1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,520 Speaker 1: Okay, we're getting close to Mother's Day and about a 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: month later Father's Day. We love celebrating the people who 3 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,719 Speaker 1: gave us life and raised us with love and probably 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: way more patience than we even realized or maybe even deserved. 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: But how about having a famous parent who pays little 6 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: attention to you, and when they do, constantly tears you apart, 7 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: trying to shame you or hurt you. Why because you 8 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: just can't please them? I'm Patty Steele. Thomas Edison. When 9 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: being famous isn't enough? Next on the backstory. The backstory 10 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: is back. We've all grown up thinking that parents, if 11 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: they have enough success, money and acclaim, will pass the 12 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: gifts of that success onto their kids. But way too 13 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: often we know that doesn't happen. Money and attention just 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: don't give you inner peace, nor do they give you 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: the ability to pass that sense of peace onto your kids. 16 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: Take Thomas Edison, brilliant marketing guy and inventor, but most 17 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: of all, he was a genius businessman who knew how 18 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: to get what he needed out of people, and that 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: included his kids, or so he thought. Edison's parenting definitely 20 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: left something to be desired. His famously long work days 21 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,839 Speaker 1: meant he wasn't home much. The mother of his first 22 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: three kids died when his oldest was twelve. When she 23 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: was fourteen, Thomas married twenty year old Mina and had 24 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: three more children with her, so the six kids altogether 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: were left with his very young wife while he basically 26 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: lived in his lab or at his mining operations. When 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: his oldest daughter, Marian, had issues with Mina, who she 28 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,639 Speaker 1: felt was trying to replace her mother, and even Marian 29 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: herself with her dad, Thomas blamed Marian, and when he 30 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: was at home he was crazy demanding. He gave them 31 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: a beautiful home, expensive private schools, lots of stuff, but 32 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,559 Speaker 1: no attention. According to his youngest daughter, Madeline, she said, 33 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: when I was six or seven, I wasn't really aware 34 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: I had a father. He was just this occasional presence, 35 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: mostly on a few saturdays. He was working constantly out 36 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: of town and tried to talk Mina into coming with 37 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: him and leaving the children with household staff and their grandmother. 38 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: He told her, you can speak with the children by 39 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: phone twice a day, it's just like being there. Imagine 40 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,920 Speaker 1: that lack of understanding of his children, much less of 41 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: his young wife. The children later spoke of his lack 42 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: of attention except when it came to his unrealistic expectations 43 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: for them. Madeline said that when he was home, he 44 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: would often, without any warning, quiz them at the breakfast 45 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: table about everything from curt events to obscure pieces of history. 46 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,079 Speaker 1: It was part of their daily quota of encyclopedia reading 47 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: and other intellectual tasks he set for them. And by 48 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: the way, if you worked for Edison, he also had 49 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: to pass a one hundred and forty six quest and 50 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: quiz about the same kind of stuff, because he felt 51 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: if you could answer those questions, it showed you were 52 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: intelligent enough to work for him. Funny thing is, when 53 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,239 Speaker 1: that quiz got published in the press, Albert Einstein took 54 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: it and failed. Anyway, Madeline said that if the children 55 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: answered too slowly or incorrectly, their father would take a 56 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: hot spoon from the stove and press it into the 57 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: back of their hand. I'm guessing he didn't do that 58 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: with prospective employees, hopefully so. As the kids got older, 59 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: particularly the children from Thomas's first marriage, they went through 60 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: some tough times as teens and young adults. His oldest Marian, 61 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: felt neglected by her dad. She was having a rough 62 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: time in boarding school, and Edison decided she should leave 63 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: school and go on a tour of Europe with Mina's 64 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: younger sisters to get a taste of the world, probably 65 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: just to get him out of her hair. But from 66 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: the moment she met up with the three sisters, it 67 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: was clear Marian was completely dis interested in bonding with them. 68 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: She was sixteen years old, and they said she was 69 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: already entertaining boys in her hotel room and disappearing into 70 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: whatever city they were visiting. She had no parental guidance. 71 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: At one point she developed smallpox, a really serious illness. 