1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:26,650 Speaker 1: Pushkin, Fifth Avenue, New York, eighteen sixty. Missus Isaac Singer 2 00:00:26,850 --> 00:00:30,450 Speaker 1: is driving in her horse drawn carriage when she sees 3 00:00:30,690 --> 00:00:33,690 Speaker 1: on the other side of the road in another carriage, 4 00:00:34,250 --> 00:00:40,370 Speaker 1: mister Isaac Singer. Mister Singer is not alone. Missus Singer 5 00:00:40,410 --> 00:00:43,570 Speaker 1: has heard rumors about the woman he's with. Those rumors, 6 00:00:43,610 --> 00:00:49,610 Speaker 1: it seems, are true. Missus Singer begins to scream. She 7 00:00:49,650 --> 00:00:54,850 Speaker 1: doesn't scream abuse or even Singer's name, She just screams 8 00:00:56,210 --> 00:01:00,170 Speaker 1: I used no language upon this occasion. She later recalls, 9 00:01:01,050 --> 00:01:04,210 Speaker 1: mister Singer looks to see whether screaming is coming from 10 00:01:04,850 --> 00:01:10,730 Speaker 1: it's Missus Singer. Oh, dear. Her carriages approach one another. 11 00:01:11,210 --> 00:01:16,090 Speaker 1: She continues to scream wordlessly in his direction. Everyone on 12 00:01:16,170 --> 00:01:19,370 Speaker 1: Fifth Avenue, it seems, has stopped to stare at mister 13 00:01:19,450 --> 00:01:24,210 Speaker 1: and missus Singer as their carriages pass. You can understand 14 00:01:24,250 --> 00:01:27,570 Speaker 1: why Missus Singer has snapped. She's caught her husband with 15 00:01:27,650 --> 00:01:31,490 Speaker 1: his mistress. But no, it's much more complicated than that. 16 00:01:33,130 --> 00:01:37,450 Speaker 1: You see, Missus Singer isn't actually Missus Singer. Oh, that's 17 00:01:37,450 --> 00:01:40,530 Speaker 1: how everyone knows her. She can go into any fashionable 18 00:01:40,610 --> 00:01:43,570 Speaker 1: New York store and buy whatever she likes. And the 19 00:01:43,610 --> 00:01:46,330 Speaker 1: bill will be sent to mister Singer and he'll pay it. 20 00:01:46,970 --> 00:01:49,330 Speaker 1: But for most of the twenty four years of their 21 00:01:49,490 --> 00:01:54,330 Speaker 1: apparent marriage, mister Singer has actually been married to someone else. 22 00:01:56,010 --> 00:01:58,810 Speaker 1: When the supposed missus Singer first agreed to marry him, 23 00:01:59,090 --> 00:02:02,050 Speaker 1: she didn't know he was married already. By the time 24 00:02:02,130 --> 00:02:04,970 Speaker 1: she found out, she had little choice but to make 25 00:02:05,010 --> 00:02:08,490 Speaker 1: the best of it, and in some ways it's turned 26 00:02:08,530 --> 00:02:11,970 Speaker 1: out better than she could have hoped. The singer she 27 00:02:12,090 --> 00:02:17,490 Speaker 1: agreed to marry was a penniless, aspiring actor. Now thanks 28 00:02:17,570 --> 00:02:21,450 Speaker 1: to his sewing machine business, he's rich. They live in 29 00:02:21,450 --> 00:02:25,810 Speaker 1: a luxurious house in a fashionable location just off Washington 30 00:02:25,850 --> 00:02:30,570 Speaker 1: Square Park. The curious thing is that mister Singer has 31 00:02:30,730 --> 00:02:36,810 Speaker 1: recently finally got divorced from that secret first wife. Why 32 00:02:36,850 --> 00:02:41,330 Speaker 1: now after so many years. Missus Singer assumed that it 33 00:02:41,410 --> 00:02:45,690 Speaker 1: must be because he wanted finally to formalize her status 34 00:02:45,810 --> 00:02:50,330 Speaker 1: as missus Singer that when she broached the subject, he said, 35 00:02:51,010 --> 00:02:53,530 Speaker 1: why would I marry you? Then you would have me 36 00:02:53,570 --> 00:02:58,210 Speaker 1: in your power. So yes, you can understand why Missus 37 00:02:58,210 --> 00:03:03,730 Speaker 1: Singer lost it on Fifth Avenue. But wait, it's even 38 00:03:03,810 --> 00:03:08,970 Speaker 1: more complicated than the screaming Missus Singer has suspected. You see, 39 00:03:09,130 --> 00:03:12,330 Speaker 1: the woman mister Singer was within the carriage isn't just 40 00:03:12,370 --> 00:03:17,010 Speaker 1: a casual affair partner. No, They've been together for years. 41 00:03:17,730 --> 00:03:21,730 Speaker 1: They've got five children. They have a home in another 42 00:03:21,810 --> 00:03:24,850 Speaker 1: part of New York where all their neighbors know them 43 00:03:24,850 --> 00:03:30,090 Speaker 1: as mister and missus Matthews. But wait, that's still not all. 44 00:03:30,850 --> 00:03:34,810 Speaker 1: Singer has yet another mistress and child in yet another 45 00:03:34,890 --> 00:03:38,330 Speaker 1: part of New York, where he's known as mister Merrit 46 00:03:38,770 --> 00:03:43,970 Speaker 1: his middle name. As Singer's biographer Ruth Brandon puts it, 47 00:03:44,530 --> 00:03:50,250 Speaker 1: this was a truly amazing situation. He's somehow been living 48 00:03:50,330 --> 00:03:54,570 Speaker 1: as man and wife with three women in the same city, 49 00:03:55,290 --> 00:04:01,370 Speaker 1: all while technically still married to someone else entirely. Only 50 00:04:01,450 --> 00:04:06,530 Speaker 1: one thing in Singer's convoluted private life is simple. All 51 00:04:06,570 --> 00:04:09,730 Speaker 1: three women are called Mary. He doesn't have to worry 52 00:04:09,770 --> 00:04:15,010 Speaker 1: about getting a name wrong. Mary. Singer turns her carriage 53 00:04:15,010 --> 00:04:19,490 Speaker 1: into the next side street, turns again, and heads for home. 54 00:04:20,570 --> 00:04:25,010 Speaker 1: By the time she gets back, Isaac's Singer is there already, 55 00:04:26,170 --> 00:04:32,730 Speaker 1: as she feared. He's furious. She knows from bitter experience 56 00:04:33,330 --> 00:04:38,730 Speaker 1: what to expect. Singer hits her. He hits her again 57 00:04:39,650 --> 00:04:47,050 Speaker 1: and again and again. Covered in blood. Mary Singer blacks out. 58 00:04:49,250 --> 00:05:18,170 Speaker 1: I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to