him for four more years. See Roderic Peters, Oral History, 23 March 1973, ENHS, 3.
drastically reducing employment: Israel, Edison, 455. The workforce was reduced most dramatically in the complex at Orange, dropping from eight thousand workers during the war to about one thousand by August 1921. See “Edison Club Peters Out,” NYT, 6 August 1921.
All he cared about: “Edison Condemns the Primary School,” NYT, 7 May 1921.
Thanks to an unsuccessful candidate: “Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm,” NYT, 11 May 1921. The 141 questions were exceeded by a list of 150 recalled by another unsuccessful candidate. See “Edison’s Questions Still Puzzle City,” NYT, 12 May 1912.
The New York Times pointed out: “Grade XYZ,” NYT, 8 May 1921. Another editorial praised the irreverence of the young woman who refused to respond to Edison’s exam questions seriously. Pig iron, she said, was so named because “it is unrefined.” See “Her Answer Proved Intelligence,” NYT, 12 May 1912. This was followed by “Mr. Edison’s Mistake Is Revealed,” NYT, 14 May 1921, which observed that Edison did not understand what a college education was designed to accomplish.
The Chicago Tribune: “Can’t Answer Edison,” NYT, 11 May 1921.
When Albert Einstein: “Einstein Sees Boston; Fails on Edison Test,” NYT, 18 May 1921.
the annoying importuning: Paul Kasakove, untitled reminiscences, n.d., ENHS. Kasakove, a Cornell graduate who had majored in chemistry, tells a story about his first meeting with Edison as an applicant who had replied to a help-wanted advertisement. Kasakove was accompanied by the personnel manager and the plant superintendent, both of whom were terrified of Edison. When the trio arrived at the door of Edison’s laboratory, the two managers fought over which one of them would get to stay behind and which one would accompany Kasakove and face the wrath of Edison should he judge the applicant to be unsuitable.
he needed the kind of manager: “Edison Answers Some of His Critics,” NYT, 23 October 1921.
When newspapers published: “Here Is Edison’s 4-Column Sheaf of Knowledge,” NYT, 12 May 1921.
Edison was undaunted: “Edison Dashes Off New Questionnaire,” NYT, 14 May 1921.
he was surprised to discover: “Edison at 76, Talks of Tut-Ankh-Amen, Also Ruhr and Girls.”
Few businesspeople: “Mr. Edison’s Questions; What Other Business Men Think of College Educations As They Affect the Workaday World,” NYT, 15 May 1921; “Controversy Rages over Edison Test,” NYT, 15 May 1921; “More Slams at Edison,” NYT, 22 May 1921. Edison did draw some supportive letters to the editor, which were summarized in “Edison Is Upheld by Many Writers,” NYT, 19 May 1921.
In a letter to the editor: “Comments on Edison List,” NYT, 13 May 1921.
Ford had initiated: “Seldom Reads Below Headlines, Ford Admits,” NYT, 19 July 1919; “Odd Definitions Given by Ford in Libel Suit,” NYT, 17 July 1919. One of the strange definitions that Ford gave was that for an “idealist”: “one who helps to make profits.”
He gamely sat: “Edison’s Son Fails in His Father’s Test,” NYT, 16 May 1921.
When he graduated: “Edison to Hire Son Without Usual Test,” NYT, 12 June 1923.
Theodore was in no hurry: “Son Rejects Edison Job,” NYT, 22 June 1923.
Theodore was put to work: Millard, Edison and the Business of Invention, 310.
By the end of 1921: “Broadcasting Broadway by Radio,” NYT, 1 January 1922.
Edison did feel slighted: Erik Barnouw, A Tower in Babel: A History of Broadcasting in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966–1970), 84.
held to a different explanation: Theodore M. Edison, Oral History, 7 May 1970, ENHS, Transcript of tapes #45–46.
Edison’s sentimental attachment: “Edison Still Busy on the Phonograph,” NYT, 19 July 1922.
he had no wish to reopen: “Edison Calls Radio a Failure for Music: Thinks Phonograph Will Regain Its Own,” NYT, 23 September 1926. Underlining the usefulness of radio for purposes other than musical programs, Edison did tune in to a radio broadcast of the Dempsey-Tunney fight in 1926, which he was too deaf to hear. He had to rely upon family members to summarize what had transpired at the end of each round. “Radio Satisfactory on Bout,
Edison Says,” NYT, 25 September 1926. Defending the quality of musical broadcasts, the nascent radio industry offered expert testimony to rebut Edison’s claims. See “Broadcasters Disagree with Electrical Wizard,” NYT, 3 October 1926.
“We would not for a moment”: TAE to Frank Coombs, 5 May 1924, HFM & GVRC, Box 3, Folder 3-1.
When manufacturers introduced: Ronald C. Tobey, Technology As Freedom: The New Deal and the Electrical Modernization of the American Home (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 22–23.
