1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy he Wilson. So, when writing about 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: Clarence Birdseye, who is our topic today? For his full 5 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: length biography on him, author Mark Kurlanski wrote, quote, Birdseye 6 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: wrote numerous articles about himself and his ideas, but the 7 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: subject himself is not always an infallible source either, especially 8 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: a man like Bird's Eye, who had an image of 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: himself that he wanted to promote, a very American image 10 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: of a lot of audacity, not much intellect, and a 11 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: pioneer spirit. The first and last of these were largely true, 12 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: the second manifestly not. But regardless of whether he fudged 13 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: some details in his life story to make it more appealing, 14 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: Clarence birds who eventually went by Bob, and we'll mention 15 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,199 Speaker 1: that in the episode, really changed the way that people 16 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: thought about and prepared food in the twentieth century. There are, 17 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: for the sake of clarity, up top to Clarence Bird's Eyes. 18 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: In this episode, father and Son, we will refer to 19 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: the main focus just as Clarence birds Eye or sometimes 20 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: Bob Bird's Eye and his father we will refer to 21 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: as Clarence Senior. Also, we have to give you a 22 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: little heads up here because Bird's Eye was a very 23 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: interesting and eccentric man, and he's often touted as a 24 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 1: naturalist and worked as one, but maybe not the image 25 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: you have in your head when you hear that word today. 26 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: He was part of that era where being a naturalist 27 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: often included killing animals. We're not lingering on any of that, 28 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: but he did a lot of things that would be 29 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: seen as deeply problematic by today's standards, particularly regarding animal cruelty. 30 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: So just know that going in to this episode, Sorry, 31 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: I was dwelling on the idea that an American image 32 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: includes audacity and pioneer spirit, but not intellect. I know. 33 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: Clarence Birdseye was born on December ninth, eighteen eighty six, 34 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, New York. His father was Clarence Frank Birdseye, 35 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: who was a very successful lawyer and wrote several textbooks. 36 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: His mother was Ada Jane Underwood, who married Clarence Senior 37 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy eight when she was twenty three. Birdseye 38 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: grew up in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, and 39 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: had eight siblings, so Clarence was the sixth of the 40 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: nine total kids, and from an early age, Clarence was 41 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: deeply interested in nature. The younger Clarence Birdseye was not 42 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: an athletic boy, and instead he preferred to spend time 43 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,519 Speaker 1: by himself outside on the family farm that Clarence Senior 44 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: bought on Long Island, which they called Windycote. His mother 45 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: saw a budding naturalist in Clarence, and he seemed to agree. 46 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: But this was not a case of a sensitive child 47 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: who was one with nature. He was a boy who 48 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: liked to shoot and hunt. When he was ten, he 49 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,079 Speaker 1: trapped live muskrats and shipped them to an English estate 50 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: that was stalking their grounds with animals for hunting. He 51 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: also advertised that he offered lessons in taxi derby. At 52 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: the age of eleven, when Clarence was in high school, 53 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: the family moved to Montclair, New Jersey. One of the 54 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: interesting things he did a teenager was take a cooking class, 55 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: and that was something that was considered unusual for boys 56 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: at this time. He also started going by the name 57 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: Bob Yeah. That class was part of his high school curriculum. 58 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: It was kind of like opting into a home at 59 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: class that was other than him, all girls, which is 60 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: just an interesting choice, but sometimes that's cited as the 61 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: beginning of his fascination with food. At the age of nineteen, 62 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: Clarence enrolled at Amherst College in Massachusetts with the goal 63 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: of getting a biology degree. This is interesting as Amherst 64 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: didn't and doesn't offer science degrees, so he was still 65 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: going to get a BA even with a biology major. 66 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: And during college he rescued an infestation of rats behind 67 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: the Amherst butcher shop that were going to be exterminated. 68 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: This wasn't because he was soft about animals being killed. 69 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: He recognized them as being a rare species. It was 70 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: in danger of extinction, and he actually got Columbia University 71 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: interested in this colony of rats. He got paid to 72 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: ship the school a batch of them. In fact, he 73 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:33,919 Speaker 1: sort of always seemed to be mixing his love of 74 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: nature with his love of a good hustle. He never 75 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: got that college degree, though, he ran out of money 76 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: after his second year and he had to drop out 77 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,359 Speaker 1: and join the workforce. There's also some suggestion that he 78 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,679 Speaker 1: got hired away from his biology program by the US government, 79 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: and that is why he didn't finish. The idea of 80 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: a financial hardship in particular is interesting because Birdseye was 81 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: just He was not from a fan of humble means. 