72 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: Particularly then she said that during the seven weeks of 73 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: the illness, she got only two letters from her dad, 74 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: which hurt her deeply. Besides all of these issues, growing 75 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 1: up in Edison's shadow put pressure on the kids to 76 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: equal their father's accomplishments, and that's where things went really 77 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 1: bad for Edison's oldest son, Thomas Edison Junior. When Junior 78 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 1: dropped out of prep school at seventeen, his father said, 79 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: you only want fame, not accomplishment. So as a young adult, 80 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: Tom Junior tried to capitalize on his and his father's 81 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: name in a number of business ventures which went on 82 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: to be failures. There was the Edison Junior lamp, which 83 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: was supposed to generate electricity from ocean way eves, and 84 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: another company that tried to make iron out of steel. 85 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: On top of that, he sold the use of his 86 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: name to companies he wasn't even involved with, like one 87 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: selling a medical device called the Magnoelectric vitalizer. Edison Senior 88 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: was disgusted and actually used his power to get the 89 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: Post Office to refuse to deliver the devices to people 90 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: who'd bought them, effectively putting them out of business. Tomas 91 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: Senior constantly told his son how disappointed he was in him, 92 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: describing him publicly as absolutely illiterate, scientifically and otherwise. Imagine 93 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: that from your own dad. His father had never encouraged him, 94 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: and in fairness, Thomas Junior didn't really give him much 95 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: reason to try. Tom Senior told Life magazine that watching 96 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: his son use his name was causing him terrible grief. 97 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 1: He said, I'm thinking of a scheme to prevent persons 98 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: from using the name I have striven honorably to protect. Eventually, 99 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: fed up with tommss Junior's attempts, to make a name 100 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: for himself, Edison Senior offered to pay Junior thirty five 101 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: dollars a week if he would simply change his name. Well, 102 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: guess what, Junior agreed, and he started calling himself Thomas Willard. Eventually, 103 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,920 Speaker 1: his dad raised the name change salary to fifty bucks 104 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: a week. Dad then set him up on a mushroom farm, 105 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: hoping he'd become self sufficient, but that was another failure, 106 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: and instead Thomas Junior wound up in a mental institution 107 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: for a period of time. Now, when Thomas Edison Senior 108 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: died in nineteen thirty one, he left Junior a seat 109 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: on his company's board of directors. While it gave him 110 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 1: some financial security, it did nothing for his mental and 111 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: emotional state, and Thomas Junior died in nineteen thirty five, 112 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 1: just four years after his father, allegedly due to his 113 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: substance abuse issues. Another son, William, studied science at Yale. 114 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: He had several businesses, including a car repair shop where 115 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: he invented new designs for spark plugs. But William also 116 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:05,919 Speaker 1: didn't get along with his dad, who he later said 117 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: constantly shamed him painfully, so William finally became a chicken 118 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: farmer in New Jersey, but Edison did have some successful sons. 119 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty seven, Charles was made president of Thomas 120 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: Edison Incorporated. He ran it until nineteen fifty nine. He 121 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: briefly served as Secretary of the Navy under FDR, and 122 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: he was governor of New Jersey from nineteen forty one 123 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: to nineteen forty four. And Edison's youngest son, Theodore, graduated 124 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: from MIT with a degree in physics. He worked as 125 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: an Edison lab assistant and later was director of Research 126 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: and Engineering. Thomas Edison obviously had uncompromising standards for himself 127 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: and his workers. Was his personality type to blame for 128 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: his lack of support and understanding for his children. Edison 129 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: was famous for his quotes about business and hard work, 130 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: but maybe he should have applied this quote of his 131 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: own to his thoughts about his children. Just because something 132 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: doesn't do what you planned doesn't mean it's useless. Hope 133 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: you're enjoying the backstory with me Patty Steele, and please 134 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: subscribe if you would. And if you have a story 135 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: you'd like me to dig into and share, feel free 136 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: to dm me on Facebook at Patty Steele or on 137 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: Instagram at Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories 138 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, 139 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 140 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 141 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 142 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 143 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 144 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history no you 145 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 1: needed to know