The “radio fad”: “Edison Calls Radio a Failure for Music: Thinks Phonograph Will Regain Its Own.” A few months later, Edison was willing to grant that radio might not disappear, but he had a new criticism: listeners’ aesthetic sense would be damaged. “Undistorted music in time will sound strange to those brought up on radio music,” he predicted, “and they will not like the real thing.” “Thomas A. Edison Sees a Menace for Music in the Radio,” Musician, January 1927, 12.
Edicraft Automatic Toaster: Products of Thomas A. Edison Industries, 1929, ENHS, Primary Printed—Edison Companies, Box 51, Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (McGraw-Edison), 56.
customers did not want to see: Walter K. Porzer Associates, Inc., report, August 1931, ENHS, Primary Printed—Edison Companies, Box 2, Edicraft Division (TAE, Inc.), Sales and Marketing Evaluation Book, 25.
pay premium prices: Edward Cary, Oral History, 6 June 1973, ENHS, 15.
Ford and Firestone provided: William H. Hand, Oral History, 15 March 1973, ENHS, 32.
The official history: Norman Speiden, transcript of ENHS tour, 8 January 1971, ENHS, 27–28.
radiation exposure: Israel, Edison, 422.
employee of the Fort Myers laboratory: William H. Hand, Oral History, 15 March 1973, ENHS, 34–37.
they set up a research group: Theodore M. Edison, Oral History, 7 May 1970, ENHS, Transcript of tapes #45–46.
On 9 October 1929: Charles Edison to TAE, 9 October, 1929, ENHS, Edison Family Papers, Series II, Edison, Charles—Charles Edison to TAE.
Thomas A. Edison, Inc., announced: “Drops Records for Radio,” NYT, 8 November 1929.
The sales literature: “Edison Radio with Light-O-Matic Tuning,” typescript, n.d., ENHS, Primary Printed—Edison Companies, Box 49, Folder: Catalogue of Products.
A year later, Charles and Theodore: Charles Edison to TAE, 16 October 1930, PTAED, B037ACM. By 1930, the business slump forced the company to lay off staff, including Frank Schell, who was credited for originating the Edison scholarship contest. Charles Edison also lost his private secretary. See “Edison Industries Cut Staff; Scholarship Idea Man Goes,” NYT, 27 September 1930.
In 1923, Edison was credited: “Value of Edison’s Genius Is Put at Fifteen Billions,” NYT, 24 June 1923. The casual methodology behind these deceptively crisp numbers is suggested with a comparison: four years earlier, Edison was credited with creating industries worth only $1 billion. See “Edison, 72, Denies He Is Growing Old,” NYT, 11 February 1919.
conducted in 1922: “Edison Greatest Man, Epworth League Votes,” NYT, 25 November 1922. The story did not mention a fact that may have influenced some of the voters in the church’s poll: Mina Edison was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Earlier in the year, on the occasion of Edison’s seventy-fifth birthday, reporters asked Edison, “Who is the greatest man in the world?” He had said he spent his time in the laboratory and had not met many candidates for the title, but allowed that he had once met and “liked” Theodore Roosevelt. See “Edison at 75 Still a Two-Shift Man,” NYT, 12 February 1922.
Ford famously declared: “History Is Bunk, Says Henry Ford,” NYT, 29 October 1921.
He began plans to build: “The Museum Is Born: A Brief History,” The Henry Ford, http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/henryford.asp. What had been named The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village has shortened its name to simply “The Henry Ford.”
seven railcars: “Edison Young Again As He Relives Past in Old Laboratory,” NYT, 21 October 1929.
President Herbert Hoover: “Light’s Gold Jubilee Honors Thomas Edison and Dedicates a Museum,” The Henry Ford, http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/pic/2004/october.asp.
When the party returned: “Edison Tries to Flee Dinner; Returns When Wife Insists,” NYT, 22 October 1929.
He made a public speech: “Edison Accepts Honor As Paid to His Life Purpose, Advancing Human Understanding and Happiness,” NYT, 22 October 1929. The Henry Ford provides online the recording made of Edison’s speech at the Light’s Golden Jubilee; see http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/pic/2004/jubilee/Edison_Speech.mp3.
EPILOGUE
personal total to 1,093: For lists of Edison’s patents, grouped chronologically and by subject, see the Edison Papers’s Web site: http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm. Edison’s reluctance to share credit with others is suggested by the following: For almost his entire career, beginning with work at his shop in Newark, he depended on the assistance—and inventiveness—of others. Yet among his 1,093 patents, in apparently only 20 instances did he share credit with a joint inventor. See the listing at About.com: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledisonpatents.htm.
When Mina Edison’s sister: TAE to Mina Edison, 1 December 1898, PTAED, B037ABU.
he explained he did just fine: “Edison Assails Underthinking and Overeating,” Herald Tribune, 24 December 1930.
This conviction arose: Allen L. Benson, “Edison Sees the 200-Year-Old Man,” Dearborn Independent, 14 March 1925.