82 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: His father was a high profile New York lawyer. It 83 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: seems like the family did have a significant financial crisis, though, 84 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: and that was around the time that birds Eye dropped 85 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: out of college because he didn't have money. Apparently he 86 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: tried to get a loan to continue college, but that 87 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: loan was denied. Yeah, there are some question marks around 88 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: Clarence Senior's business dealings. We're going to talk about a 89 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: big financial crisis that comes a few years later. But 90 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: knowing that that one is coming, I was a little like, hm, 91 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: I wonder what exactly happened here. Birds Eye, though, did 92 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: get hired by the US Department of Agriculture after school, 93 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: and he was sent to the US Southwest for work 94 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: on a biological survey. He was living in Arizona in 95 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:53,160 Speaker 1: New Mexico during this time, and he also became keenly 96 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 1: aware while he was there of the value of animal firs, 97 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: and that would drive some of his moves later. He 98 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,479 Speaker 1: worked various jobs in New York after the survey was 99 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: completed and he returned to the East Coast, but he 100 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: also started a new side hustle, importing animal firs from 101 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: contacts he had made in the American Southwest and then 102 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: selling them in the city. He also worked in an 103 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,720 Speaker 1: office job for the US Department of Agriculture, but he 104 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: was really too restless to be happy working in an office. 105 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:26,840 Speaker 1: During this phase of his life, Clarence also met the 106 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: daughter of cartographer Samuel Gannett. Eleanor Gannett, was an undergrad 107 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: at George Washington University when they met. That started a 108 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: five year courtship before the couple married in August of 109 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen. But before that, the Department of Agriculture sent 110 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: Bob Bird's Eye to Montana in nineteen ten, and this 111 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: actually brushes up against our recent episode on eponymous diseases 112 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: because he was there to collect tics for the study 113 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,479 Speaker 1: of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. We mentioned already that he 114 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: loved to hunt, and this job involved a lot of 115 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: hunting because he collected the tics off of wild game 116 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: that he shot. He apparently, throughout his life touted how 117 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: lucky he was that he could hunt with no limitations 118 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: while he was there. This was a job that came 119 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: with a high degree of risk for all the reasons 120 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: we talked about in that eponymous diseases episode, but for 121 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: someone like Bird's Eye, it was also a perfect fit. 122 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: In interviews throughout his life, he downplayed his work on 123 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: that project as insignificant, and he tended to talk about 124 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: the hunting part of it, but he is recognized as 125 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: being hugely important to the study of it that enabled 126 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: treatments to be developed. Among other things, he wrote a 127 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: report with recommendations on how to control the spread of 128 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain spotted fever titled Some Common Mammals of Western 129 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: Montana in relation to Agriculture and Spotted Fever. After the study, 130 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: he stayed in Montana and he continued to trap animals 131 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: to eliminate predators for the local farmers. The sounds really 132 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: awful by modern standards, probably even standards of the time. 133 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: One of his projects was testing poisons to see which 134 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: of them was most effective. Reminds me a little bit 135 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: of when they tried to figure out how much arsenic 136 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: needed to go in the tick dip by experimentation on 137 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: the animals. Yeah, In nineteen twelve, Bird's Eye moved on 138 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: to a new assignment in Labrador, on the eastern coast 139 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: of Canada, although at the time Newfoundland and Labrador were 140 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,679 Speaker 1: not part of Canada yet. Really this assignment was an 141 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:38,199 Speaker 1: invitation proffered by Wilfred Grenfell, a British born medical missionary. 142 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: Grenfell had been working in Labrador for years by this point. 143 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: He worked to develop the availability of medical care and 144 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: other necessities to areas that were sparsely populated and depended 145 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: on fishing and trapping for food and for income. And 146 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: he needed help in this work, and this was exactly 147 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: the kind of job that Bird's Eye was drawn to, 148 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: so it was a great fit and these two men 149 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: reportedly got along really, really well. While he was there. 150 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: Birds Eye also taxadermied birds to send to Washington, d c. 151 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: For the US Biological Survey, and that soon expanded to 152 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: also preserving various insects and really anything that was requested. 