cautionary tales. In 59 00:05:18,330 --> 00:05:22,250 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine, in a repair shop in Boston, a 60 00:05:22,290 --> 00:05:25,850 Speaker 1: young man called Elias Howe is listening into a conversation 61 00:05:26,010 --> 00:05:30,130 Speaker 1: between his boss and an inventor's patron. The patron has 62 00:05:30,170 --> 00:05:33,490 Speaker 1: funded the inventor's attempt to make a knitting machine, but 63 00:05:33,810 --> 00:05:36,730 Speaker 1: it doesn't work very well. He wants to know if 64 00:05:36,810 --> 00:05:39,810 Speaker 1: young Elias's boss can see a way to improve it. 65 00:05:40,850 --> 00:05:43,130 Speaker 1: I don't know why you're even bothering, says the boss. 66 00:05:43,530 --> 00:05:46,250 Speaker 1: There'll be no money in a knitting machine. You want 67 00:05:46,250 --> 00:05:50,210 Speaker 1: to make a sewing machine, you'll make a fortune. Oh, 68 00:05:50,250 --> 00:05:53,210 Speaker 1: I know, says the patron. I wish I could, but 69 00:05:53,490 --> 00:05:59,410 Speaker 1: it can't be done a fortune. Elias Howe's ears prick up. 70 00:06:00,450 --> 00:06:04,730 Speaker 1: Elias doesn't enjoy his work, or any work for that matter. 71 00:06:05,410 --> 00:06:09,970 Speaker 1: He's short and slight and gets tired quickly. He grew 72 00:06:10,050 --> 00:06:12,970 Speaker 1: up on a farm but couldn't cope with the labor. 73 00:06:13,650 --> 00:06:15,410 Speaker 1: He moved to the city and got a job in 74 00:06:15,450 --> 00:06:18,450 Speaker 1: this workshop. But at the end of each day he's 75 00:06:18,570 --> 00:06:23,530 Speaker 1: completely spent. Sometimes he can't even muster the energy for dinner. 76 00:06:24,730 --> 00:06:28,890 Speaker 1: Elias later recalled, I just wanted to lie in bed 77 00:06:29,330 --> 00:06:36,010 Speaker 1: forever and ever, but he can't. He's got a wife 78 00:06:36,210 --> 00:06:39,810 Speaker 1: and they keep having children, so Elias has to drag 79 00:06:39,930 --> 00:06:44,450 Speaker 1: himself into work every day. The idea of a fortune 80 00:06:44,850 --> 00:06:50,890 Speaker 1: sounds very appealing. Elias knows nothing about sewing. That's women's work. 81 00:06:51,570 --> 00:06:55,690 Speaker 1: He starts to observe his wife as she sows. Like 82 00:06:55,970 --> 00:07:00,650 Speaker 1: most married women, Elias's wife spends an inordinate amount of 83 00:07:00,690 --> 00:07:05,210 Speaker 1: time making and mending clothes for her family. In the 84 00:07:05,250 --> 00:07:11,210 Speaker 1: words of one contemporary writer, sewing life for mothers nothing 85 00:07:11,290 --> 00:07:17,050 Speaker 1: but a dull round of everlasting toil. Then there are 86 00:07:17,090 --> 00:07:20,410 Speaker 1: the women who sow for a living. A famous poem 87 00:07:20,450 --> 00:07:24,810 Speaker 1: from the time called the Song of the Shirt describes 88 00:07:24,890 --> 00:07:28,810 Speaker 1: the life of a seamstress with fingers weary and worn, 89 00:07:29,330 --> 00:07:33,690 Speaker 1: with eyelids heavy and red, a woman sat in unwomanly rags, 90 00:07:34,050 --> 00:07:41,130 Speaker 1: plying her needle and thread stitch stitch, stitch. It really 91 00:07:41,210 --> 00:07:45,450 Speaker 1: is time consuming work, Elias sees. He starts to understand 92 00:07:45,450 --> 00:07:48,250 Speaker 1: why his boss had said, you'd make a fortune if 93 00:07:48,290 --> 00:07:51,810 Speaker 1: you could mechanize it. But he also understands why the 94 00:07:51,850 --> 00:07:56,690 Speaker 1: inventor's patron had replied that it couldn't be done. Try 95 00:07:56,890 --> 00:08:01,090 Speaker 1: as he might, Elias can't imagine how a machine might 96 00:08:01,130 --> 00:08:05,050 Speaker 1: be made to perform the same motions as his wife's fingers, 97 00:08:05,650 --> 00:08:09,090 Speaker 1: passing the needle through the fabric, passing it back from 98 00:08:08,970 --> 00:08:13,130 Speaker 1: the other side. But what if there was another way 99 00:08:13,170 --> 00:08:16,490 Speaker 1: to make a stitch, one that didn't involve pushing the 100 00:08:16,530 --> 00:08:20,290 Speaker 1: needle all the way through. A machine could certainly be 101 00:08:20,450 --> 00:08:23,810 Speaker 1: made to poke a needle in and out of fabric, 102 00:08:24,890 --> 00:08:28,570 Speaker 1: So then you would need, hm, maybe a second thread, 103 00:08:29,530 --> 00:08:33,610 Speaker 1: and some mechanism to join them together. That starts to 104 00:08:33,650 --> 00:08:41,290 Speaker 1: sound possible. Elias constructed the machine in his head, but 105 00:08:41,410 --> 00:08:45,370 Speaker 1: to construct it in reality, he'd need money, and all 106 00:08:45,410 --> 00:08:50,050 Speaker 1: his wages were going on supporting his family. He did, however, 107 00:08:50,170 --> 00:08:54,250 Speaker 1: have a friend who'd just come into an inheritance. Would 108 00:08:54,290 --> 00:08:57,850 Speaker 1: the friend lend him enough to make a prototype? He would. 109 00:08:59,170 --> 00:09:02,450 Speaker 1: I was the only one who had any confidence in 110 00:09:02,490 --> 00:09:07,330 Speaker 1: the success of the invention. The friend later recalled Elias 111 00:09:07,530 --> 00:09:11,850 Speaker 1: was generally looked upon as very visionary, and I was 112 00:09:11,890 --> 00:09:17,170 Speaker 1: thought very foolish in assisting him. Visionary in those days 113 00:09:17,810 --> 00:09:24,010 Speaker 1: was not a compliment. Elias patented his machine and issued 114 00:09:24,010 --> 00:09:27,970 Speaker 1: a challenge to the tailors of Boston. Gather the five 115 00:09:28,250 --> 00:09:34,410 Speaker 1: fastest seamstresses in town, and I will compete against them. 116 00:09:34,450 --> 00:09:38,250 Speaker 1: A curious crowd gathered to watch. Each girl was given 117 00:09:38,290 --> 00:09:41,930 Speaker 1: a seam to sew, while Elias, seated at his machine, 118 00:09:42,290 --> 00:09:47,850 Speaker 1: had a pile of five seams. The umpire started his stopwatch. 