He was the same medical authority: “‘You Don’t Feel Pinched Anywhere, Do You?’ Asked Mr. Edison,” Boston American, 12 June 1916.
In August 1931, he collapsed: “World Followed News of His Illness,” NYT, 18 October 1931.
“mentally drowsy”: “Edison Has Good Day, but Vitality Ebbs,” NYT, 5 October 1931.
In the early morning: “Thomas Edison Dies in Coma at 84; Family with Him As the End Comes,” NYT, 18 October 1931.
“genius” was credited: Ibid.
The governor of New Jersey: “10,000 Mourners Pass Edison’s Bier in Day; Nation Plans Tribute at Burial Tomorrow,” NYT, 20 October 1931.
was told of Edison’s death: Jehl, Reminiscences, 318–319. Sources differ on the reason Ott had been confined to a wheelchair. Either he had suffered a stroke (“Retired Edison Aide Dies,” NYT, 20 October 1931) or had fallen down an empty elevator shaft at Bergmann’s shop (Nerney, Edison, 299).
When Mary Childs Nerney: Nerney, Edison, 64–65.
Declining the offer: “10,000 Mourners Pass Edison’s Bier in Day.”
forty thousand the second: “Nation to Be Dark One Minute Tonight After Edison Burial,” NYT, 21 October 1931.
President Hoover asked: Ibid.
Edison really had been privileged to hear: “Edison Is Buried on 52nd Anniversary of Electric Light,” NYT, 22 October 1931.
That night, the two radio networks: “Lights of City Dimmed in Homage to Edison; the Nation Joins in the Brief Silent Tribute,” NYT, 22 October 1931.
Thomas Edison Jr.: “T. A. Edison Jr. Dies; Son of Inventor, 59,” NYT, 26 August 1936.
maintained a laboratory: “Older Son to Sue to Void Edison Will,” NYT, 31 October 1931.
died in 1937: “William Leslie Edison,” biography prepared for memorial service, n.d., HFM & GVRC, Box 8, Folder 37.
died in 1969: “Charles Edison, 78, Ex-Governor of Jersey and U.S. Aide, Is Dead,” NYT, 1 August 1969.
died in 1992: “Theodore M. Edison; An Illustrious Father Guided Inventor, 94,” NYT, 26 November 1992.
reference to the “Illustrious Father”: Ibid.
both sons gave away: Charles Edison established the Charles Edison Fund when he was fifty-eight, to which he donated the bulk of his estate. See Charles Edison Fund, http://www.charlesedisonfund.org/edison.htm. Theodore Edison donated half of his inheritance to the employees of Thomas A. Edison Industries. Josephson, Edison, 469n. Theodore also was a major supporter of efforts in the 1950s to preserve an endan
gered stand of bald cypress trees in southwest Florida. See “Theodore M. Edison; An Illustrious Father Guided Inventor, 94.”
His scholarship program: Four years after Edison’s death, the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation, formed to “perpetuate the name of the inventor,” was incorporated in an attempt to raise funds for an endowment that would provide permanent support of a resuscitated scholarship program in Edison’s name. “Edison’s Aid Carried On,” NYT, 24 June 1935. The fund-raisers apparently did not succeed, however. When the very first scholarship had been awarded in 1929, New York mayor Jimmy Walker had offered a grand oration: “When we are dead, when our children and grandchildren are no more, his name will remain as one of the greatest in the country. The present fine scholarship contest is the sort of thing one would almost expect from a Thomas A. Edison.” See “Boy, 16, Bishop’s Son, Is Winner of First Edison Scholarship,” NYT, 3 August 1929.
valued at $12 million: “Edison Left 2 Sons Bulk of $12,000,000,” NYT, 30 October 1931.
Ford Foundation’s endowment: “Ford Foundation Owns $108,913,234,” NYT, 22 April 1947.
$70 million estate: “Ford Tax Indicates $70,000,000 Estate,” NYT, 29 October 1948.
Four years later: “Edison’s Estate Is Valued at $2,871,758,” NYT, 27 June 1935.
reduced by 50 percent: “Edison Estate $1,500,432,” NYT, 21 April 1937.
This arrangement spared her: Mina’s stepson William Edison threatened publicly to sue his younger half brothers, Charles and Theodore, but was persuaded to drop the idea. “Older Son to Sue to Void Edison Will”; “Edison Sons Avoid Fight over Estate,” NYT, 26 February 1932.
Four years after Edison’s death: “Widow of Edison to Be Wed Today,” NYT, 30 October 1935.
She was widowed again: “Mrs. Edison Dead; Inventor’s Widow,” NYT, 25 August 1947. The obituary noted that she had “stirred up a minor squabble” in a radio speech given in 1930 when she urged women “to return to home-making and pay less attention to business.” She had made similar remarks in preceding years, but “times had changed” and she drew many “replies” that clearly took a dissenting view.
The Wizard of Menlo Park Page 42