153 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: The trapping in particular was interesting to birds Eye. He 154 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,599 Speaker 1: saw the potential of starting a business venture if he 155 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: could get investors from New York to buy in on it. 156 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: After researching and studying the health and habits of foxes, 157 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:34,840 Speaker 1: he was in business as a fox breeder and a 158 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: fur trader. Ultimately, new legislation in Newfouland put an end 159 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: to the fox breeding business. He did continue having them 160 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: processed for fur though. Birdseye also started writing about this 161 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: work and published some articles as a possible start to 162 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: another career, but that did not really get off the ground. 163 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: This was also a time when Birdseye was in a 164 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:02,199 Speaker 1: unique situation regarding food food. He didn't really have access 165 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,319 Speaker 1: to fresh fruits and vegetables. Those had to be imported 166 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: at very great expense. He ate a lot of canned food, 167 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,000 Speaker 1: which he actually liked, and he also learned a lot 168 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: about how to prepare the foods that were available locally, 169 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: like salmon and game in new ways. He welcomed new 170 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: culinary experiences and he was willing to try just about anything, 171 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: anything even polar bear, seal meat, and skunk. Coming up, 172 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: we will talk about Bird's Eyes returned to the US, 173 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: but first we will take a quick sponsor break. Bird's 174 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: Eye returned to the US in nineteen fifteen, and at 175 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: that point he felt like he had made enough money 176 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: through his fur business that he was ready to truly 177 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: start a life with his beloved Eleanor, so once the 178 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: pair got married, Bob and Eleanor planned to travel to 179 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,440 Speaker 1: Labrador together. This was an adjustment for Eleanor, but she 180 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 1: completely rolled with it, and she learned all the skills 181 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,840 Speaker 1: needed to survive in the wintery climate. By the time 182 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: their first winter there was over, Eleanor was pregnant and 183 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: they returned to New York. Bob actually went back to 184 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: Labrador pretty quickly after making sure that Eleanor's needs were 185 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: taken care of. The couple had made a plan. She 186 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: was going to have the baby in New York and 187 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: then she would travel to Labrador once the baby was 188 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: old enough to go on the journey. Their son, Kellogg, 189 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: was born on September sixth, and by mid October he 190 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,439 Speaker 1: and Eleanor were headed north and settled into family life 191 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: in the cold. There were a couple of different stories 192 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: about what led Bird's Eye to thinking about the way 193 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: foods freeze. One is that while he was ice fishing 194 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: with some of the indigenous people of Labrador, he noticed 195 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,439 Speaker 1: that because of the freezing temperatures, fish were freezing almost 196 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:56,199 Speaker 1: as soon as they were pulled out of the water. 197 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,679 Speaker 1: The fish would then be stored that way, and he 198 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: marked and how fresh they tasted when they were thawed 199 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: and cooked later. Another version of this is that the 200 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: people who lived there were freezing their food for the 201 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:12,560 Speaker 1: harsh winters when the fresh fruits and vegetables would be 202 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:17,720 Speaker 1: less successible. Biographer Mark Kurlansky shared in his book about 203 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:22,080 Speaker 1: Bird's Eye the naturalist's fascination with water, finding what he 204 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: called a quote state of equilibrium, by which he meant 205 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 1: that it would stabilize the point right before freezing, and 206 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: then would seem to freeze instantly when it was poured 207 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: into another vessel. The reality is that Bird's Eye was 208 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: noticing and studying all these things and performing tests on 209 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: meats that were frozen at different times of the year 210 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 1: by thinly slicing them and observing the different textures on 211 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: the interior of the frozen food. He did start thinking 212 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: about why the fish and other meat that he saw 213 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: frozen in Canada stayed delicious, which is not the case 214 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: with other frozen foods that he had experience back home. 215 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: He noticed the variables that were in place during freezing there, 216 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: the temperature, the ice, and the wind, and he ruminated 217 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: on these factors a lot, and he started performing his 218 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 1: own experiments. He started first with vegetables like cabbage, and 219 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,960 Speaker 1: then moving up to meats, and eventually he realized that 220 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: instant freezing meant that the crystals that formed in those 221 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,439 Speaker 1: foods were much smaller and they wouldn't damage the cellular 222 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: walls of the food. When the United States entered World 223 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: War One in the spring of nineteen seventeen, Bird's Eye 224 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: returned home, but there was a more personal battle bubbling 225 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: up in the Bird's Eye family. A news article from 226 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: May of nineteen seventeen that appeared in multiple newspapers ran 227 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: with the headline quote alleged cleanup of one point nine 228 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: million dollars in two days. This was about the finances 229 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 1: of the Life and Trust Company of Pittsburgh. The article read, 230 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: in part quote, the institution is believed to have been wrecked. 