119 00:09:48,610 --> 00:09:52,170 Speaker 1: The five seamstresses set at their task, sewing as quickly 120 00:09:52,210 --> 00:09:55,370 Speaker 1: as they could. Pride was at stake, but by the 121 00:09:55,450 --> 00:09:59,770 Speaker 1: time each had finished their one seam, Elias had already 122 00:09:59,850 --> 00:10:06,810 Speaker 1: finished his five. The umpire inspected the work. Was the 123 00:10:06,850 --> 00:10:11,370 Speaker 1: machine up to the standard of the seamstresses? Actually, no, 124 00:10:12,050 --> 00:10:17,250 Speaker 1: it was better. Elias was triumphant. His machine had won. 125 00:10:17,810 --> 00:10:21,850 Speaker 1: Now where was his fortune? He waited for the orders 126 00:10:21,890 --> 00:10:30,010 Speaker 1: to come in and nothing. Nobody was interested. Why well, 127 00:10:30,610 --> 00:10:35,690 Speaker 1: Elias's machine was expensive in today's terms, well into five 128 00:10:35,890 --> 00:10:38,810 Speaker 1: or even six figures, depending on what measure you use. 129 00:10:39,730 --> 00:10:41,970 Speaker 1: The machine would have to be good to justify that 130 00:10:42,010 --> 00:10:46,570 Speaker 1: sort of investment, but it had some obvious drawbacks. It 131 00:10:46,770 --> 00:10:51,610 Speaker 1: used curved needles, which were brittle and often broke. It 132 00:10:51,730 --> 00:10:54,370 Speaker 1: required the cloth to be held in place using a 133 00:10:54,450 --> 00:10:57,890 Speaker 1: vertical plate. You couldn't move it around as you sewed. 134 00:10:58,450 --> 00:11:03,890 Speaker 1: That meant you couldn't so long continuous seams or curves 135 00:11:04,050 --> 00:11:09,010 Speaker 1: or corners. The machine had beaten five seamstresses in tests 136 00:11:09,170 --> 00:11:14,090 Speaker 1: conditions devised by Elias Howe, but it wasn't reliable or 137 00:11:14,290 --> 00:11:19,970 Speaker 1: versatile enough for the real world. Elias decided to try 138 00:11:20,050 --> 00:11:24,490 Speaker 1: his luck in England. He found a manufacturer of corsets 139 00:11:24,570 --> 00:11:28,330 Speaker 1: and umbrellas who thought the machine had promise and offered 140 00:11:28,410 --> 00:11:31,770 Speaker 1: Elias a wage to adapt it for those specific jobs. 141 00:11:32,930 --> 00:11:36,650 Speaker 1: Elias worked on it for months and then fell out 142 00:11:36,730 --> 00:11:40,610 Speaker 1: with the manufacturer. He stayed on in England, living with 143 00:11:40,650 --> 00:11:44,450 Speaker 1: his wife and three children in a small rented room, 144 00:11:44,890 --> 00:11:49,250 Speaker 1: trying to interest someone else in his invention, until he'd 145 00:11:49,290 --> 00:11:52,250 Speaker 1: run out of money and his wife had fallen ill 146 00:11:52,330 --> 00:11:57,570 Speaker 1: with consumption. He pawned the last of his possessions and 147 00:11:57,650 --> 00:12:03,410 Speaker 1: bought passage back home to America. Elias had been away 148 00:12:03,450 --> 00:12:07,450 Speaker 1: for two years. He was broke, his wife was dying, 149 00:12:08,490 --> 00:12:13,690 Speaker 1: and then he saw a poster a great curiosity, the 150 00:12:13,810 --> 00:12:18,370 Speaker 1: Yankee sewing machine is now exhibiting at this place, and 151 00:12:18,890 --> 00:12:24,250 Speaker 1: another poster for another sewing machine, and another. The sewing 152 00:12:24,290 --> 00:12:29,250 Speaker 1: machines were everywhere. Elias took a close look at these 153 00:12:29,330 --> 00:12:33,530 Speaker 1: machines that various other inventors were now demonstrating to the public. 154 00:12:34,290 --> 00:12:37,130 Speaker 1: They weren't quite the same as his, but they were 155 00:12:37,330 --> 00:12:41,490 Speaker 1: using an idea that he had patented. Elias went to 156 00:12:41,490 --> 00:12:46,130 Speaker 1: see the maker of one of those machines, one Isaac Singer. 157 00:12:48,010 --> 00:12:51,250 Speaker 1: Mister Singer turned out to be a big, imposing man 158 00:12:51,730 --> 00:12:56,250 Speaker 1: with a quick temper. Your machine is infringing my patent, 159 00:12:56,690 --> 00:13:01,370 Speaker 1: said Elias. HOWE get the hell out of my workshop, 160 00:13:01,850 --> 00:13:07,370 Speaker 1: said Singer, or I'll kick you down the stairs. Cautionary 161 00:13:07,410 --> 00:13:17,730 Speaker 1: tales will be back after the break. Isaac Singer was 162 00:13:17,770 --> 00:13:23,130 Speaker 1: born in upstate New York in eighteen eleven. He learned 163 00:13:23,170 --> 00:13:27,530 Speaker 1: to earn money by making and repairing machines, but that 164 00:13:27,650 --> 00:13:35,570 Speaker 1: wasn't what he wanted to do. Singer was tall, blonde, handsome, charismatic. 165 00:13:36,250 --> 00:13:39,250 Speaker 1: He loved to be the center of attention. He went 166 00:13:39,290 --> 00:13:43,850 Speaker 1: off with a traveling troop of Shakespearean actors. His favorite 167 00:13:43,930 --> 00:13:48,170 Speaker 1: role was Richard the Third, Now is the winter of 168 00:13:48,210 --> 00:13:53,210 Speaker 1: our discontent? A horse, A horse my kingdom? For a 169 00:13:53,250 --> 00:13:59,170 Speaker 1: horse he was. He later claimed one of the best 170 00:13:59,490 --> 00:14:06,130 Speaker 1: Richards of his day. Not everyone agreed. Crude and bombastic, 171 00:14:06,570 --> 00:14:13,410 Speaker 1: said one critic. In a village near Rochester, nineteen year 172 00:14:13,410 --> 00:14:17,370 Speaker 1: old Singer met a fifteen year old girl, married her, 173 00:14:17,890 --> 00:14:21,410 Speaker 1: moved her to New York City, got her pregnant, and 174 00:14:21,490 --> 00:14:23,610 Speaker 1: left her with the baby while he went on the 175 00:14:23,690 --> 00:14:28,650 Speaker 1: road again. In Baltimore, he met an eighteen year old girl, 176 00:14:29,090 --> 00:14:31,930 Speaker 1: Mary and asked her to come to New York to 177 00:14:32,010 --> 