Chapter 28: That’s a KODAK Moment

Over the weekend, Sweetie and I were going through several boxes that had been gathering dust in the attic. There was no argument that at least 50% of the stuff in the boxes was trash, and there was no good reason for me to keep it. My kids sure as hell didn’t want it (“Do you want your grandfathers old college yearbooks?”) But in one box, I discovered, lovingly wrapped in tissue paper, my old Kodak Brownie Camera. It had been a gift to my mother, at some time in the late 1940’s when she was a your adult. No idea if it still worked, or even if I could find film. Besides, the bellows looked cracked, and there was no place that could develop the film. There was also a 110 instamatic and some flash cubes. Sweetie looked at me as I studdied the cameras and asked what they were.

“Museum pieces, perhaps,” was my answer. She is a good 20 years younger than I am, so she was a child in the era of FOTOMAT booths and waiting a week to see that all but 2 or 3 pictures were not blurry or had a closeup of a finger over the lens.

I told her a little bit about the company; KODAK. The company was based just outside of Rochester, NY when I was a college student at a nearby university. At the time, it was a common belief that if you could get a job there, you were set for life. The economy proved otherwise over the years.

So, for all of you old geezers who had a KODAK camera (or were curious about them), I submit the following for your reading pleasure.

George Eastman (1854-1932) was an American industrialist, inventor, and philanthropist. Interested in photographic processes from an early age, he started the the Eastman Dry plate company with Henry A. Strong in 1881. They set up their headquarters in Rochester, New York and made photographic plates.

Eastman and Strong’s company changed from a partnership to a corporation in 1884 when Eastman invented roll film. The Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company was formed with 14 share owners.

On April 6, 1888 the company released their first hand-held camera that uses roll film, which Eastman called the Kodak. The following year Eastman changed the name to the Eastman Company, then three years later to the Eastman Kodak Company.

Eastman began to mass produce his inventions, transforming photography from an expensive hobby of the few to a relatively inexpensive, popular pastime.

Eastman Kodak’s slogan was “you press the button, we do the rest”. For $24 the camera came already loaded with film capable of taking 100 pictures. The camera was sent back to the factory where for $10 the film was developed into pictures. The Brownie box camera was introduced by Eastman Kodak on February 1, 1900 selling for just $1.00. The camera’s 6-exposure film sold for 15 cents. It created a new mass market for photography.

In his final two years, Eastman was in intense pain caused by a disorder affecting his spine. Eastman grew increasingly depressed due to his pain and reduced ability to function. On March 14, 1932, Eastman committed suicide with a single gunshot through the heart, leaving a note which read, “To my friends, my work is done – Why wait? GE.”