231 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: According to a statement issued, Clarence Birdseye of New York, 232 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,960 Speaker 1: in a period of two days, milked the company of 233 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: one point nine million dollars through a board of dummy directors. 234 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,439 Speaker 1: Warrants have been issued for the arrest of Bird's Eye 235 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: and his five alleged associates, all of New York. One 236 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: of those five associates was Birdseye Junior's brother, Kellogg. By 237 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: the end of the year, the insurance company had been 238 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: liquidated and Clarence Senior was being sued to recover the 239 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: lost money. Birdseye Senior and Kellogg Bird's Eye were eventually 240 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: sentenced to two years in prison. Yeah, just in case 241 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: it's not obvious, the Kellogg name was popular in the 242 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: birds Eye family. Both Clarence the younger, Clarence's brother and 243 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: his son were named Kellogg. Birdseye Junior was never particularly 244 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: interested in the world of finance in law, like his 245 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: father and brother, and we don't actually know what his 246 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 1: personal feelings about all these legal troubles were. We'll talk 247 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: about it somewhere and behind the scenes, but this was 248 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: not an openly demonstrative person, so we really don't have 249 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: a lot of insight about how he felt about much 250 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: of anything. It is possible that he wanted to distance 251 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: himself from the entire situation. He and Eleanor and their 252 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: young son chose to move to Washington, d c. As 253 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: this was going on, which was close to her family 254 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: rather than his. When they were there, birds Eye first 255 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: worked for a construction company and then he moved on 256 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: to the US Housing Corporation, and then another shift to 257 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: work for the US Fisheries Association. Working for the Fisheries 258 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: made Bird's Eye once again focus on frozen food because 259 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: part of the work of the Fisheries Association was looking 260 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: at ways to improve the shipping of fish. As Bob 261 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: Bird's Eye investigated the industry, he was appalled at how 262 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:55,600 Speaker 1: sloppy things were in terms of production and sanitation. He 263 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: thought he could do better and ensure that clean, fresh 264 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: tasting fish made it to consumers tables. Initially, he focused 265 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 1: his work on packaging, and he developed a shipping container 266 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: to keep fish cold in transit, but it was not 267 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: as effective as he hoped, and he started to contemplate 268 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: the things that he had noticed and studied when he 269 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: was living in Labrador. In nineteen twenty two, he quit 270 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: his job to start working full time on developing his 271 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: ideas for food freezing techniques. This was a huge gamble. 272 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: At this point, he and Eleanor had two kids, and 273 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,480 Speaker 1: they had another on the way. Birdseye was not the 274 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: first person to work on freezing food for the consumer market, 275 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: and specifically not fish, but previous efforts tended to have 276 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: a bad, grainy texture, frozen food did not have good 277 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: associations on the consumer market at this point, even with 278 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: other inventors also trying to figure out fast freezing. In 279 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty three, Birdseye drummed up investors to start his 280 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: first frozen and food company. This venture was focused on 281 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,919 Speaker 1: the food he had gained expertise in through his various 282 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: jobs in the preceding years, exclusively fish. Bird's Ic Seafood 283 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: opened its door in Lower Manhattan that same year. He 284 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: once again focused on packaging, but he realized that innovating 285 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 1: the container for the fish wasn't really going to solve 286 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: the problems that were facing the industry. He had to 287 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: rethink the freezing process on a large scale. In nineteen 288 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: twenty four, he was granted a patent for his food 289 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: freezing machine. His basic process flash froze foods, which were 290 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 1: already packed into waxed cardboard packaging. This packaged food would 291 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:46,399 Speaker 1: run through a pressurized space between two frozen plates. The 292 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: process enabled the foods to be frozen so quickly that 293 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: they didn't develop water crystals in them, which was part 294 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: of what helped them retain their original fresh flavor. And 295 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: this process worked on vegetables and fruits as well as fish. 296 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 1: The big differentiator between Bird's Eye method and his competitors 297 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: was in the temperature. A lot of other companies froze 298 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:12,200 Speaker 1: their foods just below freezing, but recalling the harsh winters 299 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: and Labrador, Bird's Eye froze his foods colder than forty 300 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: five degrees below zero fahrenheit. His patent titled method of 301 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 1: Preserving Piscatorial Products Which I Love, makes clear that the 302 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: benefit is to consumers that are not in close proximity 303 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: to fresh seafood, stating quote of great importance is the 304 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 1: fact that the ability to freeze fish without in any 305 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,640 Speaker 1: way adversely affecting it as an article of food makes 306 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: it possible to supply this highly desired commodity to inland 307 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: points far removed from the greater rivers and the oceans 308 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: where the fish is caught. Soon he actually had another 309 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: patent for the cartons that he was using in the process. 