00:14:36,450 Speaker 1: marry him. He'd go ahead alone, he explained, to make 178 00:14:36,530 --> 00:14:41,730 Speaker 1: preparations back in New York. Singer got his wife pregnant again, 179 00:14:42,250 --> 00:14:45,610 Speaker 1: then told her their marriage was over. She'd have to 180 00:14:45,650 --> 00:14:49,930 Speaker 1: go back to the village and her parents. When Mary 181 00:14:50,050 --> 00:14:53,250 Speaker 1: arrived in New York to marry Singer, he explained that 182 00:14:53,290 --> 00:14:58,450 Speaker 1: there was a small difficulty. He was already married, but 183 00:14:58,530 --> 00:15:01,330 Speaker 1: he was going to get divorced, he said, so he'd 184 00:15:01,330 --> 00:15:04,450 Speaker 1: marry her as soon as the divorce came through. In 185 00:15:04,490 --> 00:15:07,490 Speaker 1: the meantime, they could live together as man and wife. 186 00:15:07,690 --> 00:15:13,370 Speaker 1: Nobody need ever know was ever woman in this humor 187 00:15:13,450 --> 00:15:19,250 Speaker 1: wooed Mary must have wandered. Singer taught Mary how to 188 00:15:19,250 --> 00:15:22,450 Speaker 1: be a Shakespearean actress, and they went on the road 189 00:15:22,490 --> 00:15:27,890 Speaker 1: together while raising an ever growing brood. One hotelier recalled 190 00:15:27,890 --> 00:15:32,330 Speaker 1: the impression the Singer's made on him Isaac was rough 191 00:15:32,370 --> 00:15:38,730 Speaker 1: and unkind in manner. Mary was quite the opposite, refined, amiable, 192 00:15:38,850 --> 00:15:44,090 Speaker 1: and courteous. Their children were bright and well mannered. Singer 193 00:15:44,170 --> 00:15:50,130 Speaker 1: was also the hotelier, noted poor in pocket, Shakespeare didn't 194 00:15:50,170 --> 00:15:56,450 Speaker 1: pay well. After years on the road, the Singer family 195 00:15:56,570 --> 00:16:01,410 Speaker 1: found themselves stranded in a town in Ohio. No demand 196 00:16:01,410 --> 00:16:06,490 Speaker 1: for their plays, no money to move on elsewhere. Singer 197 00:16:06,650 --> 00:16:10,450 Speaker 1: got a job in a print shop. Dreams of fame 198 00:16:10,570 --> 00:16:14,930 Speaker 1: and fortune as an actor were in tatters, but perhaps 199 00:16:15,010 --> 00:16:19,530 Speaker 1: he could make it as an inventor. Instead, he spent 200 00:16:19,890 --> 00:16:24,730 Speaker 1: years perfecting a machine for carving wooden type, and took 201 00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:27,570 Speaker 1: it to Boston, the center of the book printing trade. 202 00:16:28,130 --> 00:16:31,410 Speaker 1: He rented space in a workshop to demonstrate his machine 203 00:16:31,890 --> 00:16:37,490 Speaker 1: and waited for buyers, who never came. Singer's machine was ingenious, 204 00:16:37,810 --> 00:16:41,970 Speaker 1: but wooden type was falling out of fashion. In the 205 00:16:42,010 --> 00:16:46,570 Speaker 1: next room, some workers were tinkering with some other machine. 206 00:16:46,770 --> 00:16:49,010 Speaker 1: Singer went over to take a look at what it did. 207 00:16:49,930 --> 00:16:55,810 Speaker 1: It was sewing. What a devilish machine, said Singer. You 208 00:16:55,890 --> 00:16:58,250 Speaker 1: want to do away with the only thing that keeps 209 00:16:58,290 --> 00:17:04,450 Speaker 1: women quiet. But hm As Singer watched the machine work, 210 00:17:04,850 --> 00:17:08,530 Speaker 1: he realized that it didn't work very well, and he 211 00:17:08,610 --> 00:17:12,250 Speaker 1: saw way he could improve it. A better design for 212 00:17:12,290 --> 00:17:16,010 Speaker 1: the shuttle, the mechanism that held the second thread and 213 00:17:16,130 --> 00:17:18,650 Speaker 1: joined it to the first thread as the needle poked 214 00:17:18,650 --> 00:17:21,970 Speaker 1: it through. And what if you added a foot pedal 215 00:17:22,010 --> 00:17:25,250 Speaker 1: to work the mechanism, then you'd free up the hands 216 00:17:25,370 --> 00:17:29,050 Speaker 1: to move the cloth around. Singer came up with a 217 00:17:29,090 --> 00:17:32,850 Speaker 1: plan for an improved sewing machine, but he was too 218 00:17:32,890 --> 00:17:37,130 Speaker 1: broke to make it. He took on three partners, mister Zebra, 219 00:17:37,530 --> 00:17:41,770 Speaker 1: mister Ransom, and mister Phelps, who together provided the money 220 00:17:41,930 --> 00:17:45,610 Speaker 1: and the workers for Singer to construct a prototype, patent 221 00:17:45,650 --> 00:17:49,370 Speaker 1: the ideas that were original, and start to produce machines 222 00:17:49,410 --> 00:17:56,810 Speaker 1: to sell. The machines worked brilliantly for years. Inventor after 223 00:17:56,970 --> 00:18:01,330 Speaker 1: inventor had tried to mechanize sewing, but nobody had really 224 00:18:01,410 --> 00:18:07,850 Speaker 1: cracked it until Singer. Now that the business looked promising, 225 00:18:08,370 --> 00:18:14,370 Speaker 1: Singer wanted it all to himself. First, he targeted mister Phelps. 226 00:18:14,810 --> 00:18:19,210 Speaker 1: He took every opportunity to quarrel with Phelps. Zebra later 227 00:18:19,290 --> 00:18:22,650 Speaker 1: recalled and behaved to him in the most brutal and 228 00:18:22,730 --> 00:18:27,450 Speaker 1: insulting manner. Phelps agreed to sell Singer his interest in 229 00:18:27,490 --> 00:18:35,250 Speaker 1: the business. Then Singer targeted mister Ransom, he is perfectly insufferable. 230 00:18:35,650 --> 00:18:38,970 Speaker 1: Ransom complained that Singer will be the death of me. 231 00:18:40,050 --> 00:18:44,530 Speaker 1: Zebra recalled that Ransom often used to sob like a child. 