International photographer (Feb-Dec 1929)

September, 1929 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Nineteen £,ighfs Golden yubilee -BY HOYT BOLSTER On the night of October 21, 1929, the whole world will be tuned in on Dearborn, Michigan, center of Mr. Henry Ford's activities. It will be the greatest radio hook-up in radio history and the occasion will be "Light's Golden Jubilee," the National Electric Light Association's title for the celebration of the Fiftieth anniversary of the invention of the first practical incandescent light, October 21, 1879, by Thomas Alva Edison. Why will this great celebration center at Dearborn, Michigan? Because Henry Ford, the great friend and admirer of this Grand Old Wizard of Light, has not only built and endowed at Dearborn the Edison School of Technology as a practical monument to Edison, but has removed Menlo Park bag and baggage from New Jersey to Dearborn and has there set it up again just as it was in New Jersey — not replicas, not reproductions, but the original Menlo Park buildings and appurtenances, just as they were when Edison and his helpers worked and lived in them fifty years ago. They are all there — Mrs. Jordan's boarding house, where Edison and his staff lived, the old laboratory, the old lathes, lamps, tools; the old wood burning boiler; everything just as shown in the pictures on pages twenty and twentyone of this magazine, which pictures were photographed and sent to The International Photographer by W. J. Cameron, of the Ford Motor Co., at Dearborn. From all parts of the country the great Ford organization has brought back every stray part and relic until at this writing the old Menlo Park is complete and the wheels of the old machinery are greased and ready to be set in motion by the touch of Mr. Edison on the night of October 21, 1929. Not alone will Edison be at the great Jubilee. He will be surrounded by the Edison Pioneers — that unique little group of veterans of the Age of Light — who helped and are still helping to develop this wonderful epoch. Among the members are a Japanese, a colored man, and many of the outstanding figures in industrial America, including Henry Ford. The Edison Pioneers meet once a year on Edison's birthday to honor the "chief." At the annual meeting held February 11, 1929, this "Old Guard" suggested Light's Golden Jubilee to the world at large. The program for the day will be: first, the dedication of the Edison School of Technology, Mr. Edison, himself, presiding; second, the dinner tendered Edison, his helpers and distinguished citizens of the world. Then night with the world-wide illumination by incandescent lights — the tribute of the nations to this great, erudite, yet simple and kindly man — world-wide because every great city of Up to the time of going to press the Motion Picture Industry, so far as this journal knoivs, had taken no steps to participate, as a unit, in this great Edison celebration and, therefore, no program, if any, can he given here. The time is short and whatever is to he done should he undertaken at once nvith enthusiasm and speed for surely no industry in the world is more indebted to the Wizard of Light than the great Motion Picture Industry in general and the cinematographers in particular. Editor's Note. America and Europe will participate in the radio hook-up with their brilliant descriptions of the doings on land, sea and in the air. And what more appropriate way to invite the world to this great event? Wasn't it Edison, who in 1883 discovered and patented an electrical phenomenon known as "Edison's Effect" in connection with his electric lamp, which covers the foundation principle on which every modern radio lamp or tube is based? And now comes the climax. Here is what might happen as described by Mr. Ford's imaginative counsel of public relations: Suppose that we turn this article over to Graham McNamee, the famous radio announcer. The orchestra has just finished playing "The Star Spankled Banner." Perhaps Graham will start off like this: "Ladies and gentlemen ! Thomas Edison is now standing up. He is smiling down at his old friend, Henry Ford. Now his hand is on an old-fashioned connection on the table before him. All the modern Mazda lamps have suddenly gone out. We are practically in darkness except for an old-fashioned oil lamp sitting beside the handle which Mr. Edison is grasping. "Ladies and gentlemen, you could hear a pin drop in this room. Edison is still smiling in the glow of that old oil lamp. "And now he has made the connection. The old generators are humming! The lights of 1879 are beginning to glow about the room! The Edison Pioneers are on their feet cheering their chief. One. Two. Three! "Talk about your football cheering, ladies and gentlemen of the radio audience! What team wouldn't want to have this grand old guard behind them? I'll bet everybody in this room under fifty years of age has a lump in his throat as big as an apple ... I know I have. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, while this cheering is going on I will turn the microphone over to the announcer who is out on the roof of the old laboratory— who will tell you what is going on outside." The other announcer takes up the thread: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I have been listening to Graham's description of what has been going on inside. I have a lump in my throat, too, but my eyes are up in the sky. You can't think about lumps and look up here. I've never seen anything like it. I shall try to describe it to you. "The air is filled with wheeling, Hashing paths of light. I can't tell you how many by looking at them. I am told, however, that there are over one hundred planes in the air above me. Giant searchlights are playing on them as they circle about, picking them out like giant droning bats. Hundreds of thousands of people are watching this spectacle, the lights of their parked motor cars giving the area beyond which they are crowding the appearance of a huge pincushion of light. "But perhaps you would enjoy an airplane view, not only of what is going on here, but what is going on all over the country in the way of lighting festivals to celebrate Light's Golden Jubilee. The next voice you will hear will be that of an announcer flying at an altitude of a thousand feet over Dearborn and Detroit. How does it look up there?" "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am a thousand feet above Detroit and Dearborn. Fairyland lies below. You may get some idea from your windows on this great light festival all over the country, but you certainly get a de luxe view from up here. "Detroit looks like a mammoth jewel box. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds! They dot and splash the night in a way that staggers description. "Beyond, Lake Erie lies purple and placid. From this altitude I can glimpse other spots of festival light. Toledo, I think; Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor. I wonder what New York looks like tonight. Suppose we find out. "Above New York, ladies and gentlemen of the radio audience. New York is a never-to-be-forgotten sight tonight. I have just listened to the description of Detroit from the air, but you should see this town from above. Not only New York, but Brooklyn and the Bronx, and farther away Newark and Atlantic City and Philadelphia. You can't imagine what it looks like. Searchlights, colored lights. Lights dancing on moving water. "The East River is filled with long, cigar-shaped objects which stand revealed every now and then as the battleships and cruisers of Uncle Sam's Navv. Their flashlights, too, are probing the night. Their bands are playing. Oh, what a sight! I wonder if Chicago's Michigan avenue can match Broadway tonight? Let's find out. "Above Chicago, ladies and gentlemen of the radio audience. Chicago certainly is the city of a million jewels tonight. I think every home, building, and factory in Chicago must be joining in this great