310 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,439 Speaker 1: But though this was all clearly innovative it was a 311 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,120 Speaker 1: huge step forward for frozen foods, it did not meet 312 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,639 Speaker 1: with success, and an echo of the abrupt end to 313 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: his college education, he just ran out of money, but 314 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: this time birds Eye had insurance, literally he had cashed 315 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: out his life insurance policy for more money so that 316 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: he could keep working on his frozen seafood company. It 317 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: also didn't sustain the company, though, and as nineteen twenty 318 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: five loomed, the money once again ran out. This time, 319 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: he sold his house and he moved the family to Gloucester, Massachusetts, 320 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: to be in a port city with a busy fishing industry. 321 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 1: He and Eleanor also had a fourth child during this 322 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:38,199 Speaker 1: financially precarious time. Yeah, he basically was like, I'm going 323 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,880 Speaker 1: to keep going, so let's sell our house and let's 324 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,199 Speaker 1: go to Gloucester. Uh. He clearly had a vision. Things 325 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: didn't luckily stay precarious for terribly long, though, because birds 326 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:53,679 Speaker 1: Eye got several high profile investors, including JP Morgan, to 327 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,400 Speaker 1: fund a new venture. This time, he was not planning 328 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: on opening a storefront to offer his frozen food product. 329 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 1: Bob Birdseye was planning to create machines to sell to 330 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,960 Speaker 1: the food processing industry. By this point, the legal problems 331 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: that Clarence Senior and his brother Kellogg had been involved 332 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,159 Speaker 1: in had more or less been resolved, and for the 333 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,240 Speaker 1: first several years of this new venture, Kellogg became the 334 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,159 Speaker 1: vice president of Bob's new company. The new facility that 335 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 1: he built was customized to handle the process that Bird's 336 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: Eye had invented, and he named this new enterprise General 337 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: Seafoods Corporation, and there he worked constantly to innovate what 338 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: frozen food could be. This was an expansive effort that 339 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: worked to innovate the entire seafood industry, not just in freezing, 340 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: but in packaging and even prepping the product before freezing. 341 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: The idea of a fish already scaled and fill aid 342 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: before it was frozen for an easy consumer use didn't 343 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,159 Speaker 1: really exist before Birdseye worked with engineers to develop the 344 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:01,879 Speaker 1: machines that could perform those times. Yeah, he had a 345 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,800 Speaker 1: scaler and a you know, a fish flayer. He just 346 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: invented so many pieces of this process. In nineteen twenty seven, 347 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: he filed for another patent method of preparing food product, 348 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: which he touted as follows quote. A method of freezing 349 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,479 Speaker 1: which requires more than a very short space of time 350 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: for freezing impairs the natural qualities and flavors of comestibles. 351 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 1: In the case of fish or meat, for instance, slow 352 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: freezing disrupts the cells of the animal tissue with loss 353 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: of the pristine qualities and flavors, and rapid deterioration after thawing. 354 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: By my new method, I am able by means which 355 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,639 Speaker 1: are economical and commercially practical, not only to affect any 356 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: desired degree of refrigeration, but to quick freeze a comestible 357 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 1: into a compacted frozen block having comparatively fewer spaces in 358 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: which the pristine qualities and flavor of the comestible are 359 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: retained and remain unimpaired for a substantial period after the 360 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: block has been thawed. That patent was granted in nineteen thirty. 361 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: Bird's Eye, like many inventors we have talked about before, 362 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: continued to refine his process in his machinery, and he 363 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 1: filed a lot of update patents, including one for a 364 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: continuous belt on his freezing apparatus. He didn't invent fast freezing, 365 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: but he never stopped looking for ways to improve it. 366 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: There were more things than belts that had to be 367 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: refined and rethought. For one, all of this innovation didn't 368 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 1: erase the years of concerns people had developed regarding frozen foods. 369 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: Birds I kept working to address this distrust, paying for 370 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,160 Speaker 1: food safety tests to show the food was free from 371 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 1: problems and contaminants, and all of the packaging had to 372 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: be rethought, from plastic wraps to packaging inks and birds. 373 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: I worked with partner companies to develop all these things. 