232 00:18:45,570 --> 00:18:50,770 Speaker 1: Ransom agreed to sell up too. Now Singer had only 233 00:18:50,930 --> 00:18:56,250 Speaker 1: Zebra to sideline. That was more awkward. Singer and Zebra 234 00:18:56,370 --> 00:19:00,170 Speaker 1: were supposed to be friends. It was Zebra who'd funded 235 00:19:00,250 --> 00:19:05,490 Speaker 1: Singer to develop his wooden type machine. One day, Zebra 236 00:19:05,650 --> 00:19:11,250 Speaker 1: fell ill, Singer went to visit. I've talked to your doctor, 237 00:19:11,890 --> 00:19:17,050 Speaker 1: said Singer, sadly, you're not going to recover. Wouldn't you 238 00:19:17,090 --> 00:19:19,690 Speaker 1: like to sell me your share of the business now, 239 00:19:20,010 --> 00:19:22,290 Speaker 1: so at least you can settle all your debts before 240 00:19:22,290 --> 00:19:28,210 Speaker 1: you die. Zebra later recalled, I was very much startled 241 00:19:28,210 --> 00:19:30,170 Speaker 1: at what he told me, and not in a fit 242 00:19:30,250 --> 00:19:33,250 Speaker 1: state of mind. I did not then suspect that it 243 00:19:33,290 --> 00:19:38,010 Speaker 1: was a trick. Zebra sat up in his sick bed 244 00:19:38,210 --> 00:19:41,650 Speaker 1: to sign a document selling Singer his share of the 245 00:19:41,690 --> 00:19:47,810 Speaker 1: business for a knockdown price. When Zebra recovered, he asked 246 00:19:47,810 --> 00:19:50,930 Speaker 1: his doctor, why did you think my illness was terminal? 247 00:19:51,730 --> 00:19:54,490 Speaker 1: What on earth are you talking about? Asked the doctor. 248 00:19:55,010 --> 00:20:00,450 Speaker 1: I never said any such thing to anyone. Singer tried 249 00:20:00,530 --> 00:20:04,970 Speaker 1: his usual bullying tactics when Elias Howe knocked on Singer's 250 00:20:04,970 --> 00:20:09,970 Speaker 1: door and said, you're infringing my patent, and Singer threatened 251 00:20:09,970 --> 00:20:13,370 Speaker 1: to kick him down the stairs. But he wasn't going 252 00:20:13,410 --> 00:20:17,290 Speaker 1: to get rid of Elias that easily. Elias owned a 253 00:20:17,370 --> 00:20:20,930 Speaker 1: patent on the idea of using an eye pointed needle 254 00:20:21,290 --> 00:20:24,370 Speaker 1: and a shuttle with a second thread to create a lockstitch. 255 00:20:25,330 --> 00:20:29,650 Speaker 1: Singer's machine was using that idea, along with several other ideas. 256 00:20:30,890 --> 00:20:33,930 Speaker 1: Elias had no money to enforce his patent, but he 257 00:20:34,010 --> 00:20:37,570 Speaker 1: found an investor who was willing to bankroll his lawsuits. 258 00:20:38,930 --> 00:20:44,170 Speaker 1: Thus began the sewing machine War. It wasn't a war 259 00:20:44,370 --> 00:20:49,330 Speaker 1: only between Elias Howe and Isaac Singer. No, it was 260 00:20:49,770 --> 00:20:54,090 Speaker 1: much more complicated than that. Singer wasn't the only person 261 00:20:54,130 --> 00:20:58,170 Speaker 1: selling sewing machines, as Elias Howe had discovered when he 262 00:20:58,210 --> 00:21:02,210 Speaker 1: returned from England to see posters everywhere. There was Grover 263 00:21:02,330 --> 00:21:07,410 Speaker 1: and Baker, Wheeler and Wilson, Lero and Blodgett, among others. 264 00:21:08,330 --> 00:21:11,130 Speaker 1: All these people had been busily trying to invent a 265 00:21:11,170 --> 00:21:15,130 Speaker 1: better sewing machine when Elias was away. It was one 266 00:21:15,130 --> 00:21:18,130 Speaker 1: of Lero and Blodgett's machines that Singer had seen in 267 00:21:18,210 --> 00:21:22,050 Speaker 1: the Boston workshop while trying to sell his wooden type invention. 268 00:21:23,010 --> 00:21:26,330 Speaker 1: Nor was Elias Howe the only person with a patent. 269 00:21:27,090 --> 00:21:30,330 Speaker 1: Isaac Singer, of course, had patented the new ideas he 270 00:21:30,370 --> 00:21:34,530 Speaker 1: had added to Liro and Blodgett's machine. Lerow and Blodgett 271 00:21:34,570 --> 00:21:37,690 Speaker 1: had patents of their own, so did Grover and Baker, 272 00:21:38,130 --> 00:21:42,730 Speaker 1: and Wheeler and Wilson. Until now, none of these patents 273 00:21:42,730 --> 00:21:45,610 Speaker 1: had really mattered much because none of the machines had 274 00:21:45,650 --> 00:21:51,050 Speaker 1: been commercially viable. But Isaac Singer's improvements were the final 275 00:21:51,210 --> 00:21:54,890 Speaker 1: piece of the puzzle. Now it was possible to make 276 00:21:54,930 --> 00:21:58,050 Speaker 1: a machine that was versatile and reliable enough to be 277 00:21:58,130 --> 00:22:03,210 Speaker 1: worth investing in. The fortune wants envisaged by Elias Howe's 278 00:22:03,250 --> 00:22:09,810 Speaker 1: old boss finally loomed on the horizon. There was only 279 00:22:09,890 --> 00:22:13,970 Speaker 1: one problem. To make a sewing machine that worked, you 280 00:22:14,050 --> 00:22:17,370 Speaker 1: had to use ideas that had been patented by multiple 281 00:22:17,370 --> 00:22:24,170 Speaker 1: different people. This problem is now known as a patent thicket. 282 00:22:24,970 --> 00:22:30,050 Speaker 1: Back then, the situation had never arisen before Elias Howe, 283 00:22:30,290 --> 00:22:34,730 Speaker 1: Isaac Singer and the various other sewing machine manufacturers and 284 00:22:34,810 --> 00:22:39,770 Speaker 1: patent holders set about sewing and countersuing each other. That 285 00:22:39,810 --> 00:22:43,610 Speaker 1: didn't leave anyone much time to make sewing machines, and 286 00:22:43,690 --> 00:22:46,810 Speaker 1: when they did, it was hard to sell them because 287 00:22:46,850 --> 00:22:51,770 Speaker 1: potential customers were also afraid of being sued. Elias Howe 288 00:22:51,810 --> 00:22:56,290 Speaker 1: took out threatening adverts in the newspapers. You that want 289 00:22:56,410 --> 00:23:00,930 Speaker 1: sewing machines, be cautious how you purchased them, else the 290 00:23:01,050 --> 00:23:06,250 Speaker 1: law will compel you to pay twice over. Singer took 291 00:23:06,290 --> 00:23:10,810 Speaker 1: out adverts of his own. Elias has been threatening suits 292 00:23:10,850 --> 00:23:14,530 Speaker 1: and injunctions against all the world. The public do not 293 00:23:14,810 --> 00:23:18,690 Speaker 1: acknowledge mister Howe's