george eastman: genius and tragedy · 1/9/2015 george eastman: genius and tragedy | the rochester...

1/9/2015 George Eastman: Genius and Tragedy | The Rochester Insomniac

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George Eastman: Genius and Tragedy

Posted on June 10, 2014 by James Ciambor in History // 0 Comments

When one succeeds in the world they invite as many detractors as they do friends. That is the price to be paid for success. George Eastman was no exception. He hadbeen scrutinized for the better part of his life and as he grew older had severe spinal problems along with chronic depression. These ailments led to his suicide in 1932. He was quoted as writing “My work here is done, why wait.” Why wait indeed. With a man in such agony, and undergoing public scrutiny, it can be understood whyhe felt the way he did. Perhaps had the world had more gratitude for him then he wouldn’t have gone out this way. To tell the story of Eastman requires us to tell thestory of an entire medium and how he helped shape it into what we take for granted today. Though along the way there are many tragedies and unfortunate mishapsthat took place.

Suicide note via Tumblr

Sometimes genius and an eccentric personality go hand in hand. Known as G.E. by his friends, George Eastman was that type of person. Though a life of genius,

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money, and fame is not necessarily a life well spent. Eastman suffered from depression, was never married, and had constant struggles with lawsuits and colleaguesamong many other things. Sometimes we have to find our own happiness and make less of what we have and focus more on what we can do. Despite Eastman’swonderful accomplishments, his genius, and his strong and determined work ethic, these were the last things on his mind. He believed that how we lived in themoment and enjoyed life determined more for us than what we earned in our lifetime. He once said: “What we do during our working hours determines what wehave; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are.”

On the job he was a tireless worker involved with many aspects of his company. His investments in his company nearly put him in bankruptcy in his earliest years.Though he deduced that initially the company’s reputation was more important than the revenue one generated. Even if it required putting the company in financialjeopardy reputation was still the most important thing.

He was extraordinarily invested in his company, but had a passion for leisurely activities. He had a strong affinity for music, the arts and was an avid traveler as well.As his interest in his company lessened he used traveling as something to fill the void. By the 1920’s he went on six month vacations away from the company. Hisaffinity for music is well known by many. He was a stickler for perfection with his house musicians. Eastman would ring a buzzer if they did not show up promptly,he would notice if the quartet ended a couple minutes early. He was indeed a perfectionist with how music was played always finding something inadequate. Hispassion was so deep that he was something of a compulsive perfectionist. He seemed to find a greater passion in finding problems and mistakes with the musicians hehired than trying to find passion and enjoyment in the actual music.

via wiki commons

His passion for making an affordable cheap and economically feasible product helped photography become a commodity for the working class. As an entrepreneur hesinglehandedly industrialized photography by making it more affordable to working class consumers. The once technical and monotonous process of photographycould now be as simple as pressing a button on a handheld camera in order to take a picture. As he put it, “You press the button we do the rest.” Eastman believed inmaking a master photographer out of the ordinary amateur and his product allowed for anyone to produce their own collection of photographs.

It wasn’t just the industrialization of photography that made him such a prophetic visionary, it was his ability to create a universally recognized brand through his owninventiveness. One would think that a name like Kodak has a personal meaning or was inspired by something Eastman witnessed in his life. However, he admitted itwas a gimmick and just came out of thin air and a fascination with the letter ‘K.’ The name Kodak wasn’t based on anything but was strictly to help with brandrecognition more than anything else. Eastman stated: “I devised the name myself. The letter ‘K’ had been a favorite with me — it seems a strong, incisive sort ofletter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with ‘K.’”