374 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,680 Speaker 1: Bird's Eye's company still was not making any money. They 375 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,119 Speaker 1: needed investors or a buyout. One of the things that 376 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: Bob Bird's Eye was known to do, and the hopes 377 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: of drumming up interest from financial sources, was to send 378 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: them frozen foods to show them how effective his process was. Yeah, 379 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: there are stories of him like serving big wigs of 380 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: industry like fancy lunches and then saying all of this 381 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: was frozen food once to watch them go ooh. Eventually, 382 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,200 Speaker 1: that desired deal came through, and it was a huge one. 383 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,879 Speaker 1: A company called Postum Incorporated bought Bird'seyees company out in 384 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine for twenty three point five million dollars, 385 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: which was absolutely unheard of for the time. His company 386 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: had actually been valued just a couple of years earlier 387 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 1: at less than two million dollars, so this seemed absolutely 388 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: bananas to a lot of people. Marjorie Meriweather post the 389 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: post and Foods heiress who is often credited with brokering 390 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,159 Speaker 1: this deal is on my short list. I became very 391 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: interested in her in a little side rabbit hole while 392 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 1: I was working on this episode. But the Postum company 393 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: worked with Goldman Sachs to secure funding for this massive buyout. 394 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: Part of the huge expense was that the patents were 395 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: included in the deal, along with all the company's machinery 396 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:19,040 Speaker 1: and other assets. Postum really thought that Clarence Bird'seye had 397 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,919 Speaker 1: developed the future of food. Postum changed its name to 398 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: General Foods Corporation shortly after the buy and started selling 399 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,400 Speaker 1: on the New York Stock Exchange two and a half 400 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: months after the deal was announced. Within two years, as 401 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,879 Speaker 1: the company continued to lose money in the wake of 402 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenty nine stock market crash, Goldman Sacks let 403 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: the Posts buy out their shares in the company. We'll 404 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,879 Speaker 1: talk about how Bird's Eye's life changed once he was 405 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: a millionaire, but first we will hear from the sponsors 406 00:24:48,760 --> 00:25:01,399 Speaker 1: that keep the show going. Whereas Bird's Eye maintained a 407 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 1: role in the General Foods Corporation after the buyout, working 408 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,679 Speaker 1: as president of the division that retained the name, Bird's 409 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,359 Speaker 1: Eye Frosted Foods, and then he also worked as a 410 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: high level consultant. Because of the timing of that buyout, 411 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: he managed to weather the Great Depression quite well, as 412 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,639 Speaker 1: he had a steady salary with the company and he 413 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 1: was able to continue his work developing new areas of 414 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: the frozen food market. He also built himself a beautiful 415 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,960 Speaker 1: new house in the early nineteen thirties. While most people 416 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: were struggling, he continued to hunt game because he loved it, 417 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: sometimes shooting things right from his porch. Although he was 418 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,439 Speaker 1: certainly wealthy enough to not need to hunt for food. 419 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,400 Speaker 1: He also managed to keep a couple dozen other people 420 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,120 Speaker 1: employed in his lab at a time when jobs were 421 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,639 Speaker 1: really sparse. A lot of the techniques used in the 422 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: frozen food industry today were initially worked out in his 423 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: Gloucester lab, like keeping fruit from browning by using a 424 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,879 Speaker 1: sorbic acid. Yeah, it's just vitamin C. What the Post 425 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 1: and Company had brought to that huge deal that Bird's 426 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: Eye had never really managed well on his own was 427 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,360 Speaker 1: advertising and public relations. Over the course of several years. 428 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 1: Immediately after the buyout, newspapers started running stories about a 429 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,280 Speaker 1: new quick freezing process that kept foods tasting fresh. The 430 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: Baltimore Sun, for example, ran a piece in November of 431 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine titled food that is fresh though frozen. 432 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 1: New preserving process aims to maintain cell structure. Already, the 433 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: tide was turning in the way frozen food was perceived, 434 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: as evidenced by this passage from the article quote, the 435 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 1: quick freezing principle seemed so simple and its advantage is 436 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: so great that one's imagination need not be stretched at 437 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 1: all to visualize many startling outgrowths of its adoption of 438 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:56,520 Speaker 1: fresh food distributing agencies with the airplane to furnish quick 439 00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:01,119 Speaker 1: transportation and the light practicable packages possible where no refrigerant 440 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,679 Speaker 1: is required, the range of fancy fresh meats and fruits 441 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: made available to centers of population is vastly expanded. You 442 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: heard that right. At the time, there was a belief 443 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: that the food packaging could be all that was needed 444 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,919 Speaker 1: to keep the frozen food ice cold. That same article 445 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: notes quote, it is asserted the excessive coldness of the 446 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: food packaging itself makes it possible to hold it for 447 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:30,880 Speaker 1: days without icing or other refrigerant. Mirror packing, an insulated, 448 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: nearly air tight container such as a sealed corrugated pasteboard 449 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 1: carton is all that is necessary to assure first class 450 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: condition for long periods. We knowed that was wrong, but 451 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: at the time it seemed feasible. Even with the pr 452 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: nohow of the Postum team, frozen food still had a 453 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: slow acceptance rate. A handful of grocery stores, and I 454 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: mean a handful. It was less than a dozen agreed 455 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: to stock frozen foods through their company, but it was 456 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: a really hard sell. Customers came in and they asked 457 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,440 Speaker 1: a lot of questions, but purchases were a lot less frequent. 