pretensions, and for the best of reasons, 294 00:23:19,330 --> 00:23:24,050 Speaker 1: machines made according to Howe's patent are of no practical use. 295 00:23:26,170 --> 00:23:31,130 Speaker 1: It was a mess. Dozens of lawsuits were filed in 296 00:23:31,250 --> 00:23:35,810 Speaker 1: courts across the land, filing cabinets filled up with thousands 297 00:23:35,890 --> 00:23:41,290 Speaker 1: upon thousands of pages of testimony. Isaac Singer had ruthlessly 298 00:23:41,370 --> 00:23:46,170 Speaker 1: disposed of all his old business partners, but now he 299 00:23:46,250 --> 00:23:49,650 Speaker 1: was compelled to take on a new one. He couldn't 300 00:23:49,650 --> 00:23:52,850 Speaker 1: afford to fight all these legal battles. He found a 301 00:23:52,930 --> 00:23:57,090 Speaker 1: lawyer who'd fight them for him in return for half 302 00:23:57,170 --> 00:24:04,010 Speaker 1: the business. Edward Cabot Clark was from an old, respectable family. 303 00:24:04,570 --> 00:24:07,770 Speaker 1: His father in law was the state attorney general. He 304 00:24:07,930 --> 00:24:12,450 Speaker 1: was prim and he taught Sunday school. He saw the 305 00:24:12,490 --> 00:24:21,730 Speaker 1: opportunity in Singer's business, but Singer himself. Singer was brash, uncouth, obnoxious. 306 00:24:22,770 --> 00:24:37,330 Speaker 1: Clark couldn't stand him. Cautionary tales will return. The tragedy 307 00:24:37,490 --> 00:24:41,170 Speaker 1: of the commons is a well known problem. When people 308 00:24:41,250 --> 00:24:44,170 Speaker 1: can't work together to limit the use of a resource, 309 00:24:44,530 --> 00:24:49,410 Speaker 1: the resource gets over exploited. But there's also a tragedy 310 00:24:49,570 --> 00:24:53,410 Speaker 1: of the anti commons. A phrase coined by the law 311 00:24:53,450 --> 00:24:58,570 Speaker 1: professor Michael Heller, a resource can be under exploited when 312 00:24:58,610 --> 00:25:01,850 Speaker 1: too many people have the power to stop something happening. 313 00:25:02,610 --> 00:25:05,970 Speaker 1: One example is trying to develop a tract of land 314 00:25:06,050 --> 00:25:12,730 Speaker 1: with many owners. Thicket is another tragedy of the anti commons. 315 00:25:13,330 --> 00:25:16,730 Speaker 1: The sewing machine was a potentially valuable resource that was 316 00:25:16,770 --> 00:25:20,690 Speaker 1: being under exploited because anyone who wanted to make and 317 00:25:20,930 --> 00:25:26,130 Speaker 1: sell sewing machines had to wrangle with multiple patent holders. 318 00:25:27,490 --> 00:25:30,330 Speaker 1: The story of the sewing machine tells us something about 319 00:25:30,450 --> 00:25:34,490 Speaker 1: how good ideas come about It shows that the patent 320 00:25:34,570 --> 00:25:38,530 Speaker 1: system can work well. Elias Howe took an interest in 321 00:25:38,650 --> 00:25:42,770 Speaker 1: sewing only because he wanted a fortune, but it lays 322 00:25:42,810 --> 00:25:46,810 Speaker 1: bare the drawbacks of that system too. How had a 323 00:25:46,850 --> 00:25:49,730 Speaker 1: good idea, but he failed to make a useful machine, 324 00:25:50,370 --> 00:25:54,530 Speaker 1: and when others succeeded, he sued them. You can see 325 00:25:54,530 --> 00:25:57,050 Speaker 1: why there was a debate about how much of their 326 00:25:57,090 --> 00:26:02,650 Speaker 1: profits he deserved. The sewing machine war dragged on for years, 327 00:26:04,050 --> 00:26:06,570 Speaker 1: but it doesn't always take the promise of a patent 328 00:26:06,770 --> 00:26:11,890 Speaker 1: to incentivize a good idea. In eighteen fifty six, a 329 00:26:12,010 --> 00:26:16,050 Speaker 1: lawyer had a brain wave. The president of one of 330 00:26:16,050 --> 00:26:19,450 Speaker 1: the companies, Grover and Baker, called a meeting of all 331 00:26:19,450 --> 00:26:22,650 Speaker 1: the patent holders who were suing and countersuing each other. 332 00:26:23,570 --> 00:26:26,890 Speaker 1: In this room, he pointed out, are the owners of 333 00:26:27,130 --> 00:26:32,210 Speaker 1: all the patents needed to produce a well functioning sewing machine. 334 00:26:32,370 --> 00:26:37,210 Speaker 1: Why don't we join forces and pool our patents together. 335 00:26:37,290 --> 00:26:41,090 Speaker 1: We can issue licenses to each other and other manufacturers. 336 00:26:41,730 --> 00:26:45,010 Speaker 1: Everyone pays a fee for each machine they make, and 337 00:26:45,050 --> 00:26:48,810 Speaker 1: will split the fee between us. It's a simple idea, 338 00:26:49,210 --> 00:26:53,690 Speaker 1: obvious in hindsight. The patent pool is now widely used 339 00:26:53,730 --> 00:26:58,250 Speaker 1: in the development of complex technologies. The sewing machine patent 340 00:26:58,290 --> 00:27:02,130 Speaker 1: holders haggled over how to split the fee, but soon 341 00:27:02,250 --> 00:27:05,450 Speaker 1: reached agreement. All could see how much they stood to 342 00:27:05,530 --> 00:27:12,490 Speaker 1: gain from Grover and Baker's brainwave. Once they'd cut through 343 00:27:12,530 --> 00:27:17,370 Speaker 1: the patent thicket, everyone was free to compete using anyone's 344 00:27:17,410 --> 00:27:23,370 Speaker 1: best ideas. Production took off. But when you think of 345 00:27:23,450 --> 00:27:27,490 Speaker 1: sewing machines today, it's not the names of Grover and 346 00:27:27,610 --> 00:27:31,410 Speaker 1: Baker that come to mind, or Lero and Blodgett, or 347 00:27:31,410 --> 00:27:36,170 Speaker 1: Wheeler and Wilson, or Elias Howe. When you think of 348 00:27:36,210 --> 00:27:41,370 Speaker 1: sewing machines, you think of Singer. The sewing machine war 349 00:27:41,810 --> 00:27:49,050 Speaker 1: was over. How did Singer win the piece? In the 350 00:27:49,210 --> 00:27:54,650 Speaker 1: eighteen fifties, misogyny was rife, the kind of attitude Isaac 351 00:27:54,770 --> 00:27:58,530 Speaker 1: Singer had personified with his quip on first seeing a 352 00:27:58,570 --> 00:28:01,690 Speaker 1: sewing machine, you want to do away with the only 353 00:28:01,810 --> 00:28:05,610 Speaker 1: thing that keeps women quiet. The magazines of the time 354 00:28:06,090 --> 00:28:10,650 Speaker 1: show how women were generally viewed. One ran a cartoon 355 00:28:10,970 --> 00:28:14,410 Speaker 1: in which a man decides to get himself a sewing machine. 