On
this Day
February
11, 1847
Thomas Alva Edison's Birthday
February
11
- a Red-Letter Phonographia Day
February
11 is the birthday of Thomas Edison, inventor of the
Phonograph
Suggested
celebration: Apple pie and a glass of milk or cup of tea
"Edison
the Man" 1940 advertisement in Saturday Evening Post
featuring apple pie, a glass of milk and the Edison tinfoil
Phonograph (known as the "Brady" Phonograph) (1)
Edison's
love of pie is well known to Friends of the Phonograph and was
captured in the 1940 movie Edison the Man.
Many
people, however, don't know that Edison had a very defined philosophy
about eating.
Laurie
Carlson writes about Edison's eating habits in Thomas Edison for
Kids - His Life and Ideas and notes the following:
"He took pride in eating small amounts at meals and believed
that Americans could cut down their food intake by two-thirds".
Quoting Edison: "They do the work of a three-horse-power engine
and consume the fuel which should operate 50-horse-power engines."
"What
was Edison's favorite food for most of his life? Apple dumplings,
or apple pie with a glass of milk."
The
suggestion of a cup of tea for the Edison birthday menu comes
from "Thomas A. Edison and his Inventions" by James
Baird McClure, 1879 which describes Edison dining at Delmonico's and
simply having a "piece of a pie and a cup of tea."
Movie
still from the 1940 MGM film "Edison the Man" with Spencer
Tracy and Rita Johnson (in Edison's laboratory).
(1)
Brady
Phonograph is the name of the tin-foil phonograph that Edison was seated
with when he had his photograph taken in Matthew Brady's Washington,
D.C. studio on April 18, 1878.
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