458 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,439 Speaker 1: Over time, though, the numbers crept up. But General Foods 459 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:16,160 Speaker 1: spent a lot of money to get those numbers, including 460 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: supplying the costly refrigerated cases that the food could be 461 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: stocked in. Those cases cost fifteen hundred dollars each, but 462 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: they were also expensive for the store because they used 463 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: a lot of electricity. This caused a whole lot of 464 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 1: consternation in the industry, so eventually Bird's Eye Foods contracted 465 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: with another company to make less burdensome freezers. They were 466 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: less expensive for Bird's Eye, and then they rented those 467 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: to the stores and they were less expensive to run, 468 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: so the end result was a better financial situation for everyone. 469 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty five, birds Eye founded the Bird's Eye 470 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: Electric Company. It started with a desire to add reflectors 471 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: to the insides of light bulbs to offer greater illumination 472 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: for display uses. He patented the reflecting electric lamp in 473 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, and it has continued to be used 474 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: to the present day. He sold the electrical company to 475 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: Wabash Appliance Corporation in nineteen thirty nine. Also in nineteen 476 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: thirty nine, he invented a gravity froster, which froze individual 477 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: items a single piece at a time. That sounds like 478 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: it would be slow and weird, but it was totally automated, 479 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: so ultimately it ended up being faster than previous freezing machines. 480 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: It also needed less effort from an operator, so one 481 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: person could run multiple machines at a time. This turned 482 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: into a new company that built and leased the gravity 483 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: frost machine to other companies that were making frozen foods. 484 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty eight, interest in frozen food had grown 485 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 1: to the point that a magazine called Quick Frozen Foods 486 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,960 Speaker 1: was launched. Bird's Eye was not the one who started it, 487 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: but he did serve as an advisor. This was one 488 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: of many things he became involved in as frozen foods 489 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: became more of an established industry and he had more 490 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,959 Speaker 1: time for other projects. One of the other things he 491 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: was involved in was whaling. He had invented a harpoon 492 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: that had a thrust mechanism to give it greater force 493 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: than throwing a harpoon by hand. That same year, his 494 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: advocacy helped initiate an update to the Pure Food and 495 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: Drug Act of nineteen oh six, which put stronger requirements 496 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: in place for quality standards related to frozen foods, something 497 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: that he and other people in the industry saw as 498 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: vital to rehabilitating the way frozen food was perceived. Birds 499 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: Eye once again innovated the way frozen foods were offered 500 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty four. At that point, he started exploring 501 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: refrigerated train cars as a way to ship foods. He 502 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 1: ended up leasing box cars that the Bird's Eye Frozen 503 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 1: Food Company could pack and prep This is a huge 504 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: moment in the way frozen foods were handled because it 505 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: made it possible for companies like Bird's Eye to vastly 506 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: expand their customer territory and it inspired a lot of 507 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: other companies to start thinking about similar initiatives. In nineteen 508 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: forty nine, he started working on dehydrating foods. This work 509 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 1: started out simply just with a hot plate flipped to 510 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: be an overhead heater for some cubed bread and an 511 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: electric fan blowing on the cubes at the same time. 512 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,920 Speaker 1: From those basic beginnings, he started to combine various methods 513 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 1: being employed by other people working in the field to 514 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,440 Speaker 1: fine tune his quote anhydrous food preparation. Over the course 515 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,480 Speaker 1: of six years, he started a company and marketed it 516 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 1: and got some interest, but the novelty kind of wore off, 517 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: and birds Eye recognized that it would take a massive 518 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: effort to get anhydros food to be anywhere near as 519 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 1: successful as frozen food. He turned his focus to other things, 520 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: including Holly's beloved topic of hydroponics. He was one of 521 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: the early proponents of the idea that cities like New 522 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 1: York could produce all the food plants they needed if 523 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: they converted the rooftops to hydroponic gardens. But at this 524 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: point Bird's Eye was also starting to slow down. He 525 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,560 Speaker 1: developed angina, and he was encouraged to relax and stop 526 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,800 Speaker 1: his constant busy ways for the benefit of his heart health. 