Accomplishments aren’t based predominantly on an idea you have but rather what you can do with it and where you take it. The greatest accomplishment of Eastmanwas his ability to recognize a potentially successful idea when he saw it. It was stated by many that Thomas Edison’s greatest invention was his publicity and thiscould be applied to Eastman in a lot of ways. It isn’t the idea but the ability to package and market it into something that made him into a visionary. Neither celluloidnor roll film were inventions of George Eastman’s. Eastman bought the patent for roll film from Peter Houston, a Wisconsin farmer who developed the material in1881. However flexible roll film had not been fully developed until pastor Hannibal Goodwin made transparent flexible roll film. That was how the creation ofcelluloid film took place in 1887.



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Houseton showing Eastman roll film via George Eastman House

What proves ironic is that Eastman knew what purpose and commercial potential these inventions could have better than the creators themselves. Goodwin’s motiveto create celluloid was focused exclusively on creating a nonbreakable substance that could be utilized for images that he could use for his Biblical teachings. ThatEastman saw celluloid for a broader range of purposes beyond Goodwin’s intent shows how much of a master businessman Eastman was. However, like most things,Eastman successes were still met with controversy.

With success comes controversy and Eastman was no exception. Eastman landed in hotwater with a company called Ansco in 1914. That company bought the patentrights from the inventor Goodwin and accused Eastman of patent infringement. Eastman’s new business struggled with the legalities of ownership and patentinfringement. It’s not easy for innovators, for every endeavor pursued in any industry there is a likely chance of getting in legal hot water.

George’s public reputation wasn’t free of scrutiny either. Sometimes being successful and innovative attracts detractors and cynics. With success comes the heavyburden of the press and public always trying to take you down a peg. While Eastman’s downtime and leisure hours were filled with a personal affinity for music andtraveling, a secretive romance developed that was concealed from the public. He was intimate with a woman named Josephine Dickman, following the death of herhusband George Dickman. Eastman in many ways displayed a deep infatuation for the woman as he persistently courted Josephine, often having her rendezvous withhim in his mansion. For a man that claimed he was too busy with his business to be intimate with any woman, Eastman seemed very close and infatuated with thisone, especially after the death of his mother Maria Eastman.

Josephine Dickman via geh.org

Among other controversies surrounding Eastman was the growing unpopularity of the monopolistic business practices at the turn of the 20th Century. Monopolisticpractices like his were becoming more and more controversial and thoroughly examined by the press and public.

Eastman also had to deal with increasing resentment in his own home town. There were rumors about his private life and personal relationships. According to MarionGleason, a George Eastman family friend, Eastman had been loathed by some of the people of Rochester because of rumors, and despite the city greatly benefitingfrom him. That Marion asserts that Eastman was unpopular is shocking. It’s surprising because of his philanthropic attitude towards his hometown. He sold a third ofshares in his company and gave them to his employees, which was worth over 10 million at the time. How could such an altruist have a reputation like that? Doessuccess make people envious? Was he not doing enough? His legacy seems to create a lot more questions than it does answers. It does appear that one of Rochester’sgreatest minds was disliked by many of his contemporaries. Perhaps it was because society tends to grow resentful and distrusting of those who are too successful oras complex as Eastman. Perhaps the world’s sense of entitlement makes it difficult for us to understand how generous and benign Eastman was.

According to Marion Gleason’s account, it was argued that much of the public holds unfavorable opinions of the rich and privileged and feel these individuals have anobligation to be generous and philanthropic. Marion stated, “people unconsciously resent being grateful and under obligation to dispensers of favors, especially if theyare rich and powerful.”

Eastman is a fascinating but peculiar individual. He believed in giving back to the community but was a control freak when it came to ownership of patents andvaluable properties in the movie business. His entire life could be summed up by one word: control. He oversaw every aspect of his life from writing the company’sads, the construction of his estate, and the organization of the Kilbourn Quartet which played at his estate. He tried to monopolize an entire industry, had paternalisticattitudes to the lower class and people of other races. Eastman was always secure when he was in charge of things and had control. His debilitating spinal disease put adent in his ability to control his life and the people around him. Perhaps the key to his success was his controlling nature and when he couldn’t do that anymore, hiswork was indeed done.

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