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Thomas Edison in popular culture

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Thomas Edison has appeared in popular culture as a character in novels, films, comics and video games.

His prolific inventing helped make him an icon and he has made appearances in popular culture during his lifetime down to the present day. His history with Nikola Tesla has also provided dramatic tension and is a theme returned to numerous times.


Biographical works

  • Young Tom Edison was a 1940 biographical film starring Mickey Rooney as Edison.[1]
  • Edison, the Man was a 1940 biographical film starring Spencer Tracy as Edison.[2]
  • "The Electric Sunshine Man" is a musical for young voices about the life, times, and inventions of Thomas Edison; generally performed by youth choral groups in schools.
  • The Schoolhouse Rock song "Mother Necessity" featured Thomas Edison first as a child intending to be an inventor when he grows up "to make a lamp to help my mommy see..Wowee!/What an excellent application of electricity!" and then as a smart, rich man.
  • Edison occasionally appeared in caricature form on Histeria! His first major appearance was in a sketch in which he comes up with the light bulb while his nephew (played by Loud Kiddington) and his friends fool around in his office. The show also featured a song about Edison's partnership with Henry Ford.
  • "Edison's Medicine" was a song by the band Tesla from the album Psychotic Supper Tesla which features the War of Currents between Edison's DC and Tesla's AC.
  • "The Wizard of Menlo Park" is a song by Chumbawamba on their album Un.
  • "Edison" by the Bee Gees is a reference about Thomas Edison.
  • The song "Ellis Island" by The Extraordinaires depicts Tesla's arrival in America and his subsequent meeting with Edison and Edison's "American Humor". The song "Zeus on the Mountainside" by the same band vaguely references Edison's attempt to sabotage AC power.
  • Czech poet Vítězslav Nezval wrote a lengthy epic poem titled Edison (1930), in which Edison is celebrated and apostrophed there as symbol of courage in search of meaning of life in modern civilisation. This work is considered[by whom?] to be one of the best poems of modern Czech literature.

Alternate histories

Time-travel scenarios

Characters based on Edison

  • "Tom Edison Jr." was the star of eleven adventure books written by Philip Reade. The first book was Tom Edison Jr.'s Sky Scraping Trip; Or Over the Wild West Like a Flying Squirrel (1891). Tom Edison Jr. is the son of Tom Edison Sr. a famous inventor who, they are at pains to emphasise, is not supposed to be famous inventor Thomas Edison.
  • To Mars With Tesla; or, the Mystery of the Hidden World by J. Weldon Cobb (1901) featured "Young Edison", a fictional nephew of Thomas Edison, helping Nikola Tesla in his adventures with Martians.
  • In the cartoon series Clone High, Thomas Edison's clone is shown as a short, sniveling nerd who seems to spend most of his time working with A.V equipment (a reference to the fact that Edison invented the projector).
  • Expiration Date by Tim Powers in which a boy possessed by the spirit of Thomas Edison is hunted through Los Angeles by people wanting to consume the ghost he carries.

Other references to Edison

  • In the 2006 film The Prestige, Edison is mentioned as a rival to Nikola Tesla at a technological convention in the Albert Hall.
  • "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace", an episode of The Simpsons where Homer Simpson becomes obsessed with inventions until he finally invents something useful (additional chair legs to prevent falling) when it turns out that Edison had invented it first. Later Edison was falsely given credit for Homer's electric hammer invention.
  • The song 'The Invention' by danish composer Ste van Holm is a musical description of the reserch that lead to the invention of the light bulb.
  • In the Family Guy episode, "Brian Sings and Swings", a cutaway scene shows a resentful neighbor demanding Edison share his electricty. Edison instead taunts his neighbor and gloats over his access to television and central air conditioning.
  • Edison Hate Future is a series of one panel cartoons by Warren Ellis using the same picture of Thomas Edison

See also

References

  1. ^ "Young Tom Edison". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  2. ^ "Edison, the Man (1940)," The Internet Movie Database.
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