527 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,160 Speaker 1: This is actually the opposite of what people with angina 528 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 1: would be told today, but at the time that's what 529 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 1: the medical advice was. So this resulted in an interest 530 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: in gardening, which his wife, Eleanor, was already very interested in. 531 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: The couple ended up co authoring a book titled Growing 532 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 1: Woodland Plants in nineteen fifty one. Over his life, Bird's 533 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:47,479 Speaker 1: Eye was granted hundreds of patents, almost three hundred. Some 534 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 1: of these were improvements to existing inventions, but others were 535 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 1: ventures into areas that were completely separate from his food 536 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:58,320 Speaker 1: processing work. In the early nineteen fifties, Bird's Eye started 537 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: working on another project, which was making paper, but not 538 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: in any way that it had been made before. He 539 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:08,480 Speaker 1: was working on a way to make paper pulp using 540 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 1: leftover cane stock scrap that remained after sugar production. He 541 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: got a financial backer, which was W. R. Grace and Company, 542 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 1: who produced sugar. This resulted in a late in life 543 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: move for Bob and Eleanor. They went to Peru, where 544 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,560 Speaker 1: the Grace Company had huge sugarcane fields and had built 545 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 1: a paper plant. In nineteen fifty five. The Bird's Eyes 546 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: moved back to New York, where Bob's work with the 547 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: Grace Company shifted to marketing the new process he had 548 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: developed over the preceding several years. But while those efforts 549 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: were underway, his health took a sharp decline, and he 550 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 1: died of heart failure on October seventh, nineteen fifty six. 551 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 1: Bird's Eye had received an honorary degree from AMers fifteen 552 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: years earlier, and in his end of life planning, he 553 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,200 Speaker 1: requested that instead of flowers, anyone wishing to pay their 554 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,920 Speaker 1: respects should donate a college fund that he established at 555 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 1: the school to prevent other students from cutting their education 556 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: short as he had done. Today, ninety nine percent of 557 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:13,200 Speaker 1: households in the US report purchasing frozen foods, and the 558 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:16,319 Speaker 1: global frozen food industry is valued at more than two 559 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty billion dollars. Yeah, he was right. He 560 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,840 Speaker 1: made some scary moves, but he was ultimately right. And 561 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,879 Speaker 1: even post THEMS buyout, which a lot of people kind 562 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: of criticized them over and being like, why did you 563 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: pay twenty three million dollars for a company that's not 564 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: worth two And they were like, we see the future, 565 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:41,839 Speaker 1: and they were right. Listen, it takes a lot of 566 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,240 Speaker 1: bravado to gamble that way. It might take some people 567 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: a little bit of bravado to deal with today's listener 568 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:52,560 Speaker 1: mail because it's about spiders. This is from our listener, Shandra, 569 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:56,240 Speaker 1: and I love it, Shandra Wrights. Since you were talking 570 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,400 Speaker 1: about spiders a few weeks ago in a behind the 571 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,040 Speaker 1: scenes episode, I wanted to share couple of pictures from 572 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: New Mexico. The first is a cat faced spider, which 573 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,319 Speaker 1: is a type of orb weaver. It's been hanging out 574 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,920 Speaker 1: on my patio for weeks, maybe months at this point. 575 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: I watched it clean a fallen leaf out of its 576 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:16,240 Speaker 1: web one day. Neat creature. It's absolutely adorable. In my opinion, 577 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:18,880 Speaker 1: this little bdonk looks like a kiddy face. Come on here, 578 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,720 Speaker 1: don't want that. The second picture is only the second 579 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: tarantula I've ever seen. It's cool to see them walking 580 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,960 Speaker 1: down the trail. That is all happy October. Look at 581 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: that pretty tarantula. I know not everybody loves a tarantula. 582 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: I think they're very beautiful. We all know I love spiders. 583 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,680 Speaker 1: Char Angela is very cute. When I was very, very tiny, 584 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 1: I lived in Arizona, and I love seeing the tarantulas 585 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: running around, Like after the rare rain, they would all 586 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 1: come up from their little burrows and be in the streets, 587 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:49,880 Speaker 1: and I thought it was the cutest thing ever because 588 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:51,319 Speaker 1: I was a weird child. I don't know what else 589 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:53,319 Speaker 1: to tell you. Uh, if you were a weird child 590 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:55,959 Speaker 1: who loved tarantula's or if you're a weird child now, 591 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: or if you just love Taranngela's or anything else you 592 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: can write and tell us about that. You can do 593 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,400 Speaker 1: that at History podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can 594 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:06,760 Speaker 1: also subscribe to the show if you haven't gotten around 595 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:08,840 Speaker 1: to that yet. That is easiest pie to do on 596 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,840 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, or really anywhere you listen to your 597 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:19,600 Speaker 1: favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 598 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 599 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,560 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 600 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:28,280 Speaker 1: favorite shows.