Kodak Roll Film: Brownie Boom | 3
American Innovations
Audible
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2019
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After George Eastman cut ties with his chief emulsion-maker-turned-saboteur, Henry Reichenbach, the Kodak company started to falter. Some batches of film literally fell apart on the shelves. Others seemed fine, but yielded blurry, unprintable photos.
Eastman had tried to find a suitable replacement for Reichbach, but no one was able to make a stable emulsion at the volume he needed. Eastman was starting to get desperate.
He knew that if he didn’t fix his film fast, his Kodak cameras would never amount to more than a passing fad. Eastman wasn’t just looking to get rich and get out. He was after a legacy that would stand the test of time. In order to do that, Eastman would not only have to make his product reliable, he’d have to continually innovate — constantly turning out one new demographically-targeted product after another. In the end, this strategy would make Kodak a household name, and then doom it to obsolescence.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to American innovations, add free on Amazon music. |
| 0:05.6 | Download the app today. |
| 0:07.6 | What's your name? |
| 0:14.6 | Mailman, you're gonna wanna open up. |
| 0:18.7 | Is it here? |
| 0:20.7 | I think it may be. |
| 0:22.0 | The package is marked Kodak. |
| 0:24.8 | That's it! |
| 0:25.8 | The woman practically yanks the package out of his hands and rushes to open it. |
| 0:30.6 | It's fall 1892, and Sarah Smith has been waiting for weeks to get her photographs back from |
| 0:36.4 | the newly named Eastman Kodak Company. |
| 0:39.4 | Her husband saved up for months to buy her the camera in time for their daughter's wedding, |
| 0:43.8 | and she cannot wait to see the photographs they took. |
| 0:47.2 | Her daughter looked so beautiful and she wants to relive that special day. |
| 0:51.4 | She takes out the packet of photos and a troubled expression crosses her face. |
| 0:55.9 | This feels a lot thinner than 100 photos. |
| 0:59.4 | The Mailman, still standing in the doorway, doesn't notice her expression. |
| 1:03.5 | Take him out, I wanna see what all the fuss is about. |
| 1:05.9 | She slowly opens the packet, which only has a handful of photos. |
| 1:10.2 | They're dark and blurry. |
| 1:12.1 | A note falls to the floor, and the Mailman picks it up and reads it aloud. |
| 1:16.7 | Dear Mrs. Smith, we are sorry to say there is a technical problem with our film. |
... |
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