356 00:28:15,090 --> 00:28:20,610 Speaker 1: The cartoon shows him getting married hilarious. Another cartoon featured 357 00:28:20,610 --> 00:28:24,250 Speaker 1: a sewing machine salesman saying the machine would free up 358 00:28:24,370 --> 00:28:31,010 Speaker 1: time for women to improve their intellects. Women intellects, how 359 00:28:31,130 --> 00:28:37,770 Speaker 1: very amusing. These attitudes posed a problem because they led 360 00:28:37,810 --> 00:28:41,970 Speaker 1: to widespread skepticism about whether women even had the brain 361 00:28:42,050 --> 00:28:46,610 Speaker 1: power to operate a sewing machine. Singer's business depended on 362 00:28:46,770 --> 00:28:50,690 Speaker 1: proving that they did. He toured the country, taking a 363 00:28:50,730 --> 00:28:54,570 Speaker 1: sewing machine and a young woman to fairs and carnivals. 364 00:28:55,730 --> 00:28:59,810 Speaker 1: As the woman showed the crowds that yes, a woman 365 00:28:59,970 --> 00:29:05,450 Speaker 1: can use a machine, Singer charmed and flirted and theatrically 366 00:29:05,530 --> 00:29:10,450 Speaker 1: recited the song of the Shirt with Ringer's weary and worn, 367 00:29:11,090 --> 00:29:15,970 Speaker 1: with eyelids heavy and red. Singer loved to be the 368 00:29:15,970 --> 00:29:21,090 Speaker 1: center of attention. He had found his new stage. But 369 00:29:21,330 --> 00:29:26,170 Speaker 1: that's not the main reason Singer's machines out competed the others, 370 00:29:27,090 --> 00:29:30,570 Speaker 1: and no, that was down to Singer's business partner, the 371 00:29:30,610 --> 00:29:37,890 Speaker 1: respectable straight laced Sunday school teacher Edward Cabot Clark. Singer 372 00:29:37,930 --> 00:29:41,090 Speaker 1: had given Clark an equal share in the company because 373 00:29:41,490 --> 00:29:45,090 Speaker 1: he needed a lawyer, but Clark turned out to be 374 00:29:45,210 --> 00:29:50,250 Speaker 1: brilliant at business. Clark saw that families were afraid to 375 00:29:50,370 --> 00:29:53,530 Speaker 1: stamp up the money for a sewing machine. The price 376 00:29:53,570 --> 00:29:57,690 Speaker 1: had come down since Elias Howe's first effort, but they 377 00:29:57,770 --> 00:30:02,570 Speaker 1: still cost several months worth of household income, and all 378 00:30:02,650 --> 00:30:06,930 Speaker 1: those early models which hadn't really worked, had left the 379 00:30:06,970 --> 00:30:12,010 Speaker 1: invention with a bad name. Clark said, rent a machine 380 00:30:12,050 --> 00:30:14,570 Speaker 1: from us. If you don't like it, give it back, 381 00:30:14,970 --> 00:30:17,370 Speaker 1: and if you keep it long enough that your rental 382 00:30:17,410 --> 00:30:20,890 Speaker 1: payments add up to the sale price, you'll own it. 383 00:30:21,850 --> 00:30:26,970 Speaker 1: Clark pioneered the idea of higher purchase or rent to own, 384 00:30:27,850 --> 00:30:31,450 Speaker 1: like the patent pool. The idea was good enough to last. 385 00:30:33,250 --> 00:30:38,370 Speaker 1: Clark's new payment model changed discussions in households. Instead of 386 00:30:38,410 --> 00:30:42,530 Speaker 1: a big upfront purchase that her husband would have to approve, 387 00:30:43,290 --> 00:30:46,530 Speaker 1: a wife might afford a sewing machine from her allowance. 388 00:30:47,450 --> 00:30:49,850 Speaker 1: She and her daughters might even use it to do 389 00:30:49,970 --> 00:30:54,730 Speaker 1: sewing for others and earn money of their own. The 390 00:30:54,850 --> 00:30:59,210 Speaker 1: Singer Company's adverts put more and more emphasis on women's 391 00:30:59,210 --> 00:31:05,250 Speaker 1: liberation and economic independence, so directly to the women of 392 00:31:05,250 --> 00:31:09,730 Speaker 1: the family, a good female operator could earn a dollars 393 00:31:09,770 --> 00:31:15,730 Speaker 1: a year. Women used the sewing machine to empower themselves politically, too. 394 00:31:16,450 --> 00:31:21,730 Speaker 1: Suffragettes made their case for votes for women with homesown flags, banners, 395 00:31:21,730 --> 00:31:27,050 Speaker 1: and sashes not many inventions have done more good in 396 00:31:27,090 --> 00:31:32,050 Speaker 1: the world. I said earlier that the story of the 397 00:31:32,130 --> 00:31:35,770 Speaker 1: sewing machine tells us something about how good ideas come about, 398 00:31:36,690 --> 00:31:40,890 Speaker 1: and one thing it tells us is surprising. We might 399 00:31:41,010 --> 00:31:47,010 Speaker 1: expect socially useful inventions to come from socially well intentioned people, 400 00:31:47,850 --> 00:31:51,290 Speaker 1: but we'd be wrong. Isaac Singer did more than most 401 00:31:51,330 --> 00:31:56,570 Speaker 1: men to liberate nineteenth century women, and Isaac Singer was 402 00:31:56,610 --> 00:32:07,530 Speaker 1: a bullying, womanizing, wife beating misogynist. As Singer machines out 403 00:32:07,570 --> 00:32:13,250 Speaker 1: competed their rivals, both Isaac Singer and Edward Clark got 404 00:32:13,410 --> 00:32:18,770 Speaker 1: richer and richer. Singer used his wealth to show off. 405 00:32:19,330 --> 00:32:24,330 Speaker 1: He commissioned a huge, garish canary yellow carriage and rode 406 00:32:24,330 --> 00:32:28,450 Speaker 1: around New York with his supposed wife Mary and their 407 00:32:28,530 --> 00:32:33,250 Speaker 1: eight children. He bought a lavish new home and sent 408 00:32:33,290 --> 00:32:37,970 Speaker 1: an invite to his supposed old friend, mister