WEBVTT - The Man Behind Rube Goldberg Machines

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, have you ever seen a Rube Goldberg contraption?

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<v Speaker 1>There gizmos that perform a simple task in a ridiculously

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<v Speaker 1>complicated manner. For example, want to know how to get

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<v Speaker 1>rid of a mouse? Simple? There's a mouse trap that

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<v Speaker 1>lures the mouse with a painting of a piece of cheese.

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<v Speaker 1>It causes the mouse to step on a hot stove,

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<v Speaker 1>jump to an escalator, fall on a boxing glove, and

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<v Speaker 1>get knocked into a rocket that sends him to the moon.

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<v Speaker 1>What could be easier? The mouse trap was one of

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<v Speaker 1>many cartoons by Ruben Goldberg, a rock star cartoonist of

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<v Speaker 1>the early nineteen hundreds. According to Renny Prittican, chief curator

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<v Speaker 1>at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, Goldberg drew

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of cartoons of wacky inventions that were syndicated in

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<v Speaker 1>newspapers all over the United States. His name became synonymous

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<v Speaker 1>with entertainingly absurd machinery that complicates simple tasks. The Miriam

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<v Speaker 1>Webster Dictionary included the term Rube Goldberg, making Goldberg the

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<v Speaker 1>only person whose name is listed as an adjective in

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<v Speaker 1>the dictionary. According to Smithsonian dot com, Goldberg, who was

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<v Speaker 1>born in San Francisco in eighteen eighty three, was originally

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<v Speaker 1>an engineer. He graduated from the College of Mining Engineering

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<v Speaker 1>at the University of California at Berkeley in nineteen o four.

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<v Speaker 1>For six months he mapped water and sewer lines for

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<v Speaker 1>San Francisco until he could stand it no longer. He

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<v Speaker 1>then took a lower paying job cartooning at the San

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<v Speaker 1>Francisco Chronicle. His granddaughter, Jennifer George, says what he cared

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<v Speaker 1>about most was if he made you laugh. Book The

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<v Speaker 1>Art of Rube Goldberg describes his extensive output of cartoons, writing,

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<v Speaker 1>and even sculpture up until his death in nineteen seventy.

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<v Speaker 1>Goldberg left San Francisco for New York in nineteen o

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<v Speaker 1>seven and was hired by the New York Evening Mail.

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<v Speaker 1>One of his early cartoons for the newspapers showed an

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<v Speaker 1>injured man who had fallen from a fifty story building

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<v Speaker 1>and a woman asking are you hurt? The man replies, no,

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<v Speaker 1>I am taking my beauty sleep. It was a hit,

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<v Speaker 1>and over the next two years he drew four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and forty nine more in the Foolish Questions series, readers

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<v Speaker 1>loved sending in suggestions. He also created a series called

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<v Speaker 1>I'm the Guy. It featured statements such as I'm the

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<v Speaker 1>guy who put Hobo and hoboken and I'm the guy

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<v Speaker 1>who puts sand in the sandwich, starting a national fad.

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<v Speaker 1>Goldberg's invention drawings began in nineteen twelve and made him

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<v Speaker 1>into a household name. According to an exhibit at the

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<v Speaker 1>Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, the first was the

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<v Speaker 1>simple mosquito exterminator. Here's what's going on. A mosquito looking

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<v Speaker 1>to bite. A sleeping man enters a window. A walks

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<v Speaker 1>along a board baited by small pieces of steak, but

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<v Speaker 1>then falls unconscious because of chloroform fumes from a sponge

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<v Speaker 1>B and falls onto a spring loaded platform see it.

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<v Speaker 1>Then wakes up, looks through the telescope D to see

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<v Speaker 1>the reflection of the sleeper's bald head and a mirror E,

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<v Speaker 1>which it mistakes for the moon outside the window, and

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<v Speaker 1>this jumps off that spring loaded platform through the empty

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<v Speaker 1>telescope see through D and hits the mirror, then falling

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<v Speaker 1>into a trash can. F for the next twenty years,

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<v Speaker 1>Goldberg provided a new cartoon invention about every two weeks.

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<v Speaker 1>He continued on a less frequent basis. Util nineteen sixty four,

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<v Speaker 1>he invented the character Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, who created

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<v Speaker 1>machines to open screen doors, shine shoes, and find soap

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<v Speaker 1>dropped from the bathtub. According to the art of Rube Goldberg,

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<v Speaker 1>this character was inspired by two professors that Goldberg found

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<v Speaker 1>particularly boring at the College of Mining Engineering, Samuel B. Christie,

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<v Speaker 1>who lectured at length on time and motion efficiency, and

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<v Speaker 1>Frederick Slate, who once showed students the bear Dick, a

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<v Speaker 1>convoluted machine meant to measure the weight of the earth.

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<v Speaker 1>Adam Gopnik wrote in his introduction to the book that

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<v Speaker 1>the Invention cartoons mocked the elaborate world of machinery by

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<v Speaker 1>mocking the larger idea of efficiency. Gopnick wrote that Goldberg

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<v Speaker 1>had a poetic intuition common to all great cartoonists. Goldberg

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<v Speaker 1>was an early voice questioning the use to which technology

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<v Speaker 1>is put and the benefits of supposed labor saving devices.

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<v Speaker 1>Instead of simplifying life, they complicated. Predicans says The theme

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<v Speaker 1>is pertinent today because in the rush to create and

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<v Speaker 1>sell new technology. Predicans said, we are ignoring a public conversation.

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<v Speaker 1>Is this good for us or not? In nineteen thirty eight,

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<v Speaker 1>Goldberg started drawing political cartoons. In them, he began to

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<v Speaker 1>comment on the rise of fascism. Predictions said he got

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of criticism for it, including threats to himself

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<v Speaker 1>and his family. Among his famous political cartoons was a

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<v Speaker 1>scene in a Middle Eastern desert, two figures trudge along

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<v Speaker 1>to parallel paths that never meet. One figure is labeled

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<v Speaker 1>Arab and the other jew. In seven cartoon shows a

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<v Speaker 1>small house balanced on an enormous nuclear missile balanced on

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<v Speaker 1>a precipice. The title is piece today this cartoon want

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<v Speaker 1>to pull its surprise Preddicans said he had a huge

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<v Speaker 1>impact on his time Culturally, cartoonists were immensely popular. They

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<v Speaker 1>were really cultural heroes and Rube Goldberg devices live on

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<v Speaker 1>today in the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, which pits school

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<v Speaker 1>kids against each other in an effort to design and

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<v Speaker 1>build wacky machinery. You can google some of their efforts

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<v Speaker 1>and check them out on YouTube. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Stell Simonton and produced by Tyler Klang for more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other historical topics, visit our

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<v Speaker 1>home planet as stuffworks dot com.