STAN FREBERG HERE...20th Century Edison
Stan Freberg here. Who is the closest person we had to Edison in the 20th century? I'll give you an "instant picture," after this. [:60 SPOT BREAK]
We tend to take for granted a color photograph coming out the front of a camera and developing before our eyes, but the Polaroid came to be invented because of the question of a small child.
In 1944, Edwin Land took some pictures of his 3-year old, Jennifer, with a standard Kodak. When he told her at bedtime she could see the pictures in a couple of days, she asked, "Why can't I see them now?" Land was electrified by the question. An hour later, he had the basics of the first camera worked out in his head, and soon the world saw their first instant Polaroid pictures.
But was Land content to retire with the fortune his camera brought him? No. He hated cluttering the earth with the debris the early Polaroids left behind, and he soon did away with all that. Late at night, he could be seen in his lab, still trying to improve his invention.
The Polaroid camera, invented by a genius named Eddy Land, because of a small child's question.
Stan Freberg here.
Copyright (C)1997, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.