Spencer Tracy and George Meader in a Movie Still from "Edison, The Man," 1939
Add to SetSummary
The 1940 MGM film Edison, the Man starred Spencer Tracy, but Edison's Menlo Park laboratory played a supporting role. The 1870s laboratory -- where Edison made many of his famous discoveries -- had been moved to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in the late 1920s. With documentation provided by Greenfield Village staff, MGM built an impressive full-sized movie set of the laboratory in California.
The 1940 MGM film Edison, the Man starred Spencer Tracy, but Edison's Menlo Park laboratory played a supporting role. The 1870s laboratory -- where Edison made many of his famous discoveries -- had been moved to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in the late 1920s. With documentation provided by Greenfield Village staff, MGM built an impressive full-sized movie set of the laboratory in California.
Artifact
Photographic print
Subject Date
1939
Creators
Keywords
United States, Michigan, Dearborn
Demonstrations (Presentation events)
Motion pictures (Visual works)
Edison, the man (Motion picture)
Collection Title
On Exhibit
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Object ID
84.1.1660.P.O.8146
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Technique
Gelatin silver process
Color
Black-and-white (Colors)
Dimensions
Height: 8 in
Width: 10 in
Inscriptions
printed on back: "A MINISTER IS SURPRISED...Thomas Edison (Spencer Tracy) / astounds a minister (George Meader) in this scene for /Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Edison, the Man" by turning the / handle of his talking machine and playing back the group / of tongue-twisting Biblical names which the minister in- / sisted upon speaking into the horn to see if the machine / was only a trick of ventriloquism. This scene takes place / at a demonstration on the lower floor of Edison's Menlo / Park Laboratory and the event actually took place in / Edison's career with the phonograph. Clarence Brown / directs the film, produced by John W. Considine, Jr."
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