Zebra, the 409 00:32:38,010 --> 00:32:41,890 Speaker 1: former partner he'd cheated on his sick bed. I was 410 00:32:41,970 --> 00:32:45,930 Speaker 1: treated with great kindness by Missus Singer and the family 411 00:32:46,810 --> 00:32:51,770 Speaker 1: Zebra recalled, but the sight of his rich furniture, whilst 412 00:32:51,850 --> 00:32:55,610 Speaker 1: I was now very poor, did not afford me much 413 00:32:55,650 --> 00:33:04,250 Speaker 1: pleasure under the circumstances. Clark, meanwhile, became more and more 414 00:33:04,290 --> 00:33:09,370 Speaker 1: afraid that his crass, philandering partner would do so something 415 00:33:09,450 --> 00:33:13,850 Speaker 1: to cause a public scandal. Clark's wife wanted nothing to 416 00:33:13,890 --> 00:33:18,370 Speaker 1: do with the nasty brute. Perhaps it was Clark who 417 00:33:18,490 --> 00:33:22,250 Speaker 1: talked Singer into finally divorcing his wife in the hope 418 00:33:22,250 --> 00:33:26,530 Speaker 1: that he then regularized his affairs by actually marrying the 419 00:33:26,570 --> 00:33:31,530 Speaker 1: woman everyone knew as Missus Singer. If so, as we've heard, 420 00:33:32,250 --> 00:33:41,770 Speaker 1: it didn't go to plan. When Mary's Singer regained consciousness 421 00:33:42,210 --> 00:33:46,450 Speaker 1: covered in blood, she called the police. She had never 422 00:33:46,490 --> 00:33:49,770 Speaker 1: done that before when Singer beat her, but she must 423 00:33:49,770 --> 00:33:52,570 Speaker 1: now have felt that she had nothing left to lose. 424 00:33:53,610 --> 00:33:57,930 Speaker 1: The police arrested Singer and put him under bonds to 425 00:33:58,090 --> 00:34:02,650 Speaker 1: keep the peace for six months. Then Mary decided to 426 00:34:02,810 --> 00:34:07,050 Speaker 1: sue Singer for divorce, even though they weren't technically married. 427 00:34:07,850 --> 00:34:12,930 Speaker 1: All of Singer's dirty laundry was publicly aired. The secret Wife, 428 00:34:13,490 --> 00:34:18,890 Speaker 1: the other Mary, the other other Mary, the many more affairs, 429 00:34:19,490 --> 00:34:25,250 Speaker 1: the history of domestic abuse. Singer escaped the scandal by 430 00:34:25,290 --> 00:34:30,490 Speaker 1: traveling to Europe with the first other Mary's nineteen year 431 00:34:30,530 --> 00:34:37,690 Speaker 1: old sister, Edward. Clark was mortified. All this he wrote 432 00:34:37,690 --> 00:34:41,810 Speaker 1: to Singer is exceedingly annoying to me as well as 433 00:34:41,890 --> 00:34:46,890 Speaker 1: disastrous to our business. Singer agreed to step back from 434 00:34:46,930 --> 00:34:51,530 Speaker 1: the business and become a passive shareholder. He acquired a 435 00:34:51,610 --> 00:34:56,810 Speaker 1: new wife, not called Mary, a French American model thirty 436 00:34:56,930 --> 00:35:01,130 Speaker 1: years his junior. She wanted to enjoy a social life, 437 00:35:01,530 --> 00:35:06,490 Speaker 1: but in New York she found Singer was ostracized. They 438 00:35:06,530 --> 00:35:12,970 Speaker 1: moved to Paris, then London, and finally Payton, a seaside 439 00:35:13,050 --> 00:35:18,970 Speaker 1: resort in the southwest of England. In Peyton, Singer built 440 00:35:19,050 --> 00:35:23,370 Speaker 1: a mansion with its own private theater. No doubt he 441 00:35:23,610 --> 00:35:27,290 Speaker 1: liked to relive the glories of his youth, delivering all 442 00:35:27,370 --> 00:35:32,410 Speaker 1: those iconic lines from Richard iid like in the opening 443 00:35:32,490 --> 00:35:37,330 Speaker 1: monologue when Richard clues the audience in about his character, 444 00:35:39,410 --> 00:35:46,210 Speaker 1: I am determined to prove a villain. Singer always said 445 00:35:46,690 --> 00:35:53,850 Speaker 1: he was one of the best Richards of his day. 446 00:35:59,210 --> 00:36:02,890 Speaker 1: This script relied on Ruth Brandon's book Singer and the 447 00:36:02,930 --> 00:36:07,570 Speaker 1: Sewing Machine and Adam Mossov's paper The Rise and Fall 448 00:36:07,850 --> 00:36:11,610 Speaker 1: of the First Amica Patent Thicket. For a full list 449 00:36:11,610 --> 00:36:25,090 Speaker 1: of our sources, see the show notes at Timharford dot com. 450 00:36:25,450 --> 00:36:29,010 Speaker 1: Cautionary Tales as written by me Tim Harford with Andrew Wright, 451 00:36:29,210 --> 00:36:33,170 Speaker 1: Alice Fines and Ryan Billy. It's produced by Georgia Mills 452 00:36:33,330 --> 00:36:37,090 Speaker 1: and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original music are 453 00:36:37,130 --> 00:36:40,690 Speaker 1: the work of Pascal Wise. Additional sound design is by 454 00:36:40,730 --> 00:36:45,490 Speaker 1: Carlos san Juan at Brain Audio. Bend ad Afhaffrey edited 455 00:36:45,530 --> 00:36:49,890 Speaker 1: the scripts. The show features the voice talents of Melanie Guttridge, 456 00:36:49,970 --> 00:36:54,690 Speaker 1: Stella Harford, Oliver Hembrough, Sarah Jupp, messaam n Roe, Jamal 457 00:36:54,770 --> 00:36:58,490 Speaker 1: Westman and Rufus Wright. The show also wouldn't have been 458 00:36:58,530 --> 00:37:02,730 Speaker 1: possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohne, Sarah Nix, 459 00:37:03,050 --> 00:37:08,010 Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller. 460 00:37:09,210 --> 00:37:13,130 Speaker 1: Autionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded 461 00:37:13,210 --> 00:37:17,410 Speaker 1: at Wardoor Studios in London by Tom Berry. If you 462 00:37:17,570 --> 00:37:20,850 Speaker 1: like the show, please remember to share, rate and review. 463 00:37:20,930 --> 00:37:22,650 Speaker 1: It really makes a difference to us and if you 464 00:37:22,690 --> 00:37:25,370 Speaker 1: want to hear the show, add free sign up to 465 00:37:25,410 --> 00:37:28,730 Speaker 1: Pushkin Plus on the show page on Apple Podcasts or 466 00:37:28,730 --> 00:37:33,770 Speaker 1: at pushkin dot Fm, Slash plus